WINTER has set in and people in Riyadh are preparing to go picnicking in the desert and set up camps over the weekends. As usual, newspapers start to focus much of its coverage on the bad practices of some people with regard to environmental protection. After sitting and having fun in the wilderness, many people leave behind garbage such as food leftovers and plastic cups and bags. As usual, reporters and columnists start to write articles calling for laws that fine anyone who drops litter in the desert. This means that security officers will have to go the desert and start monitoring families spending their time there and hand out fines to violators. By the way, Riyadh thieves will like this idea a lot, because officers will move to the desert and leave the capital unguarded. Some will blame the mayoralty and ask it to provide cleaners in the desert. Throwing away garbage is a scenario that is repeated in schools as well. As usual, school students go on break, flock to the canteen to have breakfast, and throw away their garbage after they eat without any fear that such actions might get them into trouble with the school administration. Then, cleaners start to pick up their garbage and put it in big plastic bags. As usual, educational supervisors and those who run schools do not know that these students will grow up to be enemies of the environment because no one told them about the importance of environmental protection. They grew up believing it is okay to drop litter because there are always cleaners in the school who will take care of this litter and clean the floor. As usual, the Ministry of Education looks like it does not have any plans to change this destructive behavior toward the environment.
