Egypt Independent: Environment-Main news

Final Issue: For a new generation of physicists, change was unwelcome

Mohamad Adam — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 12:59:00 +0000

This piece was written for Egypt Independent’s final weekly print edition, which was banned from going to press. We offer you our 50th and final edition here.

The events depicted in this article are inspired by various real-life accounts and herein are recounted to examine the hypothesis that the young would be better off if they listened to their elders.

At the age of 16, Max Planck, the Nobel laureate in physics in 1918, decided to set aside his pursuit of music and start studying physics. He asked professor Philipp von Jolly at Munich University for advice but the professor’s response was disappointing.

Von Jolly told him not to study the subject, arguing that nothing remained to be discovered. Despite some depression provoked by his professor’s words, Planck studied physics, resigned to the fact that he wouldn’t be discovering anything new but satisfied with examining the basics of the science.

That was the spirit controlling many physicists by the end of the 19th century. Many believed they had discovered everything there was to discover and all universal phenomena could by explained through one of the three branches of the sciences: classical mechanics, electromagnetism and thermodynamics.

Physicists of that age, along with their colossal egos, killed new ideas, under the belief that they couldn’t possibly be true. Nature, however, was stronger.

By end of the 19th century, nature couldn’t bottle in all of its anger against the hubris of physicists, who believed they understood all of its laws, anymore.

A message in the form of black body radiation was sent their way. The phenomenon describes the emission of radiation from black bodies, which have the ability to absorb any radiation they are exposed to without reflecting it.

At laboratories, results referred to changes in the intensity of radiation emitted by black bodies, which were different from results found by equations explaining the same relationship. This represented a crisis of sorts between the worlds of experimental and theoretical physics.

Scientists occupied themselves for a long time with the possible reasons for the difference. Planck reconsidered the equations until he arrived at one that could explain black body radiation properly. Reaching the equation was a shock for him and other scientists, many of whom called his work a “mathematical fiction.”

But Planck’s theory opened the door for reconsidering energy and radiation. Scientists then believed energy could acquire any value. The new theory proposed that energy should take specific values.

A war of words soon erupted, as Planck’s theory, if proved correct, would destroy the idea that physicists could explain all physical phenomena. It would also open the door for reconsidering the basics of physics.

The elders of the field told their younger brethren, “You’re playing about with mathematics. We shall find in our physics the true explanation for this phenomenon.” And, so, the 19th century ended in controversy, with the old physics being threatened by a newer, more open-minded version.

Over the 20th century, the notion that “physics is finished” was destroyed, as Albert Einstein explained another physical phenomenon. His use of the principle of energy quantum by Planck opened the door for new methods of understanding the subject and ushered in the “new physics” revolution.

These developments ushered in a new scientific age, the effects of which can be seen now in smartphones, laptops and iPads.

Imagine, then, if Planck had listened to von Jolly’s advice and abandoned physics. Imagine if Einstein had surrendered to the same generational conflict. We might still be living in the era of steam trains and carrier pigeons.

This piece was translated from Arabic by Nehal Mustafa.

Final Issue: In Egypt, environmental journalists are endangered species

Steven Viney,Louise Sarant — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 09:47:00 +0000

This piece was written for Egypt Independent's final weekly print edition, which was banned from going to press. We offer you our 50th and final edition here.

Two months before word about Egypt Independent’s potential closure first surfaced, Noor Noor, executive coordinator of the NGO Nature Conservation Egypt, discussed the loss at stake.

“Egypt Independent is one of the only Egyptian media outlets that allocates staff solely to cover environmental issues in Egypt,” he wrote. “Environmentalists all across the world follow Egypt Independent for news and updates on environmental issues in Egypt. If anything was to compromise Egypt Independent’s ability to cover environmental issues, this would be an enormous loss, locally and internationally.”

Back in 2009, when it made the conscious decision to dedicate an entire section of the newspaper to environmental and scientific issues, Egypt Independent stuck to its pledge to tell every story that matters.

For the past four years, the section’s journalists have reported in-depth on issues relating to political ecology, biodiversity, the preservation of native seeds, the struggles of farmers, habitat destruction, food sovereignty, energy, scientific discoveries, urban planning, solid waste management, industrial pollution, and the controversial drilling practice of hydraulic fracturing, while the rest of the Egyptian media has provided cursory coverage at best.

