Want to go from one high fashion look to a completely different one without getting undressed? Hussein Chalayan is a high-end transformer clothing designer. Turkish Cypriot Hussein Chalayan’s double-duty dresses are sensual and slightly sustainable: two-in-one haute couture arrives in a single shipment. London-based designer Chalayan unveiled a line of tranformative clothing in the runways of [...]
Mediterranean sharks risk extinction while “serious implications” feared for marine ecosystems and beyond. Accidental catches and sharks for fin soup are to blame Shark populations in the Mediterranean and Black Sea have dropped dramatically over the last two centuries and now risk extinction, with serious implications for the region’s entire marine ecosystem and food chains, [...]
A new research paper traces the roots of the wild olive to one location. Olives, staple of Mediterranean cuisine, have dubious origins. Called the “tree of life” for the sustenance it provides and its myriad non-food uses (read our list of 10 weird and wonderful ways to use olive oil), the domesticated olive tree is central [...]
Humans have been plucking the fruit off olive trees for over 10,000 years, so it’s no surprise we’ve found creative ways to use olives and their oils. They’re native to the Mediterranean-basin, and probably first domesticated in Crete, but who first hatched the recipe for extracting olives’ oils remains an mystery. We know the stuff is tasty, and [...]
Is it creepy or clever to peddle insurance against baby’s first diseases? Sure, new parents get showered with adorable gifts and well-intended advice, but then the downpour of unsolicited marketing arrives: for baby gear, for college saving plans, and now, in Jordan, for baby blood banking. An unusual building is rising in the desert outside Amman, [...]
Satellite view of Deepwater Horizen oil spill slick, April 30, 2010: Photo by US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Noble Energy, the Houston based energy company, has been working with both Israel and Cyprus to find commercial quantities of natural gas under the eastern Mediterranean seabed . Noble Energy’s Mediterranean undersea energy exploration has [...]
Seed money up to $1 million to protect your local birds. Apply today. Sick of reading about Cyprus songbirds killed and pickled for snacks? Weary of wild killing sprees like Egypt’s sanctioned bird hunt ? Or maybe the downed flamingos in Kuwait ruffled your feathers? BirdLife International has created a fund to underwrite environmental preservation projects in one of the [...]
Imagine the famous pyramids under water? Alexandria, Egypt holds top risk, followed by Istanbul, Turkey. Think “Mediterranean” and most Westerners conjure up Monte Carlo or Mykonos, Cannes or Nice, often overlooking the southern coastline cities that lie in Turkey, Cyprus, Syria, Lebanon, Israel, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. Fourteen Mediterranean port cities are at risk of extreme and [...]
Jordan passes new building codes requiring solar water heaters on all new commercial and residential buildings. It’s about time: Regulations come into effect in April 2013 and make solar water heaters obligatory for every new residence (including apartments) sized 150 m2 or greater in Jordan where there is ample sun. Private houses sized a minimum [...]
The rich and famous are now buying private submarines. Good or bad for the environment? Brian explores. My search for bamboo yarn took me to an industrial part of Beijing. The air here smelled of hot steel and coal. I walked past some of the warehouses and workshops behind the Made in China label and [...]
Going green and doing it for the troops, in Cyprus “Going green” is a new defense tactic modern military: From the use of solar energy to power field re-chargers for communication equipment to finding new ways to supply troops with drinking water by moisture condensation from vehicle AC units. Armies going green is a new tactical offensive in [...]
Last year in Cyprus a total of 2.8 million migrating birds were trapped and killed to make a pickled dish called ambelopoulia. It’s a serious crime and offenders face fines of up to €17,000 and three years in jail if caught, but Agriculture Minister Sophocles Aletaris told an EU delegation concerned about environmental issues that [...]
Turkey has started exploratory drilling for oil and gas in the town of Iskele in northern Cyprus (red arrow), angering the government of the Greek-controlled southern region. The Turkish Petroleum Corporation began onshore drilling operations on April 26 at a 3,000-meter-deep well, named “Türkyurdu-1″ (“Turkish Homeland”), which Turkish Energy Minister Taner Yıldız called a “force for [...]
Tanin 1 gas field, in large yellow area north of the Tamar field, is too close for comfort to Lebanese shores. Lebanon is going to the UN to complain. Israel’s got natural gas. A lot of it. Cleaner burning than coal or bitumen, natural gas has a reputation for being more environmentally friendly. Countries like [...]
People waiting for the bus on a hot day in Cyprus will soon be able to purchase cold water from a solar powered vending machine. A few weeks ago Cyprus received the distinction of being the world leader of solar water heater users per capita. Now it is making strides in cold water as well. [...]
Designed by Hassan Fathy, the Akil Sami House in Egypt is a fairly recent example of earth architecture that is both beautiful and functional. If the architecture mentor is successful, his or her student will first absorb and then build upon their lessons until they eventually supersede the original teachings with new knowledge. Certainly this [...]
With an estimated 8 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, Turkey wants some of this energy wealth too. The Republic of Cyprus has started surveying for natural gas, and recent estimates are that its undersea reserves are worth billions of dollars. Helped by Israel and America’s Noble Energy, the subterranean Cyprus discoveries could make the [...]
