Respondents II

From my pilot study last November where I managed to interview 7 waste officials from 7 different local authorities involved in waste management programmes, I found that administrators perceive that schools seem to be the most active `community' invovled with recycling and other green activities. However, yesterday when I interviewed a respondent of the school `community', who happens to be a very dedicated school teacher involved with a green programme (a collaboration with a UK petroleum company)in her school, she doesn't agree that this is so. When I asked her why, she is of the opinion that a school will only be active in an environmental or green programme if it is invited by the government or any other bodies or involved in any `race' or competition with other schools. In another sense, the incentive or motivation influences the level of participation. This revelation then brings to mind the quesiton of accountability vs responsibility. Do the students or teachers or the particular community `go green' because they need to be accountable to somebody i.e the decision makers or do they get involved because they have a sincere sense of responsibility to themselves ( or the environment)? Anyhow, this assumption is still premature as I still need to gain more insights from other school reps and rom different community eg. NGO or the business actors involved in green activities, in particular community waste management. This Friday I have an appointment to interview a particular NGO involved in recycling of waste for charity purposes. May Allah help me in this challenge...