The environment and social justice

Managing resources in a sustainable approach with people in mind should be based on a thorough understanding of the ecosystems and the impacts of our decisions and actions on those ecosystems, Environment & social justice are two essential pillars of sustainable development. Progressive& innovative methodologies of sustainably developing communities should not be a “to do list” or a manual of guidelines imposed rather than an inclusive process understanding the diversity & variety of ecosystems & communities.

As an example mostly calls from socialists & activists regarding labor rights & minimum rates of wages…etc does not foresee that in a country like Egypt for example –which is applicable for many other MENA countries- even if you gave an employee minimum of 1200 EGP per month after struggling all his/her life to save an acceptable amount of money, He/She will eventually spend most of it on curing a disease caused by pollution and environmental deterioration in the first place. This is an ineffective, disappointing scenario that urges us to revise our approach and understanding the social & economical impacts of environmental deterioration. There are even few studies linking the Arab spring uprisings in MENA with the environmental deterioration, climate change and their impacts on increasing the prices of food & commodities. Among those studies was : The Arab Spring and Climate Change,A Climate and Security Correlations Series,By Caitlin E. Werrell, Francesco Femia, and Anne-Marie Slaughter | February 28, 2013 http://climateandsecurity.files.wordpress.com/2012/04/climatechangearabspring-ccs-cap-stimson.pdf ,which argues in one of its chapters that the Chinese drought, global wheat prices & the revolution in Egypt are related in what could be called as “hazard globalization”, a once in a century winter drought in China reduced global wheat supply and contributed to global wheat shortage and skyrocketing wheat prices in Egypt ,the world largest wheat importer. Protests in Egypt focused on poverty, bread & social justice.

In the poorest village in MENA we can introduce some sustainable ideas that can generate income for the residents like planting roofs, installing PV modules on rooftops and buildings to generate electricity for the village, generating electricity from waste, recycling ….etc. Feasible incentive programs should be studied & developed by governments to apply such ideas & developing communities that can sustain themselves & meet the basic needs. As of 2010, feed-in tariff policies had been enacted in over 50 countries http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed-in_tariff#Description. Trainings & awareness campaigns should be provided; even the income generated from such activities can be used in improving the infrastructure of such villages if applicable. It does not have to always be a mega investor coming to recycle some stuff or to generate electricity from waste without involving or generating any benefit to the local community. Unfortunately CSR & corporate environmental activities in most scenarios are just “Greenwashing” a practice which causes lots of harm to the environment & results in dramatic social injustice a good study about this named “When do companies greenwash” by Christopher Marquis &Michael W. Toffel

 http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/11-115_af40ca36-f8fa-4f42-b211-0ef0ebc64da3.pdf

In order to name a couple of examples for case studies of sustainable development of communities vs. environmental degradation & social injustice. A study in Egypt for the city of Fayoum as the “Fayoum ecotourism development plan 2005-2015” http://www.cissong.org/it/press/news/il-piano-ecoturistico-del-fayoum  involving the whole community with many job opportunities in sustainable activities like the famous handicrafts,birdwatching…etc such plans are usually opposed by “big visions” and mega projects that in most cases have very negative impacts on the environment with no benefit to the local community.

The second example for sustainable development of communities vs. environmental degradation & social injustice is the displacement of millions of Egyptian Nubians from their community to several other places all over Egypt, the problem is not merely in the geographical displacement rather than taking a heritage & culture from its roots with severe negative impacts on the environment and ecosystem. This genuine Egyptian heritage & culture can be sustainably developed through a holistic inclusive plan as in the first example. This can benefit the local community and conserve the environemt.

