Notre Dame University-Louaize North Lebanon Campus (NDU) has always been known for implementing what is being taught within the University gates as well as outside the classroom. The Environmental Sciences 201 class, instructed by Dr. Marie Tannous, tried to achieve just that. After all the sessions about global warming, students felt it was their duty to ask themselves what THEY could do to help the planet. So, on November 11, 2017, Dr. Tannous took the class on a trip to Bcharre, a town sitting at an altitude of about 1,500 meter in the Kadisha Valley in Northern Lebanon where they met up with Bachir Maroun who helped them on the trip.
Their first stop was at the Bcharre’s Waste Water Treatment Facility, where Nathalie Keyrouz, an agricultural engineer and environmental activist in the Bcharre district, gave them a guided tour of the plant. She explained in great detail the amazing work this environmentally-friendly plant does: it recycles the sewage water of over 240 homes through a hygienic and simple process that uses only bamboo sticks; the purified water is then used by farmers to water their crops.
Afterward, the students headed to the Friends of the Cedars Committee headquarters, where Charbel Tawk, an agricultural engineer, did a great job at enhancing the student’s knowledge about the different types of trees, how to cultivate them, and the successful process of reforestation. Their committee was able to plant various types of trees. From there, the students headed to their final destination, the Cedar Mountain, where each of them planted a cedar tree.
This trip brought students great pleasure to have been a part of a greater cause and in one way or the other, they felt that they had contributed in making a difference toward saving the planet.