When I was preparing myself to come to Cambodia with my CAP team we were suggested to bring our own refillable bottles for drinking water. I usually travel with it, so I completely supported that idea. After spending some months in Cambodia I really think it should be a must to everybody but especially to every BOOKBRIDGE Family member travelling around.
For many CAP team members it was the first time in Asia and I don’t know if any of us asked to ourselves before travelling: What is it going to be the environmental impact of my visit to Cambodia?
When the module finished my CAP teammates turned back home but I stayed in Cambodia. I have been here for more than eight months now and I have kept wondering about my negative impact for the environment during all this time. I have seen how many Cambodians burn their trash because they don’t have or they don’t know any alternative. I wonder if all of them know how dangerous it can be for their health burning plastics or how can this affect the environment. I have also seen many plastics items hanging around both in cities and the countryside that may end up in our bodies following the food chain.
Probably most of you have seen photos of dead birds or fishes with their stomachs full of plastic, or photos of tons of plastics floating on the oceans and rivers or covering some fields or city streets. If in our countries there is a good recycling system we may think we are not part of this problem but I think we are both when we being at home and when travelling, so everyone should find her or his way to help with the solution.
Don’t wait until it is too late, act now! What is it going to be your next step?
I would like to share some resources about Cambodia that may interest you:
– Plastic Waste Never Dies (Video)
– Clean Village, No Plastic Waste (Video)
– Plastic Free Cambodia
I think it is very good you stay there longer and investigate and think about the environmental impact and use Bookbridge LCs as a starting point for environmental education of youth. Way to go! Check out e.g. this initiative for support: https://slowmotionprojects.org
Just to mention: By flying to Cambodia you also already have had a negative impact (less so if you compensated the CO2 via myclimate/southpole/etc). No judgement here, I did the same, but when thinking about environment, emissions from flying are a huge part and we should also think about how to improve our own way of travelling… Staying longer and travelling slow is a good start!