In their most basic elements, humanity and the natural environment share a common foundation. While the environment and its resources can be harnessed, overexploitation and degradation must eventually take a toll on human life too. As the first decade of the 21st century comes to an end, those costs are becoming evident. Car exhaust thickens the air we breathe. Industrial waste poisons the water we drink. In the Mediterranean, overfishing threatens what once seemed a boundless source of food. And year by year, the specter of a slowly warming planet looms larger, its dangers fully recognized if not yet fully understood. Though set within relatively limited boundaries, Lebanon’s environment is characterized by a diversity of geographical zones: from its coastal beaches to the peaks of Mount Lebanon, from the fields of the Bekaa Valley to the banks of the Litani River. In a region marked by a scarcity of natural
