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Going Green without Spending Green

March 7, 2008

by Mike Snyder

When it comes to harming the environment, I’ve never understood why developing countries, the so-called Third World nations, get constantly chastised by developed industrial economies like the United States. It seems strange that Americans who actually care about sustainable development, protecting the environment, and resource management seem ultra-aware of environmental abuses perpetrated by giants like China and India, but they never seem to talk about all the good things people in the Third World are doing to keep the environment on track.

The peculiar truth is that many Third World citizens, if not their governments, have a lot to offer us in terms of advice for helping to reduce our environmental impact, and in turn, letting humanity bask in prosperity a little longer. The West may have green buildings, wind power, and CFLs, but Third World countries have several tried-and-true techniques that have evolved over thousands of years of having to adapt to the regional environment, few of which require photovoltaic cells or other cutting edge technology. I witnessed a number of these strategies during my semester abroad in Morocco, both in urban and rural settings. The following is an abbreviated list of some the smart, creative, and bold lifestyle changes you can make if you really want to shake up the way you treat the environment — and yourself along with it.

Live in a white house. Most Moroccans don’t like George Bush very much, but they tend to have similar tastes in architectural style. Because the color white reflects sunlight better than darker colors, it acts as a wonderful insulator to keep your home cool in the summer months. This saves air-conditioning costs and fan-usage. Virtually every home in the Old City of Morocco’s capital is a bright off-white color; some even have gardens on their roofs, adding a literal meaning to the term “green building.” Maximize vehicle space. If you’re too lazy to carpool, you’ll hate North Africa, where the taxi drivers stuff seven people in mid-sized sedans so they never have to double back. And unlike in the States, Moroccans actually make full use of their mini-vans and SUVs by throwing ten or more people in the backseats. It’s like public transportation on a miniature scale: people commute to work by hopping atop pickup-trucks with 15 other people already aboard, or just by hitch-hiking. So don’t complain next time you’re in the “middle seat” of a car on your way to Prudential. Eat lower on the food chain. I love meat, but animal cruelty aside, cutting back on the stuff is one of the most significant ways to reduce your environmental impact, according to consumerconsequences.org. A huge portion of the grain produced in Midwestern farms goes to feed cattle — not ourselves — who also eat up pastures and release lots of toxic gasses, like methane, into the atmosphere. It is even argued that the beef industry contributes to greenhouse gasses on par with petroleum burning. Moroccans could definitely take a hint from the Vegetarian Society, but at least they tend to eat lamb instead of beef, as well as buy their meat from local butcheries instead of relying on carbon-fueled transportation (and refrigeration-cooled meat) from thousands of miles away. Bring your own bag. No less than ten or 20 years ago, when Moroccans wanted to eat dinner, they would head to the neighborhood marketplace and buy fresh locally-grown produce directly from farmers or middle men. But in this globalized era of processed foods, McDonalds, and supermarkets, meals are less environmentally friendly and plastic bags pollute the countryside en masse. Still, many families rely on local organic foods, and though it takes more time to prepare, it tastes a hell of a lot better and requires a lot fewer energy-consuming industrial processes. Dorm lifestyle isn’t exactly conducive to home cooking, but try to eat at Dewick over Jumbo Express, and forgo the plastic bag at Hodgdon. Be a Berber. Average Americans are privileged enough to be insulated from the wear and tear of environmental damage and degradation; we don’t worry about where our garbage goes because it goes someplace far away. But take a rural Berber community in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains: the villagers there must coexist beside their environment everyday, and thus become acutely aware of when they chop down too many trees for fuel, overgraze the pasture with flocks of sheep, and damage the soil through excessive farming. Plus, there’s no place for the garbage to go (except in the river) when you’re 100 miles away from the nearest city. Instead of living in a bubble, realize that just because you can’t see the effects of your consumption firsthand doesn’t mean there are none. Be a patriot. Don’t try to tell those Berber villagers that climate change isn’t real, or they’ll think you’ve been smoking way too much hash. In part due to increasing global temperatures, Morocco has been experiencing a drought for over three decades. This drought has led to decreased mountain snowfall and therefore fewer water sources (i.e. snowmelt lakes and streams). Hundreds of thousands of rural villagers, who lack irrigation water to grow sufficient crops, have been forced to migrate to big cities like Casablanca, where they sometimes end up in awful slums and, in their desperation, get recruited by terrorist organizations. Talk about national security. Buy less crap. I’m sure the economists among us are shaking their fists at the suggestion, but seriously, buy less stuff. Americans consume upwards of 25% of the world’s resources and 26% of the world’s energy; everything you purchase takes resources and energy to make, and generates waste. Take a hint from my Moroccan host family, who rarely bought new goods — they usually opted to use older items or fix what they already had. They also kept their trash light, used cloth instead of paper towels or napkins, and slept on couches or floor mats instead of Western beds. Go wild, but not too much. For the really brave among us, act like the vast majority of people in the world, and don’t use any toilet paper. TP is a luxury for most Asians, Africans, and Latin Americans (that is, if they even understand how to use it properly). Even Europeans grab half as many sheets as Americans. Somebody passed along to me the interesting but questionable tidbit that if everybody in the world used as much toilet paper as Americans, all of the world’s forests would be cut down in a matter of weeks. Okay, hygiene is important and maybe we shouldn’t dispel with the toilet paper entirely, but few public health officials would complain if Americans took quicker showers and rewore yesterday’s clothes.

The sad reality that few Americans are willing to recognize is that to change our relationship with the environment, it’s necessary to change some of the very tenets of American lifestyle and culture. The only way for America to halt its unsustainable path of resource consumption and waste creation — barring environmental catastrophe, government policy-overhaul, or the rise of a dictator — is if Americans start to devalue material goods, respect the natural world, and abide by the motto that “less is more.”

America can learn a thing or two from its neighbors in this regard. The problem is when the opposite occurs: when countries like China and India start to adopt Western attitudes towards natural resources and the environment. Then the result is obscene amounts of polluted rivers, high carbon dioxide emissions, destroyed ecosystems, toxic air pollution, etc. The irony here is that countries like Morocco, despite their environmental friendliness, lack environmental conscientiousness; the populace has no concept of an “environmental movement.” Their sustainable practices have occurred organically over the centuries through trial and error. If outside influences persuade them to change their lifestyle, however, Moroccans will screw up as badly as Americans have — which is the danger when the West opens up its technologies, goods, and services to the markets of non-industrialized countries that don’t know the meaning of the word “carbon footprint.”

It’s already happening. A quick stroll through the Old Medina marketplace reveals unprecedented numbers of plastics, textiles, telecommunications technology, computers, and other goods that the locals soak up with lots of purchasing power and not a clue as to the environmental impact of such products. And as the happy people gorge, the country gradually becomes a cesspool of grocery bags, old plastic parts, dried-up rivers, and felled forests. Soon it will be hard to tell where the Sahara ends and where Morocco begins.

Mike Snyder is a junior majoring in American Studies.