Smelling Tunis

No, I am NOT going to talk about the elections. The media are full with them, I am just happy they are over – well, until the presidential ones in a few weeks ….

No, I am going to talk about something else: Just having come back from a several weeks’ stay in the countryside, I cannot believe how I can breathe in Tunis – this city really smells! Pollution from too many cars jamming the streets, from the industry using doubtful filters, from the sewage plants and ducts, from waste burnings – I will never understand the logic of burning waste knowing that its fumes can be quite harmful especially to sensitive persons, apart from the terrible smell it emits.

But if you don’t leave the town, you are not aware, you just live with it. Unfortunately, humans tend to get accustomed to anything, may it be positive or negative.

I just hope that the environmental awareness rises with the educational and sensitising programmes in schools, municipalities and associations, and that the public authorities put a bigger effort on controlling environmental misdeeds. Because otherwise, Tunis will not only lose attractiveness for its residents moving to the city’s outskirts but also to tourists....