Egypt Becomes A Pigsty Without Pigs
How it used to be...
In an attempt to curb the spread of HINI influenza, commonly referred to as ’swine flu’, Egypt’s officials ordered the culling of every single pig in the nation. Egyptian officials now claim that the measure was not related to the swine flu pandemic, but rather about cleaning up the filth in a local neighborhood that housed most of the pigs. As much as it was misinformed about the actual cause of the ’swine flu’–it’s not actually transmitted via pigs, but it looks similar to a virus they do carry– it was also shortsighted in terms of how it would effect the local environment.
The ‘filth’ the officials alluded to is found in the neighborhood of the zabaleen, a community of Egyptian Christians who live on the cliffs on the eastern edge of Cairo. For more than half a century, the zabaleen have collected the trash of Cairo, selling the recyclables and letting their pigs feed on the organic waste. Now, without the pigs to help clean up, the community and its surroundings have actually become the dirty, trash-ridden place the official had earlier claimed it was. The foul smelling consequences were not unexpected; the government was told repeatedly that this is exactly what would happen.
“They killed the pigs, let them clean the city,” said Moussa Rateb, a former garbage collector and pig owner who lives in the community of the zabaleen. “Everything used to go to the pigs, now there are no pigs, so it goes to the administration.”
Of course, the administration is corrupt and brainless, and is already having trouble with the actual municipality company that is supposed to clean the city streets. But, wait, what does any of this have to do with food policy?
I am using this story to illustrate the importance of thinking further than one step ahead one it comes to policy decisions. Although the United States isn’t so rash when it comes to wide sweeping legislation. The reason may be that it’s just physically impossible to rush through policy in many cases…But that doesn’t matter, the point is that a lot of our policy is made because some official wants to be re-elected. It doesn’t matter what the long-term outcome of a decision is if it means the representative gets back into office. That combined with the pressure and money from lobbyists makes our system short-term and profit oriented. Justice may be blind, but she can still smell the crisp dollars that get shoved under her nose.
The farm lobby, the coal lobby, etc. all have their environmentally detrimental say and sway officials to not think about the long-term global effects on human health and climate. Let’s just say that a lot of politicians prefer the other kind of green…
What can the every day citizen do? Well, they can join a grassroots campaign or become a lobbyist for the good, though lesser paying side. Unfortunately, too many of us (myself included) are just too lazy or time crunched as it is to go full throttle and fight the big guys.
This is America where the power of the consumer rules. We vote with our purchases just as much as we do with our petitions and town hall meetings. I am pessimistic that change will happen any time soon, but there are stirrings in the air of massive movements. The public outrage over the “Smart Choices” campaign is a sign that people do care and are willing to say something. Will more things be said? Will words turn into action? We will have to see.
/rant
/rambling
September 25, 2009
Tags: bacon, Health, policy, waste Posted in: Health, Politics
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