Green Around the Globe » Egypt

A Traveler’s Perspective on the Unrest in Egypt

Amy — Wed, 02 Feb 2011 16:34:02 +0000

Yes, We Can Too!

These words were splashed across the screen on CNN’s all day broadcast of the uprising in Egypt. If you had told me a year ago that one day I’d see the people of Egypt staging an uprising, echoing the words of Barack Obama’s presidential campaign, I would have suggested you lay off the hooka for a while.

The hostel we stayed in is only one block from the main protests in Cairo

Because, you see, for me, the news about the civil unrest in Egypt came as quite a shock. It’s not that we didn’t see the deplorable living conditions first hand. We choked on the brown air, were approached by children in rags chanting what seemed like the only word they knew, baksheesh (tip or money), and learned about the crushing poverty during our meeting with CEDARE. We even experienced the corruptness of the local law enforcement, being taken behind the velvet ropes by officers in uniform for better photos of the Citadel only to then be refused exit without paying a bribe.

What is so surprising about the images on the news is that the palpable sense of hopelessness among the Egyptian people just one year ago seemed impossible to overcome. Never did I imagine that a people so broken and depressed could be inspired to stage such an uprising.

River on the way to the Great Pyramids

Unfortunately, what has not surprised me is the looting and destruction of Egypt’s treasured antiquities. We saw how the pyramids were strewn with trash, and how shopkeepers swept garbage into the Red Sea reefs. We grappled with the notion of a country so focused on getting through today that there was no idea of tomorrow, let alone a better tomorrow to strive for.

I am often asked how travel has changed me. My usual response is that travel doesn’t change who you are, but it does change how you see the world. Two years ago the headlines about Egypt would have been interesting, but nothing more. After spending more than three weeks there, I now feel a personal connection to the country, and find myself often wondering about the safety of the hostel owner in Cairo whose building is right in the heart of the city, or how the staff at CEDARE and their families are coping with the chaos in their country. As I watch the terrific and all too often violent images on television, all I can do is hope that the Egyptian people get the government they are seeking and begin to rebuild their country with a renewed sense of hope.

Keith with Ibrahim, his Egyptian Dive Instructor

5 Minutes through the Middle East

Keith — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 12:00:49 +0000

As Amy and I have wrapped up 2 months in the Middle East we put together a 5 minute slide show of some of our favorite pictures and added witty captions. We posted this to our Facebook Fan page more than a week ago, so if you are on Facebook be sure to become a fan so you get the latest updates. If you are not on Facebook be sure to sign up for email alerts or the RSS feed in the side bar to the right.

Enjoy the video and let us know what you think. We will try and do one of these every couple of months, especially if we get a good response to this one…

Choosing to Use the Sun

Keith — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 12:00:21 +0000

Upon arriving in Turkey or Israel, you quickly realize there is something different about nearly every roof in these countries: they all have solar hot water units. Most amazing is that it does not seem to matter if the building is a small two-room house in a remote area or a massive apartment complex in downtown Istanbul. Once I started to notice solar hot water units in Turkey, I began looking for them as we traveled throughout the Middle East. I found that the nearly universal presence of solar hot water units in Turkey and Israel contrasts strikingly with other Middle Eastern countries such as Egypt, Jordan and the UAE, where I saw almost no solar hot water units. Digging into the matter more, two overriding and linked factors seem to drive the difference between universal use of solar hot water and the complete absence of the technology:

Policies that create financial incentives for households to invest in energy efficient technologies; and
Wide availability of affordable, energy efficient technologies for consumers.

The lack of meaningful policies and financial incentives is at the root of the lack of the utilization of solar technologies in Egypt. When I asked Ahmed Abdelrehim of CEDARE in Cairo about the absence of solar hot water units in Egypt, he answered without hesitation that the reason there is almost no solar hot water in Egypt, despite laws in the Mediterranean resort areas requiring it, is that electricity is subsidized. This removes the financial incentive for households to invest in solar hot water systems because they have higher upfront costs. The Egyptian electricity subsides are a way to help create a social safety net for the 32.4 million poor people in Egypt*. And despite recent pressure from the World Bank to reduce the subsidy and increase peak-hour electricity costs, the political will is lacking for swift action. As a result, more buildings are built without integrated solar technologies and Egyptian consumers continue to purchase inefficient electric hot water heaters.

