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Can Your Personality Get You Fired

Job candidates rarely admit to being fired for poor performance... and they might just be telling the truth. A Harvard University study found that for every dismissal based on failure to perform, there are two dismissals due to personality and communication problems. With the high costs of employee turnover, it's no surprise companies are turning to personality and behavioral assessments to help evaluate job candidates, build teams and resolve workplace conflict.

The Right Fit
Ann Taylor Loft, the world's fastest-growing women's retailer, recently began using testing to fine-tune its hiring process and bring in top talent. Through a partnership with the Gallup organization, Loft has developed a tool that profiles employees who have been highly successful and identifies candidates who have similar traits.

Desired characteristics vary by position. If you're applying for a floor sales manager job at a Loft store, for example, you would be asked to complete an on-line assessment gauging your talents, traits, attitudes and behaviors related to assisting and helping wardrobe clients. Your results would then be benchmarked against profiles and test results of the stores' best performers to help judge how you would fit into the organization.

"We want to learn more about candidates as individuals," says Wei-Li Chong, Ann Taylor Loft's vice president of organizational effectiveness. "We want to know what makes them tick.

"Once a candidate is hired, this same information helps us understand and maximize their talents specific to the role they have," Chong adds. "And we continue to work on developing employees' self-awareness throughout their careers to help create an environment that ensures success."

Why Can't We All Just Get Along?
Hundreds of companies including Hewlett-Packard and GM use testing to take advantage of existing staff strengths and avoid personality-based conflicts. And though there are a myriad of test instruments to choose from, the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) remains the standard-bearer of all personality assessments. According to its publishers, Myers-Briggs is used by roughly nine out of 10 Fortune 100 companies and is administered to more than 2.5 million employees a year.

Developed 60 years ago based on the theories of psychoanalyst Carl Jung, the MBTI endures because it does a great job of improving team relations by pointing out differences between how personality "types" perceive and process information.

"People have different ways of making decisions and dealing with stress," explains Lynn Ronchetto, human resources administrator at New York-Presbyterian Hospital. "The Myers-Briggs tool offers a conceptual framework for understanding those who are different from us and helps bridge differences between team members by showing there is more than one way to get things done.

"The tool is also very valuable from a personal development standpoint, as it gives individuals a revealing glimpse of themselves as others may see them."

You Can't Study For It
What should you do when your boss or prospective employer asks you to take a personality assessment? Experts advise answering the questions truthfully, not the way you think the company wants you to respond. There is often a validity factor built-in where many questions are asked solely to determine whether the subject is answering truthfully and consistently.

Even if you do fool the test, you'll only wind up in a job or assignment that doesn't fit or will make you - and those around you - miserable. According to Bonnie Bass, vice president of Professional Dynametric Programs testing organization, "When people feel the need to act unnaturally, they waste energy, experience stress and become unhappy and less productive. People are at their best when they're doing work that draws on their natural strengths and allows them to be themselves."

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First-Time Management Mistakes

S†MoN® says: "There comes a time when a determination strikes through one of your neurons. You sit around planning on how to shoot down your boss so you replace him. Or better still, you are a natural born thriller going rightfully up the ladder. Whatever scenario marks your career path, and whether you are the shotgun-guy type or just the joking-around-to-the-point-where-you-scare-the-heck-out-of-them type, here are some entrapments to escape. So, good luck".


Common pitfalls for new managers and ways to avoid them

Sure, you're promoted because you racked up more sales, landed more clients or crunched those budget projects like a wizard. But it's very possible that these talents won't necessarily translate into being a good, rookie manger. In the NBA, for every successful star-turned-boss success story like that of Indiana Pacers coach Larry Bird, there are countless accounts of failure: all-time player greats Magic Johnson, Dan Issel, Wes Unseld and Willis Reed compiled a combined coaching record of just 385 wins and 852 losses. Ouch!

And here's an alarming statistic to make first-time bosses even more queasy: Within the first 18 months on the job, 40 percent of all management newbies fail by either getting fired, voluntarily bowing out of the position or receiving a bad review, according to Manchester Inc., a business consulting group based near Philadelphia. In a survey of more than 825 human resources manager nationwide, Manchester found that the number one problem among newly promoted managers by far (as cited by 82 percent of the respondents) was a failure to build partnership and team work.

So here are seven perennial, first-time manager mistakes and how to avoid them:

1. You flunk Office Poli-Sci 101
In the Manchester survey, half of the respondents say that new supervisors lack needed political skills. They cannot find out who is more powerful and who is less powerful, says Effy Oz, author of The Managers Bible (Ivy League Publishing, 1998). They want to avoid politics. That's a mistake. It's part of a game. Sure, it can be mind-boggling, figuring out who you need. When you're the new boss, there are countless incoming blips on your radar screen. You need to avoid being captured by the wrong people, says Michael Watkins, who co-authored Right From The Start: Taking Charge in a New Leadership Role (Harvard Business School Press, 1999) with Dan Ciampa. When you first come in, people jockey to try ton influence you. Some people can be very persuasive, but they have their own agendas. You can be isolated because of them and alienate good people. The lesson? Don't sacrifice coalition-building because someone has a talent for getting face time. Conduct the appropriate due diligence to weed out self-serving employees before you commit.

2. You want your employees to be carbon copies you
Sure, you got where you are by being a star. But management is where many careers go to die. (Think of those NBA coaches). Most employees aren't Top Gun talents, but try telling that to many former office hotshots now supervising them. It's like Michael Jordan telling a player: Why can't you dunk from the foul line? says Bob Rosner, business columnist for ABCnews.com and the New York Daily News, and author of Working Wounded: Advice That Adds Insight to injury (Warner Books, 1998). It's hard for a lot of people who are really good to relate to and inspire someone for whom things don't come together as easily. So you should accept mediocrity? Not a chance. You need to gain appreciation for week-to-week baby steps among improving employees.

