Scott Neeson turned his head to talk to us as he tossed his empty plastic water bottle over his shoulder. My instant reaction was to pick it up and recycle it, or at least find a proper trash receptacle - but then I remembered where we were...

We were walking through the 11 acres of habitat that make up the garbage dump of Steung Meanchey, Phnom Penh's largest landfill. Staring at Scott's discarded water bottle on the ground I realized that it is completely redundant to have trash cans here.

Navigating through the labyrinth of neighborhoods built by the residents who live in the dump we witness a phenomenal use of recycling and reusing. Plastic bottles are cut in half and hung from the side of a house, holding everything from cookware and eating utensils to tooth brushes and paste. Plastic bags patch a hole in the roof or are tied together to create a chain link fence to keep animals such as chickens, dogs and goats corralled around someone's home. Pieces of scrap metal and tin shelter homes from the sun and rain as they rest above the ground on a structure build from sticks and bamboo. A sweet lady with bright eyes and a big smile looks up at us from the ground where she sat with a hand loom weaving scraps of fabric into beautiful table cloths and rugs. I kept looking in marvel at the way these creative people use what others throw out to build, repair, eat and create in their daily lives... in a bizarrely ironic way, the residents of Steung Meanchey live a very eco-friendly lifestyle, although it is out of survival rather than conservation for environmental awareness.

On the journey through the dump we pass several recycling stations - clear plastic sheets, hung up to dry in the sun, a pile of aluminum cans and scrap metal; and stacks of paper, tied in bundles. Scott mentions to us that some of the residents sort through the trash for these materials that are sent to Vietnam for recycling. The workers who sort these materials earn an average wage of $0.30 a day with monthly rent in the dump costing $10-$15 to live in a 10ft square lot of trash. Under these circumstances many locals chose to reuse these materials rather than recycle them at a rate that would take 5 days of work just to purchase a bag or rice for $1.50.

Trash and garbage is not limited to the dump. Driving down the streets one will see bags of trash on the ground, torn apart by a person or animal in search of something salvageable. The result of no apparent regular trash collection is that these piles of trash grow and spread, some 5 to 10 feet in length, some occupying a lot big enough for a house with people sitting, sleeping and even playing on and around them.

In areas where the garbage sits in the sun for enough time one will find small fires of trash that are the reaction of spontaneous combustion occurring as the heat of the sun ignites the toxic components of the garbage. These fires release a slew of chemicals into the atmosphere resulting in a "toxic barbeque" so strong that you taste it. In the areas around the dump, the pollution gets so bad that it actually tints the color of the air, similar to looking through a foggy camera lens. Adding to the thick air is the exhaust from cars, scooters and motorcycles that are operated with limited service and inspection resulting in a visible dark brown or black exhaust. Many people wear surgical masks or scarves covering their mouths to that they can breathe. Teaching the kids of CCF 6 a sunset yoga class on the rooftop I felt dangerously ironic in instructing the kids to "breathe deep". Gazing past the laughing kids crawling all over each other, I noticed a beautiful sunset filtered by a thick, grey, hazy smog.

The Cambodians are, for better or worse, relatively adapted to these living conditions. You rarely hear the locals coughing or blowing their noses whereas our morning yoga class of the Seva participants is a chorus of congestion as we "process" what we were breathing the day before. Understandably, environmental awareness is not necessarily on the minds of people who are rummaging through garbage, begging on the street or selling their bodies so they can eat. In instances of extreme poverty, locals would rather establish a secure food source and shelter before thinking up ways to green the planet. However, the environmental conditions are contributing to everyone's diminishing health—especially the touriss . . . we all share the same air, even if it's thousands of miles away.