Environmental concerns in Egypt

One thing we’ve been anxious about here in Egypt is the environment and it’s effect on our, and especially the boys’, long term health; the pollution in the air, pesticides on fruit and vegetables, treatment of other produce and meat, the water, and other immediate living environmental worries.

The air is bad, but thanks to a lot of trees and a bit of distance, it’s not as bad here in Maadi as it is Downtown. We still consider getting an air purifier for the boys’ room though. We drink the water from the tab but filter it first. We brought Brita filters enough to last us a year. The water still tastes a bit like chlorine, but the bottled water does too. We buy products marked “organic”; it may not have the same notation here as in Europe or the US, but we figure it’s better than not paying attention to it at all. We rinse fruit and vegetables several times, and usually sprinkle lemon juice or even vinegar in between each rinsing, before eating anything. Sometimes nothing helps though. This morning Courtney tasted the grapes I had just finished soaking and then rinsing. “The grapes taste bad” he said and made a face “they taste like they’ve been boiled in a vat of chemicals”. I tasted one, and he was right. Yuck!