3. You fail to communicate
Many bosses don't lay it on the line to their employees quickly enough according to across the Boards columnist and career consultants Marilyn Moats Kennedy. If you're deadline oriented, for example, just tell them, Kennedy says. Then those who blow deadlines will adapt or die. New bosses think the employee will pick up on it out of the air. They worked with them as peers, so they figure that they know them. Hell no, they don't. And to give this troubling sign a 1990s spin, outsourced work and on-staff employees serving multiple masters complicate these efforts. How do you convince, say, a pair of temps sharing a cubical that they should give all they got? Make it look like there's something in it for them other than a paycheck, says Ray Harrison, who heads up the leadership coaching that Manchester provides for more than 4,000 companies. Do they feel that, by working for you, they'll learn and develop themselves? he says. Most people have an instinct to grow. If you make them feel like they can, they'll gravitate toward you.

4. You sprint out of the gate instead of pacing yourself
Under pressure, some new team leaders inexplicably force multiple, marathon meetings that bog down productivity. They come up with a list of 99 goals to meet by EOD Friday, in trying to turn themselves into an immediate supervisory star. Bad move. It's a matter of keeping your powder dry early on, Watkins says. That's military-speak, meaning don't start firing in all directions.

5. You try to be Santa Claus to everyone
Everybody wants something from you, but you only got so much in your bag. And you better believe employees are sharing insider intelligence on bonuses, pay hikes and those special little favors. As the co-founder of Yack!, a popular guide to live internet entertainment, 27-year-old Sean Malatesta has learned how to say no to employees looking for a quick elevator ride up. Right off the bat, they want to be number one, two or three, Malatesta says. They have visions in their head of being the next Apple Computer and being on top. Malatesta sets them straight. I tell them This is what you're doing here. The senior management is already in place.

6. You think getting there is good enough
As PowerBar Inc. prepared in 1993 to more than triple its $30 million in revenue within four years, co-founder and President/CEO Brian Maxwell clearly spelled it out: You want to get ahead? Get an MBA. Many didn't take the hint, and now they're getting left behind. Some people wont read the writing on the wall if its in block-high letters, Maxwell says. Experts say too many bosses fail to recognize that self-improvement is a continuous process. Most just think management is some innate skill that's dormant in us, until we wake up one day and decide to get good at it, says Rosner, whose workingwounded.com Web site attracts more than 1,000 new visitors a week.

7. You're in a glory daze
It's classic. You miss the action. So you stop overseeing people and find comfort in doing what you did before. Nikes Jim Calhoun, 31 can understand. He left the official Best Job on Planet Earth to take on a management role a year ago. He led the good life as a liaison for coaches and athletes who needed Nike-designed uniforms and baseball caps. Coaches like Rick Pitino would buzz him on his office line. Hed hoist beers with Denzel Washington and other celeb fans on the VIP pass. Now the business director for Nikes basketball apparel division, Calhoun admits that he had a tough time parting with the glits. You lose some of the glamour, he says. You have less cool stories to tell your friends and family. Calhouns dilemma is common among new bosses who miss the front lines. They still identify with the troops, Harrison says. It's like making the transition from enlisted man to non-commissioned officer. There's really no magic solution. Some never get a handle on the problem and return to the action to regain their passion. And that's OK.

Gibran K. Gibran: A Tear and A Smile

I would not exchange the sorrows of my heart
For the joys of the multitude.
And I would not have the tears that sadness makes
To flow from my every part turn into laughter.

I would that my life remain a tear and a smile.

A tear to purify my heart and give me understanding
Of life's secrets and hidden things.
A smile to draw me nigh to the sons of my kind and
To be a symbol of my glorification of the gods.

A tear to unite me with those of broken heart;
A smile to be a sign of my joy in existence.

I would rather that I died in yearning and longing than that I live weary and despairing.

I want the hunger for love and beauty to be in the
Depths of my spirit, for I have seen those who are
Satisfied the most wretched of people.
I have heard the sigh of those in yearning and longing, and it is sweeter than the sweetest melody.

With evening's coming the flower folds her petals
And sleeps, embracing her longing.
At morning's approach she opens her lips to meet
The sun's kiss.

The life of a flower is longing and fulfilment.
A tear and a smile.

The waters of the sea become vapor and rise and come
Together and area cloud.

And the cloud floats above the hills and valleys
Until it meets the gentle breeze, then falls weeping
To the fields and joins with brooks and rivers to return to the sea, its home.

The life of clouds is a parting and a meeting.
A tear and a smile.

And so does the spirit become separated from
The greater spirit to move in the world of matter
And pass as a cloud over the mountain of sorrow
And the plains of joy to meet the breeze of death
And return whence it came.

To the ocean of Love and Beauty... to God.

The Green Party of Lebanon

S†MoN® says: "Listen to Philip Skaff speech delivered on August 19, 2008. Listen to what we have turned our beloved country into, once the Garden of the East. It is about time we all did something with each other. It is about time we all did something to save our trees, our land, our air, our children, and generations to come. Let it not be Philip Skaff promise only "Lebanon was green and green it will be once again". Let it be our pledge and a day-in day-out endeavor.

Banished from paradise, he wandered in the sandy east. He walked for days, weeks, and months under the scorching red sun, confused in this desertic ocean, roaming among the dunes. One day when he lifted his eyes, he beheld a mystifying giant at the horizon, he thought it was a mirage, and approached it to make sure that he wasn’t hallucinating. But it was real. He started to climb and gradually moved from the silence of the desert into nature’s euphony. He continued to climb until he reached its white-covered tip and was overwhelmed by the intense overflowing blue below … he had reached the garden of the east, he had reached Lebanon.

And for the first time since his exile, he smiled because he felt that he had regained his lost paradise. His life had turned into an ephemeral white that comes and goes and a roaring blue often awfully thundering and a green embracing flower, water and bird, and another blue beholding him from the rocks at dusk.

The garden of the East; a new paradise; two chains of mountains, a plane and a coast which has grown to be our country. It was called green Lebanon. Lebanon is our land, our heritage, our paradise; a jewel; a gift from the almighty. Yet, it has been placed under the axes of lumberjacks; a story which stretches long into ancient times.

