Recycling
The environmental workers I met when living in Siem Reap weren’t your run of the mill vegetarian / natural fiber wearing / politically correct breed you find in Western countries.
Nope they smoked, drank, swore like sailors and drove some of the biggest and noisiest motorbikes I’d ever seen.
Many are gone now but fond memories remain, of inner tubing down rivers and trips all over the countryside and lake. Once at the Angkor What Pub* we had a long chat about recycling, East vs. West. One ecogeek contended that recycling was a hobby/fashion for the well off, and an economic necessity for working class folks rather than any effort to help out the community. Regardless of what country you are in. That thought’s stuck with me.
The Viridian Design movement recently declared victory. We’re going to see a lot more recycling around the world, often mandated by law as governments get their collective asses in gear about global warming.
Might as well be considered the hip new thing, and get these early trendsetters some props. (Above and below: recycling aluminum cans in Phnom Penh.)
*Back before shaking it on the bar top became a nightly event at the (new, tourist oriented) Angkor What, they’d get the party started whenever they felt like it. Tuesday night, if need be.
Postscript March 04: Washington Post jumps on the bandwagon. Tags:cambodia,recycling