Widespread availability of low-cost consumer solar systems is a major factor leading to increased use of solar hot water in Turkey and Israel. In talking with people in both countries, I learned that high-end consumer solar systems were available for less than 800 Euros ($1,150). And there are many solar options that cost even less. After searching Lowes.com, Walmart.com and HomeDepot.com for “solar hot water” and returning zero relevant results, I am not surprised that the American consumer would think that installing a personal solar hot water system is a complicated and expensive proposition, and, even with the availability of a federal tax credit, for most Americans it is much more expensive. I did a search for the cost of a residential unit in the US and found that units “… cost only $6,000 to $8,000 installed depending on the area.” This was according to http://www.solarroofs.com. Even with the tax credit, the low-end cost estimate is still $4,500 for a US household, significantly more than what Turkish consumers are paying for a high end system. Low cost consumer units are available in the rest of the world, and with a change in the US energy policy to increase demand (and thus lower prices even further), I am confident that retailers such as Wal-Mart, Home Depot and Lowes would begin selling millions of them to US consumers.

So why is this such a critical issue for the US? In Adam Werbach’s A Strategy for Sustainability, he illustrates the potential impact of “green” products such as TIDE® COLDWATER® Detergent. He states, “…if every American changed to cold-water laundry, it would go a long way toward reaching the CO2 reduction commitment that the U.S. negotiators made (although never ratified by the Senate) in the Kyoto Protocol, the first global compact on climate change.”

While the efforts of companies like P&G are admirable and are making a significant difference, I take a different view from Werbach that is more consistent with a recent article in the Washington Post by Mike Tidwell. Recently, I’ve come to believe that we cannot simply “small step” or consume enough “green” products to drive the quick and significant change we need to limit the impacts of catastrophic climate change. We need meaningful policies that will quickly create the personal financial incentives for US households to change behavior and increase their own energy efficiency. With the right incentives in place, the creativity of green entrepreneurs all over the world would be unleashed to meet the new demand for more sustainable and energy efficient technologies. And if we do not have the political will at the national level, I am hopeful that there seems to be progress at the local level, as evidenced by the Conference of Mayors 77th Annual Meeting in Providence (RI).

Despite the less than stellar progress in Copenhagen over the last two weeks, I am hopeful that the US will make the necessary policy changes to become the leader in sustainable and energy efficient technologies that we have the potential to become. I would hate to see countries like Turkey, Israel, Germany and even China (a leader in consumer solar hot water) eclipse us.

*Nawar, Abdel-Hameed, “From Marina to Kom-Ombo: A Note on Poverty in Egypt,” Cairo University, manuscript, August 2007.

No stamp please

Keith — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 12:00:09 +0000

“No stamp in the passports, please,” I politely asked the Egyptian Immigration Agent before handing over our passports.

“Ok,” replied the Immigration Agent.

Cha-chunk, cha-chunk (stamping my passport).

“What are you doing!?! I asked for no stamps in the passport.” I said with an elevated voice.

Cha-chunk, cha-chunk (now stamping Amy’s passport).

“Stop! Why are you not listening to me?” Now I’m quite loud, and the chatty Indonesian tour group behind us in line has grown silent to see what the crazy American is yelling about.

Two other Egyptian Immigration Agents come over and are trying to quiet me down by explaining, much to my frustration, that this is not an Israeli stamp, which I am of course well aware of. They then escort me out of line.

