Thank you, Jenyfer, for allowing me to visit your blog today. As part of the “Go Green, Read e” program, I’ve been part of an effort to make people more aware of what we can do to make wise use of our resources.
Although the inspiration for the program might have been to raise awareness of e-books as an alternative (note—alternative does not mean replacement!) method of reading, the concept of “green” is much broader, and covers every aspect of our lives.
Since I live in central Florida and Jenyfer lives in Cairo, we thought it might be interesting to compare some of the ways our respective countries and communities address the serious problem that there are only so many resources on the planet. And things like carbon footprints, global warming, and conservation should be dealt with on a planetary basis—we’re all in this together, after all.
Something we can all participate in: Recycling.
Terry
Recycling. Our county provides residents with two recycling bins. One is for newspaper, and recently they’ve added catalogs and magazines (at last—a way to get rid of all those mail order catalogs that show up daily). The second is for glass, cans, and plastic. At the moment, they will only accept plastics with a recycling label of “1″ or “2″, but perhaps this will expand in the future. When the program started, they took only newspaper and only specific types of plastic containers rather than anything with the correct code. (images of codes)
Jenyfer
Unfortunately, there are no formal in-home recycling programs in Cairo. Still, I do what I can: we reuse empty glass jars and plastic containers for food storage, I wash and reuse plastic zipper sandwich bags, and unneeded print outs become scrap paper for drawing. We use reusable water bottles for school lunches and have our water delivered in five gallon bottles which we trade in when they are empty, cutting down on the waste. Even our beer bottles are returnables! (I wish they still did that in the US!)
But that isn’t to say that recycling doesn’t exist in Cairo. There is a community of people called the Zabbaleen who live in the Mokattam hills. They collect about a third of the city’s garbage, take it back to their homes, and sort it for recycling. They not only recycle things like glass, aluminum, and plastic, but they also compost or feed the wet food scraps to their pigs and take cotton scraps and make things like mattress wadding, colorful rag rugs, and even quilts to sell. All in all they manage to recycle up to 80% of what they collect. No small feat in a city of nearly 20 million inhabitants!
Terry
Grocery stores have collection containers for plastic bags. More and more are encouraging customers to bring their own bags, and some even give modest rebates for doing so. So, when the bagger says, “Paper or Plastic?” your answer can be, “No, thanks” as you hand them your collection of canvas bags.
Jenyfer
If I am doing a small shop, I will tuck my purchases into my large canvas carry all. Often when I do a larger shop and request home delivery, my items arrive loose in a large cardboard box. Otherwise, I take the plastic bags that I am given and then reuse them as can liners for my small trash cans.
Terry
It used to be, any food product listed the ingredients. As we became more health conscious, the labels expanded to show nutritional analyses so we know how many calories, grams of fats, carbs, proteins, as well as sodium content and more. With more green awareness, we have another thing to consider when we look at packaging. Does it have the recycling symbol? It probably tells what percentage of the product is made of recycled materials.
Jenyfer
I prefer to buy food products with sensible packaging. Why buy something in a plastic or metal container when a simple cardboard box will do?
Terry
Some companies are getting creative. I was shopping recently, and found doormats made from recycled flip-flops.
Jenyfer
I bought a purse recently, entirely made from plastic fibers created from recycled materials! The Zabbaleen also make handmade paper for notebooks and tablets from a portion of the paper they collect.
Terry
What about electricity? Here, fluorescent light bulbs are touted as energy savers, and they’re becoming easier to find, and available in more varieties so we can replace the older incandescents in more fixtures. Remember when they were only available as long tubes, and pretty much relegated to the kitchen or garage? And now, LED is offering another alternative.
Jenyfer
I was pretty excited to see long life light bulbs available in my local grocery last time I looked. In addition, I use rechargeable batteries as much as possible, turn off lights when leaving a room, and always turn off my computers over night – an idle computer still uses a tremendous amount of energy.
Terry
Cars? Here in my neighborhood, gas is hovering around $2 a gallon. I park my little Honda Fit at the Y and it disappears amid all the bigger minivans and SUVs. It’s not unusual to see the occasional Hummer. And everyone drives. We have very limited mass transit, so rush hour traffic is inevitable. Unfortunately, the attitude seems to be, ‘if I can afford it, it’s might right to drive it.” I never saw gas-guzzlers when I visited my daughter in England, or on my trip to South Africa.
