Expanding seas of garbage

Expanding seas of garbage
by Nafti
02-Jan-2012
 

A friend recently told me he had started a photography project to show the ugliness of Iran. "Admirable thinking" I thought. With low spirits we tend to gloss over what is considered shared responsibility and cultural shortcomings whereas we feel invigorated when it comes time to blame the government.

Recently, I visited the village of Ahar north of Tehran and saw this sign dumped by the roadside right in the village.

Translation: "Good bye, bon voyage. We thank you for having kept the environment clean. Signed: "The Islamic Committee of the Village of Ahar"

At first I thought "How ironic, the sign about keeping nature clean is dumped along with roadside rubbish (which is typical of much of Iran)". Then I thought "is this one data point some indication of the decline of the Islamic Republic (or being clean was never an "ideal")? After all, it's improbable that

1- English or French would be used any longer on a similar sign (who's around that can't read Farsi anyway?)

2- That such polite language would be used (though not necessarily) 3- Words such as "Environment" and "clean" would be used!!!! With the expanding seas of garbage all over Iran such thinking is not irrational.

As a sanity check I asked a number of friends if they agreed with my conclusions almost all did but they were of like mind to begin with. I wonder what readers here think about this.

Balatarin
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Jan 04, 2012
more from Nafti
 
Cost-of-Progress

It's the people

by Cost-of-Progress on Tue Jan 03, 2012 09:40 AM PST

When a nation cares more about superstiouts bullshit and knife itself in honor of dead arabs, then you can reasonably expect  that the same nation cares nothing for how it lives and how it cherishes its environment.

The events of the past 32 years are a sad indication of where Iran is headed. The pile of garbage everywhere and the pollution of waterways, lakes and rivers are just telltale signs of what to expect in the coming years. Just try to take a deep breath in one of the larger cities, you'll know.

What can one expect from a people who allow a bunch of anti nationalist ignorant thugs to reign over them like they have all these years?

If still in doubt, look at how much deiscussion this blog has generated..........and these are the ...intellectual ones!

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IRAN FIRST

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divaneh

Waste disposal

by divaneh on Mon Jan 02, 2012 02:35 PM PST

Dear HTG, you remind me of my own experience. My last visit to Iran was about 10 years ago. When visiting Ahwaz, I went to walk on the bank of Karoon one day. Just as I was about to enjoy the experience, I came across piles of rubbish thrown in some cuttings beside the banks and then piles of medical waste including lab samples dumped in there and in contact with the water. An irony not different to this sign. Of all the professions, it had to be those who should care for the health, who were so carelessly polluting the river.

Thanks for sharing Nafti.


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default

How do you know the sign wasn't just broken at that moment

by Hooshang Tarreh-Gol on Mon Jan 02, 2012 09:00 AM PST

And fixed after you left?

Environmental Crisis in Iran is amazaingly more devestating than you could imagine. Have you seen the video of disposal of medical waste around city of Sanandaj, out in the open air.


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