However, despite the numerous environmental issues and the lack of awareness in Vietnam, after living in Vietnam for an extended period of time I have discovered that in many ways the Vietnamese are more environmentally sustainable and responsible than many Americans. More specifically, the Vietnamese methods of recycling, consumption and farming incorporate environmental sustainability more than in the US.
From my observations thus far, Vietnam does not have a large established recycling system. There certainly aren’t blue bins lining the alleyways. However, this does not mean that the Vietnamese don’t recycle. The definition of recycling itself -- to convert waste into reusable material -- and its cousins such as reclaiming and salvaging are engrained into Vietnamese culture.
Take for example, my usual lunch, a “banh mi trung,,” which directly translates into bread with egg. Whenever I am in a hurry or need to do some more homework I’ll order a “banh mi trung mang ve,” my regular egg sandwich but as we say in America “to go”. The“banh mi trung mang ve” is usually wrapped in yesterday’s newspaper or extra papers from the copy machine next door. Any salvaged paper is up for grabs.
My daily lunch routine is only one example. I have seen many other forms of recycling including, the use of old egg cartons as tables or the rebending mattress springs into a bike basket. The Vietnamese practice of recycling is recycling in its most basic form, without organization or complex infrastructure, but recycling nonetheless.
Not only do the Vietnamese recycle the items they consume, but from my observations, they also consume much less than Americans. At first this may be difficult to see. Trash litters every street and public space that I have visited thus far. Even the Ho Chi Minh museum is no exception to the Vietnamese custom of littering. However, I have found the litter and trash to be an optical allusion. Just because Vietnam’s waste is more visible does not mean that there is more of it.
Just because Vietnam’s waste is more visible does not mean that there is more of it
This is most evident in Vietnam’s waste management system. Each day I see at least a dozen women sweeping the streets, collecting trash from house to house and even picking trash out of the horribly polluted To Lich River in Hanoi. From my observations, women are the driving force behind Viet Nam’s waste management system. Each night a woman rolls her trash cart down the alley that I live in with my host family. Routinely, the woman rings a bell as she passes through and each family makes sure to have there trash ready to be collected. My host sister takes out the small plastic paint bucket, serving as a wastebasket for a family of seven including myself. The paint bucket is rarely full.
Imagine if the Vietnamese consumed as much as Americans do but Vietnam’s waste management system remained the same. How big would the trash cart for one neighborhood be? Would it even fit down the alley? Would the trash collectors even be able to push it? Both the small size of the trash cart itself and the fact that human bodies act as engines for these basic forms of garbage trucks indicate the low amount of waste produced by the Vietnamese.
In addition to material goods, the Vietnamese also consume much less energy than Americans. Just look around the streets of Hanoi. In place of dryers there are clotheslines at nearly every home. Many homes, including my host family’s house, don’t have hot water heaters, dishwashers or even air conditioning units. Instead the water is heated in metal tanks on the roof, dishes are washed by hand and fans or even nothing at all are used for cooling. While this standard of living may fall short for many Americans, there is no doubt that these appliances suck up energy and without them a Vietnamese family has a much smaller ecological footprint than the average American family.
Along with household appliances, farming methods used in the U.S. also have a larger ecological footprint than those used in Vietnam. In the mountainous region of Sapa, Northwest of Hanoi, in the Lao Cai province, the sustainable and traditional farming methods that have been used for thousands of years are still in use.
The “terracing method” of agriculture is still practiced in Sapa where rows of crops lined the hillsides. Terracing is a form of soil conservation as the stacked rows of crops prevents erosion. It also conserves water as the water trickles down from row to row and isn’t wasted. This is especially useful in Vietnam’s rainy tropical climate. Additionally, from what I saw, there were no machines or pesticides used.
A terrace ricefield in Sapa
The sustainable farming methods used in Vietnam are especially important now that Vietnam has come to be the world’s second largest exporter of both coffee and rice. If Vietnam used the same farming methods as the U.S. including dependence on machinery and pesticides, there would be vast negative environmental and ecological consequences. These consequences might include the destruction of ecosystems, soil infertility, both resulting from runoff from pesticides and erosion, and many more repercussions.
These Vietnamese methods of recycling, consumption and farming are highly environmentally sustainable, especially in comparison with the methods used in the United States of America. These simple practices might seem minuscule in comparison to the tremendous amount of environmental issues that we are faced with today. However, with Vietnam’s current and ever growing population of 86 million, these customs, incorporated into Vietnamese culture, play a large part in preserving the environment and the natural beauty of Vietnam.
Molly Wyman (Thacher School, SYA student in Hanoi)
(MONRE, 9/2/2011)