It’s no secret that Cairo is one of the most polluted cities in the world. Often, the air is so dirty that the sky actually looks brown rather than blue. That’s right, you heard me correctly; I said the air in Egypt’s capital is frequently BROWN. Of course, my lungs are not especially happy about this fact.
As an American who lives in such a place, I am aware (sometimes painfully) of what can happen when human beings abuse the environment. I think if more of my compatriots could come to a city like Cairo, they’d become overnight converts to the Green Movement. They’d understand that we can’t trash up the whole place without having it come back to bite us.
I often despair for the future of the planet, but then I see something, like the video I’ve included in this week’s blog, that gives me a bit of hope.
(Note: There is a problem with this video’s embed code, so clicking on the image will redirect you to the site where the clip originally appeared. You’ll have to return to the blog by hitting the “back” button. Sorry for the inconvenience.)
After watching this clip once again, I do feel that the world, and all of us who call it home, might just have a chance after all. But what we need, if this hope is to be realized, are more countries like Sweden and more programs like Climate Pilots and more people like the Stokeses.
I know that what I’m about to say might come across as hopelessly utopian, but I don’t care. I’m going to say it anyway. So here goes. I hope the day comes when a country’s power is no longer measured by how large its army is or by how many weapons it has but rather by how clean it keeps it water and air and land, and thus, by extension, how strong and healthy are its people.
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