Zero Waste Day is lovely, but what is sustainability was elsewhere?

Apparently yesterday was "International Zero Waste Day". I was an environmentalist even before the word. I grew up in a family where nothing was thrown away, everything was "make do and mend", we lived by "waste not, want not" without even knowing it existed. We "recycled" and "upcycled" even before any of this became a fad. And even at AUB, I used to speak of all such topics way before any of this reached media and hype.

The reason though I speak of all of this today is because apparently yesterday was "International Zero Waste Day". I saw a nice segment from Spinney's - here. But it shocked me. It pretends people waste food massively. First, it ignores the ongoing crisis since 2020 where poverty have soared to almost 80% of the population (extreme poverty at 60%) and these are not just "numbers". People look in garbage containers in broad daylight.

The other thing is assumes is that people all go to supermarkets to get their food. Do you know how I get my fruits and vegetables? There is a van that passes by weekly or bi-weekly and it stops all along the village and it sells its different products. His name is Zakaria if you must know. Do people care if an apple has a small dent on it or a lettuce is not hunky dory? No they do not. Once more, the idea that everyone flocks to giant supermarkets to get their fruits and vegetables is not applicable.

Do people waste food? Not as much as one thinks at this point. Just to be clear, no, the majority of the Lebanese population does not have a degree in circularity and environmental studies. But they do have - at least since the crisis broke and devaluation (now estimated at 128%) hit - is a sense that nothing is to to be wasted. 

I spoke extensively about the "Middle Class" (here, as an example) and how it ought to be reshaped and re-labeled and reformed. And there is no shame in that. But again, where I am - that's a village, which - yes - indicative of how people purchase or behave. As I said, one does not need a university degree or major environmental theories for "sustainability" to happen. It could be, simply, a way of life to many.

We are fine in Lebanon, set our mind at ease about you.

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

In 2021, I wrote about the fact in Lebanon, problems shared are not problems halved (here).

But 2021 seems like a different life altogether even if problems were still going strong. Because now we got turbo-charged and the whole country seems completely adrift on all levels, specifically economical level - oh mind you, the fact that we have no president, a caretaker government and a parliament which is hanging by a thread seems like something "in the background of the photo". If you have not bought anything as of late, you might be excused not to understand, if you did, you might be excused to be too exhausted to lament.

Still, I often wonder - is a problem a problem? No matter the magnitude, the scale, the proportion? I keep hearing from people I know in the UK that tomatoes are no longer present on the shelves in shops. A friend in Brussels wrote about how people are renting a bed in a room for 750 Euros a month. Oh yes, and the French are up in arms because of what is supposed to be the retirement age going up from 62 to 64. And the list goes on.

Why am I writing this? I honestly don't know. I mean, a friend in Germany tried consoling me saying "oh just have a mug of hot chocolate" - until I linked him to the page of a local supermarket and translated the prices of the said hot chocolate options. His eyes popped.

I mean seriously, I am sure there are parts of the world where the situation is worse than Lebanon. Hey, even in Lebanon, you might say I am remnants of what used to be the middle the middle class (for an analysis of the middle class go here) meaning I still have means of survival when others do not (ergo, "why are you complaining?"). 

But again, it is like we are drowning in problems, yes, even the remnant of the middle class is. A person I know - who prior to the crisis was extremely affluent - had to forego his rented apartment and moved back to the villa of his parents and he has to readjust the basement floor to fit him, his wife, two children, mother in law while his mother and househelp where in the first floor - honestly I felt for the man as his wi-fi kept breaking in the basement as he called me as he does periodically and explaining to me that he is adjusting the screws of one of his children's beds.

This is where the "but there are people worse off than you" kicks in. Or - what someone told me lately - "Tarek the rich man is not the one who has the most but the one who needs the less". Well, I have always been frugal, I have always needed very few things. Then why is it that when going to the store it looked as if I robbed Fort Knox while leaving home? I was carrying a wad of cash so big it was embarrassing.

I am reminded of the wonderful satirical song by Khaled El Habr "we are fine in Gaza, set our mind at ease about you" (nahou bi kheir fi Gaza tamminou ankom). So, I guess we are fine in Lebanon, set our mind at ease about you.

Home Deco goes absurdist in loving where one lives

Well, how about a bit of absurd-surreal ambiance? Thanks to Home Deco we have it. Well, to those not in the know, Home Deco used to be BHV prior but then live everything else, a rename was in the works and there we have it. Actually their online store (oddly under Home And Deco - meaning there is an "and" there which came out of nowhere) leans towards Scandinavian minimal esthetics and offers a variety of products to be purchased online (7 days delivery in Lebanon - however this not a "cash on delivery" case, on the contrary, payment is done in one go and only when order is confirmed can the client expect the product. In addition there is a also a small mention of "GCC soon"). 

Still, BHV used to do brisk business in the past, but that was to a specific audience which I am not sure still exists (remember, what was Middle Class is no longer so lately in Lebanon - see here). Which brings us back to "love where you live" as the ads say. They do seem to target a fresh audience rather than a middle aged one. Everything from the cast, to the colors to the whole "attitude" seems to imply it.