Some of the environmental violations are plainly visible but many other tragedies, such as destructive government policies, are less conspicuous and can easily go unnoticed. While kilometers-long oil slicks floating along the Nile are easy to spot, detrimental governmental policies are often unknown outside of ministerial offices.

Egypt Independent’s small but dedicated environment team has been committed since its inception to bringing into the public purview issues large and small that impact Egyptians and their environment.

One important feature in this section has been the endangered species series. Threatened local flora and fauna such as the African sacred ibis, the Egyptian tortoise and even various medicinal plants were featured to bring attention to their potential extinction.

However, now, as Egypt Independent receives news that this print issue will be its last under the leadership of Al-Masry Media Corporation, the series seems to have turned inward. It now appears that environmental journalism in Egypt has been shifted from the “vulnerable” to the “endangered” category.

Traditional media outlets grant little to no coverage of environmental issues and often treat them as secondary to mainstream political dialogue, as well as the revolution’s demands of “bread, freedom and social justice.”

But, by engaging with environmentalists and spending time with those most affected by environmental issues — often rural Egyptians, who themselves tend to garner little media attention — it becomes clear that environmental issues and political concerns are very closely intertwined.

For many Egyptians, the majority of whom live in rural areas, being able to access clean water, land to farm and resources to build a home, as well as natural resources and food security, are essentially what the revolution was about.

By extension, this leads us to believe access to natural resources is one of the most fundamental human rights issues of our time, regardless of whether the effects are indirect, through wars fought over oil resources, or direct, because hydraulic fracturing has made one’s drinking water flammable.

We believe the majority of Egyptians are less interested in who rules the country than equal and free access to the aforementioned resources required to sustain life, particularly when more than 40 percent lived below the poverty line of US$2 a day under the rule of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2009, according to the World Bank.

Yet many of Egypt’s environmental activists and civil society members continue to voice frustration that a majority of Egyptians and those in power struggle to discern the direct link between the politics of nature — political ecology — and the problems now facing Egypt.

Hence, many environmental issues often fall by the wayside, solely because they are called “environmental issues.”

We believe environmental concerns are not just a luxury for the well-off to worry about, and we work hard to make our readers understand that these issues touch every level of society.

For example, there is nothing luxurious about demanding access to clean water and healthy food. And what is overpopulation, other than an innate awareness that one’s equal access to certain natural resources, essential for survival, is being threatened?

We believe that if issues like these were to be treated and discussed as such, Egypt would be better equipped to address its network of issues holistically. By embracing naturalist ideas, one’s perspective of the commonly referenced but loosely understood issues that appear to be threatening the country, such as economic issues, can be broadened.

Mahmoud al-Mansy, spokesperson of the Sons of the Soil NGO, has fought for farmers’ rights and access to resources since the mid-1990s, when his family fell victim to the common practice of land grabbing. He says the most important aspect of environmental journalism is that it’s dedicated to focusing on contentious issues over the long term.

“Our problems are not stories that appeal to headline journalists,” says Mansy. “There is no story. There is no catchy issue.”

Problems facing farmers are not well-addressed in the media, he says.

“Our very existence from the day I was born is the issue. It is taken for granted that we will remain poor and suffering so the mainstream debate can continue to take place,” he says.

Part of the issue is time, he adds.

“Nobody is interested in covering agricultural land and water issues because it is too time-consuming, and at the end of the day, it won’t sell as many papers as the death of one urban boy,” Mansy says. “But environmental issues are systematically killing our rural youth and destroying our lives every day.”

Ezzat Naiem, founder of the Zabaleen rights NGO Spirit of the Youth, elaborates on Mansy’s point, saying the key ingredient is “care.”

“Although I know in journalism there is supposed to be a professional distance between journalists and the subject matter, covering issues related to the Zabaleen — not sensationally, as with the documentary ‘Zabaleen Dreams’ — requires persistence over long periods of time, with the knowledge that there is little positive gain. I believe this requires real care in the matter,” Naiem says.

Amr Ali, managing director of Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association, has been a strong supporter of Egypt Independent.

