Sedentarization and 'development', under Israeli Occupation (1967-1982) and subsequent Egyptian rule, have eroded the agropastoral livelihoods of South Sinai Bedu and the strong cultural identity that evolved from them. Unequal access to work and poor education have produced material poverty, while government policy to 'Egyptianize' Sinai has marginalized Bedouin culture. This article explores the impacts on Bedu of living with multiple inequalities, and the strategies people employ to validate themselves in a system that disdains or ignores them. Among the most important is adopting a self-appointed role as guardians of nature. Bedu are choosing to reformulate an environmental identity as an act of symbolic resistance to Egyptianization, and to a neglect of the environment that they feel, with good reason, extends to them.