Think Globally Act Locally | The Power Of R

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This fall I visited a lively bunch of grade seven students at Airport Elementary and told the tale of Mokattam Village, better known as Garbage City, Cairo. The students were learning about ancient Egypt and their understanding made the modern day story of the Zabbaleen people that much more invigorating. The, approximately 60,000, people living in Mokattam divert an extraordinary 80% of the waste stream from Cairo's inner core and turn it into profit through recycling and livestock husbandry. Development in Cairo and the recent Arab Spring are threatening this remarkable utilization of waste for profit but that was not the focus of this presentation. The people of Mokattam have shown the world what is possible when it comes to recycling and a zero waste mentality. They are a living, functioning example of exactly what the world needs to be doing to deal with it's waste as a resource instead of potentially toxic landfill material.

To tie the story together, the second half of the presentation demonstrated to each student how they could each reduce their ecological footprint and make a powerful difference in their local community by reducing and reusing their waste.  The Power Of R was in the house.

_ "This fall I had the pleasure of having Zac Whyte come into my grade 6/7 classroom. We wanted to combine his work around solid waste reduction, with our class’ current study of Egypt. Zac was able to put together an engaging, relevant and unique presentation combining these two topics. He has an outstanding classroom presence, and his extensive knowledge and personal passion was able to inspire all of my students; he is terrific!" - Vanessa Hitchcock - Elementary Teacher