Tag Archives | 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.

Lebanon Nature Reserves Are Open For Free This Sunday

By Rami on March 8, 2019 in Culture, Lebanon

Minister of Environment Fadi Jreissati announced earlier this week that Lebanon’s nature reserves will be open for free to the public on Sunday March 10th for the occation of the National Day for Nature reserves.

Access to the nature reserves isn’t much anyway, as I recall paying around 5,000L.L when I went to Arz El Shouf few years ago, but the announcement comes as a reminder for us all to actually go and learn about the value of these reserve with all the biological diversity they encompass.

Here’s a list of the available nature reserves in Lebanon from Wikipedia and new other sources:

Ehden Forest
Nakheel Islands
Cedars of Tannourine Forest
Chnaneer
Arz Jaj
Bentael natural reserve.
Al Yammouna
Arz El Chouf
Tyre coast
Houjeir Valley
Karm Shobat
Nature reserves of Ramiyah, Kafra, Beit Leef and Dibil.

Photos via lebanontraveler.com

IBDAA – 2017 International Biodiversity Day at AUB

By Rami on April 24, 2017 in Events

IBDAA, or the International Biodiversity Day at AUB, is an annual poster forum organized by the Nature Conservation Center to celebrate the International Day for Biological Diversity (IDB).

This event provides an opportunity for AUB students to participate in a fully fledged poster forum in order to test their innovative abilities, attempt to address any issue pertaining to the conservation of nature and its development, create a representative poster, and present their work to a panel of experts. Projects can take the form of demonstrations, models, posters, and descriptions of research findings, which ultimately allows them to gather valuable feedback and expertise in the field of idea conception, development, and execution.

For the past 10 years, projects have tackled nature conservation and development from a variety of viewpoints and under various themes. As for this year, the NCC has chosen to make this year’s theme, “Sustainable Solutions to our Environmental Challenges”, as a means to refocus on the ecological needs of the region.

AUB students who are interested in participating in this event can check IBDAA page on AUB website.

Crocodiles spotted in Beirut river

By Rami on July 24, 2013 in Lebanon

According to this article in Al-Joumhouria, at least three crocodiles were spotted in Beirut river near Karantina after someone dumped them there. After checking with a veterinarian, it turned out these are actually Nile crocodiles, a specie that is quite dangerous (do there exist safe ones?).

Both ministries of environment and agriculture were unfortunately unaware of this story, and I guess the crocodiles will most probably die on their own before these ministries decide to take any action. So for the time being, Animals Lebanon will be working on catching them and returning them back to Africa.

You can read the full article here.

Update:

Below is a video showing one of the crocodiles in Beirut river.

Giveaway: 4 Tickets to Wickerpark Festival 2012

By Rami on June 21, 2012 in Lebanon

The awesome people behind Wickerpark Festival 2012 granted me 4 tickets to the two-day event happening on June 29 & 30, and I’ll be giving them all away to two of you guys!

All you have to do is leave a comment on this post and I’ll be randomly selecting two lucky winners on Sunday night to get 2 tickets each. Just make sure to use a valid e-mail address when commenting to receive how to claim your tickets.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the event will include short film screenings, fairs, and exhibitions on the first day, and a music festival to follow on the second day. As for the tickets, they’re available for $30 at Librairie Antoine.

Update:

Congrtulations Joseph & Cynthia, I’ll be sending you an e-mail shortly.

Wickerpark Festival 2012 – When Nature Pokes Back

By Rami on June 14, 2012 in Events

We’ve got no more sea urchins in our sea, and a group of people decided to do something about it, those are the Wickerpark Festival team.

The first edition of Wickerpark Festival was held last year and was dedicated to raise to raise fund for replanting of trees in collaboration with the ministry of environment. This year, the festival is focusing on repopulating Sea Urchins by working again with the ministry of environment as well as the Marine Biology Center in Batroun, to repopulate urchins in safe waters before releasing them into the sea.

The festival itself will take place in an open-air venue in Batroun right by the sea, and will be held on June 29th & June 30th.

