Summer is always hot in the Middle East, but this season has gotten really fiery in Lebanon, where blazes have damaged over 15 million square meters of forest since June. The Lebanese Daily Star reports that farmers who burn their land after clearing it don’t take note of wind and dry conditions that quickly spiral out of control. Left, firefighters work in 2008.
To fight the fires, the Association for Forests, Development and Conservation is teaming up with the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to produce a cartoon campaign similar to Smokey the Bear. The project is still in brainstorming phase. The top contenders are the bee, the jackal, the falcon or the squirrel.
The Daily Star reports:
AFDC Environmental Education and Awareness Program coordinator Sauraya Mansour said: “The debate has mostly been between whether it is more important to create a cute character to reach the children, or to focus on the economic importance of preventing bush fires and target the farmers.”
Beyond ad campaigns, the Lebanese environmental community is also pushing hard to save the forests by enacting strict prevention methods and by planting a million trees. Most critically, they are gearing up for the highest-risk time of the year, which is September-October.
Fires aren’t the only risk to Lebanon’s forests and the state’s emblematic cedar tree; in May we reported on an effort to save the cedars from global warming.
You can help by donating or signing up to volunteer with the AFDC. Contact info is on the Web site, www.afdc.org.lb.
:: Photo from Topnews.in
Author: Daniella Cheslow
Daniella Cheslow grew up in a car-dependent suburb in New Jersey, where she noticed strip malls and Wal-Marts slowly replacing farmland. Her introduction to nature came through hiking trips in Israel. As a counselor for a freshman backpacking program at Northwestern University, Daniella noticed that Americans outdoors seemed to need to arm themselves with performance clothing, specialized water bottles and sophisticated camping silverware. This made her think about how to interact with and enjoy nature simply. This year, Daniella is getting a Master’s in Geography from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She also freelance writes, photographs and podcasts. In her free time, she takes day trips in the desert, drops off compost and cooks local foods like stuffed zucchini, kubbeh and majadara. Daniella gets her peak oil anxiety from James Howard Kunstler and her organic food dreams from Michael Pollan. Read more at her blog, TheTruthHerzl.com. Daniella can be reached at daniella (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
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