“I must emphasize the importance of environmentalism journalism in Egypt, although I don’t agree with calling it environmental journalism. This type of journalism has greatly helped isolated activist groups around the country raise awareness of the important issues Egypt is facing with regard to natural resources — issues that few people were aware of before,” he says.

Ali says the environmental focus helped nonprofits pressure authorities.

“It helped greatly by quickly building public contempt toward certain topics, allowing for groups to put pressure on those responsible,” he says. “However, secondly, and more importantly, is the constant effort of this type of journalism to expose instances of corruption in the most unlikely of places — places that people were largely completely unaware of after the revolution.”

Ali adds that in a country after a major uprising or revolution, “it usually takes years of education to instill within the public awareness of their rights with regard to these resources because it is their national heritage. Egypt Independent was a huge catalyst in trying to fill this void."

Noor says the Egyptian press occasionally has a piece or section dedicated to environmental news, even governmental publications, but the difference between English and Arabic coverage of such issues is that between breaking a story and covering an issue in-depth.

“Whereas, occasionally, the Arabic press will just touch on the news or report a specific event, it has yet to engage in investigative journalism when it comes to environmental issues,” Noor says. “That, I think, is Egypt Independent’s biggest contribution to the local media.”

Irrigation Ministry: Prevent rice cultivation in deserts

MENA — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 21:15:00 +0000

Water Resources and Irrigation Minister Mohamed Bahaa Eddin has called for the prohibition of rice cultivation in desert lands, which is already forbidden by law, so as to reduce overdraft of water from aquifers.

“The groundwater went down 2.5 meters,” he warned in a statement Wednesday. “Future generations may not find water.”

His statement came on Wednesday during a celebration of the International Accreditation Certificate ISO 17025 that was awarded to the ministry’s groundwater laboratory in the New Valley Governorate.

“This is the first lab of its kind to win the award despite the logistical and financial challenges it had to face,” said laboratory director Abdel Hamid Ahmed. “It is an important step towards providing a global level of services.”

He added that the laboratory made LE5 million in profits this year from services rendered to the private sectors and individual users.

Edited translation from MENA

Meet Egypt’s 14 year old genius and computer programmer Mahmoud Wael

Steven Viney — Wed, 24 Apr 2013 08:47:00 +0000

He was sponsored by Microsoft to complete a series of certificates in computer programming. He is one of the youngest people on the planet qualified to instruct university graduates in the programming language C++.

And he is only 14.

But after a few minutes sitting with Mahmoud Wael, it becomes clear that these accomplishments, while compelling, are not a particularly miraculous feat, given the story of his life.

Wael is, literally, a genius, with an IQ of 155, according to the Stanford-Binet intelligence scale. Born in Cairo in the middle-class neighborhood of Hadayeq al-Qobba on 1 January 1999, Wael has been in the public eye, nationally and internationally, since he was about 3 years old.

For readers familiar with intensive computer programming, the notion of a 14-year-old being qualified to teach C++ may be hard to digest. Who is this kid who can teach master’s courses that few people on the planet, let alone in Egypt, can even pass?

Baffled by this knowledge — as well as my own inability to comprehend C++ at the age of 28, even after completing a master’s in physics that included several courses on the programming language — I invited Wael and his father, who accompanies him everywhere, over to dinner.

Wael’s father, Wael Mahmoud, is a pediatrician. He explains that he was trying to teach multiplication to Wael’s older sister, Abela, who was 6 years old at the time and was finding the multiplication tables extremely difficult.

Three-year-old Wael wandered into the room and began reciting all the answers, Mahmoud says. At the time, Wael could barely talk, let alone understand the concept of a number, as he hadn’t yet been to kindergarten.

After going through the entire multiplications sheet — all the way to 12 times 12 — his father ran to the boy’s mother, exclaiming, “A genius! Our boy is a genius! Watch, he knows the whole chart!”

His mother, a biology teacher, brushed off the seemingly exaggerated claim, believing Wael’s number skill to be some kind of weird fluke. But news of the boy’s ability spread quickly, and, within months, news channels were asking Wael to demonstrate his amazing abilities with numbers, bringing him to the attention of the public eye.

Curious about this, I ask Wael whether he can still multiply like he used to.

“I guess so,” he replies.

“OK, then what’s 136 times 141?” I ask.

Wael repeats the numbers in English once, mumbles to himself in Arabic for about four seconds, and then answers: “19,176.”