Biodiversity, forests and fires
5000 years ago the Cedar forests covered 50 million square meters of Lebanese territory.
Our country is running the risk of being transformed into a barren land 20 years from now. And so, the cutting down of the Cedar trees came as a first blow against nature and a huge harmful human impact on the environment.

Some of us may be proud of the Phoenicians. But the process of deforestation for the sake of quick profit started with them.

Let’s set history aside and consider throughout this preliminary speech, that marks the naissance of the Lebanese Green Party, the extent of the damage that we have caused within 50 years of independence as opposed to six thousand years of invasions.

Statistics show that in 1960, the Lebanese forest-cover still reached 35%. However, later on, this percentage decreased to reach 22% in 1972, and nowadays, it does not exceed 13%.

As for the fauna, the situation is not any better since out of the 338 known types of birds, 90 of these are decreasing rapidly in number. Moreover, 29 types of birds are in danger of extinction in the Middle East, 14 of which are from Lebanon. Considering the population in Lebanon which is almost 4 million, and the limited landmass of the country, there are 20,000 officially registered hunters. However, the real number exceeds 400,000 huntsmen, which means that 10% of the population is hunting as opposed to France where it doesn’t surpass 2% of the population.

In addition to that, there are around 92 types of wild plants that only grow in Lebanon, of which 38 of them are in danger of becoming extinct. This, and Lebanon has witnessed an augmentation in the amount of plaguing insects threatening its forests just like the ones which infected 80% of the Tannourine Cedars and Hadath El Jebbe’s reservation Cedars.

Forest fires in Lebanon
The national forest wealth development and protection organization statistics show that there have been 70,600 fires in different regions between 1993 and 2005. As for the summer of 2006, the war destroyed 750 hectares of forests and 350 hectares of olive trees. In addition to that, fires during 2007 ravaged as much as 3,700 hectares. So in short, we could say that during the past forty years, 35% of forests in Lebanon have been abolished. However, it’s important to point out that natural causes contribute only to 5% of these fires, as for the remaining 95%, they go back to human intrusion.

Quarries
Had early man returned to see our world nowadays, he would have been terrified by the explosions that shake his beloved mountains. And so he would see them falling apart. What can be said about this subject is that quarries and refineries have turned out to be “political environment reservations” for groups of politicians and security forces.

This sector has caused the destruction of approximately 5.5 million square meters of lands, most of it made out of green forests and it is destroying nature and causing direct desertification through the digging out of rocks, soil and sand as well as the spread of volatile dust which is the exact cause of the suffocation of trees and plants. An important question can be raised: who are the beneficiaries if all these explosions are causing cracks in houses and in water reservoirs as well as fissures across the different layers of the earth, triggering the slide of residential areas, the pollution of the atmosphere and underground and surface waters. Moreover, this is affecting the scenery negatively, ruining the road networks and lowering the value of adjoining real estates. We may add that quarries are quite old and that consequently residential areas have tripled in the mid-nineties.

There are 710 quarries working in Lebanon, in addition to 246 unlicensed refineries half of which reside in Mount Lebanon without official permission. Unfortunately, their work had been sustained by the renewal of their permits. This had occurred once more in 2007 as a step which was considered as an infraction of the law which stated that quarry licensing is the sole responsibility of the ministry of environment who have to consult with the national board of quarries. Moreover, some people stated that the treasury has lost 15 years of tolls which attain US$2.5 billion. On the other hand, the net profit of this sector which topped almost US$ 3 billion only benefited the selected few with connection. The average medium size quarry makes an average profit of US$70 thousand per day. Additionally the amount of environmental deterioration caused to the land by quarrying led to the fall on property prices by hundreds of million of dollars.

Truly a gem in the hands of lumberjacks
Go and see the situation in Antelias and the condition of the area after quarries didn’t only destroy thousands of orange trees, but also extended their reach onto the ancient Bellene grotto where traces of ancient humans had been discovered. As for the adjoining areas which include the Mseylha tower, quarries carried out their plans without regard or proper planning. Go and see how Nahr Ibrahim escaped from destruction and pollution thanks to the intervention of UNESCO. Go and see Ein-Dara, Chebenieh, Azourieh, Kfarmattah, and Baysour. Go and see the Ammar convent in Tripoli in the northern district where 13 quarries had turned the lives of the residents into a living hell since the beginning of the eighties. Go and see the mountain of Aito and the road leading to Aito which encompasses Sebaal and the road of Mazraat el Toufah, Ras Kiafa… go and see the beloved Beaquaa’ where 21 percent of its overall surface is infected by quarries and where there are 123 quarries and refineries, especially in Dahr el Baydar which had been almost totally destroyed, as well as Jdita and the foot of the eastern mountain range. Go and see the South which is home to 14% of the Lebanese quarries from Labaa at the east of Saida to Sour’s Casa, the Klayaa, the Aichiyeh and the road to Nabatieh – from Rihan until Jezzine and the road to Aaramta – kfarhouna. And don’t forget to go and see the Kesrouanian villages and towns which are suffering due to illegal quarry activity especially in Hrajel, Mayrouba, Lassa, Wata el Jawz, Bkaa Touta, Kfathebyen as well as countless others which put the Fakra natural bridge in danger. Go and see any of the other regions, which we had not had the time to include in our speech, about their environmental conditions and the only answers you’ll ever get are the echoes of innumerable explosions and the reverberation of the abyss which has been formed where each and every quarry resides…

The earthquakes, the disintegration of the land, the obliteration of the forest covers, the destruction, the pollution of underground waters, the blocking of rivers and sources due to the big amount of quarries which are situated on the shores of rivers dumping their waste directly into the valleys and linked to the river beds are causing such problems as is the situation in Zabougha and Abou Mizen which are directly linked to Nahr el Kaleb.