Air & water pollution in MENA is already generating a long list of diseases with dramatically rising rates; Studies in Egypt show scary statistics stating that annually 17,000 children die of intestinal infection & diarrhea caused by Nile pollution*. climate change is already badly affecting the Nile Delta in northern Egypt & some other parts through MENA.Studies states that if the Mediterranean sea level  increased by 0.5 m this will lead to destroying 1800 square kilometer of fertile agriculture land & displacing 3.8 million residents from Nile delta , if the Mediterranean sea level  increased by 1 m this will lead to destroying 4500 square kilometer of fertile agriculture land & displacing 6.1 million residents from Nile delta http://www.grida.no/publications/vg/climate/page/3088.aspx.Rising food prices is yet another effect noticed by every single individual. And unless we understand the roots of the problem, how to manage the ecosystems and handle this environmental deterioration, those effects & even more will keep alerting us that we need to act. Social justice cannot be achieved without environmental justice.

* http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_supply_and_sanitation_in_Egypt

#Sarcasm : Mubarak is back "Ya Menz"

The legacy of the Egyptian Greens

The legacy of the Egyptian Greens

An idea that emerged against the will of Mubarak`s regime who refused to approve it for 3 years since 1987 till 1990 ,an anticipated response from a military/police state that cannot tolerate the idea that adopts “A political solution based on scientific basis” ,the case was taken to the court by the founders of the idea & a big victory was achieved against Mubarak`s regime when the supreme constitutional court approved founding the party with a greatly appreciated statement by those who call themselves the Egyptian Greens ,a statement which points out that this party is a pride for every Egyptian ,a party which advocates the right of future generations on scientific basis challenging the stereotypes of the past & the habits of creating pharaohs/dictatorships. The idea initiated when some Egyptians heard of a story coming from Germany about a group who call themselves the Greens stood against a carcinogenic kids milk cargo which was going to a “3^rd world`s country” and this 3<sup>rd</sup> world`s country was Egypt,Here come the calls specifically from the journalist/writer AbdulSalam Dawood that it is our duty as Egyptians to protect our children, environment & future generations.

Hassan Ragab

Around 1000 membership applications were submitted to the party once it was officially launched ,around 

70-80% were university professors, intellectuals & researches ,which could have been a disadvantage of creating an academic,isolated,theoretical,elite party or it could have been an advantage of effectively figuring out scientific solutions for our problems, causes & plans,The first party`s president was not the person who initially called for founding it (AbdulSalam Dawood) ,He was Hassan Ragab a patriotic scientist, researcher & politician.

The Egyptian Greens then had started to make a noticeable development, worth mentioning that the party is one of the oldest Egyptian parties in terms of the date of foundation (The 7^th party in terms of date of foundation) ,The Greens by that time represented the third path a different approach from the socialist/communist camp & the NDP camp. A scientific approach discussing the right of future generation & adopting social justice in a different approach as well ,The Egyptian Greens were proactive in advocating & promoting for several causes creating national awareness about them as : The world war two`s  landmines in Al-Alalameen-Northern coast ,pollution & the human environmental rights ,sustainability. The party`s platform discussed & highlighted several significant issues including -but not limited to- social justice, environment & resources, sustainable economical approaches…etc,The party demonstrated it`s commitment in acknowledging youth & future generations by accepting members starting from 16 years old in contrary to all the other existing parties.

Campaign advocating the northern coast landmines cause

Several intellectuals & scientists were involved in writing down the party`s platform ,in addition to Hassan Ragab & Abdulsalam Dawood we have to mention Bahaa Bakry a guru who enlightened the green movement in Egypt in different fields & he was the fourth president for the party after Hassan Ragab,Abdulsalam Dawood,Kamal Keera & then Bahaa Bakry something which the Egyptians Greens are proud of as well as it was a unique democratic practice under Mubarak`s regime that a party elects 5 presidents in few years ,as AbdulMoneam Alasaar was chosen as the 5^th president for the Greens.