I pull out my calculator. Case closed.

Wael’s early interviews led mathematicians and psychiatrists to contact his family about giving the boy an IQ test, which he took at age 4. The following year, Wael entered the Egyptian public school system, but, by this time, schools were offering him scholarships left and right, so he was soon moved to Green Land International School, accredited to offer International Baccalaureate courses.

Yet still, Wael was light years away from his peers, who were just starting to learn what 1 plus 1 was.

Despite being a mathematical genius, Wael comprehended English like an above-average 6-year-old. At age 7, the American University in Cairo offered to provide him English courses to allow him to read books to get deeper into theoretical math.

It took Wael three months to learn how to read, write and speak English, and he was even becoming proficient in French. Wael shyly admits he could probably learn any language in about the same time, if he had a good enough reason to.

But during this stint at AUC, another talent of Wael’s was soon recognized: programming. Wael could understand what was going on in the computer science classes he walked past on his way to his English courses.

It didn’t take long for this to receive global attention from the likes of Microsoft. Soon, Ahmed Zewail, winner of the Nobel Prize in chemistry, stepped in, offering the young genius personal advice on advancing his career.

Wael explains that the best piece of advice Zewail gave him was to try and live a normal life and be as well-rounded as possible. Zewail said he once saw a brilliant, science-minded boy lose his mind by neglecting all other academic subjects.

Wael seems to have taken this advice to heart. Nonetheless, he stayed at Green Land International School and aced his classes while advancing himself during his own time, as well as at AUC, where Microsoft sponsored him to take programming courses.

At first, Wael says, other students were not kind to the kid who was better than them at every subject, including English, having learned in three months what others took years to learn. But he says acceptance soon replaced animosity, and he is now treated “just like any other normal boy.”

Tellingly, Wael uses the expression often during our meeting — not something a “normal boy” usually insists upon.

After completing the Cisco Certified Network Associate, Cisco Certified Network Professional and Cisco Certified Internetwork Expert certificates, Wael is now qualified to teach university graduates.

He still rides the bus to school every day, plays football with friends on the weekend and likes to read Roald Dahl’s books, but says William Golding’s novel “Lord of the Flies” is one of his favorite books to date. It is clear Wael is set on trying to remain as focused, grounded and ‘normal’ as possible, despite the tumultuous nature of his life and all the attention it brings.

At age 11, he says, the education minister called him to explain that Wael could go to university the following year if he wanted, but he turned the offer down, wanting to continue to grow with the other kids.

When asked if Wael possesses any other unique skills, he says he can multitask exceptionally well. He can listen to television, write computer programs and talk to his mother simultaneously, giving each task equal focus.

Wael seems keen to consistently downplay his abilities, quickly finishing off any sentences that may hint at his above-average intelligence by saying, “and so on, and so on ... .” One minute, he discusses his desire to win the Nobel Prize and how he writes programs in his spare time; the next, he’s shyly looking at the floor, asking where the bathroom is.

When asked about his views on the 25 January revolution, Wael states his support.

“Obviously I am for it, but I do not like what is happening now, nor how people are pointing fingers at individuals to blame,” he says. “But I think if everyone learned to respect themselves and focus on doing their own jobs properly and respecting the rights of others, the country would function properly.”

Wael says he is absolutely dedicated to remaining in Egypt, and to ensure that any innovations, inventions or patents he makes are put on the Egyptian map and not given to anybody else.

I ask him whether he thinks Egypt has the institutions and capacity to push Wael to his highest level.

“Basically, I will take my education in Egypt until I finish high school or reach a ceiling at a university,” he says. “Then, I might travel abroad, or maybe not, to further my education.”

But even if he does study abroad, he says he has made it clear to Zewail and universities abroad that have offered him scholarships — which he has turned down — that anything new he does or creates would be attributed to Egypt. He says thus far, he has no specific ideas yet, but that his goal is to win a Nobel Prize.

Despite there being no Nobel Prize for programming, Wael explains that “it is easy to find a way to attribute aspects of programming to the different award categories.”

Egypt may be very lucky to have given birth to this patriotic genius — or perhaps Wael is lucky to have been born in and devoted to Egypt. Time will tell.

This piece was originally published in Egypt Independent's weekly print edition.