Lebanon: January advertising blues goes overdrive

Artwork by Tarek Chemaly

It is not secret that January is a slump in terms of advertising expenditure. After the Christmas extravaganza and before the budgets are set for the new year, January is a limbo, it has always been. But in Lebanon the January slump went on overdrive. On the billboards, I saw no news ads all - there was a few remnants of a mall announcing Christmas activities, and one billboard for the end of year party at a hotel. But otherwise nothing new.

And not just the billboards, with inflation soaring and devaluation hitting hard, consumers have gone very low key trying to save money - when usual go to brands costing triple than other new comers to the market, the choice is very clear. Interestingly some Lebanese brands are making a killing - such as Sanita whose locally-manufactured products are sweeping the market with detergents, glass cleaners, tissue papers, and a whole other categories of household items offer relatively cheaper options to budget tight households.

What is called "outlet stores" are flooding the market - shops that sell overstock, second hand, or thrift are two a penny on Instagram. The presence of locally produced me-too such as the new Danway Spread which aims to give Lebanese a compensation of the imported Nutella are now sweeping the shelves.

Still, ArabAd produced last month's issue focused on local agencies, and by God, it read like a manifesto of optimism and - God help us - "resilience" (a word I now despair when hearing!). Everyone was so very steadfast when frankly the pie has shrunk so much is almost barely exists. Yet, everyone knows that to regulate the rentier economy we were in, we had to reduce imports drastically and increase local product which we seem to be doing by hook or by crook.

Perhaps it did take a shift in attitude and mentality from the usual uppity stand and the new middle class that was created out of thin air (and other people's money it seems!). No more going twice to Turkey per year and no more new cars and clothes worn once. Suddenly, it seems people have awaken to reality mode.

And the January slump is too real.

Aishti by the sea goes... to the sea!

In a surprise to no one, Aishti by the sea goes to the sea in its new campaign. What is interesting for me, above all, is that Aishti - the country's most luxurious retailer - has a campaign to begin with. At this stage, prices even at your run of the mill shop are so expensive, Aishti is - by all means and measures - totally and completely out of reach even to aspiring consumers (believe it or not, this place now goes to Zara!) and to what is left of the Middle Class (see here for clarification) and its large and very intimidating architecture does not help (again see here). Still, Aishti and its flagship store (and its other stand alone shops) in downtown suffered major damage (including many employees being injured and the stores being too close to the epicenter of the August 4 2020 blast, rendering them literally inoperable for a long time). But in Lebanon, where the ad market flatlined, any new campaign is much welcome. No matter its target audience or to whom it addresses itself or how creative it is. Which is why Aishti dipping its toes again in an ad campaign is quite welcome.

In Lebanon: A redefinition of what is middle class is due.

Fa - artwork by Tarek Chemaly

Middle class, a term frequently used but seldom understood here in Lebanon. I bet no Lebanese has a solid understanding of social stratification and its difficult nuances. Has anyone heard of Max Weber? I think not. And even those who have heard of Karl Marx probably did so through some reference by Ziad Rahbani. If I say this is it because, without any doubt, what is "middle class" in Lebanon is surely eroding.

The current economic crisis has brought many to change their spending habits, their ability to show off which is primordial to the Lebanese m'as-tu-vu system (everything is based on keeping up with the Joneses), the penchant for bragging (or as a friend put it, "I knew that restaurant was dead when my aunt stopped doing her children's birthdays in it"), the hype system (which makes a shop like Zara become high end or an eatery like Paul which is basically something you find in the French metro a proper exclusive restaurant), and the lowest-common-denominator comparisons (Marmaris in Turkey becomes a coveted destination). 

But now all this is gone. The new system is still being built. Surely political powers still hold sway on the populace, but even that is shifting and morphing. Even Zara itself has climbed the echelons to bypass the middle class at this stage. The proliferation of cash economy and pay on delivery as well as second-hand buying are but signifiers of how symbols of what constitutes middle class is changing.

One of the easiest signals to detect as house helps - many were left to their own devices at embassy doors, others quit outright because they were no longer being properly paid (due to the absence of Dollars in the Lebanese market), and economists who say that foreign workers are siphoning Dollars from the economy to their home countries seem unaware that - class restrictions withstanding - local women (even if unemployed and in dire need of money) would not accept to work in houses to replace helps coming from Ethiopia or other nations.

I recently told the story of how at a fancy store, many people would come in ask about the maamoul prices that tripled since last year (maamoul being the traditional Easter cookie) and leave without buying. Without having solid statistics, I can however tell you the cases of many supposedly middle class houses who bypassed maamoul buying this year under different guises - their mother has diabetes, "aslan ma 7ada 3am yeje" (to begin with no one is visiting), am on a diet - but truth be told, it all goes back to: The prices are exorbitant and better spent elsewhere.

A doctor I know, fresh from visiting her husband who works in an Arab country, told me she brought an extra bag filled with powdered milk and other such items for her kids considering how expensive - if at all found - they have become in the Lebanese market. 

Tailors and cobblers are making excellent business, suddenly everyone is waking up to having things that need repairing, because it is much cheaper than buying new items since the throwaway culture had taken hold of Lebanon. And again, what was something that took no time (changing a zipper replacing buttons) is now taking days at repair shops.

I am not saying all this with a negative mindset, on the contrary, a change had to happen and sadly it came about due to the wrong reasons. Still, a redefinition of what is middle class is due in Lebanon.