In the early morning, it is not unusual to be awoken by the shrill cry of a rooster or the ethereal sounds of the Islamic community's call for morning prayer. Mosques (places of worship for the Islamic community) are a fixture in most neighborhoods and university campuses. Five times a day a muazzan, or caller, will project his voice through a loudspeaker, calling the surrounding Islamic community to prayer.
I learned a lot about the need for a reduction of trash and an increase in recycling opportunities! The Universiti Malaysia Terengganu has a beautiful campus, but it is common to see trash littering the landscape. After the lunch hour, trash cans on Jalan Biawak overflow with garbage. White Styrofoam containers (nicknamed “white coffins”) and straws pool around tong sempas (“trash cans”) as colorful, crumpled plastic bags drift through the wind and find their way into the rivers and mangroves bordering the path. Cats and other creatures help free the rest of the trash, hoping for a tasty meal while simultaneously littering the landscape.
The desire to have fast, portable meals results in the need for cheap, single-use containers like styrofoam “white coffins” and plastic bags. By placing value on the efficiency and transportability of our food, we pollute our environment with the products needed to facilitate our values, strongly suggesting that the health of our environment is not something we value as a community.
But it doesn’t have to be this way! As the future generation, you have the power to choose what you value as a community and work together to enact change.