Let me back up here a bit. Crossing the Taba boarder from Egypt into Israel, Amy and I had planned to have Immigration stamp loose pieces of paper, not our passports. This is because while a Taba exit stamp is not an Israeli stamp, it might as well be in some countries (Syria, Lebanon, even the occasional overzealous UAE Immigration Agent) because there is only one place you are going if you leave from Taba, you guessed it, Israel. That is because after you exit Taba you then walk 100 meters to Israeli Immigration at Eilat. There is nowhere else to go unless you wanted to jump into the Red Sea and swim to Jordan. Now we are not planning on going to Syria or Lebanon but why not avoid potential future headaches by having the Immigration authorities simply stamp a piece of paper which they were happy to do after stamping “Cancelled” across our Taba exit stamps? In the end we will be fine, but it was a final less than awesome interaction with the Egyptian government.

Once we made it to Israeli Immigration the agent was more than happy to stamp a piece of paper once we explained we are going to the UAE. Even though the official stance of the UAE is that an American traveling on a US passport is permitted to enter, even if they have an Israeli stamp, we figure why ask for trouble when it is so easy to avoid? Well, easy when dealing with the Israeli agent.

So what is your best clearing Immigration story?

Diving Dahab

Keith — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 12:00:45 +0000

Dahab wins the prize for the city we have stayed in the longest, 11 days. It is a very laid back town along the Red Sea on the Sinai Peninsula. We stayed at the Penguin Village Hotel, which offered great budget lodging, and fantastic sea views. Besides relaxing and enjoying the views we spent a fair amount of time in the crystal clear water. I learned how to scuba dive, getting my Open Water Certification and completing two adventure dives with Deep Blue Divers. I would highly recommend them to anyone diving in Dahab. Amy enjoyed some awesome snorkeling and saw many cool fish including; masked puffers, painted butterfly fish, parrot fish and lion fish.

Enjoy the pictures below.

To everyone in the US we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!

A Breath of Fresh Air – Aswan and Luxor, Egypt

Amy — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:00:17 +0000

The train station platform in Giza is packed, filthy and loud as we wait for our overnight train to Aswan, which is running late. Old, decrepit trains pull into the station, one after another, and the kid sent with us by the hostel to ensure we get onto the right train looks nervous, unsure which is the right train to put us on. A train pulls in, and many of the other obvious tourists on the platform board. Is this our train? The kid looks unsure. We stand on the platform as the train pulls away. What exactly have we gotten ourselves into?

About an hour later, we are escorted onto a train. Much to my relief, the sleeping cabin is private and clean, with warm blankets and soft pillows. We both sleep well on the thirteen-hour ride south.

Aswan is literally a breath of fresh air after spending several days in Cairo. It’s hot, but the air is clear and the traffic is light. After a quick lunch and settling into our hotel room, we meet up with our tour guide to explore the sites, including the Unfinished Obelisk, the High Dam (which was built to control the flooding of the Nile River, provide hydroelectric power and resulted in the creation ofLake Nassar), and the beautiful Philae Temple.

The next morning we arose at 3am to meet up with the convoy to Abu Simbel, just north of the Sudanese border. All traffic to Abu Simbel is required to travel in one of two convoys and stop at multiple checkpoints along the way. After a nearly four-hour ride, we arrived at the magnificent temples of Abu Simbel. As you can see, all of our pictures are of the exteriors of the temples. Like many of the sites in Egypt, photographs of the beautiful carved and painted interiors of the temples is forbidden.

In Luxor, we explored the Mummification Museum, a small but interesting museum dedicated to all things mummy. A little creepy, but at the same time fascinating. In the late afternoon we meet up with our guide for a tour of the Karnak Temple, catching the sunset before heading to the Luxor Temple, which is lit up after dark.

The next day our guide takes us to the West Bank of Luxor to tour the Valley of the Queens, the Valley of the Kings, Deir el- Bahri (the Mortuary Temple of Hatshepsut), and the Colossi of Memnon. Again, photography is forbidden inside the amazing tombs, so you’ll have to use you imagination to see the amazing paintings and carvings that line the walls.

It was a hectic four days touring Aswan and Luxor, but the sites were incredible and with the help of a great guide we learned more about ancient Egypt that we could have possible imagined. Next up, recovering from so much site seeing on the beaches of Dahab.

