Written by Lana Nasser
وطني … شغلت في البعد عنه … نازعتني نفسي إليه، فعدت، لأجده مزيناً…بالنفايات
لولا غيرتي عليك يا أردن، لما بحت بشيءٍ… ولكن حبي دفعني … فهاأنا أقول
My father tells me that in the late 60’s, he used to take my mother for driving lessons on “Gardens Street.” It was called Gardens Street because it was basically a field of trees. This was before my time. Driving down the street today, you’re lucky if you spot one patch of greenery. Today, the over-crowded street is lined with stone buildings and shops; a bustling commercial area with the typical frustrations of traffic violations. If you’re lucky enough to be walking on your feet, you’ll come across plastic bags, candy wrappers, and cigarette butts, replacing the fallen leaves of yesteryears. Thus said, it does still feel like a jungle out there, with animal sounds, cat whistles, and lion glares.
At some point in my lifetime, the name of the street was changed to “Wasfi al-Tal.” Three-time Prime Minister and national icon; the man was a hero to many Jordanians. It is said that he used to severely punish those who cut down trees. He must be turning in his grave. May he rest in peace.
In 2008 I had a couple of guests from Europe and the US visit me. I tried to show them my country the way I see it, the way I love it.
I took them to Bheida, where the spirit of the place and the sand, where the rocks have faces. Between the boulders I took them to a camp-out. The plan was to put candles in the crevices of the soft stone around us, but when we arrived, we found the area decorated already: plastic bottles, trash bags, cigarette packets and unidentifiable objects. Only the food scraps were gone, as the animals ate them. There were no bins in the area, but even if there were, would people have used them? My guests and I gathered much of the trash, and within half an hour, we filled up more than three large black-bags. After cleaning up, we did manage to light the candles.
That night, I couldn’t sleep, I felt ashamed of my people. Nonetheless, my guests still loved the country, they told their friends how beautiful their trip to Jordan was. “But it’s so sad” I heard one of them say, “people have no respect for nature and they are cruel to animals.”
In 2009, I took four guests from New York to a Bedouin camp in Bheida. Just before the first bird started singing, I woke up. At sunrise, I walked to the edge of the camp. I was greeted by bottles and plastic bags, cigarette packets and a piece of tin. I picked up the trash. Just before reaching the camp, I met with one of my friends. She too was carrying a bag. The Ammarin tending the camp were sad to see us returning as we did. They vowed they cleaned the area often, which they probably did. A few months later, I visited New York. The ladies whom I hosted invited me to dinner along with their families. We laughed about our adventures in Wadi Rum and the Dead Sea.
“Do you remember,” the host said as we ate, “how funny it was when we bumped into each other that morning with our trash bags!” I didn’t think it was funny; I wanted to stick my head in the oven.
Recently, I attended a workshop by The Public Action Project. Working with USAID, they are offering a grant of 4.5 million. They aim to raise awareness and facilitate positive change by supporting environmental initiatives. Their research is most extensive and reveals the deeper issues we face. The most interesting to me, was their study about citizens’ behavior, and in particular concerning littering.
Why do people litter? What do they not care about their land, and why do they go out of their way to harm it?
The findings: No accountability or feeling of ownership. No fear of penalty. No enforcement of littering laws. Some said there weren’t enough trash bins, some blamed the Municipality and street cleaners, while others blamed the neighbors. They blamed government corruption, wasta and not putting the right people in the right place. The research revealed the animosity that people have towards the state, their resentment and apathy. They do not trust the state, nor do they believe it has their best interest in mind. In fact, they think it does not care about them at all-unless they have the right family name. By littering, they are somehow punishing their government.
This isn’t such a crazy thought, some serious vandalism happens in revenge. In Jarash recently, for example, while firemen were putting out a fire in the woods, some good samaritans were setting more trees aflame. Perhaps, it is their way of playing cat and mouse.
Rumor has it that the Ministry of Environment plans to start enforcing environmental laws. But why would it, when hardly anyone else does. It’s like expecting the traffic police to ticket double and triple parking; or expecting the Awqaf to enforce the mandate on prohibiting the airing of Friday sermon on the loud speaker.
I am cynical, I wish I were not! I want to believe that people can change without being forced to. I want to believe that people can actually learn to love nature, “in spite of the State.”
So what do we do? Do we create a green movement, but present it as a ‘counter movement’, while covertly working with the government to create change? Would people buy it and start working for the environment just to spite the government? Would it work? Do the actions of the government, like cutting down hundreds of olive trees to make a high way, for example, convince the masses that the government is anti-environment, and would environmentalism then become a revolutionary act?
I like to be an optimist, but the situation is grave. It is more than just an issue of “environment.” The real danger is in the underlying cause to this disease that makes people capable of destroying their own country and its resources.