Bahaa Bakry about the Egyptian Greens

Bahaa Bakry about climate change

The Egyptian Greens campaigned for several protests for various causes, with a rising popularity  which of course pissed off Mubarak`s regime and here started the plan for screwing the Egyptian Greens through expected & common practices by that time ,the breaking point was the clear opposition of the Greens to a project in upper Egypt called Toshka ,the Greens stated that this is an unfeasible project on no scientific basis and it is a political propaganda for achieving personal fake glory after that campaign Mubarak`s regime shut down the party for 3 years from 1995 to 1998 ,during this period most of the Greens activists were gone & Mubarak`s regime mission was successfully accomplished by "militarizing the party" and stamping it as  just another part of the" political décor/cover" for an undemocratic regime & the Greens resistance against this did not find its way back to success.

The regional & international impact was also noticeable through the "Arab Greens" which the Egyptian Greens played a proactive rule in initiating & supporting it, and the global greens which the Egyptian Greens are a member of , and even though entities as the Arab Greens has not succeeded in achieving the expected impact but it remains the seed of an important regional movement which advocates common regional causes. 

A photo for the "Arab Greens" in 2008

The Greens during & after Jan25 revolution

The Greens rejected any sort of political abuse for the revolution based on a genuine belief that this is a revolution from the people with demands of freedom, social justice,basic rights & better life conditions ,Demands which should not be politically abused, After the revolution a young man(Hisham Zayed) who has been a Green & Jan25 activist was delegated as the 6^th Green party president ,And Bahaa Bakry the 4^th president stayed as an executive director preaching the ethics that the Greens should stick to in the new era for the Egyptian Greens till his death in November 2012 (RIP),Again the "expected success" was not achieved by the Greens due to many reasons in addition to internal reasons ,the revolutionaries act of refraining from effective political participations and their concerns about political polarizations which negatively affected their potential impact ,Moreover most of the environmental activists in Egypt preferred to proceed their activities through NGOs & voluntary work without going political,& of course this does not justify the dereliction in conducting the message by those who believe in it.

The Greens have had some significant inputs in several issues during & after Jan25, starting from revolting against Mubarak`s regime, rejecting the constitutional declarations, campaigning for invalidating the votes during the presidential elections, campaigning for voting against the new constitution, campaigning for participating in June30 protests ,in addition to several protests in solidarity with the people against pollution in several governorates (More details here),campaigning against the nuclear energy, campaigning against sexual harassment…etc.

This was a summary for an honorable legacy for an idea which promotes the right of future generations,human dignity,non-violence,social justice,grassroots democracy & ecological wisdom ,and I ask anyone who has more documents,photos & videos about this legacy to share it in order for future generations to know that there was someone who stood for them & advocated their rights, and to go on conveying the message more effectively.

Resources :

More links about the Egyptian Greens campaigns

The Egyptian Greens official website

The Egyptian Greens twitter account

A call for sustainable politics in Egypt & settling for the imperfect

One definition of politics states: Politics is the art of settling for the imperfect, Pursuing perfection in a democratic model in Egypt now is not exactly the right approach & actually has been one of the mistakes of Jan25-2011 revolutionaries (and this by no means justifies compromising or forsaking values & ethics ,but this is a call for understanding how to build a "sustainable imperfect model"), This mistake has isolated them in ivory towers which led to a rising audience against them not only the pro-Mubarak `s regime audience but from the audience described as the "silent majority" a justified impression given that the revolutionary forefront either refrained from effectively getting involved in the political fabric or were polarized to straying  movements & parties or adopted the approach of aggressively criticizing everything 

without offering alternatives or solutions.

Egypt and the world should pass the stage of "A revolution or a military coup debate" & some immediate steps should be acknowledged & executed, a common understanding that a perfect model is not applicable & has never been applicable anywhere in the world throughout history ,an inclusive imperfect model is a basic foundation for a sustainable model ,The aggressive calls for "excluding & terminating the others" is leading us to nowhere ,more or less to a "swing model" where we are ruled by extremists from one side   which leads to a revolution getting us the extremists from the other side and so on in an endless loop.

Negations should immediately start for a "sustainable inclusive imperfect model".