New mountain ranges... waste
A gem between the hands of lumberjacks… what are we talking about? We mean the little hill in the Bourj Hammoud landfill which had developed into a mountain and a source of toxic gases compressed under the layers of fermenting garbage. In addition to that, let’s not forget the damage it had caused to the Saint George Bay which was considered as the one of the most important fish pastures. And where are the promises of the government of turning it into a park?

Moreover, questions are raised concerning the Saida landfill which is causing the population to be afflicted by a quarter of a century’s accumulation of garbage as a direct cause of sea and bay pollution in that area – a mountain approximately two hundred meters high and a hundred meters wide containing almost three hundred thousand unpredictably explosive gas bottles. As for the Sarafand junkyard, it is an additional mountain of garbage burning 15 kilometers away from Saida. Yet, it is only 10 meters away from the local public school.

Identical questions are being raised concerning the industrial anarchy transmitted by the Chekka and Selaata factories which are dumping their liquid waste into the sea thus making its waters white and rendering its aquatic life extinct. And we haven’t even talked about the chemical and tanning factories discarding its unprocessed waste into the Lithany River and the Karaoun lake… we will come back to this issue later.

There are about 22,000 industrial establishments and half of them are in Beirut and 90% of their toxic and non-toxic waste reaches the sewage systems. Therefore, they pollute underground waters and the sea. As for the dangerous medical waste, no one knows where it is disposed of thus constituting ticking time bombs waiting to explode someday.

Water pollution… sewers reach the wells
Gem in the hands of lumberjacks… the statistics of the Central Laboratory supported by the Ministry of Health uncovered a microbiological contamination in 40% of 863 samples collected from tap water networks taken from different Lebanese regions. Likewise, 37% of 450 samples collected from fountains and underground waters were micro-biologically contaminated. And there are around 120 inactive chlorine stations due to the lack of qualified personnel. It is true that sewers have reached the wells since the waters of Gharfine and Rayan and Deichouneh has become polluted with sewage water. The same situation can be found in Kabyet and Ouyoun el Samak as well as with water in the South of Lebanon such as in Nabeae el Tasse, Jezzine, and the Hasbany River.

As for bottled water, you can find more than 800 companies, of which only 11 to 17 are supervised. The rest are working in the dark without authorization. Additionally, the central Laboratory statistics show that 24% of 403 samples, collected from water selling companies, are micro-biologically contaminated.

60 to 70% of used underground water sources are at risk of bacterial contamination and 60% of the water already running within the distribution systems are running the same risk.

Rivers also suffer from sewers and domestic waste. For example, there are 7 networks of sanitary dumping of different sizes pouring into the Lithany River. Baalbeck, Hawch el Rekaa’, Kaa el Rim, Zahle, Chtoura, Kob Elias, Ber Elias, Jeb Jeannine and the Karaoun all dispose of their waste into the Lithany River and its creeks. This river also receives industrial fluids from beet and paper factories, as well as lead recycling plants and calcite refineries and food factories in addition to poultry farms and tanneries and butcheries. The Lithany River also suffers from leakages from five different landfills (Baalbeck, Safary, Bar Elias, Zahle and Jeb Jennine) in addition to the random disposal of waste in Zahle along the Berdawni River. Studies show that the percentage of sewage water exceeds 12% within the Karaoun Lake.

57% of sewage water is directly disposed of on the shores without any treatment whatsoever. And 28 outlets pour their waste on the shores without any treatment either.

Another case is that of the Laban River and the Aassal River thus losing the meaning of their names (which refer to yoghurt and honey in Arabic). There are also the 40 refinement Stations which were financed by the USAID since 1997, the majority of which are inactive. This experiment failed because of the discontinuation of their activation by the municipalities and the lack of qualified personnel.

Sea pollution
It is not enough that the sea is meeting the same end as the rivers and lakes, and by that we mean the dumping of sewage, the sea has to sustain petrol pollution and construction along the coast as well as landfills, junkyards, and industrial drainage.

The city surface on the Lebanese coast has increased from 254 square kilometers in 1963 to 600 square kilometers in 1998 and to approximately 720 square kilometers nowadays, keeping in mind that land does not regenerate and expand.

Before the 1975 war the main sources of coastal pollution were factories and industrial units. There were three places polluted by petrol in Lebanon which were Tripoli, Saida and Beirut because of the filling and discharge of petrol and its derivatives without forgetting oil processing plants, the Beirut butchery, power plants in Kalmoun, Jounieh and El Jiyye, cement factories and Chekka’s cement and gravelly phosphate manure in Selaata.

During the war, illegal construction spread on the Lebanese shore and investments cut out essential parts of the coast, dividing them into building cells. Hence we have illegal commercial and military seaports and unsystematic construction from Tripoli to Chekka, Jounieh to Maameltein, and Saida to Tyre. The places that contributed to the catastrophe in 1986 were Normandy, Quarantina, Bourj Hammoud, Dora, Antelias and Jounieh, with waste water pipe outlets which are part of the 1269 infringements covering 3.5 million square meters.

Studies done in September 2000 by the American University of Beirut Water Resources Center, in a first classification of coastal waters, show that traces of various pesticides have been found in the sea. During this study 30 samples from 30 different locations along the coast from Tyre to Akkar were collected. This study has uncovered high amounts of nickel, copper, chrome, lead, and arsenic in different sites. What good would mines do us in this case? This was all before the July war of 2006 when a leakage of 15,000 tons of fuel from the Jiyye reservoirs polluted 150 out of 230 kilometers of local natural sites. What is important to point out is that the United Nations is threatening to fine Lebanon in case of breach of any of the international agreements and non-protection of the coast from any type of pollution. Moreover, the United Nations is threatening to stop monetary endowments financing ecological programs. However, this does not stop here since the United Nations will also be pushed to ban any ship from entering the Lebanese shores. What would the Phoenicians say if they saw the condition of the sea that led them to the discovery of the world?