Changing Government Changing People
For Jordan to develop, there needs to be reform. It’s not just about a new parliament, or a Ministerial game of musical chairs, it’s about a change in the paradigm itself. There is a lengthy history of corruption, and an overhaul is needed. Choosing the people who actually know about the area they are governing; people with vision and those who love the country more than their bank accounts and prestige. But even if this is done on the Ministerial level, what about parliament?
Elections are coming up and many people won’t vote. They don’t think it will make a difference. Are they right to believe that their voice doesn’t matter? How can their trust be regained? How can they re-develop loyalty? And if they do go out to vote, are they educated enough to actually ‘choose’ what serves their person and their country, rather than just choosing a member of their clan or who the sheikh told them to vote for. And even if they did vote consciously, could there ever be a fair election?
To many, the answer is negative, so they shun the system and make-believe it’s not there? But might this apathy and disengagement be perpetuating the problem?
You. We. Living on the fringe, philosophizing everything and being artists, acting civilized but disengaging, speaking عربيزي and hence reading this article: our survival and liberties depend on our active participation. Voting is not a right, it is a duty! It’s your duty, and mine. And while I’m at it, I’ll be looking for a candidate who at least mentions the environment, amongst other things.
In Australia, all it took was one person with a similar idea which started a whole national movement dedicated to cleaning up the country and creating public awareness of the issue. Please read his story on the Clean Up Australia website, at http://www.cleanup.org.au/au/About/the-clean-up-story.html . Perhaps a similar movement could be started here. The trick as I see it is to motivate like-minded citizens and set the example for others, insha’Allah.
my father has said many wise things in his lifetime, and perhaps the one thing that has stuck with me the most is this: “tell a jordanian not to shit on himself and he’ll shit on himself just to spit you.”
as a jordanian, i dont think any statement has ever been truer. there is a degree of reverse psychology that is needed when dealing with jordanians who are notorious for their stubbornness (and thus our furrowed brows). unlike others, we do not necessarily adhere to the mechanisms of incentives and disincentives, which is what most legal systems are based on. you do something wrong, you get fined…you do something right, you might get a reward (in jordan, this reward is typically not getting fined).
yes, you are right. much of these problems stem from the mistrust between the people and the government – that abyss. and because neither party has sought to bridge that gap, especially the state itself – then such problems are inevitable. and yes, some do litter out of “vengeance” – their way of “getting back” at the state that has wronged them in so many ways.
but in my opinion, the majority litter because they are raised to do so. they are socially conditioned by their parents, their relatives, their peers, their friends, their community, their society…that they must discard of garbage on the street. parenting is all but nonexistent in jordan. there is a confusion between care-giving and raising – the majority of parents seek the former, which requires basically keeping the kid alive. the latter involves instilling valid social ideals.
the solution is always a mix:
1) the government needs to apply the law, and not by simply saying it will, or do so for about a week, but really applying it. in jordan, that has never happened.
2) the infrastructure needs to exist. expecting people not to litter without placing the proper garbage collection facilities is folly. the government has done this in select areas in the past, and the garbage bins are always the kind that are designed to break within a month’s time, and thus forgotten about. moreover, there are areas just in amman where people have no access to garbage bins, and are forced to literally pile the garbage on a street corner.
3) education. education. education. awareness. awareness. awareness. the type of education where kids are taught in schools (physically and not just theoretically) to care for the environment. western nations have clean up days where kids are taken out at the age of 7 and 8 to pick up litter in the school yard. this, of course, is beneath jordanians but good enough for the west which we often look to as the model of development (and wonder why and how). awareness means involving the parents, means going door to door, means signs, etc.
putting those three things together, there’s a chance some changes could be seen within a few years. however, i too wish i wasn’t so cynical. but years of experience in this country have shown that the state, whose obligation it is to make the first move here, will unlikely be offering any of the above, any time soon. in typical government fashion it will be one or the other, and it almost always be implemented half-assed at best.
There was a social/family club called “gardens” w/ pool Hence street name, its ruins under current site of BK, Popeyes & Papa Johns complex!
@ Lana : Bassam Is right It was a Lebanese Club that was called “Gardens ” 70’s – mid 80’s–like dunes in a way it gave the Street its name . the rest of the street was full of fields–where
Cucumber and Zuchinni were planted . There were no trees .
Afterwards there was a complex had Mutassem ice cream then there was the first gulf war …then out of no where alot of buildings appeared ” May be as a revenge” and that went on till now.
But In General : Intention is good .
@ Tarawneh : I AGREE
I think the biggest part is played by education and parents. Many parents are focussing on making money rather than having a clean country. When the basic needs for life are acheived, they would be able to focus on something else as well, which exactly how the current economic state affects the people. The main person people blame for expensive standards of living with low income is the government.
