It’s all bad news for Gazans – a UN report reveals that that region is under immense environmental stress which looks set to worsen unless dramatic action is taken A comprehensive report released by the UN this week has warned that Gaza will no longer be ‘liveable’ by 2020 unless dramatic action is taken to […]
The incidence and intensity of natural disasters, such as the flash floods last month that killed 12 people in Samsun, Turkey, are expected to increase as climate change intensifies. A two-year project to improve the disaster response capacities of Turkey and the Western Balkans has just been launched, reports the United Nations Office for Disaster Risk […]
A nuclear bomb wipes out all of Tel Aviv and central Israel, using the Ground Zero app. There was much disagreement around the dinner table the other night about whether or not Israel will be obliterated if Iran drops a nuclear bomb. Will there be something to spare? Should Israelis expect a bomb to melt […]
Iranians may have turned to aubergines due to chicken shortages – but the world over may be forced to go vegetarian due to food shortages in the next 40 years According to the latest findings, the world’s population may have to switch almost completely to a vegetarian diet over the next 40 years to avoid […]
Israel is part of the Levant region believed to be the cradle of civilization. New 9,500 year-old carvings found in Jerusalem reveal humanity’s Stone Age past and our reverence for the hunt. Two figurines found recently in Jerusalem are about 9,500 year old. One is the image of a ram and the second of a […]
Groundbreaking “Concrete Cloth” allows ancient building material to be used in a totally new way. Concrete Cloth is a pioneering “building-in-a-bag” that requires only water and air for construction: it was named material of the year in the 2011 Material ConneXions MEDIUM Awards. Concrete is one of the world’s most popular building materials. It follows […]
Clear Libyan streets of trash and traffic for a brighter and more democratic future says expert Security concerns in Libya may be top of the political agenda, but more goodwill could be earned if socio-economic problems such as traffic and trash are tackled says Rhiannon Smith, who is an economic development expert in Libya. Post-revolution, […]
High-rise necropolises offer a greener way of dense burial and a dignified appearance to comfort mourners. Having buried two loved ones in Israel myself, I know how wearisome field cemeteries are. Arriving on foot, I trudge along winding interior roads for long minutes, sweating and squinting against the glare in summer or huddling under a […]
Jordan has become the first Arab country to ensure national climate change efforts include gender considerations Jordan’s environmental record may be patchy but as one of the most climate change-vulnerable nations in the Middle East, it is taking climate change seriously. It has now also become the first Arab nation to include gender considerations as […]
Years of drought and mass displacement in Syria may have been the straw that broke the camel’s back and led to the ongoing uprising Following the eruption of revolts and riots in 2011 which later became the Arab Spring, the link between food prices and rising political opposition was a difficult one to ignore. The […]
If you want a taste of what is so wrong with the world, read this news clip from India. The US firm behind the cloud-sniffing Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Turner Construction, has been awarded a $450 million contract to build a a 392 foot tower of Sardar Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel in a country where 230 million […]
In August, Jordan’s Ministry of the Environment started a waste sorting and recycling project at public agencies. According to statements by the ministry, in the first phase of the project, they will implement waste sorting and recycling across a number of ministries, institutions and schools. Environment Minister Yaseen Khayyat said the project is being carried […]
Far from being Paris of the Middle East, traditional red tiled roof and sandstone houses suffocate inside the “other” vision of Beirut The Lebanese housing market is a bit of a strange phenomenon. A largely unregulated construction market coupled with grandiose projects from ambitious rich gulf state developers and Lebanese expatriates has created a surplus […]
Israel’s Mediterranean city of Bat Yam is pulling itself out of obscurity with one of the most unusual art spaces we’ve seen. Located just south of Tel Aviv – the country’s most well-known seaside city, the Riviera used to be a thumping nightclub in the 1950s and 1960s. Now it’s a very yellow and open industrial-chic art […]
According to scientists from Canada and the Netherlands, the world is depleting underground water reserves faster than they can be replenished In the Middle East, water shortages are a widely accepted reality which many countries are trying to fight head on. Worldwide, however, the issue is not so pressing with environmental issues such as energy […]