Archive | Environment

Satellite Images Show Exorbitant Levels of Air Pollution in Lebanon

By Rami on March 15, 2019 in Environment

The European Space Agency (ESA) recently released several maps showing air pollution around the world after measuring the level of nitrogen dioxide over major cities using their Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite.

This gas is an air pollutant that comes from traffic and the combustion of fossil fuel in industrial areas. And needless to say, it causes health issues by irritating the lungs and causing respiratory problems. The data was collected between April and September 2018 and the above image shows the result for part of the Middle East.

As you can see, almost all of Lebanon has very high levels of NO2 especially over the coast. And since we are by no means an industrial nation, the polluted air definitely comes from the massive number of cars and the diesel generators everywhere around the coutnry.

On the other hand, the government is as passive as ever with no plan in sight to make things better. In fact the best thing they have in mind now is to build garbage incinerators which they believe are eco-friendly. So expect the next results from the Copernicus to have Lebanon on the map replaced with a piece of shit. Literally.

Compensating For The Lack of Public Spaces in Beirut

By Rami on April 5, 2018 in Environment

One of the things I really struggle with every weekend is coming up with a new place to take my kid to for some outdoor fun. The options in Beirut are quite limited due to the lack of public spaces/gardens so most of the times we end up at a closed playground, which I absolutely despise, and sometimes at some place up in the mountains when the weather permits.

However, I’ve been lately thinking that the Municipality of Beirut actually does have the capacity to compensate for this lack of public space during the weekends and holidays at minimum, and they can seriously focus on this instead of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on what they label as attempts to revive Nejmeh square.

Beirut has a lot of big schools such as Lycée Abdelkader, La Sagesse, Makassed and International College to name a few, in addition to many public schools as well, and most of them have large fields with kids playgrounds. So why not can’t the municipality agree with a couple of large schools in every area to open their doors during the weekends in order for the people to enjoy a casual troll or jog away from the polluted streets or even bring their kids to play and spend some time.

I know the whole thing is not as simple as just opening the schools’ doors and it definitely needs money and human resources to make it happen, but the municipality can take it as an opportunity to provide jobs for part timers who are willing to participate. Moreover, schools can also benefit by offering to rent small kiosks for business owners for example.

So yes, instead of pouring money into pointless projects and initiatives, how about we simply try to make use of what’s already available?

UN Listens – A Chance to Make Our Communities Better

By Rami on February 25, 2018 in Environment, Social

“UN Listens” is one of the latest initiatives by the United Nations in Lebanon, and it aims to engage the Lebanese citizens in making positive change to their communities and environment. For several years now, the work of the UN in our country has been associated with exclusively helping the Syrian refugees, but in fact they’re committed to their development projects for Lebanon and the UN Listens campaign is one example.

The UN is now calling Lebanese citizens to share their ideas on how they can make their communities better through a dedicated website www.unlistens.org, and the the authors of the best 10 letters with the most creative suggestions will have the opportunity to discuss their ideas with UN experts which can assist them realizing solutions for their environment.

So if you feel you lack the necessary support to voice a suggestion that can positively impact your community, make sure to write a letter through the UN Listens website presenting your idea no matter how big or small it is.

Horsh Beirut is Open Again to The Public

By Rami on July 30, 2017 in Environment

Horsh Beirut has been closed down by the Municipallity of Beirut for several month now ever since a disease spread among the pine trees there and was threatening the whole area. Fortunately, the municipality back then took the matter seriously and closed down the park to treat the issue by cutting down and burning the infected trees, which eventually resulted in containing the disease.

Accordingly, Horsh Beirut has been officially opened again to the public as of yesterday except for some areas where the municipality is still working to clear the invasive insects.

For those interested, the park will be open from 7AM till 1PM on weekdays, and from 7AM till 7PM on weekends. Barbecue and Shisha are of course still forbidden inside, and thank god for that!

Middle East Airlines Among the Least Environmentally Friendly Airlines

By Rami on June 19, 2017 in Environment

Earlier last week, London’s Heathrow Airport issued a list of 50 global airlines ranked according to how environmentally friendly they are, and our national carrier Middle East Airlines turned out to be among among the worst coming in the 48th position.

The airlines in the list were assessed based on 7 categories among which are arrival times, efficient landing approaches, nitrogen oxide emissions, and noise pollution. Therefore, this of course has nothing to do with travelers experience on board but rather with the footprint that airplanes flying out of Heathrow Airport leave on the environment.

The only two airlines that scored worse than MEA were Kuwait Airways and Israel’s El Al, while British Airways topped the ranking followed by Aer Lingus, Etihad Airways, Scandinavian Airlines System, Finnair and American Airlines.

You can check the full list here.

What Are These Excavation Works in Ramlet El Bayda?

By Rami on November 13, 2016 in Environment, Governmental

Many activists have been sharing photos since Thursday of excavations works currently happening at Beirut’s last public beach in Ramlet El Bayda but nobody was able to explain their purpose yet.

Over the last couple of years there has been a lot of talk about the area being a private property and that a resort will be built there by Achour Development. However, right before the previous municipal council’s term ended last spring, it was announced that the municipality of Beirut will be claiming back the beach and surrounding land in order to keep it accessible to the public. News about the whole thing then eventually stopped circulating until these photos started surfacing online.

Knowing that the “Byeirteh” list’s promise when they were elected was to keep Beirut for its people, I hope they were considering Ramlet El Bayda a part of the capital when they made their promise back then.

In all cases, I tried to reach both of Ziad Chbib (Beirut governor) and Jamal Itani (Beirut mayor) to know the purpose of these excavation works and will definitely post an update if they reply to me.

Photos via Lama Karamé and Joelle Boutros.

Lebanon Ranked 3rd Worldwide in Pollution Index

By Rami on September 5, 2016 in Environment, What the fuck!

It’s good to know that all the effort we have been putting over the past year in piling up the garbage on our streets and then disposing them in the most unhealthy landfills has finally paid off! According to Numbeo Lebanon is now ranked 3rd worldwide in their pollution index right behind Afghanistan and Ghana.

And it isn’t like we have been trailing way back in the previous years, back in 2013 we were ranked just 13th but we eventually did some serious work and almost made our way to the top.

photo via Al Jazeera

Update:

I didn’t notice this when I first shared the chart, but it’s worth noting that the figures are based on the perception of Numbeo website visitors and therefore the ranking is unreliable. Mustapha wrote about the whole thing on his blog and I recommend you check it out.

The Garbage Crisis is BACK!

By on August 26, 2016 in Environment, What the fuck!

Everyone remembers that white powder we had become accustomed to last year during the garbage crisis. That white powder used to keep away insects, pests and whatnot. Well guess what? That white powder is back in full force, well at least in the Metn region, and it is a clear indicator that a new crisis is upon us.

Check these few pictures I snapped today during my morning commute (Mansourieh, Mkalles and Sin el Fil)