June 29th will include short-film screenings, ecological fairs, artist exhibitions as well as a series of small acoustic sets, while June 30th will include the Music Festival, with the following artists set to perform:

Karl Mattar
Sae Lis
Who Killed Bruce Lee
The Flying Circus
Zeid & The Wings
The Beirut Groove Collective

So here’s your chance to go have fun, listen to some good music, and give back to mother nature while at it!

Unfortunately I still have no idea about the tickets price and where can you get them from, but I’ll be updating the post once I get some additional info.

Update:

Tickets will be available for sale at Librairie Antoine outlets for $30, and will allow you to attend both of the first and second day of the festival.

ABC Achrafieh is now 100% smoke free

By Rami on March 1, 2012 in Lebanon

A press conference was held at ABC Achrafieh today to announce that the mall is as of today, March 1st 2012, a 100% smoke free environment except for the restaurant in Level 3 which will ban smoking on Mondays only, knowing that most of them already have a non-smoking section.

I’m not sure if the same policy will be enforced at ABC Dbayeh as well, anyway be careful next time you pull out a cigarette at ABC Achrafiyeh!

A total smoking ban at cafes and restaurant will be applied as of September 2012 by the way, and in 2 days from now (March 3rd) all kind of tobacco advertising will be illegal as well.

Photo via @ritakml

Update:

Turned out the smoking ban is effective at the indoor spaces only, so basically you can still walk around the mall with a lit cigarette in your hand. Now that doesn’t really make them a 100% smoke free environment right?

Bringing Central Park to the roofs of Beirut

By Rami on January 4, 2012 in Lebanon

I was complaining to a friend of mine a while ago that wherever you plan to buy an apartment in Beirut, and no matter how good your view over the sea or the mountains might be, it will always be ruined with the ugly rooftops all around you! They’re all crowded with rusty water tanks, satellite dishes, and even pigeon houses sometimes!

And today I came across this cool idea by Wassim Melki who is proposing to start growing trees on the rooftops of Beirut’s building to compensate for the lack of green spaces in the city.

It definitely needs lot of work to be implemented, and most importantly needs commitment and support from the municipality of Beirut which is as efficient as any governmental institution in Lebanon. That unfortunately leads us to the ugly conclusion that this project will never be destined to become a reality.

You can stay up to date with the project’s news via their Facebook page.

Blog Action Day 2009 – Climate Change

By Rami on October 15, 2009 in Events

In case you’re wondering, the blog action day is the day when the blogsphere unite to talk about a subject that relates to all of us, and this year’s subject is the climate change.

Today I won’t be writing about what the climate change is and its bad effects on our planet, I’m pretty sure you lately came across several articles about that (just in case you didn’t, here’s something for you). This post will be more about what we as individuals can do in our not-so-ecofriendly country, also known as Lebanon.

Zouk Power Plant
Photo by Antoine Kater

Carpooling on a daily basis is hard I know, and our transportation sucks big time that’s for sure, but I know that I can leave my car home at least twice or more each month and reach my destination either with a friend or in a bus. And so can you!
Do turn off lights when you don’t need them! That’s the least you can do to help the environment. (and to reduce your electricity bill of course!)
Recycling! If you do work then let your boss know that Sukleen CAN collect recyclable materials upon request. So contact them as soon as possible and let them collect your paper trash for recycling.
Think twice before you print, do you really need that document in hard copy?
Plant a tree if you can, the environment will love you for that.
… and the list goes on…

I know my post alone might not convince you to make a slight change in your lifestyle to help reducing the effects of the climate change, but just wait until the end of the day and see how much blogs will be talking about the same matter! Then you’ll know how serious it is! Oh and make sure to also check this shocking post from Travel Blog Magazine.

Zouk electricity factory pollution

By Rami on September 7, 2009 in What the fuck!

A friend of mine sent me the below photo today asking me to publish it on the blog.

This is an insane environmental crime! I pity the Zouk inhabitants who have to breath these toxins every single day. All politicians know very well that these factories need to be replaced as soon as possible, and they all go on TV to talk about the problem but none of them suggests a solution. Screw you Lebanese parliament members, I am proud I did not vote to anyone of you.