Is bike-sharing gaining momentum in the Middle East? Paris got many cities to start thinking seriously about bike-sharing systems when it launched Vélib in 2007 – a municipal bike-sharing network that has been widely successful and grown to include over 20,000 bicycles at 1,200 stations. Cities worldwide have begun adopting the idea, but it is [...]
Small amounts of cocaine and other drugs were present in treated water supplies in Cyprus Upon learning that scientists have discovered narcotics in already treated Cypriot waste water, one Cyprus Mail reader asked if the drugs can be recycled. While we think a sense of humor is good medicine, this story also has serious implications. [...]
Cyprus may have a long way to go in terms of being eco-friendly, but GreenGraffiti has brought it a little closer. Graffiti may conjure up images and smells of atmospherically harmful spray paints and underground punk rock enthusiasts, but it doesn’t have to. Well, the punk rockers can stay, but graffiti can be green without [...]
This Cyprus grass snake is now an endangered species First a severe water crisis threatened to create a dire peril to both people and animals in Cyprus. Then we revealed a crisis gripping the island’s song bird population with over one million songbirds killed to make a popular pickled food dish. Now the common Cyprus grass [...]
Bike sharing sounds like progress, but not if the plan only supports leisurely (and not commuting) cycling and without proper biking lanes. It was only a couple weeks ago that a Cypriot law proposal threatened to fine cyclists for riding on sidewalks (among other things out of the cyclists’ control due to lack of proper [...]
Axes of power are changing in the Middle East and Israel and Cyprus as an alliance could shift energy focus away from some OPEC oil countries. The decision for Cyprus to explore its undersea natural gas wells has Turkish government officials crying foul. Turkey occupies the northern half of Cyprus and the southern half is [...]
A new law in the works in Cyprus may deter cycling (and therefore promote more carbon-emitting forms of transportation). We’ve heard some pretty crazy stories coming out of Cyprus lately (such as some Cypriots’ appetite for pickled migrating songbirds), but this may be just as shocking: a new Cypriot law proposal wishes to fine and [...]
Drilling for undersea gas in Cyprus’s Exclusive Economic Zone may have serious impacts on marine life. Like 0ther-energy poor countries in the eastern Mediterranean basin, including Israel and Lebanon, who are now in a serious dispute over energy reserves located there, the Republic of Cyprus has shown interested in exploiting the undersea natural gas fields [...]
Every year trappers in Cyprus kill millions of migrating songbirds that are boiled or pickled – a national delicacy called ambelopoulia. Wildlife conservationists want authorities there to do more to prevent this “ecological disaster.” One songbird is illegally trapped or killed every four seconds to provide residents of Cyprus with ingredients for a dish called [...]
Navies crowd into once placid waters as Turkey presses Cyprus on gas reserves Turkey has a corvette, frigate and helicopters escorting its exploration vessel, the Piri Reis, as it explores for gas and oil. The US has quietly dispatched an aircraft and Russian naval vessels have been seen patrolling. News reports say US reconnaissance planes [...]
Heap leaching or dump leaching extracts nickel using a very toxic process. Turkish environmental groups are calling for increased awareness against toxic waste dumping like that in Lebanon. Toxic dumping is taking place in the Caldag region, about 60 km east of Izmir, where a mining concession was given to a UK mining company, Sardes [...]
Turkish PM Erdogan on recent visit to Egypt; more energy influence at Israel’s expense. AP photo by Maggie Michael and Lee Keeth In a continuation of his anti-Israel and anti-Cyprus governmental and economic policies, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is trying to persuade Egypt to ship its natural gas to Europe, via the Nabucco [...]
Tamar undersea gas wells will soon supply Israel with needed natural gas – but at what costs? It has taken some time to reach this stage, but Israel’s undersea natural gas exploration activities by such companies as Noble Energy and the Delek Group have received greater attention as an energy source in the wake of [...]
Map showing disputed Cyprus underwater gas fields, as well as those being contested by Israel and Lebanon Undersea drilling for natural gas by the Greek Cypriot government now appears to be more problematic than just their fears of disturbing the undersea environment or undersea territorial claims by regional countries like Israel and Lebanon. Cypriot’s “neighbor,” the [...]
Natural gas drilling near Cyprus could affect lucrative tourism industry says its commerce minister. Drilling for natural gas by Israel in the eastern Mediterranean has already resulted in undersea territorial disputes between Israel and Lebanon, resulting in the United Nations deciding to mediate the dispute between the two countries. Besides the environmental concerns of this [...]
Abu Dhabi’s Corniche has become the Arabian Gulf’s first Blue Flag beach The city of Abu Dhabi has become the first Arabian Gulf location to gain a Blue Flag environmental award for one of its beaches. The certification has been awarded to the famous Abu Dhabi Corniche, a four mile stretch of coastline which is [...]
Divided by politics and now water: Turkey to take care of its occupied half of Northern Cyprus by diverting fresh water in a 48 mile undersea pipeline. Turkey seems to be serious about carrying out a project to bring fresh water to northern Cyprus by means of an undersea pipeline, according to Turkey’s Environment Minister [...]
This dry lake bed in southern Cyprus used to be one of the island’s main reservoirs Cyprus, an island politically divided into a Turkish northern region and Greek southern region now has an even greater problem other than the reality of the two sections not communicating with each other. Completely surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, [...]