One of the starkest memories I have of visiting Morocco was how dirty everything was, especially by the ocean and the border crossings with Spanish Cueta . As I was leaving the country I recall looking back over the fence and seeing what looked like a mountain of dirty diapers slowly crumbling into the sea. And that was not all, there seemed to be trash everywhere. At the time I thought it was only Morocco, being a third-world country that was dirty, however I have since learned that much of the Arab World is needlessly strewn with garbage. This article about the ancient city of Sidon being overwhelmed by a mountain of trash should sound some alarms, but it won't.To put it into perspective my visit to Jamaica, another third-world country saw a very resourceful people recycle anything they can. I was surprised that I did not see the pollution I assumed to see in all poor countries. Sure there are plenty of dirty spots in Jamaica, but you won't see mountains of garbage just sitting there like in Morocco. Jamaicans squeeze every useful bit out of their land and resources, roads are not strewn with wreckage, shacks and huts are small and poor but clean.

Read the rest: http://www.angryjed.com/2008/03/why-is-arab-world-so-polluted.html