Air pollution (nassam alayna el hawa)
What makes Lebanon’s air pollution so peculiar is the fact that anyone can easily distinguish it through the exhaust pipes of cars in the streets of Beirut or the factories of Zouk, Chekka and many others. Another factor contributing to that pollution is the dark smog cloud coating Beirut in the summer… pollution in Lebanon has become a non-monitored quotidian fact. Here’s an interesting story: many years ago, the Zouk station was a source of damage to crops around it and as a result in 1975 farmers sued the EDL (Electricite Du Liban). The verdict was that the
EDL was to pay atonements to the farmers and to elevate and enlarge the poles of the Zouk factory. From that moment on, damage no longer affected crops only but extended its reach to the whole area, affecting people’s health and the ecological system.

What is also contributing to this pollution are the fires and smokes resulting from bombings and the gases from missiles during the past war. It does not stop there as garbage-burning in the streets and some huge fires have caused the explosion of fuel reservoirs such as the Dora reservoir, in addition to fires in the Jiyye seaport in July of 2006 and many more. Too add to this the government has also reenacted the use of cars that run on diesel after their ban in the sixties. Thus, during the nineties, diesel cars had turned out to be the number one source of air pollution in Lebanon due to their extensive use. Another competitor in the same field is the private and local electricity generators. Consequently, we have moved from the scent of incense to the smell of fuel oil in Beirut and to the pollution of Chekka and Selaata.

Adding to this is another important factor: the population density which exceeds 350 people in a square kilometer (approximately 19,000 people in a square kilometer in Beirut) is negatively affecting the quality of air. Moreover, the amount of lead in Beirut’s air is about 14 micrograms per square meter knowing that the increase in the amount of particles to 10 micrograms per square meter increases the mortality rate by 1%, and the hospitalization cases and heart diseases by 2%, as well as an increase in the rate of emergencies related to respiratory problems.

We also recall an interesting way of expressing one’s own political views and opinions; burning tires knowing that it is a means of harming people, namely children. And what is important to mention is that 20,000 people are being hospitalized due to respiratory disorders, the majority of which are children. Furthermore 350 cases of deaths per year are recorded due to various environmental problems.

The air is one of the most important elements of sustaining life. Unfortunately many people are using it for other purposes than breathing!

The Greenhouse effect
For many, this problem seems to be distant and insignificant, yet Lebanon has started to feel its impact directly during the past years on many levels such as the weather, the environment, and agriculture. Likewise, the greenhouse effect has become apparent through the disappearance of both the autumn and fall seasons, through extreme weather factors, fast climate variations and the lack of rain. As for the eastern winds (monsoon) which used to come once a year only, they now come two or three times for longer periods of time. Consequently, fires and storms have increased dramatically. This is all in Lebanon… not on Mars.

The water issue… water is water no matter what you do
Most of Lebanon’s waters go to waste either through evaporation or sinking into the earth and flowing into the sea knowing that the average amount of rain in Lebanon reaches the eight billion six hundred thousand cube meters mark, out of which only one billion is being used. As for the use of the remaining seven billion six hundred thousand, it can be considered as a crime against nature. And what is stranger than this, is that we are prepared to go to war for an additional hundred million cube meters in the South (which is our right and we can turn into a commodity). What is crucial to point out is that Lebanon contains 17 permanent rivers and 23 seasonal rivers and that the primary set water plan in 1948 was to prepare a long term all-comprising strategy by Ibrahim Abd El-Aal (and not Aboud). As it stands only the Karaoun dam on the Lithany River and the Chabrouh River was implemented, leaving 16 other plans untouched.

Once again we may say that the reason of rationing and dwindling supplies was caused by the wars that had destroyed 75% of measuring stations in the sixties of the last century, thus resulting in inaccurate water gauging in Lebanon. We live in a country “fully armed” with rivers and water sources, yet we suffer from rationing and dwindling supplies.

Power
In order to see how much we underestimate ourselves, just take a look at the way we store fuel. An example of this is the fuel reservoirs in Dora usually containing 35,000 tons of fuel which constitute a great threat to Beirut and its inhabitants in case we are under assault, be it by war or a terrorist attack. A 2000-ton-explosion of fuel equals in its impact and damage that of an atomic bomb without forgetting approximately 300 thousand gas bottles in the Saida landfill, the damage sadly is much greater. In short we should be afraid of being assaulted for the possession of weapons of mass destruction!

I must highlight a very important fact concerning reusable energy. It is a bittersweet subject, that today in Lebanon we are still rationing the electric current … due to the lack of implementation and disrespect of the law, when on Monday 29th of December 1885, the Ottoman Empire, in conformity with a decree passed in Constantinople enacted the use of solar power and wind power to produce electricity. 60 to 70% of Lebanese houses use electricity to heat their water knowing that the cost of this means of heating constitutes around 35% of the electrical bill in Lebanon. And it should be noticed that in the 21st century, only 1% of Lebanese homes are equipped with solar panels even though we enjoy 300 days of sunshine per year. As for the production of the electric current using wind power, this is as close to reality as Don Quixote’s windmills are, knowing that we could produce as much as 20% of the overall required Lebanese electric power.

Using 400,000 solar panels on a time span of ten years could save 8% of electrical consummation in Lebanon as well as an increase in the installation of 100 Megawatts electrical stations costing hundreds of thousands of US American dollars.

Constructional deformation and urban planning in Lebanon – The republic of concrete
Let us hold the pollution and devastation which we have already mentioned in one hand and the constructional deformity in another hand since it is the final and utmost level of destruction and deformation. If construction was a tangible proof that a certain civilization was alive and prospering, it undoubtedly mirrors the monsters behind it and the national and historical catastrophe set off by official authorities, laws and regulations, the Directorate General of Urban Planning, municipalities, Syndicate General of Architects, the builder, the project owner, associations and nongovernmental groups concerned with construction and the environment. Therefore we can say that your history proves that we are going from bad to worse … for example, on the 30th of august 1940, a law stated that buildings are to be fixed to the line set by the road with a height not exceeding 26 meters, thus giving the blocks along the street an esthetic perspective. Consider its implementation…

In the fifties, chaos started to take control and the shanty towns around Beirut were born just after World War II. And the situation didn’t get any better in the sixties in spite of president Chehab’s efforts, which by the way is the first and last regime, to try and solve the problem of anarchic urban constructions through the ERFED delegation. However the delegation’s work was stopped as soon as President Chehab left the presidential office.

