Be proactive! / Soyez proactif!

An English post will follow:

Il est évident que nous vivons dans une societé axée sur la consommation de masse. Cette société de consommation pousse de plus en plus les consommateurs à consommer d’avantage de produits sans se soucier des répercussions sur l’Environnement. La question que nous nous posons est la suivante : comment pouvons-nous consommer d’une façon durable ou soutenable? Les consommateurs peuvent aider l’Environnement et la société à travers :

LA CONSOMMATION DURABLE : (1) Faire des achats « responsables » en choisissant des produits qui ne nuisent pas à l’environnement tels que les appareils électroménagers qui consomment moins d’énergie et d’eau. (2) Recycler : le recyclage est aussi crucial à la protection de l’Environnement. Récemment de nombreux programmes de recyclage ont été mis en place en Tunisie. Le succès de tels projets dépend de votre implication. Autre que l’avantage environnemental, le recyclage peut être à l’origine d’un marché secondaire. Le projet développé par "L'Association des Grands Handicapés du Grand Tunis" en est une bonne illustration. En effet, des femmes handicapées-moteur créent de beaux objets traditionnels et non-traditionnels à partir de déchets ménagers. Question à débat : Est ce que l’accès aux produits environnementaux et au recyclage est facile dans votre quartier?

LE TRANSPORT DURABLE : Marcher or utiliser le vélo si possible, et/ou utiliser les transports publics. En Tunisie, le système de transport actuel est composé d’un volet privé et d’un volet public. Le volet public est géré exclusivement par la Société Tunisienne de Transport qui propose 3 modes de transports à savoir: bus, train, et métro léger. Il y a différents forfaits pour chacun des trajets proposés. Vous pouvez même acheter votre abonnement (ou forfait) sur le net! (de plus amples détails seront postés prochainement). Question à débat : Est ce que vous êtes prêts pour aller de l’avant en changeant vos habitudes de transport? Pourquoi?

LE BÉNÉVOLAT AU SEIN DE LA SOCIÉTÉ CIVILE : la soutenabilité ou la durabilité ne se résume pas à résoudre les problèmes environnementaux auxquels on fait face. Bien au contraire, le développement durable repose également sur le bien être de la Société, et sur une croissance Économique durable. Il est clair que l’aspect social est crucial. Il y a un bon nombre d’ONGs en Tunisie qui œuvrent dans le domaine social. Vous pouvez avoir une idée sur quelques une de ces ONG dans la barre d’affichage à droite. Votre aide et votre participation à ces activités est capital! Question à débat : Est ce qu’avoir des comportements « socialement responsables » est un pré-requis à toute action ou politique environnementale?

LE COMMERCE ÉQUITABLE : Commerce équitable ou compte de fée? Cette problématique est très complexe et oriente deux débats importants que sont le pouvoir de négociation « commercial » des pays en voie de développement et la position de l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce. L’argument de commerce équitable veut que les gens soient mis au centre même du commerce mondial ce qui les aiderait à sortir d’un état de « pauvreté ». Ceci est supposé se réaliser quand les pays en voie de développement vendent leurs produits à d’autres pays en voie de développement ou à d’autres pays riches à un prix « décent ». Question à débat : Il est clair que nos habitudes de consommation sont largement influencées par le modèle occidental. La prolifération de grandes chaines de supermarchés et d’hypermarchés en est un bon exemple. Les marchands locaux n’en seront que négativement affectés. Est-ce que vous pensez à ces problèmes là? Comment réagissez-vous face à ce phénomène?

Ce post a été publié conjointement par Mehdi Z. et Rym B.

For better or worse we live in a society dominated by consumption, a society that is focused on consuming more and more without a thought for environmental consequences. So how can we begin to consume in a sustainable way? Consumers can help the Environment and Society as a whole through:

SUSTAINABLE CONSUMPTION: (1) Make an educated purchase by selecting products that are not harmful to the Environment such as energy and water efficient house appliances. (2) Recycling waste is also another major contribution to environmental protection. In Tunisia, a number of communities started a recycling program. Their success depends on you. If you do not have such program in your neighborhood, claim it from your locally elected leader. Other than diverting waste from landfills, recycling may create a secondary market. An excellent example is a project developed by "L'Association des Grands Handicapés du Grand Tunis" where handicapped women are creating beautiful traditional and non-traditional artifacts exclusively from waste. Debate question: How easy is the access to environmentally friendly products and recycling in your community?

SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION: walk or bike if you can, and/or use public transportation. In Tunisia, the actual public transportation system has a public component and private component. The public component is exclusively managed by the Societe Tunisienne de Transport that proposes 3 transportation modes for its transportation passes: bus, train, and metro. There are different passes for different routes. You can buy your pass online! (More details will be given in future posts). Debate question: Are you ready to take a step further toward changing your transportation habits? Why?

SUPPORT OR VOLUNTEER IN CIVIL SOCIETY: Sustainability is not just solving environmental problems and face ecological issues! Sustainability is achieved when we take care about the Environment, ensure the well being of the whole Society, and drive the Economy towards a “healthy” growth. Hence, the social aspect is crucial. There a number of highly motivated local non-profit organization (NGOs) in Tunisia. A list is provided here. Check out the sidebar links for Tunisian and International NGOs that need your support. Your monetary donation or personal involvement is key to their success. Get involved! Debate question: Do you think that acting in a social responsible way is a pre-requisite to the success of any environmental policy?

