Sorry for such a long gap in between blogs, I did not have access to the internet for about a week. I hope everyone is enjoying their time so far this school year!
I have been seeing a lot of ancient sites lately, the Great Pyramids of Giza, The Valley of the Kings (tombs of pharaohs from a few thousand years ago), the Egyptian Museum in Cairo (worlds largest collection of ancient Egyptian artifacts), and Karnak Temple (the largest enclosed worship center in the world). All of these places have been packed with tourists. People have flocked from everywhere in the world to visit these places and check another item off of their bucket list. Tourism is one of Egypt’s four largest industries; with thousands of people migrating to the ancient remains of an amazing civilization. What are the other three major industries in Egypt? How many tourists do you think go to Egypt every year? And where are they mostly from do you think? Can you find the actual numbers?
There are some major problems that the Egyptian government and the ancient relics are facing though. First off, the tourism industry will never see very much increase in the revenue for the government. Most people will not travel to see the same ancient wonders more than once. So the industry does not have the same return of customers as a beach resort would receive. Another major problem the government is facing is no enthusiasm when it comes to the preservation of many of the ancient sites. In the general populace, people don’t care as much anymore about their monuments. They would rather see them replaced by new futuristic buildings. This general feeling in the Egyptian communities could be the downfall of these great monuments. The monuments are also in trouble of falling to pieces because of the exposure to tourism. The flash of cameras can make many preserved drawings fade and fall apart. And many tourists enjoy touching everything, which also is very bad for the monuments. So how can the great monuments survive if they aren’t wanted and are falling apart? Luckily there are still many people who have dedicated their lives to learning about and preserving the Ancient Egyptian culture. Hopefully these people can stand fast and keep discovering, restoring and loving this amazing area! Brainstorm as a class or in small groups what you think the pros and cons of tourism to ancient sites might be!
Dear Chase,
ReplyDeleteSorry for being so late on answering you on the trash clean up in Cairo. Other major cities in Egypt besides Cairo are Alexandria and Giza. We found an article on the trash clean up too, here it is.
Amid Heaps of Refuse, Cleanup Effort Stalls in Cairo Trash-Sorters' Slum
Pollution: Officials want to relocate the Rubbish Collectors' Quarter, but residents fear losing livelihood.
June 20, 1999|SUSAN SEVAREID | ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO — Donkey carts piled high with trash creak through muddy intersections in the Rubbish Collectors' Quarter, parting the flies that swarm just above the pungent muck.
More garbage towers from the beds of old blue pickup trucks, shifting and tilting at each bounce along pitted stretches of road baked hard by the sun. Spills appear of minor concern; it all ends up on the neighborhood's streets anyway.
Now what can we do to help this problem. That is a good question. Well if you saw the date on this it has been going on for quite some time, and why is it not in the news now? This brings us back to our last topic, If Egypt is a part of the United Nations you could ask them if they could help Cairo about this mess. That was just the three of us that was assigned to this.
Now the whole class’s answer:
We could make more compostable garbage
Donate money
More recycling
Reuse
Pick up more trash your reporters, Travis, Ryan and derek
Great work reporters! Your question about why the garbage problem is not in the news is a difficult one, and the answer could vary from complicated to simplistic. In the end it really comes down to the fact that there are other areas in the world that are far worse at the moment. The group that is in position to take care of this issue is the Egyptian government, and they are not acting because of their own reasons. Another major issue is the Egyptian government's control over the local media, which is perhaps the reason it is not in the news today. All of these matters continue to get more and more complicated as you dive deeper into their midst and eventually you see that all of these issues become politically and financially centered upon the Egyptian government.
ReplyDeleteIf you wanted to learn more about the Egyptian trash problems you could look into the documentary titled Garbage Dreams.
Otherwise, sorry for the long winded explanation, and I hope you look into the documentary!
Chase
Dear Chase
ReplyDeleteWe have found some of your answers. The other three majors industries of Egypt are steel, which is a kind of metal, cement, which is a kind of concrete which is used to make sidewalks and buildings, food, which we use as energy. We think there are about 10 million tourists that come to Egypt each year, but we found the results and it was really 7.8 million. We were so close! We are still trying to find where the tourists are mostly found but our estimation is North America. The great monuments can’t survive, but someway to help that is to get more security and be stricter about touching the monuments’. We brainstormed ideas of pros and cons of tourism might be.
And we think the good thing of tourism in Egypt is they bring in more money to help the economy and they also learn about Egypt’s history. The bad stuff is if people keep touching the monuments they will crumble and be destroyed. How will we learn about their history now? Be safe and happy travling
Your friends,
Mrs. Andrzejewski's class
Your Reporters and
reaserchers,
Brenna, Eric, Shae, Grace
Hinduism is the world’s oldest living tradition so many people believe in it that it is the world’s third or fourth largest religion because there are like a billion followers. There are also rituals, the tradition started in Indiana, and it is about your own belief. from Andrew,and Quade!!!
ReplyDelete