The reality is this is something I cared about in the states but not nearly enough. I didn’t see the truth until it couldn’t be hidden anymore. Here is my train of thought….
Cambodia has quickly occupied a big space in my heart. As forty one of my squad mates and I drove out of Thailand and through Cambodia we were all captivated by the beauty and simplicity of the country side. Normally on these long bus trips I sleep and sleep and sleep, but I couldn’t fall asleep because what was outside my window gave me a strange sense of feeling alive and more awake then I had been while driving out of Thailand. As we traveled on, into the country we dropped off teams from our large bus, first three teams got off the bus and headed to their ministries in bottombang, then another one in Phnom Penh then another team left and then finally the 7 members of my team were the only ones left on the bus that now felt pretty empty. We drove on through the day and into the night we finally arrived in the Kandal province, loaded onto a van and headed into the remote town that we would call home this month. It was very dark as we arrived at Shalom International School so we didn’t see much, except for how brightly the stars and moon lit up the sky. We settled into our rooms, blew up our sleeping pads and tried to get some sleep, since the very next day we would be teaching!
Monday morning arrived and we had a meeting with the the full time teachers and principle and went to work shortly after. I think it’s safe to say my team and I quickly adored the little humans we were teaching who loved to yell at the top of their lungs all the English words they knew and were hungry to learn more.
As Americans, we have a tendency to quickly accumulate trash, and one of our first questions at our new home was can we flush our toilet paper into the squatty potties? Which we would prefer to do so as not to be bothered with the trash we are creating. Well as I’m sure you can guess the answer was no. So we gathered our plastic bags to use as trash bags and had an easy solution to the problem. Then the bags filled up. Our next question, where do we take the trash once it’s full? Into the blue bins in the school yard. Next question, what about when those get full? Then we dump them into the ditch in the front of the school? Next question, is there a garbage truck to pick it up? That answer is still unknown. This wasn’t was just our bathroom trash progression, there was so much more garbage littered around that was quickly filling the blue bins and overflowing to the ditch out front. We walked along the streets of the village with gorgeous landscapes as far as you can see and what I learned was the issue of the garage filling up the ditch in our front wasn’t an isolated issue. There was trash everywhere. I remembered a documentary I had watched the previous month. It was about fast fashion and how the industry propagates buying clothes, then as soon as the fashion changes which oftentimes is overnight we want new clothes, we want more clothes.
(Also a separate train of thought but a related issue is the conditions and well being of the people making these clothes, right here on this side of the world, but that’s for another day)
Here’s the documentary that made me aware of “The True Cost” of the clothes I wear and I encourage you to take the time to get informed too. ? Check out “The True Cost” on Netflix https://www.netflix.com/title/80045667?s=i
Well what happens to the old clothes that we no longer want? They get tossed aside. I have been a guilty of this. Sure I try to donate clothes to good will, Salvation Army and other charities, but the reality is I didn’t need them in the first place. The truth about these clothes that get handed off to organizations is they sometimes don’t want them, they sometimes don’t need them, they sometimes don’t find a useful ways of disposing them, they sometimes don’t recycle them and then they too get tossed aside. Somewhere around 14 tons of textile waste a year is produced. This means around 85% of the clothes and sheets and fabrics we toss aside or donate end up in a landfill. Want to see the statics for yourself?
For the sake of keeping this a blog and not a novel click this link for more details. http://www.care2.com/causes/how-many-clothes-do-you-throw-away-every-year.html
So what does this have to do with Cambodia? Well the landfills here are different than in the States. I’m not even sure they have landfills here. I haven’t seen any but I have seen a lot of trash. I remember before I left the comfort of my own home I enjoyed jogging and biking on the Upper Hillsborough Trail. One area of the trail passes through a landfill, the irony is you can’t see a single piece of trash but you can smell it. Running through that area is actually quite beautiful and the lush green hills don’t resemble the streets filled with garbage here in Cambodia, but the problem is only centimeters under the green grass. In America oftentimes when we don’t see the problem we don’t always care to find a solution. This month I see the problem and I’m racking my brain trying to come up with solutions not only for this little village but for many of our homes where it’s not that different of a reality, just appears to be on the surface.
We need clean water, we do in America and we certainly do in Southeast Asia. Unfortunately here we don’t have the luxury of filling up our Tervis Tumblers from our fridge or our sink. We all brought refillable water bottles but sometimes we can’t access a place to fill our bottles so our easiest solution is to buy a plastic water bottle because dehydration is real problem on the field! Every time I buy a plastic water bottle I regret not bringing a stiri pen or a means of water treatment because I too am a part of the problem. I had access to make a purchase before I came on the field that could reduce the amount of plastic bottles I’ve thrown away over the last seven months but I chose not to spend the money and the cost ended up being far greater because now I have no access to buy one and all pretty bad that I didn’t. My temporary solution came to me impulsively one weekend as I visited a store in the mall in Phnom Penh. Amazing Cambodia was the name of the store and all of the products were made in Cambodia and supported local people and the communities they came from. One single aluminum water bottle with the words ‘Refill not landfill’ caught my eye. I already had an aluminum water bottle but its seal is broken and it leaks. I naturally didn’t want to throw it away because it would create more trash and also has a warranty, so I can send it when I get back to the states and the company can recycle the broken water bottle and replace it. I picked up this average looking water bottle and I purchased it. Not because I needed it, I could certainly live with my old broken one, but because on the back of this bottle there was a list of several businesses in the surrounding area where I could refill this bottle instead of buying new plastic water bottles. These are the type of businesses that I want to support and these are the kind of small decisions that I can make that can have a small impact on how much trash I contribute to this beautiful earth. What happened to my old water bottle? A team mate actually lost hers and needed one! So I got one, she got one and no extra trash was made!
I know there are changes I need to make in my life in order to do my part and I know they are not always the most convenient but I’d like to ask you to do the same. Do you know the true cost of your convenience? The coffee cups? The individual packaging? The fast food? The water bottles? The plastic grocery bags? The list goes on and on and my question is this, is it worth it for convenience? At home you don’t see it once it’s tossed in the garbage but here the kids play in it, it’s piling up along the streets we walk down, it’s floating in the rivers. I see the reality here that was hidden under green grass hills at home. We as Americans have an awesome opportunity to influence parts of the world, I think we can start by making small changes. By respecting the earth we were given to live on. By choosing paper instead of plastic at the grocery stores or better yet bringing your own reusable bags. By bringing glass Tupperware out to eat so you don’t need a styrofoam to go container. By bringing your own coffee cup to Starbucks or anywhere you buy a beverage, if they don’t let you use your own cup then find a place that will, they exist. By choosing to buy quality over quantity and not being suede by the industries that are influencing mass consumerism and consumption. By supporting campaigns like refill not landfill and fair trade organizations.
Every time you make a purchase ask yourself, do I need it, will I throw it away, can I recycle it? For me it’s easy to care because I can see the problems it creates all over the world. I know that’s not everyone’s reality and there are other problems in the world to care about, and this problem for you might take some effort, some research and some time, but it’s worth it to realize the true cost and the true consequences that are quite easily but not always conveniently avoidable.
If you’re curious what kind of companies and organizations that support this type of living check out News Without the Blues on Instagram and Facebook. It’s the brainchild of my sister Michelle and me and the goal is to highlight the good all over the world and even point out some businesses that you can feel guilt free by supporting 🙂
