As you know this is the month of Ramadan, a month long of fasting celebrated by our Muslim friends. Egypt has a large population of people who follow the Prophet’s teaching. Concurrently with the fasting our friends do, they are also helping our planet in a very unique way during this entire month.

The air quality in downtown Cairo is very much polluted .The sky is not blue but gray. The air is thick and there is always a haze. The pollution in this country is said to be more than 100 times the level considered as safe and acceptable by world standards. The emission of particles like hydrocarbon and leads are at dangerous levels. All this are cancer causing agents. Pollution can cause serious respiratory problems like Asthma. There are emissions of carbon monoxide and too much carbon monoxide in your blood stream disrupts the way our normal body works as it slowly damages the healthy haemoglobin in one’s blood stream lessening the oxygen intake, eventually posing dangerous risk to their health. Plenty of the Egyptians use very old vehicles for transportation. The old vehicles cause carbon present in fuel to ineffectively react with oxygen during combustion than a newer car does, producing all the harmful bi-products as mentioned above.

All of this Middle Eastern countries with vast numbers of devoted Muslims around with low-priced petrol to their advantage, it is expected for the roads to be crowded with cars all the time so to have an hour of free roads, it is commendable. As the clock ticks away towards 6.30pm, the roads start clearing up and by 6.45pm the road is almost empty and stays like that for at least an hour or so. It is absolutely unbelievable. It is not just Cairo, I was in Alexandria yesterday and yes, the roads were all clear as the people break their fast. An estimation of about 4.8 million vehicles comes to a complete halt so they can sit down for their prayers and their meal after a whole daylight of fasting. Can you imagine how much good that hour does to our Earth? If the entire world does what they do here every day even for just half an hour it would be so beneficial, we need not worry about the soaring temperatures, the depletion of our glaciers, sea levels and the effects it has on our plants. I also wish if only there would be more cyclists around these parts of the world, the many greenhouse gas we will save our earth from. Simple ways to ensure we could all have a healthier world.