Environmental activism is growing in Bahrain. It is good to see and hopefully this awareness will spread and further generations will automatically fall in line and the awareness is drummed into visitors also. As yet however, those out showing concern and getting their hands dirty are mostly middle class to well educated Bahrainis and of course expatriates who have had ‘Keep your country clean’ instilled into them from birth.
Bahrain is one big beach and there is definitely environmental suffering when it comes to the phenomenal amount of careless litter of all sorts, strewn around. Here environmentalists kick off with beach cleaning in one of the villages (Karbabad). Dr. Dhairi and his team lead the way and all in all shows great promise with many Bahrainis on the march to environmental cleanliness.
With initiatives such as shown here, there is hope that numbers will swell and the remain firmly planted. Bahrain being so incredibly hot, the streets need to be kept clean and in general they are, especially with garbage collection daily, which is infinitely more effective than say Europe or UK where collection can ridiculously be once every two weeks only. Of course there, it is not only fines that can be heavy, there is an awareness and when all is said and done, few but yobs will throw litter.
Expatriate labour does the cleaning in Bahrain and the Bahrainis themselves win absolutely no awards for finding the nearest bin to dump their trash. In fact, it would NOT be unusual to see folk throwing anything from empty McDonald’s meal boxes and even bottles, out a car window anywhere without a thought. ‘Yanni, what’s the big deal’? Bahrain has plenty of hired cleaners to do the streets etc.. Having so many expatriates in Bahrain of all standing and cultures, there too presents problems. Spitting for example is a disgusting habit which is definitely against the law, but appeasement in general can often accept it with distaste putting it down to low education standards. Watching labour drivers open their car door and spit phlegm on the road, oblivious to anyone watching them is all too common. To them, it is as if it was as normal as breathing and so is throwing rubbish or dumping anything from sewage collection to a car or a dead animal into the sea. This must stop!
Then Bahrain has the mass of visitors driving in from next door. Again, no rules; nobody cares, not my country: ‘Why should I”? Even; ‘Who are you to tell me what to do’? Appeasement or otherwise, factually, the guilty have never been in the least taught such manners. Let’s hope a difference can be made.