Environmental Issues in Lebanon

There are few causes in Lebanon that care for the environment, only a handful. Not only is this wrong, but it is detrimental to our way of living. Why is it so important? Our environment is in basic terms Earth. It’s not like we have other planets to live on, so why not care for this one planet we have. It is where we live; our whole life depends on this one planet.

Our environment is important as it is the sole reason we live, it provides us with food, with oxygen and other sustenance. If we don’t care for it, our sea levels rise which affects our marine life, and affects icecaps (icecaps are made of fresh water, which reflect light). Thus if icecaps disappear, Earth gets darker and absorbs heat, which increases the temperature of Earth. This will change our whole atmosphere and will change our living habits. So if you like the way your living, I suggest you start caring for your environment. Start with the small things, such as recycling and properly disposing of your wastes.

And now, I am going to list the top 9 threats to Lebanon’s environment:

• Toxic Waste: During the civil war, militias in Lebanon allowed foreign companies to bury toxic waste in the country; Green peace declared that they removed 77 tons of contaminated land and waste along with 36 plastic containers of plastic.
• Hunting: Hunting is an unregulated issue in Lebanon that is a threat to our animal life, and even to migratory birds that stop in the Beqaa valley.
• Tire Fires: In Lebanon, burning tires in protests is a common thing to block roads.
• Garbage burning/illegal dumping
• Illegal Quarries: which help defrost the country and ruin animal habitats.
• Pollution of the sea: With a mountain of garbage immediately on the sea shore in the southern city of Sidon known for avalanches that bombard the sea with trash and a policy of dumping wastewater into the Mediterranean, Lebanon is no good steward of its coast, Israel didn’t help by bombing a fuel storage tank in July 2006 war pouring over 10000 tons of heavy fuel oil into the sea
• Electricity Production: On top of a nationwide fleet of private, diesel fueled generators, Lebanon relies solely on heavy fuel oil and diesel for electricity production, both of these fuels are dirty, and the Zouk power plant just north of Beirut is particularly notorious for poisoning the residents who live near it.
• Car exhaust: according to the American university of Beirut researcher, some 76% of the 1.3 million privately owned cards in Beirut are over 10 years old, these clunkers help contribute to pollutants in the air along the Beirut-Jonieh highway, which is now double the level recommended by WHO
• Forest Fires

Our future children will be grateful if we started working on maintaining our environment in an efficient, as it will allow them to live and breathe freely. Not only do we want to pave a clean and long living for our future generations but also for our generation.