Environment?!?

Our neighbor came over the other night to make us some Om Aly, a traditional Egyptian dessert. She is a jolly and maternal 25 year-old Egyptian studying law at Cairo University. I asked her what kind of law she was studying, and she said "business law." She knew that I was planning on going to law school next year, and she asked me what kind of law I wanted to study. 

"Well I think, at this point, that I kind of want to study environmental law."

"Environment?!?" She laughed and laughed and couldn't believe it. She would control herself, then look at me, and as if the sight of me was too funny to handle, would completely lose herself into more hysterics. After a few minutes of this, and some awkward sideways glances to my roommates trying to say "Should I be insulted by this?" she calmed down and realized that I was serious. Like a concerned mother, she asked me why I would choose to pursue something so ridiculous. 

In a classic case of "I blame the system," I quickly realized that I was fighting a losing battle by trying to explain such things to her. And she is a very smart girl! "We don't have environment in Egypt," she would say. Fair enough, I suppose. Because how can you evaluate the harm done to a bunch of sand?