Ecoshare came to Lebanon and left it and the Lebanese weren’t convinced with the presented futuristic ideas and social aspirations concerning the use of the lands. Ecoshare left and we were left with chaos. No ministry for urban planning supposedly established in 1961, and no higher council of urban planning or urban planning directorate could stop the metamorphosis of our eastern Florence into the most repulsive city on the Mediterranean according to an international magazine.

The last blow came on the 13th of august 1971 when an enacted law canceled the 1940 law hence allowing new components which had previously caused constructional deformation to step into action again, out of which we can list: the cancellation of the maximum height of buildings, adding the optional withdrawal from the set lines and the road according to height and large groups.

Moreover, the wars which we have witnessed are the factors which contributed into turning Lebanon into an architectural jungle and to large residential areas wiping in their way towns and villages. An example of this can be found in Beirut where there are 16 floor buildings instead of the legal three set in the district law. And in the outskirts South of Beirut a new city has emerged made out of buildings infracting laws and trespassing on private properties and public areas.

Another new “cult” was also found in the 1994 law in other words a compromise; a law against another law. Consequently, no futuristic vision, only constructional anarchy, scenery deformation and environmental destruction, huge unidentified blocks of concrete scattered along the streets of Lebanon. Citizens with no addresses, and infringements settled through cash or by even changing the law at the zoning instantly to endorse private permits. When Lebanese people build, they go through hell and they think they are in paradise. Yet as a matter of fact, they are drinking from their own blood and feeding on themselves.

I recall a saying by a friend who happens to be an architect: “Beauty was basically engineering without an engineer. It has turned out to be ugliness created by an academically certified architect.”

There are buildings on the mountain tops, in the depths of valleys and on river waterways, there are trees being cut down in the Chweifat desert and stones are being cut in Faytroun to build. Accordingly, highlands have become horrible concrete mounds out of which we can name Harat el Bellene, Harat el Ghwarne, Byakout, and many others; one huge town from Mkalles to Dhour el Chweir … shops, houses, garages, workshops, blacksmiths, carpenters all along the sides of the streets in the province and everywhere else. All of this is documented in my book “The Republic of Concrete”.

People build tall buildings deforming historical sites in Saida, and they even take stones from Crusadean towers and ancient residential areas. Moreover, in Baalbeck, huge buildings have been constructed as a shield of hideousness covering the fortress in the forbidden district.
Beaches and planes all categorically erased and Lebanese villages have all sadly become a network of suburbs…as for our lexicon, it has become one of the Seven Wonders of the World since it comprises strange expressions such as “breach settlements”. And may we add that only 13% of industrial units have been legally authorized to construct and to invest, and around only 15% of which are implementing health systems and conditions, and around 65% have no relation whatsoever with the government or public administrations. As for “touristic projects” all over the Lebanese coast, none of them are actually legal.

The law of the jungle in the jungle of laws
Laws are not what we need even if some need to be updated. The problem resides in their implementation or in the relativity or their implementation.

Decree number 4810 of June 24th 1966 stated that: public sea areas remain open to the people and no one owns the right to benefit from them or to turn them into a private business. Yet, parts of the beach can be dedicated to the private use of privileged individuals or small groups and this benefice can be their exclusive right … and the result? … The law of the jungle in the jungle of laws.

Moreover, individuals have obtained permits from the ministry of agriculture to cut down approximately 21 tons of trees in Tarchich. However, they took the chance to cut down over 300 tons of trees for commercial purposes. And what is worse is that the report which had been written by the security forces pursuing them set the weight of the cut trees as 30 tons … the law of the jungle in the jungle of laws.

As for the plans concerning the quarries and refineries, they were set aside in drawers. Additionally, the organization of this sector damages the interests of the higher powers that control them. An example of this is the decree that states that the Nahr el Mot and Antelias quarries be stopped as from 24/12/1993, yet this decision was overruled as soon as the decree was taken out of the Ministry of the Interior. And if the quarries of Abou Mizen and Zabougha have been closed as a result of public manifestations in October of 1996, this decision has not yet been implemented … the law of the jungle in the jungle of laws.

Quarries have long worked hiding behind the renewal of respites. As for the Ministry of The Interior and of Municipalities, it has agreed to give out 403 respites to quarries and refineries according to the Lebanese lands reclamation … the law of the jungle in the jungle of laws.

The urban planning law clearly states that quarries and refineries must be at least a thousand meters away from any congregation of five houses, and what we find is that they have become on the edges of houses and residential areas. Consequently, inhabitants of such regions are currently living above a hundred-meter abyss as is seen in the Nahr l Mot area which has witnessed the collapse of many buildings and an evacuation of their inhabitants since it constitutes a threat to the residents of the region. Moreover, the height of the pit has exceeded the hundred meters in most quarries even though the 1935 law states that it must not exceed the three meters … the law of the jungle in the jungle of laws. As for the hunting law, it is actually good however it is never put into practice knowing that this law along with many others is quite useful … it is really the law of jungle in the jungle of laws.

The Ministry of The Environment
According to an ex-Minister of the Environment, The Ministry of the Environment was nothing more than a counseling office between 1993 and 2000 not exceeding in budget the US$2.5 million in opposition to the environmental loss which tops the US$650.

There will be only one key ministry in the future and it is that of the environment which needs a budget that doubles the amount of environmental damage. This means that its annual budget must exceed the US$1.3 billion to be able to face the dangers surrounding us.

Why the Green Lebanese Party?
The green party has become a national necessity in order to provide the earth with its protectors and the environment with its warriors for the sake of the coming generations’ health and to repair what is repairable.

