8/7/2019 Instruments of change, Paul Abi Rached, Beyond Summer 2010

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G REA T IN D EED

I nstrum ents of changeAn environmentalist chants for the EarthiNords by DALILA MAHDAWI

"The g ita r w asmyweaponbecau se it w a svery e fficen t. ..In convinangpeop le tochange th e irconsumpt ionpa tte rn s." - P au lA b i R ach ed

P aul Abi Rached is a warrior but he fights with music,not weapons. While training as a lawyer, Abi Rachedstarted reading books about the state of theenvironment in Lebanon. He was alarmed to learn aboutthe ecological degradation taking place and decided hecould be of more use as an environmental educator thanas an attorney.Some 30 years on, Abi Rached isone of the most respectedenvironmentalists in the country. But his approach toconservation is perhaps more innovative than many ofhis contemporaries: Instead of organizing protest marchesor petitions, he sings. "I was a scout chief' explains AbiRached. "We used to sing around the camp fire for fun... do education in nature." Against this backdrop, hebegan composing songs about peace, climate change,waste, deforestation, healthy eating, and environmentalprotection.

2 0 6 HORIZONS

"The guitar was my weapon because it was veryefficient" in convincing people to change theirconsumption patterns, Abi Rached says. "A song isreally something that can go straight to the heart,and when you go to the heart, you can convince thehead easily." Like a truly cosmopolitan Lebanese, hesings in Arabic, French, and English, sometimes a ll inthe same song. Abi Rached has over 100 original songsin his repertoire, annually performing to over 150,000students.Eco-citizensh iPIn 1994, Abi Rached established the non-governmentalorganization (NGO) TERRE Liban. TERRE, which is anacronym for "Let us try together to realize a dream forour children" and an equivalent for "earth" in French,embodies Abi Rached's dedication for responsibleliving. "It's the meaning of sustainable development;

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you are working for o ther generations," he says. A sw ell as provid ing a platform for A bi R ached's signing,TERRE has also helped implement "at source"r ec yc li ng s ta ti on s in schools across Lebanon and has aconservation program at B aadba forest. H e hopes suchprojects can harvest a sense of eco-cit izenship amongfu tu re g en era tions.But w ith Lebanon's construction boom now in full sw in ga nd d efo re station at a critical level, Abi R ac hed ad mitsTERRE m ight need to change its tactics and becom e am ore aggressive lobbying group. "The priority for thegovernm ent is attracting investm ents," he says. "W arw as destructive to Lebanon 's nature but it stopped, to acer tain extent, investm ent in construction . Now , after thew ar , i t's w o rs e. W e must convince the governm ent that aLebanon w ithout nature is worthless."But how to go about radically changing people 's b laseattitudes to their environm ent? "I believe that ourproblem s are moral and spiritual," A bi Rached says. Here ca lls th e Native Am erican proverb : "Only after thelast tree has been cut down, on ly after the last river hasbeen poisoned , only after the last fish h as been caught,

only then w il l you fin d th at money cannot be eaten."Mass suicideAbi Rached sees greed as the leading reason forenvironmental degradation. "W e are working formoney and if we are losing important th ings like theair , the water, the land , the anim als, the biodiversity , w ew ill d isappear after them ," he says. "It's li k e co ll ec ti vesuicide on a world le vel." H e says the need for the"reeducation of hum anity" is especiall y urgent afterthe failure of the in ternational com munity to act onclim ate change at the Copenhagen Conference in 2009.Abi Rached 's hard work is not g oin g u nre co gn iz ed- many of his songs have been incorporated intoLebanon 's school curricula. In 2009, he was selec ted asan A ra b W orld Social Innovator by th e Am eric an NGOSynergos. The aw ard grants training and financial aidto "pioneers of change" who have creative approachesto social, environmental and econom ic problem s inth ei r c ommuni ti es. W ho is m ore deserving of such anaw ard than him ? thttp://wwwpaulab ir ac hed.com /

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