FAIR TRADE: Fair trade or fairy tale? The issue is very complex and drives two main debates such as developing countries trade power and the World Trade Organization position and rules (more on fair trade). Basically, the fair trade argument puts people at the centre of world trade by stating that trade rules should allow people to work themselves out of poverty by selling their products to rich countries and other developing countries at a decent price. Debate question: Today's consumption patterns and behaviors are largely influenced by western consumption modes such as the introduction of major European supermarkets in the Capital. Local vendors will be negatively (if not already are) affected by this trend. Do you personally think about this issue in your daily life and what do you do to act?

This post has been jointly published by Mehdi Z. and Rym B.

GHG Emissions in Tunisia.

The United Nations Framework Convention for Climate Change published a document showing all sources of GHG for all countries. Basically the document states that – for Tunisia in 1994 – total GHG emissions by sector are distributed as follow: - Industrial Processes 11.3% - Agriculture 23.9% - Waste 4.1% - Energy 60.7% and total GHG by gas is distributed as follow - CO2: 68.0% - CH4 15.0% - N2O 17.0% Car idling is one of the major sources of CO2 emissions at the consumer level. The increasing number of cars is also another major factor. Consumers should adopt a more “sustainable” way to move in the city using public transportation. Equiterre (Canada) proposes a wide variety of “cocktails” that help limiting negative impacts on the Environment.

Public transportation use being probably the most viable solution to reduce GHG, I would like our readers to tell us what they think about the public transportation system in the capital, Tunis or any other tunisian city and suggest ideas to make the system more efficient.

What's Global Warming?

Global warming is an increase in the earth's temperature due to the use of fossil fuels and certain industrial and agricultural processes leading to a buildup of greenhouse gases (principally carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, chlorofluorocarbons and water vapor) in the atmosphere. Global warming is also closely related to the greenhouse effect. GHG are indeed transparent to incoming radiation and opaque to outgoing radiation. This prevents some of the penetrating radiations to escape into space producing an increase in the average temperature of the earth, this is the greenhouse effect. Increase in temperatures is expected to raise sea levels, to warm oceans, to flood some coastal regions and finally, some world areas will have more rainfall then before while others will suffer from drought. These effects are highly uncertain because, first global warming is expected to occur over a very long period, therefore, there is no positive evidence on future economic trends and growth, availability of carbon-free technologies and energy prices. Second, global externalities can be compared to a chaos effect, “fluorides released from aerosol cans in Bangkok, for instance, may harm the earth's ozone layer and endanger New Yorkers”.

Sustainable consumption!

Even if we are simple consumers, we are affecting “chaotically” the Environment and participating – indirectly – in increasing Global Warming effects. It is our “duty” to be proactive consumers and act in a socially and environmentally responsible way: we have to look for sustainability. One way to do this is to have a basic knowledge of major environmental problems and concerns. Sustainable consumption tends to be formulated as follows:

• Choose energy and resource reduced products which were produced under socially acceptable conditions (often referred to as "fair trade" products).
• Where possible replace products by services and choose collective use of resources (such as car-sharing), and last but not least,
• Consume less.

If we as consumers do not increase our demand for sustainable products and services, and do not "buy" corporate efforts towards sustainability (thus modifying our consumption behavior) sustainability will not face a real breakthrough in the long run.

Tunisian Environmental Laws in brief.

Although Tunisia has ratified several laws pertaining to environmental protection, enforcement of environmental legislation has not been consistent until recently, due both to the lack of staff, resources, and legal instruments. Nowadays, legislation pertaining to environmental protection includes the Wildlife Protection Law No. 88-20; the Water Pollution Law No. 75-16; and the Marine Pollution Law No. 75-16. Tunisia is also a member of ISO. In June, 1997, the Technical Committee for the Elaboration of Standards adopted the ISO 14,000 Series relating to industrial atmospheric emission standards. In addition, article 8 of Air Pollution and Noise Emissions Law No. 88-91 dictates that any industrial, agricultural or commercial establishment as well as any individual or corporate entity carrying out activity that may cause pollution to the environment, is obliged to eliminate or to reduce discharges and, eventually, to recycle rejected matter.

Environmental problems and endangered species.

Tunisia is undergoing rapid development. It has a range of environmental problems including soil erosion (Erosion threatens 76% of the nation's land area), limited water supply (only 58% of the people living in rural areas have pure drinking water), desertification, sedimentation and reduction in biological diversity (endangered species and ecosystems) that are partly caused by the climate and compounded by development processes such as industrialization, urbanization and population growth. Hence, Tunisia is suffering from an inevitable dilemma: environmental protection on the one hand and sustainable development on the other hand. In 2001, 11 of the nation's mammal species and 6 bird species were endangered (other species). Six types of plants were also endangered. Endangered species in Tunisia include the Barbary hyena, Barbary leopard, two species of gazelle (Cuvier's and slender-horned), the Mediterranean monk seal, Oryx, and Moroccan dorcas gazelle. The Bubal hartebeest has become extinct. The A World Wildlife Fund project succeeded in rescuing the Atlas deer from near extinction.