The Green Lebanese party has become a national necessity for many reasons: first, to frame environmental work, second, so that Lebanese citizens acquire environmental consciousness through continuous awareness, third, so that Lebanon may acquire an environmental policy. The Green Lebanese Party has become a national necessity to keep the ministry of the environment under control in order to support it and to question its actions as well as supporting and questioning other ministries concerned with the environment. Our party is a necessity so that other parties would incorporate environmental programs in their agendas and to bring to book their program so that environmental and social organizations could update their performance.

The Green Lebanese party has become a national necessity in order to stimulate environmental media so that efficient cooperation with the United Nations could be set as well as with various other international programs and to stay up to date with the newest international environmental developments.

We (humans) want to exploit light until the sun goes out, exploit the air until the wind blows no more and exploit water until the rain stops falling.

We will raise our voices and we will never neglect any environmental issue. We set the date of the naissance of our movement which will be at the start of the coming year. We will also set our three priorities which are:
1- The afforestation of Lebanon.
2- The establishment of an environmental task force encompassing representatives or elements from various ministries charged with taking care of ecological matters under the control of the Lebanese army.
3- And the founding of a National Observation Center at the university of Balamand.

Environmental employment
The environment is one of the biggest domains which offer job opportunities such as: working in sanitary discharge stations and glass and paper recycling plants as well as metal recycling factories. Also the establishment of an administration for big and small dams and water gathering ponds, in addition to electricity producing stations using sizeable fans and solar panels. Establishing laboratories and plantations for trees and flowers in every municipality in addition to the reclamation of quarry results and the management of reservations and raising and protecting animals, as well as the reclamation of constructional pollution and the planning of residential areas in cities and environmental police and civil defense…

Confessional pollution… the inhabitants of paradise have really gone mad
Let us last present to you another unique environmental problem in Lebanon; “Confessional pollution” and so we introduce one of our slogans: “land has no confession”.
We are here to say that it is enough. Enough with squandering our resources, enough with insulting our intelligence, enough with thrashing our environmental identity, enough with filling and burying of our traditions, enough with the environmental pollution which has infected us thus killing our creativity, enough with this confessional barren regime. If you don’t respect your land how can you love your country? We want all of Lebanon’s confessions to come and embrace Green Lebanon’s mission; What sovereignty if over landfills, what freedom if in hell, what independence if pollution is taking over our air, water and soil while garbage is besieging our houses and deformation is invading our eyes and ears. Nature is a priority. Lebanon a state of the art real estate is a land equipped with vital life elements and environmental richness within the Arab World. This should be enough to enrich all of Lebanon’s citizens.

“There in the field on the edge of a crystal creek, I saw a cage constructed by skilled hands and in one of its corners lay a lifeless bird and in another corner, a bowl where there used to be water and another bowl where there used to be seeds. I stood there as silence took over me and I listened slavishly as if within the departed bird and within the sound of the creek there was an exhortation questioning the soul and enquiring the heart. I meditated and I knew that this wretched bird has struggled against thirst alongside the stream and was defeated by hunger while he is in the fields; the cradle of life. Just like a wealthy person dead among his heaps of gold whilst locked within his closets.” (Gibran Khalil Gibran, Tear and a Smile)

Lebanon is my childhood dream, I have taken it with me during my immigration hidden within my clothes and I smelled its aroma through every moment of my absence, I have burned with it as it burned and I kept trying to come back until I thrived, yet I found it polluted. However, pollution didn’t reach my love for my country and if by any chance I was to choose between the world and my land, I would certainly choose Lebanon over anything. May I recall what a poet once said when he was asked to betray his love in order to be free: “had I two hearts, I would have loved with one and let the other suffer within yours. Yet one heart I have and it beats in Lebanon”.

My promise to you: Lebanon was green and green it will be once again.

5 Ways to Create a User-Friendly Office

Computers have changed the way everyone does business, and these days most people spend at least part of their workday in front of a computer screen. While technology has made many jobs faster and easier, our reliance on computers and being stationary in the office has become a literal pain in the neck.

Working at a computer station all day can take a serious toll on your body, leading to sore muscles and joints, headaches and overall fatigue. Fortunately, you don't have to live with physical pain and tension in the office. Stephen Smith, a physical therapist for Physiotherapy Associates in Columbia, Md., says that it is important to create a workstation that is healthy, not harmful. He often gives out the Krames Communications booklet, "Arranging Your Workstation to Fit You" to his patients to help them conquer their ergonomic problems and offers the following tips.

1. Survey Your Environment
The first step in improving your workstation is figuring out just how comfortable you really are. To do so, ask yourself the following questions:
- Are your eyes tired at the end of the day?
- Are your neck and shoulders stiff and sore?
- Do you feel pain in your back and neck while working at your computer?
- Do you feel tingling, numbness or pain in your forearms, wrists and hands?
- Does you body feel tired, achy or stiff at the end of the day?
- Are your legs stiff and cramped or swollen at the end of the day?
If you answered yes to any of the following questions, Smith says you might need to make some improvements to your workstation.

2. Adjust Your Chair
Proper adjustments to something as simple as how you are sitting can make a big difference in your overall comfort in the office. Take these steps to put your chair in proper position:
- Ensure that your lower back rests snugly against the back of your chair. If it doesn't, adjust the chair or use a small pillow or rolled-up towel to support your lower back.
- Make sure your forearms are parallel to the floor when your fingers are on your keyboard.
- Your knees should be at or below the level of your hips and your feet should rest on the floor. Give yourself 3 to 6 inches between your lap and desk or keyboard tray.

3. Reorganize Your Space
You can move the items in your workstation around to make your space easier on your body and your eyes. For example:
- Make sure the top of your computer screen is at or just below eye level.
- Place your monitor 18 to 30 inches, or about arm's length, away from your eyes.
- Adjust your keyboard so that your wrists are straight and relaxed, and use wrist rests to support your hands.
- Make sure the items in your office that you use most are within easy reach.
- Consider a headset if you are on the phone often to avoid neck and back strain.