Jenyfer
Cairo is a tremendously large city and nearly everyone drive, making traffic a nightmare not to mention contributing to high levels of air pollution. My family does not currently own a car. I walk nearly everywhere I want to go. For trips further than I want to walk, taxis are plentiful and inexpensive – most trips across my section of town cost me about $1. There is also a mass transit train called the Metro with a stop near my home. I can take the train into downtown Cairo for about $0.20, arriving in less than half an hour (taking a taxi would not only cost more but I’d be stuck in traffic breathing exhaust for at least an hour)
**********************
Those are just a few of the comparisons. Thanks again to Jenyfer for sharing this blog with me.
Terry Odell is a romance author and avid eBook reader, blogging this month for All Romance eBooks’ Go Green/Read e Campaign. Learn more about the Go Green/Read e Campaign, and to learn more about Terry, visit her website at . You can find Terry Odell’s ebooks and thousands of other eBooks on-line at All Romance Ebooks.
Hello. I was reading someone elses blog and saw you on their blogroll. Would you be interested in exchanging blog roll links? If so, feel free to email me.
Thanks.
by Josh Maxwell April 10th, 2009 at 1:31 amThank you very much for sharing this Environment related information and i am happy to read this post and this article is really helpful to protect our environment like air pollution, recycling of waste, protection and conservation of the marine environment etc…..
by CDM Registration April 10th, 2009 at 3:52 am[...] Here is the original: Friday Feature: Terry & Jenyfer Go Green [...]
by » Friday Feature: Terry & Jenyfer Go Green April 10th, 2009 at 5:02 amThanks for stopping by, and helping pass the word. As Earth Day approaches, it’s good to remember to do something nice for the planet.
And thanks to Jenyfer for making this post possible, and for sharing what it’s like where she lives. Those of us in the US often forget we’re not alone on the planet, sorry to say.
by Terry Odell April 10th, 2009 at 7:13 amJenyfer mentions using rechargeable batteries as a way of going green with electricty. While there are limited recycling programs in Cairo, rechargeable batteries can be 100% recycled in the U.S. and Canada through a nonprofit program called Call2Recycle.org. It utilizes retail participants where rechargeable batteries and cordless electronics are sold. Places that sell power tools, cordless phones, cell phones, laptop computers, digital cameras, camcorders, two-way radios, remote control toys can enroll in this free program to accept used rechargeable batteries for recycling. US and Canadian residents can visit http://www.call2recycle.org, type in their zip/postal code to find a participating drop off location in their neighborhood.
by Theresa April 10th, 2009 at 10:10 amThanks, Theresa -
by Terry Odell April 10th, 2009 at 10:22 amHere in Florida, hubby knows where to drop off batteries of all kinds for official recycling. As a matter of fact, he collects all the used batteries from the Y (the instructors use battery powered headsets and go through them like crazy) and recycles those as well.
a very creative blog. We’ve had recycling programs in Canada for years now. Everything goes out. Newspapers, glass and plastic containers, cardboard, mixed paper i.e. magazines. We pay an extra ten cents on each liquor bottle and get it back when we return the bottles for recycling. Same with beers bottles.
If I put the liquor and beer bottles out with my blue box, the “pickers” would take them. Our Neighbourhood Association suggests we not do that. It brings a strange assortment of characters into the area.
I turn off lights in rooms I’m not in same with my computer when I’ve finished working for the day. Seems like we are on the same page.
by Anita Birt April 10th, 2009 at 3:00 pmAnita, I remember as a child, pulling my little red wagon around the neighborhood and collecting glass bottles from the neighbors and getting the deposits back. I can remember something like fifty cents being a fortune to me. (Of course, in those days, a box of Girl Scout Cookies was 35 cents)
by Terry Odell April 10th, 2009 at 3:40 pmI lived in Egypt years ago. The only recyclable containers were the bottles of coke. We had to pay a few pennies for the price of the bottle itself. This was refunded when we returned the bottles after drinking the coke.
I never saw the neighborhood of the Zabbaleen as it was one of the poorest areas in Cairo. But I saw it much later when I returned as a tourist with my kids. It’s the place where all the garbage is dumped. Very poor people go there to dig and try to find something useful to use or eat.
There was a man called a robabikiah who would pass by our place regularly and ask if we have old clothes or rags to give him. They weaved the old stuff into rugs and use them as pallets to sleep on.
by Mona Risk April 11th, 2009 at 4:37 pmThank you for a great post and amzing comparison.
by Mona Risk April 11th, 2009 at 4:38 pmI inquired with our local Radio Shack manager about recycling batteries and he’s promised to ask his manager about it. We’ll see!
by Jenyfer Matthews April 12th, 2009 at 12:30 pm