Spain/Morocco: Blue, Green, Purple, Pink.

By Alex Vietti

Blue, green, purple, pink.

These are the colors that flash by me every five seconds outside the bus window. I usually cannot sleep on the bus rides; too many brand new visuals to absorb and keep forever. Morocco is indeed foreign, but recently released Daft Punk on the radio makes the whole experience feel less alien, as do these four hues.

Blue, green, purple, pink.

Even in the most desolate of landscapes, these ubiquitous colors have followed me the entire journey. Pierced by short brush branches, congregated in trees, and even blowing around freely. No, these are not the colors of the natively beautiful hibiscus flowers or bougainvillea. These are the tokens of the plague of western culture, consumption and “convenience”…plastic bags.

I remember at our meeting with YANNI, a group of students about our age level who study policy surrounding Moroccan energy concerns, one man specifically noted that what sustainability means for Americans is not the same for Morocco. This is not a shock to me- a critical part of studying sustainability is knowing that “one size fits all” is a recipe for disaster in any given scenario. However, just through observation during our stay here thus far, this “developing” country can and should be looking at the US, not for sustainable development guidance, but more so for future environmental risk mitigation and avoidance all together. Simply put, why not learn from our mistakes while they still can?

Blue, green, purple, pink.

These colors signify a layer of artificiality that seems to be an accepted facet of the Moroccan landscape. Don’t the Moroccans see this as a big problem? One that will never go away as long as they are still being produced and used?

In the US, we are seeing the beginning of a movement to ban plastic bags on the city level. As something our “developed” country is just now starting to realize and fix, I sincerely hope that they can learn from our mistakes of consumption.