4. Check the Lighting
The light in your office can affect the amount of strain placed on your eyes, as well as your overall productivity. Make sure your screen is free from any glare, which can make it difficult to see clearly. If you do have glare on your screen, shut your blinds while typing, adjust ceiling or desk lights, or alter the brightness settings on your computer. Adjust the "zoom" function to enlarge the document on your screen if the type appears too small.

5. Be Healthy Away From the Desk
While all of the above steps can make you more comfortable in the office, practicing healthy habits throughout your day will make the biggest difference in your life. Make sure you eat healthy meals and snacks, exercise and get enough rest before coming in to work. Treat yourself to breaks throughout the day to stretch, relax and get your blood flowing again.

Paying attention to your body in the office and following these simple steps can keep you feeling energized in the office and always ready to tackle another day!

Cartoon of the Week

F1 Finest

Highlights:
- Hamilton has become the youngest F1 driver to win the world championship
- Schumacher is statistically the best driver, holding most of the records going
- Senna, Prost, Stewart, Clark and Fangio are all revered by F1 aficionados

At the age of 23 years and 301 days, Lewis Hamilton has become the youngest Formula One world champion in the sport's 58-year history. But he's a long way off the sport's true greats.

But if Hamilton is now the youngest world champion, how far off the best F1 driver of all time is he?

Six multiple world champions can lay claim to be the best the sport has ever seen and, as The Circuit will reveal, the young Englishman still has a long way to go to match their achievements:

Michael Schumacher (1991-2006), 7 world titles (1994, 95, 2000, 01, 02, 03, 04)
Statistically, Schumacher is the greatest F1 driver of all time: seven world titles, 91 wins, 68 pole positions, 76 fastest laps across a 250-race career. There is no-one to touch the German when it comes to cold, hard facts.

And cold and hard was how he raced -- you do not get to be as successful as Schumacher without making a lot of enemies on the way. Controversy was never far from his wheel-tracks and, like Ayrton Senna before him, he pushed the limits of what was acceptable on a racetrack at times.

But while his tactics and style could be questioned, his genius was beyond doubt. He could win races from anywhere on the grid, was masterful in the rain and made bad cars look good. In short, the complete racing driver.

Alain Prost (1980-1991, 1993), 4 world titles (1985, 86, 89, 93)
If Senna was the heart, Prost was the head. Dubbed 'The Professor', Prost was able to win races he probably should have by out-smarting more instinctive and hot-headed racers. Who is the best F1 driver of all time?

He would often play the percentages, doing what was necessary to reach his desired goal -- four world titles and 51 race wins testifies it was an approach that paid dividends.

A career that overlapped with Senna's was always going to mean he was not as dominant as he might have otherwise been. The pair's 1988 season as McLaren team-mates, when between them they won all but one of the 16 races that year, was the sport's top two in the top car at the top of their games.

France's Prost is not loved like Senna, but he is deeply respected and, when required, was every bit as good as his bitter rival.

Ayrton Senna (1984-1994), 3 world titles (1988, 90, 91)
Senna's legend lives on, almost 15 years after his death at San Marino, a crash that changed F1 forever. But in the decade before it, he set about creating that legend with scintillating drives -- and morals -- that defied belief.

From the moment the Brazilian starred at a rain-shortened Monaco Grand Prix in 1984, the sport knew that a special talent had arrived. Senna appeared driven by a higher power, as if on a mission from God to make the world aware of his gifts for driving faster than any man before him.

Devastating over a single lap, his record of 65 pole positions looked like it would stand for good until Schumacher's sheer longevity beat it. Senna's many battles with his nemesis Alain Prost have gone down in the annals, some of them less than clean-cut, all of them -- like the man himself -- memorable.

Jackie Stewart (1965-1973), 3 world titles (1969, 71, 73)
Stewart's legacy on the sport is arguably more impressive than his feats on the track. Racing in an era when the chances of a driver who raced for five years being killed were two out of three, the Scot was the first to champion safety requirements, even the basics such as crash barriers and seat belts.

But despite the dangers, Stewart was fearlessly fast and was rewarded with three world titles and 27 wins, a victory record that was not broken until Prost a decade-and-a-half later. As with all great drivers, consistency in lap times was the key to Stewart's success.

He was able to win in all weather conditions and raced in an era of some of F1's greatest and most evocative names, lending further weight to any claim putting him in the top five drivers ever. Stewart's shrewd approach earned him big money off the track and it saw him retire, unharmed, at 34 while still at the top of his game.

Jim Clark (1960-1968), 2 world titles (1963, 65)
Like his protégé Stewart, Clark was a Scot born to drive fast. Clark dominated F1 in the 60s, as the statistics bear out: two world titles, 25 wins (from just 73 races) and 33 pole positions, all an F1 record upon his untimely death in 1968 aged 32 in an F2 race at Germany's Hockenheimring.

Clark excelled at setting his car up to do as he wanted -- an important skill in F1 -- which would prove vital during arguably his finest hour, the 1967 Italian Grand Prix.

Having started on pole, Clark had led away but a pitstop necessitated by a puncture dropped him to 16th and losing a lap. He set consecutive fastest laps in scything through the field, first getting back onto the lead lap, then regaining the lead. Only a lack of fuel denied him the win, but third place was some consolation for his brilliance.

Juan Manuel Fangio (1950-1951, 1953-1958), 5 world titles (1951, 54, 55, 56, 57)
Until Schumacher arrived on the scene, the thought of anyone winning more than Fangio's five world titles was preposterous. But 'The Master' claimed his in just eight years and with four different teams, making a point of winning races at the slowest possible speed.

His wins-to-start ratio -- with his 24 victories chalked up in only 51 races -- is the best of any F1 driver in history and will almost certainly never be beaten. Fangio is still viewed by many as the best ever, not least because his achievements came when he was past what is considered a driver's prime.

Already 40 when winning his first drivers' crown in 1951, Fangio was still going strong seven years later when winning title number five.