Putting picnic trash in the can or taking it home with you for disposal is a type of education a lot of people in Middle Eastern countries are lacking.
I’ve seen families at city parks and in the forests leave behind mountains of trash after their BBQs, shaking out the picnic cloth to leave behind bags, meat wrappers and plastic bottles.
Oh and my favorite: dirty diapers. I’ve seen it in Syria, and Israel, and according to the Jordan Times littering is a big problem there too.
Environmentalists in Jordan have just launched a campaign to preserve the Kingdom’s forests from litterbugs and vandals. The new initiative, “Save the Forests”, according to the Jordan Times, was launched from one of the country’s forests where plastic bags and all kinds of garbage left by irresponsible picnickers are spoiling the scenery.
Jordan’s environment minister Khalid Irani (who supported Earth Hour in Jordan), cleaned up trash along with Australian Ambassador in Amman Glenn White.
The effort is part of a clean-up campaign designed to highlight the abuse of forests and build awareness on the need to conserve the Kingdoms limited green
cover, which constitutes less than 1 per cent of the country’s total land area.
Organised by the Friends of the Environment Society in Jordan, in cooperation with the Ministry of Environment, the Australian embassy, the Royal
Society for the Conservation of Nature, others voting for support included the Greater Amman Municipality, the Rangers and several environmental NGOs and private sector companies.
My dad used to do it when I was a kid in Canada, but our education system targeted the kids (me) to educate our parents in a different way. Throwing trash out the windows in Jordan is still a common thing. Sociologists there say it’s because the people don’t feel they belong to the place.
360 east has a good post on what’s ruining Amman’s great oaks. It’s not just vandalism and litter. Or poor Jordanians chopping the trees down for firewood, but bigger scale urban development by millionaires in Amman. (Above image is from 360 east blog).
To read the whole story on Save the Forests, see the Jordan Times.
Author: Karin Kloosterman
Karin Kloosterman is an award-winning journalist and publisher that founded Green Prophet to unite a prosperous Middle East. She shows through her work that positive, inspiring dialogue creates action that impacts people, business and planet. She has published in thought-leading newspapers and magazines globally, owns an IoT tech chip patent, and is part of teams that build world-changing products to make agriculture and our planet more sustainable. Reach out directly to [email protected]
Park rangers are an excellent idea and something that people who don't want or can't go to the army could be a part of. The religious population in Israel and also the Israeli Arab population are exempt from military service. But like in other countries ie Germany and Switzerland, those that don't go to the army, need to do public service. This could be an excellent program to start and is one which could make money to service the parks. It could be a dangerous job though in some parks….
Why don't they hire park rangers? They should make it a law, therefore anybody who trashes will be ticketed, as long as there are park rangers (paid) and on duty.