ALKHOBAR, 22 April 2008 — Today is the international observance of Earth Day and worldwide many activities are planned. Unfortunately, in Saudi Arabia most of the Earth Day observances will be only within schools. The general population won’t be involved. That’s really a pity because the Kingdom urgently needs to pay more attention to environmental issues from recycling to water and energy conservation.
If you, your school or other organization in Saudi Arabia are doing something to honor Earth Day, please take a moment and tell others about it through www.google.com/earthday08. Even if it’s just hanging your clothes outside to dry or switching to low voltage fluorescent lights, Google hopes that users around the world will post environmentally-friendly tips – the more unique, the better. Share your ideas, put yourself on our map and let fellow Earthlings know what you’ve committed to do for Earth Day 2008, and for the rest of the year.
Earth Day comes only once a year, but the team behind the Earth Day Network are trying to convince people that conservation needs to be an everyday goal. Founded by the organizers of the first Earth Day in 1970, Earth Day Network (EDN) promotes environmental citizenship and year round progressive action worldwide.
Through Earth Day Network, conservationists connect, interact, have an impact on their communities, and create positive change in local, national, and global policies. EDN’s international network reaches over 17,000 organizations in 174 countries, while the US program engages 5,000 groups and over 25,000 educators coordinating millions of community development and environmental protection activities throughout the year. Earth Day is the only event celebrated simultaneously around the globe by people of all backgrounds, faiths and nationalities. More than half a billion people participate in EDN campaigns every year. Of particular interest for the residents of Saudi Arabia is that EDN sponsors the Global Water Network (GWN), a comprehensive resource to raise awareness about water issues. Learn more about all EDN’s available resources at ww2.earthday.net/.
It’s estimated that 50 million computers will become obsolete this year. In the past, Saudi Arabia didn’t have a big problem with recycling ICT waste. When PCs were only owned by large Saudi enterprises, they made arrangements for their proper refurbishment or disposal when the machines were replaced.
Now that PCs have become a consumer product in the Kingdom, we should have vendor sponsored programs for the proper disposal of the equipment once its useful life is past. But those programs don’t exist in Saudi Arabia – not for PCs, not for cell phone batteries, not for broken PC accessories. All that waste, some of it hazardous, is simply dumped into Saudi landfills, where it will be a blight on the landscape forever.
I have three old computers and at least a dozen cell phone batteries, stacked in a closet because there is no safe way to dispose them of. I have received reports of people who are actually flying their old ICT equipment with them on vacation and then dumping it in recycling facilities abroad. Seems ridiculous doesn’t it? And it’s only going to get worse
It doesn’t have to be like that. In many other nations IT vendors are required by legislation to take back and recycle used equipment. The Kingdom is forced to purchase ICT equipment made in other geographies because we don’t have our own manufacturing facilities, there is no reason that the equipment, once it is obsolete, must remain on our soil. Since international vendors don’t seem interested in setting up recycling programs in Saudi Arabia, the time has come that they be forced to do so by legislation. Such legislation will cost the Kingdom nothing and will create new job opportunities in the reuse and recycling field for Saudi companies. So while we’re planning smart cities and intellectual property rights, hasn’t the time come for environmental protection to become a priority as well?
