Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

On a warmer than usual Valentine’s Day I joined the Highland Eco-Team for brunch with longtime community activist and two-time Citizen of the Year Ruth Masters. We all sat together and listened to the inspiring stories that have helped shape the Comox Valley in so many ways.

Ruth spoke to the importance of protecting the environment and engaging the community at a political level. She told stories of ascending Comox Glacier in 1938, protecting woodland areas from the logging industry, naming 50 lakes after fallen WWII soldiers from Vancouver Island, the importance of honouring the past by directing the future, and being an active citizen on a daily basis.

Ruth has been a longtime hero of mine and I always revel in her energy and spite. At 89 years of age her fire is still burning with a passion that can move mountains. It was a real treat to hear her speak to the Eco-Team too. She has a sense of humour about things that only comes with decades of experience battling the exploitive fringe of social governance.

At the end of our meeting Ruth was given an honorary membership to the Highland Eco-Team. She is still active in issues around the Comox Valley but her response was clear. She implored the students of the Eco-Team to take the torch of leadership and keep it burning. I have no doubt that they will. Thank you for a memorable and inspiring day Ruth.

When I returned home from Cairo last year I began to see my world differently.  After witnessing the diligent activity of thousands of people harvesting, sorting and recycling garbage in Mokattam Village, or “Garbage City” as it is known around the world, it was hard not to be inspired every time I looked at a recycling box. Cairo is one of the fastest growing cities in the world with an estimated 15 to 20 million people. It produces a significant amount of waste that is collected each day by residents of Garbage City in donkey carts and run down trucks. The people of Mokattam have been doing this line of work for over 100 years. They recycle 80% of the waste stream by sorting the garbage into compost, saleable plastics, metals and fiber products like paper and wood. This incredible operation doesn’t cost Cairo a single cent and it’s arguably the most successful recycling program in the world. Now it’s all about to end because Cairo wants to be seen as a modern city.

Cairo is buying contracts with multinational companies to dispose of the waste in trucks that forces the master recyclers of Mokattam to find a new line of work. This backward story follows three boys through a complex, disheartening, and inspiring documentary of hope for the world’s future. It leaves you facing tough questions like: why would any city want to pay for garbage trucks when it has an entire suburb economy living on what Mokattam calls “a precious resource” and “a way of life?” There is a lesson in this documentary that the world needs to see to believe and there are messages we all need to enact before collectively burying our future with our waste.

Thanks to the initiative of World Community Development Education Society, the BC Council for International Cooperation, and The Power Of R, we were able to present an exclusive screening of Garbage Dreams to hundreds of Comox Valley students at Sid Williams Theatre in February 2010. I had the honour of speaking at the event, introducing the film and leading a Q&A discussion after the screening.

Garbage Dreams is a remarkable film that captures the essence of life in Mokattam Village and dives headlong into the politics of solid waste in Cairo and Europe. This special screening, that opened the annual World Community Film Festival, was an eye opening success. It sparked conversations for weeks after the event in schools and it gave every attending student a new appreciation for the value of what we throw away on a daily basis. Garbage is not garbage at all; it’s a renewable resource that is incredibly lucrative if it is handled properly.

Garbage Dreams continues to win dozens of independent film awards and it can be seen on PBS April 27th or by purchasing a membership to the extensive World Community Video Library at the Freakin Coffee Shop in TinTown.  To find out more about the film visit http://www.garbagedreams.com/