This was my New Year's Resolution and it is now May so I thought it was about time I got started on it.

I was wondering if anyone knew of an environmental awareness group that was set up here in Hanoi, and if not I was thinking of perhaps setting one up and was wondering if anyone was interested in being involved with it.

Most of the people who read this site are from Western countries and as such they waste and consume much more than most people in Vietnam. However, on a recent trip to Canada, I realised that it is now quite easy to live a 'low impact on the environment' life should you wish to. There are so many recycling possibilities, organic everything, natural or lower impact cleaning products for the house, public transport is SOMETIMES very good etc etc. This is a def increase from when I left Australia 5 years ago.

I know in Vietnam everything that has value is sold or reused for example paper, card, plastic bottles, wiring from demolished houses but as soon as these things do not have a value the things are thrown away and often not disposed of properly. (plastic bags, glass bottles etc etc,)

My idea was to set up a group who could meet (either in person or through technology) who could discuss ways in which we can lower our impact on the environment, amongst ourselves (as Westerners in Vietnam) and perhaps through the community generally.

This could be as simple as locating an alternative to that phosphate filled OMO washing machine detergent and passing this on to others, creating a handbook in Vietnamese for those of us lucky enough to have housekeepers to help them clean our houses using natural methods or perhaps locating a place were you can find organic veggies.

While I have had this idea for a while, I have not as yet really thought of a way to start it. There is of course a lot of stuff on the internet about this and I have consulted quite a few sites and now have a lot of resources but adapting it for Vietnam is a bit harder.

I would really appreciate any thoughts that you may have and if you would like to become involved.

Please email me at brighde.reed@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments you would like to make directly.

Thanks for reading.

environmentalism   (add tags) Why?   Details of tags