CEDARE

Amy — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 12:00:42 +0000

On November 4^th Keith and I had the pleasure of meeting with Dr. Nadia Makran Ebeid, the Executive Director of the Center for Environment and Development for the Arab Region and Europe (CEDARE), Dr. Ahmed Abdelrehim, Regional Programme Manager of CEDARE’s Knowledge Management Programme, and several other members of CEDARE’s impressive staff who took time out of their busy schedules to discuss ongoing sustainability efforts in the Middle East. CEDARE is focused on the intersection of economics, social development and the environment. Our meeting covered a wide range of topics, including issues of water quantity and quality, electronic waste, the upcoming Arab Environmental Outlook Report, and CEDARE’s work with the Sekem Initiative. Our meeting with the staff of CEDARE gave us eye-opening insight into the unique cultural and economic challenges that sustainability efforts face in the Middle East. I think our meeting with CEDARE will really help us with our perspective as we document such efforts in the Middle East and in developing countries around the world. Keith and I definitely have a lot to think about as we prepare our next case study.

Special thanks are due to Dr. Abdelrehim for making this meeting possible and for putting us in touch with Dr. Nawal Al-Hosany, the Associate Project Director – Sustainability at Masdar in the United Arab Emirates. We are looking forward to meeting with Dr. Al-Hosany in early December and learning more about Masdar City, the preeminent example of sustainable development in the region.

The Trashing of Egypt’s Treasures

Amy — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 12:00:53 +0000

As Keith already wrote, Cairo is a smoggy, crowded and chaotic city of nearly 20 million people. Seeing trash on the sidewalks, while unfortunate, is not unexpected. Nor is it all that different from the city sidewalks back home in Philadelphia. Outside of the Center City District, which imposes a quasi-governmental tax on local businesses and residents to fund a force of workers who keep the sidewalks clean, Philadelphia’s sidewalks are often strewn with litter, including, of all things, chicken bones. With so many people, high unemployment rates and little money to spare, keeping Downtown Cairo trash-free is clearly not a high priority for the government. It’s hard to throw stones when home is the quintessential glass house.

Then we arrived at the Great Pyramids of Giza, often at the top of the list of the Seven Wonders of the World. There, in the sand that surrounds the Pyramids, we spot a crushed plastic water bottle. Then another. And another.

Trash along the side of the horse trail to the Pyramids of Giza

Candy bar wrappers, broken glass, cans, papers and plastic debris. It’s everywhere you look, and it’s a shame. Here is the primary driver for tourism in Egypt, visited by millions of tourists each year and a huge moneymaker for the Egyptian economy, and it is completely filled with trash. Not only do we have to crop out other tourists from our photos, but the trash that seems to fill the bottom of nearly every shot. The other tourist sites around Egypt don’t fare much better when it comes to the proper disposal of litter. I don’t recall seeing chicken bones on the sidewalk next to the Liberty Bell, do you?

But it gets worse.

Walk along the boardwalk in Dahab, a beach resort town on the Red Sea that is popular with divers and snorkelers. On any given morning you will see the hotel and shop owners sweeping up the trash along the pathway.

Onto the beach.

And eventually into the sea and the coral reef, the reason that the divers and snorkelers are here in the first place.

There are trashcans along the boardwalk and signs asking people not to improperly dispose of their

Notice the "Please No Rubbish Here" sign...

garbage. But the beach seems like an easier place to dispose of the litter that accumulates. While diving and snorkeling, the beauty of tropical fish and corals is often disrupted with stray plastic bags and broken bottles floating in the clear waters.

I understand that Egypt is a poor country and most people are struggling just to get by, let alone get educated about the environment and do something to preserve it. The concept of sustainability, rooted in terms of the resources that will be available to future generations, doesn’t work when the struggle is about surviving the day today.

Maybe I am just a product of an over-sanitized American culture that most of the rest of the world can’t afford to duplicate. Maybe I completely internalized the “Give a Hoot” commercials from my childhood and am programmed to be appalled by litter. Regardless of the environmental impact, actively destroying the natural assets that are at the core of one’s own livelihood just doesn’t make economic sense. No reefs, no divers. No divers, no businesses. No businesses, no jobs.

