As a Saudi Arabian who is excited about the prospects of a society that is progressing yet concerned about the future of his country, I have a proposition to make. I have been thinking about some of the problems that our country faces and about the need for all Saudis to participate in making their country better. I believe we should begin by focusing on one simple and unifying issue in which we can all make a difference.
One such issue is our worryingly high levels of water and energy consumption. I would like to suggest a simple but compelling program which would allow us to address one of the most important issues we will have to face while giving each and every one of us the opportunity and the responsibility to participate in improving our country’s future.
Let us first look at the seriousness of the problem we face. Water is fast becoming a commodity as precious as oil in our region. Since there is not enough to go around we produce water much like we produce oil, “extracting” it from the sea and “refining” it in our desalinization plants. As prices and consumption rise we will sooner or later be facing a water shortage.
Our oil and energy consumption eats up 4 million barrels per day, or 40 percent of our oil production, although we are the largest oil-producing country in the world. Notwithstanding our vast reserves, we will also be facing a crisis in our energy consumption sooner or later. That day may not be today, but we all know that the luxury of high oil incomes will be followed by leaner times and unforeseen circumstances.
The earlier we address these looming crises the better. And what better way to do so than by engaging the participation of our entire population? Doing so will give our people a greater stake in determining their own future and it will build the bridges that are necessary to overcome certain more divisive issues which our society will have to face in the future.
I therefore suggest launching a program that educates our society and our children on the need to cut down our water and energy consumption, while of course giving people the tools to do so. One element of public education could be a campaign called “Half a Gallon Less Per Day.” If we assume that Saudi Arabia has a population of 21 million, with say 15 million active consumers of water and energy, this would allow us to save seven and a half million gallons of both water and oil per day. This would be a tremendous saving and it would benefit us all.
Of course people must be given the tools to realize such a saving in their daily lives. A public education campaign is the first step, along with special awareness programs and activities for schoolchildren. But more important, we must call on the energy and the inventiveness of our government and private sector to provide our people with the tools. Subsidizing more energy-efficient vehicles can reduce gasoline consumption. Promoting and developing more energy-efficient devices in the home can reduce energy consumption. Improving our infrastructure and our daily habits can reduce water consumption. There are many methods and ideas and our public and private sector should lead the way in searching for and providing these means.
The immense savings we can make will benefit our people, our environment and also the principle of our coexistence. We will be able to avoid the severity of the lean years and we will be better prepared for future crises. Most important, by giving people a greater stake in their future and demonstrating wise leadership we will be setting an example of how we expect to deal with the other issues that our country and society will be facing.
— Hassan Yassin is a former head of The Saudi Information Office in Washington D.C.
