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Green Pioneers Series: Najib Saab

July 21, 2011 Thursday

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Today, our green adventure takes us to Lebanon, where Rima Maktabi met one man who's trying to make sure that the perils facing our planet, all of our planet, are not overlooked.

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RIMA MAKTABI, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Amid the turmoil in the Arab world, Najib Saab keeps his eye on the prize, a future that's sustainable.

Today, he's at a school on a hilltop overlooking Beirut, an almost perfect setting for Saab's green revolution.

While the older generations are immersed in today's problems, the kids at Ain Najem are planting tomorrow's trees under the watchful eye of the man who's become a leading figure in the Arab environmental movement.

NICHOLAS, STUDENT, AIN NAJEM SCHOOL: We're cleaning the land surface, and then we open the pit, and third, we cut the plastic bag, and then we put the plant into the pit and we return the soil. And then we put watering and pressing the soil for expelling the air.

NAJIB SAAB, GREEN PIONEER: The project here is called a Tree Nursery for Every School. We started five years ago with 350 schools in Lebanon. The idea behind it is to educate young people about the importance of trees.

MAKTABI: Plastic bags and seeds are sent to participating schools all over Lebanon. Teachers are trained to ensure the seeds get planted the right way.

CLARA, STUDENT, AIN NAJEM SCHOOL: We are planting the -- we are planting trees. We love nature. We will give it water.

MAKTABI: Lebanon's national emblem is the cedar tree. It's even on its flag. But Saab says that symbolism has not led to action in his native land.

SAAB: We had more hopes during the years of the civil war in Lebanon than what we have now, because we were hoping things would change to the better when the war ends.

Those are community initiatives, at the level of a school, a university, an organization. But at the government level, there are no sustainable plans to save the environment.

MAKTABI: The tree-planting program is just one of Najib Saab's environmental projects. He's also the editor of "Al-Bia Wal-Tanmia," a monthly environmental magazine that now reaches 22 countries across the Middle East and is part of the curriculum in many schools.

SAAB: I concentrate more in my work at the regional level, trying to detach from the daily gimmicks which became national hobby, in order to preserve my sanity. I often feel on the verge of losing hope amidst the turmoil in Lebanon. The only hope I see is in the children, the newer generation, with whom we are working.

 MAKTABI: So, they are his focus, and education is his weapon. One by one, Najib Saab is converting Lebanon's schools, making the environment part of daily life and taking his message to a wider audience through a series of TV documentaries and the think tank he founded, the Arab Forum for Environment and Development, AFED.

 SAAB: When all wars, revolts and conflicts end, we shall still have to face the fact that we have to breathe fresh air, we have to drink clean water, we need good soil to grow our food. So, whatever happens in Lebanon or in the region around it, we cannot avoid to care about the environment, because this is our future.

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 GORANI: Rima Maktabi reporting from Lebanon.

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