One of the things that struck us all whilst in Bangladesh was the high importance given to the environment and climate change, and in particular the high practical response to mitigating against it.
Bangladesh is low-lying and one of the most at risk countries in the world for rising sea levels and changing weather patterns. Everywhere you go people are practically responding, whether knowingly or not,… tree’s are being planted… cow dung is being moulded onto sticks, dried and used as fuel… What really surprised me though was the transport system… not only is the bike and rickshaw king, but also most vehicles (including all the green small taxis’ in the photo below) have been converted to run on compressed natural gas (CNG – known as LPG in the UK). This is not only better for the environment but also means Bangladesh is empowered and less dependent on oil imports (especially as it’s got a huge underground source of natural gas!).
One of the other visible signs of practical environmental awareness was the lack of plastic bags… every city I have visited before is usually piled high with plastic bags, bits of them festering in corners and blowing around in the wind… but not so in Bangladesh. Why?… because the plastic bad is banned… and what a (in)visible impact it has had.
But it left me wondering… why on earth can’t we ban the plastic bag here in the UK? Instead we dilly dally around… government says we couldn’t possibly be so authoritarian and ban them… business would rather charge us for plastic, than provide a biodegradable alternative… and we’d rather pay for a disposable bag to fulfil our love for plastic… yet the solution seems simple, and I’ve seen it in action… ban the (plastic) bag!
Dhaka traffic1, originally uploaded by mattfreer.
Filed under: Environment, Lifestyle, Travels
