Trash, Traffic, and Tobacco

photo by Fouad Elgarnousy,
copied from Egypt Independent

Two of new President Mohamed Morsy's goals for his first 100 days were to focus on two obvious problems in the worlds 11th most populated metropolitan area: trash and traffic.

I have seen pictures of Cairo's history that demonstrated a clean and beautifully landscaped city, but any visitor to Cairo today is usually overwhelmed by the traffic (and accompanying pollution) and the trash that litters roadways, sidewalks, and parks, and anywhere else.

Trash is unfortunately visible all over the city--literally.  In a recent Egypt Independent article, columnist Steven Viney chronicles the problem, Morsy's "clean homeland" proposal, and the resulting refusal to listen to the zabaleen (garbage collectors).  Egypt's longest tenured and greatest warriors against the garbage problem have been the zabaleen who daily collect garbage throughout the city and carry it back to their homes in a part of Cairo known as Moqattam (aka, garbage city).  The garbage is sorted, and distributed throughout the area for various recycle projects and programs.  Biodegradable waste was once fed to pigs that were kept in this part of the city; however, the 2009 global swine flu scare led to a hasty decision to slaughter all the pigs--not realizing that you couldn't actually catch the flu from the pigs.  Since then, zabaleen have sorted the waste collection throughout the city, only bringing back the waste that can be recycled.  The rest is left for one of any of the dozens of city contractors who are paid to pick up and to dispose of the waste; unfortunately, these contracts are several years old and do not operated today with much oversight or accountability--according to the columnist, if any of these contractors are actually picking up waste piles, the piles are merely dumped along roadways, under bridges, into deserts, and even near areas of archaeological importance.

Then there's the traffic--oh, the traffic--it's one thing to have a large city with traffic congestion problems, it's quite another when you add in the component of few traffic rules or norms, which we've chronicled before.

even with a poor safety record,
camels are the only beings wearing seat belts
(photo by Grace Oldham)

Traffic is not merely an inconvenience in Cairo--it's a public safety issue.  Statistics are only based upon what is reported, and because the post-revolution Cairo has led to less respect for police intervention/control and even less of a presence, most contend that the official numbers are far below the actual--but consider these statistics from the official numbers:

• In 2010, more than 7000 lives lost in public transportation (roadways and rail)
• In 2010, 66.8 accidents per day
• In 2010, road injuries were 98.7, and road fatalities were 19.3 -- PER DAY

Traffic is such a serious problem that even with Cairo's current poor economy and political upheaval, the World Bank has agreed to loan $250 million USD to help overhaul the administration and public transportation system.

Al Jazeera ran this news segment today highlighting the hope and the doubts of traffic reform.

Are these important problems that need to be tackled by governing leadership?

Absolutely.

Can they be solved or at least see a 'road to remedy' with millions of dollars or new government programs?

Not likely.

There's an underlying mental hurdle within millions that has to be addressed to begin seeing progress.  Until there are efforts underway to educate and inform, as well as convict and inspire, clean areas will be dirty quickly and new road intersections or buses will be new places of frustration.

Increased garbage cans and collection will not be enough to keep someone from throwing an empty chip bag or soda bottle on the ground--I'm always just shocked when I see people do this like it's normal, which it is here.


Two traffic examples, a couple Sundays ago while we were driving to church, the traffic got incredibly bottlenecked at one part of the road, and dozens of cars and motorcycles in the outside lane started driving up onto the sidewalk and buzzing ahead where they reentered the road on the other side--such a thought is not outside our own thinking as American drivers when we sit stuck in a construction zone while the shoulder sits there unused--but here, thought becomes action and forget the consequences.

Yesterday, while driving on the autostrad (a major thoroughfare here in Cairo with traffic traveling at higher speeds), you have to be careful of pedestrians crossing or attempting to catch a taxi or bus from either side of the divided highway.  We watched as two teen girls were almost hit while attempting to cross while there was a nearly new pedestrian bridge over the roadway less than a 100 feet from them.

There's a multitude of examples that can be given, but the point is it's going to take some time and deliberate effort to change the way people think before we can change the action.


Consider the Tobacco example...
It's been years, yyyyeeeeaaaarrrrrsssss, that we discovered that tobacco use has severe consequences to the user, and we've even concluded scientifically that 2nd hand exposure can be bad news.  Surgeon general warnings, health ministry warnings--not only on the products but on the advertisements--and not to mention decades of education within classrooms and media.

Cities go "no smoking in 'public' places" at great debate; countries (like the UK in 2007) come with even greater debate.  Some countries went to drastic measures to make their health warning cover most of the package and include gruesome pictures--but this months' legislation in Australia is the case in point: it is difficult to change people's behavior through legislation.

Australia's parliament passed and then their highest court upheld that all cigarettes, regardless of brand, will be sold in the same packaging that will be covered by the health warning and gruesome pics--no brand labels or colors.

The argument is not against the stacks of statistical data, but against the decision to keep people from doing as they like to do.

We, humans, don't like rules and orders--unless they benefit us, then somebody better not only make the rules but enforce them.  This is not only an Aussie problem, it's a Cairo problem when it comes to traffic and trash, it's an American problem when it comes to a host of "personal rights or choice" issues--pick the country, and you'll find an issue or two.

Change of heart precedes change of mind precedes change of behavior--unfortunately, governments (like churches) often want to challenge and change behavior first and wonder why there's so little or lasting results.