Am I just a spoiled American experiencing culture shock? Am I missing something that explains why it is acceptable to litter at the sites of ancient wonders and world-class coral reefs? What can I do as a tourist to promote values of sustainability in the places I travel?

An (un)welcome to Egypt

Keith — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 12:00:27 +0000

Smog, diesel fumes, prodigious amounts of litter and crazy traffic: this was the unwelcome that greeted us as we left Cairo International Airport. As we made our way through the crazy streets of Cairo from the airport to our hostel Downtown, we saw plenty of proof that the side bar warning in our Lonely Planet about Cairo traffic being intimidating and making the simple task of crossing the street feel like a life threatening experience was spot on. Lonely Planet’s recommendation is to use a local as a guide or, more accurately, a human shield when crossing the street. Frogger skills are a prerequisite when walking around Cairo. Below is a short 19-second clip of a more moderate intersection our cab went through in Cairo. The other trademark of Cairo is the constant 24/7 horn honking. It is for a totally different purpose than in the States, it is mostly to say “Here I come, please get out of the way.” As another traveler told us, the cars don’t want to hit you, so make sure they see you and you should be fine.

But no one goes to Cairo for the traffic, it is something to be dealt with while trying to get around to see the sites. And there are plenty of sites to see. Our first stop was the Pyramids at Giza. These are some of the oldest buildings from ancient Egypt, built in the first dynasty over 5,000 years ago. The later Pharaohs learned that if you build a huge pyramid the grave robbers and thieves have a pretty easy time finding your tomb and the treasure buried with you. Staying hidden from robbers was critical for the reincarnation they believed in, so later tombs were hidden in the Valley of the Kings near Luxor. We ended up riding horses to tour the pyramids. And while it provides nice panoramic views like the ones below, it is not a necessary part of the visit, no matter what your driver says. We learned this the hard way as the driver insisted that we could not get to the pyramids via a car and that it was a 2 hour hike otherwise. And while we were awe struck as we came over the ridge below and took in the view of the Giza Pyramids, it was somewhat ruined when we got a bit closer and noticed the parking lots and cabs right at the base of the Pyramids. In the end it was not cheap (~$100) but it was a nice experience. Just be sure to negotiate better than we did if you choose to do it, the cost should be closer to $50 including a guide and entrance fees. In the end I’ve decided not to beat myself up too much for being taken for a ride (get it?) since I had who I thought was a trusted person, our hostel provided driver, flat out lying to me. Lesson learned.

The next stop was the Step Pyramids at Sakkara. Besides the pyramids there is an excellent museum, which is included in the entrance fee. I would highly encourage anyone visiting Sakkara to set aside an hour for the museum. One of the advantages of Sakkara is that you can go inside Teti’s Pyramid for free.

The next day we stopped at Old Cairo to wander and see beautiful Coptic Churches and we happened upon Ben Ezra, an old synagogue. Unfortunately there were no pictures allowed inside. This is a common occurrence in most of the historical attractions in Egypt. So think twice before lugging a heavy camera bag around all day, as I did. A simple pocket-sized point and shoot is fine for days when you will be inside most of the day. After Old Cairo we headed up to the Citadel, which had the Muhammed Ali mosque.

The location on a hill overlooking Cairo provided some great views.

We ended the tour in the second day at the Egyptian Museum, which the only picture we have is on the outside. They are so serious about not allowing pictures that you have to check your camera before entering. The museum is massive and using the Lonely Planet recommendations we hit the highlights in about 3 hours. The best two parts were the Royal Mummy exhibit (which was an extra 100LE each) and the extensive Tutankhamen treasure. The Tutankhamen display was much more impressive than the exhibit that was touring the US a couple of years ago.

One final stop on the way home was the bookstore at the American University of Cairo. If you find yourself lacking reading material or in need of a guidebook while in Cairo they have an extensive English language bookstore with decent prices. After a couple of days in Cairo we were off to Aswan via an overnight sleeper train, which was quite comfortable, and luxurious when compared to some of the overnight buses in Turkey.