Tunisia - The Thing with Garbage

"Just try to focus on the nice things!"he says, looking over at me.

Not a single second goes by, excluding the moments at Felix, when we don't see any rubbish. 

We drive through villages, we drive over land. We stand on dream beaches, we stroll through souks. We stop at crossroads to buy food and we wait at ferries. Everywhere, really everywhere, there is rubbish, mainly plastic rubbish.

These thin plastic bags in all colours are blowing on fences, walls, bushes and stuck under stones. PET bottles roll across the street like in old Westerns, half-sanded on beaches and lying crumpled in ditches, in front of driveways, in fields, under market stalls.

Everywhere our eyes catch sight of rusty household objects, washing machine skeletons, beds, mattresses, windowless and wheelless cars without any technology, TV covers and broken plastic toys. Simply at the roadside, on the promenade, in front of the fortress, at the entrance to the medina. On the beach, once again on the beach and in the sea, semi-outstanding.

"Just try to focus on the nice things!"he says, easier said than done!

After a few weeks, he feels the same way. We don't understand it. Why can't this stuff be tidied up, disposed of, recycled? We are stunned and long for tidy nature. For natural nature.

Okay, I'll shift down a gear and do some research. In my current further training to become a "Grandchildren-friendly living"I am inspired to do just that.

My research

Africa (all of Africa, wow!) has the same energy consumption as the city of New York! A whole continent, a big one at that, consumes as much energy as a city. Oha.

The rubbish here is visible, that in Switzerland is almost invisible. But Switzerland "makes" much more rubbish than Tunisia, much more. Only it is not visible. It is cleared away, shredded, shipped to Africa or dumped in the oceans. And we Swiss (or Central Europeans?) then think that we are better. What nonsense!

Furthermore, we see almost no new cars here, an incredible amount of second-hand items, sewing machines, scooters, bicycles, cooking pots, washing machines: everything second-hand or even more so. Hardly anything new is bought here, another plus point in sustainability.

Coffee and tea: always in a glass or cup. Paper cups? Only very rarely. And if so, then in the European hotel chains.

At the markets we buy everything unpackaged, we (and we are the only ones) always bring our packaging and paper and plastic bags with us, deny the colourful bags offered. It's a small part, but it's our opportunity. Every package less counts.

All in all, we come to the following conclusion

It looks dirty, we don't like it. It will stay that way.

All in all, and given the fact that it is the industrialised countries that pollute the planet, the people of the Global South are definitely the lesser polluters.

We ourselves can only do our part. Tidying up, staying in conversation without the raised and know-it-all finger of the Central European foreigner (see above!) and especially making sure that we ourselves live as future-proof as possible. No shopping frenzies, buy unpacked wherever possible and live mindfully with nature. We are not at the top of our game yet, but we are taking the path step by step.

And with that in mind, here's what we do:

We try to see the beautiful things again. First and foremost, the people, the help, the nature, the Muslim world, the freshly squeezed orange juices, the calling muezzin, the beautiful souks, the mosques, the delicious pomegranates, the blue-turquoise water in the sea, the Sahara-sand coloured sunsets, the gratitude to be able to experience all this - and together.

You can, you just have to look after yourself a bit and stay mindful!

PS.: I started cleaning up the beach on a Monday with little work. After two hours and quite a few full Ikea bags, there was just absolutely no visible success. It is almost a life task for one person. I gave up - oh dear - completely unmotivated. After only two hours!

PPS: We are intentionally writing here mostly (starting again tomorrow, I promise!) about the beautiful things, moments, encounters. That will remain the case. Nevertheless, we are also allowed to question critically.

PPPS: During my research I came across many different good contributions, one of which I would like to highlight: that of Patrick Spät: The boat is not full, but unevenly loaded.

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Thank you for reading our sustainability thoughts. Every two to three weeks on Mondays we write something about the possibility of living future-oriented in the van. We try to shed light on different areas and hope to do so without pointing fingers.

Our focus is on the joy of van life and the many possibilities. We want to avoid the usual doomsday and renunciation communication.

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Best regards - Heike & Gerd