Nathaly Rodriguez
Give three compelling examples of how cultural issues affect your project.
Before I answer this question, it is important to acknowledge that the Kazakhstan culture is complex as are all cultures. This makes it difficult to properly understand how it works without speaking to people directly or being immersed in the culture.
- One potential issue is that currently Kazakhstan holds a hybrid regime due to being a presidential republic. The citizens of Kazakhstan have and continue to protest for their rights to a fair vote. The police have arrested thousands of such protestors due to the lack of police reform. This heavily effects our project in terms of community engagement because there is a factor of having citizens understand the extent of how the air quality in Kazakhstan is affecting them, however it may not be their number one priority. If citizens do not feel they have basics rights to be able to make change, it may mean part of the project will be finding ways to show how taking environmental action can be used as another form of political action.
- Kazakhstan’s economy relies heavily on the mining industry, although they have made efforts to diversify their economic profile. Although, there are several initiatives to find clean and renewable sources of heat, as opposed to their current overuse of coal. When it comes to economic matters, the mining of oil and other resources plays a part in Kazakhstan being able to bring a large percentage of citizens out of poverty. This aspect of the culture directly effects our project since the emissions coming from the factories are culprits of polluting the air. However, if citizens see the industries as a form of income for themselves, they may overlook the harm poor air quality causes.
- As part of initiatives in the city of Almaty, they have created bike routes and buses powered by clean energy. Although the initiatives are needed, they have been deemed unsuccessful as routes for both are considered ineffective. This is unfortunate, considering that in Almaty the emissions coming from cars is one of the main sources of air pollution. The gas being put into the cars are often of poor quality leading to worse emissions, it also does not help that a lot of the cars used are older.
Have you experienced or observed any of these social situations at home? Describe at least three in such situations.
- America is not perfect and there constantly protest over various issues. Although the politics are not the same as in Kazakhstan, protest still go awry and sometimes there is police brutality especially with people of color.
- Americans in more rural or factory-based places often turn a blind eye to climate change because they do not want it to affect their source of income. When people are in this mindset, they often vote for politicians who claim climate change does not exist.
- As in Almaty, there are still older cars on the road in America, not everyone can afford an energy efficient car. However, if cars are up to date on inspections, they are tested to see of their emissions are within an acceptable range, which helps in the case of keeping emissions lower.
Give three examples of cultural practices that can be leveraged to addressed community/market problems.
- Although the fact that there are people in Kazakhstan fighting to have fair voting may lead to environmental initiatives not being their priority, there is still the potential that people would be interested. A politically engaged public has more potential to work with us and communicate their needs to us, compared to a public that is apathic towards what is happening.
- The government has plans for more renewable resources, which indicates that people want a cleaner environment. Through our project of analyzing the air quality and figuring how to increase the quality, it seems as though the help would be accepted and encouraged.
- Hospitality has been reported as an important part of the Kazakhstani culture. This can lead to potentially better relationships coming in as strangers to them, since this culture is known to be more accepting of others.
Links:
http://www.mfa.gov.kz/en/london/content-view/kazakh-culture-2
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1876610214017214
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/kz.html
https://eurasianet.org/kazakhstan-struggling-air-suffocating-city