Sorry if that was unclear, but it’s just my insight on the subject. My point being that most people are not feeling stable enough to actually focus on something else, such as raising their children to be more caring about the environment.
Tillawi:
It is true, when you talk with people about the environment, most respond with “هو احنا قادرين ناكل أول…. ” but still, it does not cost money to be friendly to the environment. It’s about changing the way people think and behave…. I like to think of it as brainwashing- in a positive sense (cleaning up the mind).
Tarwaneh:
Thanks for your detailed response …. I agree on point 1,2,3…yes education is key; school curriculumn ‘talk’ about the environment and studetns understand things on a mental level, but there is little application of the knoweldge. Going out to clean up should be mandatory, but also field trips to nature, where the students start developing a love and appreciation of nature is also important. Instead of only focusing on cleaning up, we should also focus on not littering in the first place.
I also think that since Jordan is largely Islamic, another path to educating the masses on the environment could be through the religious folks, at mosques and schools and so on, reminding people that their religion and prophet instill the concept of stewardship of the earth (check out: http://www.islamicbulletin.org/newsletters/issue_23/environment.aspx)
With the growing religious sentiment, this could be a good avenue for positive change.
Saifi & Aqqad: Thanks for the info – I just interrogated my father about it, he still tells me there were indeed some trees in the 60’s, but regardless, I prefer cucumber and zucchini to Poppeys and Burger King.
Abu Ismael: Thanks for the link. I think some initiatives as this have been started in Jordan, but they don’t seem to be spreading as widely. Might have to do with all the factors mentioned in the comments.
i agree, but my point about garbage picking trips is that they are tangible applications that allow kids to physically apply something they are taught only in theory.
nature appreciation is good, but i think it has its limitations. the focus should be on activities that make them understand the rights from the wrongs.
and i wholeheartedly agree about the religious approach. it will probably have a greater impact than anything else we can imagine.
When you solve it, please tell us what to do here in Cairo. 🙂 Of course, since trash is not picked up in many neighborhoods, the problem is larger than littering.
This is a topic I find SO important in Jordan. I blogged about it last year: http://joycefied.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/how-do-you-go-about-starting-a-national-campaign-to-stop-littering/
I joined a facebook group called Cleanup Jordan:
http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=168451658970
I started to see some positive pictures on the Amman facebook page – one of my favorite pages on facebook, I just wish I could read Arabic. You HAVE to see these pictures, I am so proud of these good doers, God Bless Them!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=258764&id=18896605940
There is a need and a desire for change. I feel that the government has to support projects like these at schools and a nationwide campaign. I used to attend the yearly school trips picking up garbage on road sides and it left a big impact on me and everyone else attending. We were dog tired at the end of the day, with a visible result of bag after bag of trash accumulated from people too good to wait and find a proper place to dispose of their trash. We all said we would never litter and were given the tools to keep us from littering.
The Jordanian government needs to provide VISIBLE and WELL-MAINTAINED trash bins large enough to hold the litter until the sanitation department regularly disposes of it. It could be sponsored in part by HiGeen or Deetol to make this germophobic society realize that less trash means less illnesses.
A national blogging day about anti littering and a well publicized national clean up day is a good start. Public Service Announcements and Ads on television, billboards, radio, and newspapers professionally done to stand up next to the likes of any advertising campaign will go a long way.
Looking back ~15 years ago, I think litter in Jordan has evolved… At that time, I remember you could see garbage on the streets, now you can noticeably see it flying around freely in air… Within a decade or so, I’m afraid it will start crawling into our houses and take over the place :)(
Nobuak Notohara, a Japanese orientalist once wrote (not his exact phrasing): ” When I was in an Arabian capital, I went to visit a friend of mine native of that city. When I reached my friend’s block, I was shocked with all types of garbage and litters spreading all around the place. The entrance of my friend’s building was in no better shape than the streets in terms of negligence and dirtiness. Neither was the stairway. Behind his apartment door, however, it was a different world. The apartment was clean, tidy, elegant, and comfortable.” He was shocked by the contradiction and tried to explain the phenomenon. He concluded that the disaster of persecution and the scourge of apathy are the major reasons. You can read the whole thing here: http://www.alarabimag.com/arabi/Data/2004/7/1/default.xml?Section=1 (if the link does not work, go to Al-Arabi magazine and look for July 2004 issue, talk of the month).
Finally, your comment about feeling ashamed really took the story several levels down from being an issue of bigger concern and goals to a personal matter and preference (some people might not be bothered as much as you did by the sight of litter, or even not at all). You have to remember that this is a reform struggle more noble and bigger than us as individuals. Common people and laymen are victims, not perpetrators.
Cheers