We are an Environmental Disaster

The recent pre-wedding party in the cave system at the Jeita grotto at which wedding guests swayed to the strains of Fairuz, has ignited much pearl-clutching among Lebanese, both at home and abroad, outraged by the potential damage to the rock formations and animal life caused by the lighting and sound system.  

The party apparently lasted only 30 minutes and the grotto’s manager swears blind that safety protocols were in place. But even if they weren’t and in fact someone made a massive blunder, so what?

Lebanon is hardly a shining example of environmental probity, and while of course it’s fine and fitting for outraged activists and columnists to take a pop at the Jeita municipality or the Ministry of Tourism and question the wisdom of the event, I wish, I really wish, the huge outcry over a seemingly well-organised wedding party could be more sustained and directed at the chronic environmental issues that plague our once beautiful country every day.

I say ‘once beautiful’ because the highly selective touched-up drone videos of beauty spots that populate the social media and which are designed to make us feel good about ourselves, only serve to hide the fact that Lebanon’s natural beauty has been decimated by rampant building and environmental vandalism. Our mountains and coastline are filled with apartment blocks, littered with garbage and filled with toxic waste. One only has to look at a photo of Jounieh Bay, in the 50s and 60s to see the destruction we have wrought on a once genuinely beautiful country, all the while convincing ourselves Lebanon is still God’s gift to natural beauty.

The ostentation and influence of the rich have always been easy targets, but the irony is that, judging by the demographic, the guests at the Jeita party probably know more than most that we are an environmental basket case.

They are no doubt aware of the need for proper recycling and have a hazy notion of how long it takes for a plastic bottle to decompose (450 years if you didn’t know). They will probably clear up after a picnic, and should they be inclined to kill animals for sport, they will presumably pick up their used plastic cartridges (500 years to decompose) when the slaughter is over.

They also know that the rampant quarrying that is eating away at our mountains breaks all international rules and they have probably noticed, and winced at, the high incidence of cancers that have been linked to intolerably high levels of air, water and soil pollution across the country. And while they probably receive a portion of their electricity from a diesel generator, they have no doubt inwardly shivered when they notice the cloud of tobacco-yellow smog that hovers menacingly over Beirut on any given day.

And there lies the rub. The fact is that a significant tranche of the Lebanese population would have seen nothing wrong in holding a party in the grotto. If they did, we wouldn’t be in the perilous position we are in now. It’s been said a million times, but it is worth repeating: education at grass roots level is so important. I am 60, my generation is a lost cause, but our children and grandchildren must be given the tools to save what is left.

I hear good things about Tamara El Zein, the latest incumbent to hold the environment portfolio. She is a woman, which is always good no testosterone to get in the way of her policy making – but I fear that, as long as the government has bigger fish to fry, the environment will always take a back seat.

She shouldn’t wait too long. According to the 2024 Environmental Performance Index (EPI), published by Yale and Columbia Universities in collaboration with the World Economic Forum, Lebanon ranked 124th out of 180 countries worldwide and was 10th among Arab nations, “falling below both regional and global averages”.

I’ll leave you with this: The other month, my wife was fined £150 pounds on the spot for throwing her cigarette onto a London street instead of taking the butt back to her office.

We have a long way to go.