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Friday 25 June 2010

Something in the air



*Gasp*
Just in. Vital news. Must read. Must tell all. Civic duty.
*Draws a deep breath*
Ok? Ready?
*Steadies himself*
Sit down. Trust me, you’ll want to be sitting down for this.
Comfy?
Beirut is dangerously polluted.
Ok?
Excellent.
*Collapses into his chair*
As you were.

Seriously? This is news?

As if you can’t see it when you look out over the mountains surrounding the city.

Yes. This is bad news. However, it’s also bleedin’ obvious.

Beiruti air: Thick enough to chew on

And, guess what causes it? Now, this'll shock you: Cars. 

Didn't see that coming, did you?

I guess someone’s got to find jobs for all these PHDs. There's no money/interest in the country to fix the roads/electricity/citizenship issues/political infighting etc., etc., but there is money to investigate the fact that Beirut has a pollution problem.

To surmise:  Beirut is polluted. Beirut has too many cars. Cars are polluting Beirut.

You could bring someone from outside of the city, tell them to walk around Hamra for twenty minutes and they'd tell you the same thing...

Wonderful.

Ok, yes, it's a good thing that people are looking into it.

Picture from here.