Powerful Middle Eastern Graphics from Kuwait’s Mohammad Sharaf
Kuwaiti graphic designer Mohammad Sharaf serves up powerful pictures based on current events, salted with modern Middle Eastern humor and instantly provocative.
Kuwait Prepares for the End of Oil
While the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia have been outspoken about their shift to renewable energy to shore up for when oil supplies start to wane, Kuwait has largely remained in the shadows. Kuwait has the best solar irradiation along the Arabian Peninsula, which means they are well poised to bring solar energy on [...]
MENA Mayors Put Heads Together to Build Stronger Cities
Middle East city heads want to make their cities more sustainable. The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region is 60 percent urbanized compared to the global average of 52 percent and is home to one of the world’s most rapidly expanding populations. By 2030, a 45 percent increase of MENA’s urban population will add [...]
Export Oil, Import Water = Risky Economics for Middle East
Water scarcity has already become a fact of daily life for Egyptians The world’s driest region, the Middle East* and North Africa (MENA), is getting drier at an alarming rate. And yet, despite massive population growth (the Middle East’s population grew 61 percent from 1990 to 2010 to 205 million people) predictions of so-called “water [...]
Green Caravan Film Festival Wants YOUR Support
Want to help support a green film festival in the Middle East? Well, here’s your chance Over the last year, the Middle East has released some stunning green films. Whether it was a short animated film exploring the environmentally-focused folktales of the Gulf, a documentary following a Bedouin woman traveling to India to become a [...]
HIMA – A Traditional Arabian Conservation Concept Modernised
The traditional Middle Eastern concept of Hima, which means a protected area, has been explored and modernised as a type of sustainable development system under a new Hima Initiative. “Compared to what you have experienced, the Hima concept we are promoting is different,” Walid Saleh who is part of the Hima Initiative told GreenProphet. And [...]
West Elm’s Living Green Wall is a First in Kuwait
It is almost certain that a new green wall installed in Kuwait is the emirate’s very first. The 175 square foot vertical garden was installed in The Avenue Mall’s West Elm store to mark the first time the American furnishings company has opened an international branch. Featuring resilient plants as diverse as Dracaena, White Butterfly, [...]
Eco-Art Gift Ideas for Sandy Claus
Whether your sandy reminiscences are wet or dry, two artists have devised ways to make your memories tangible. My brain inextricably links sand to sea thanks to 25 summers spent on a New Jersey barrier island. Middle East experiences have me now connecting the grainy stuff to locations and memories largely devoid of water, such [...]
Snake Bites Man on Plane, Forces Emergency Landing
A poisonous snake bit a man on a flight from Cairo to Kuwait, forcing the pilot to make an emergency landing. A Jordanian passenger who owns a reptile shop in Kuwait smuggled the Egyptian Cobra into his carry-on luggage (a baksheesh or bribe would have made the snake invisible to the Egypt Air security personnel [...]
Kuwait’s Towering Trash Problem
For such a tiny nation, Kuwait produces some of the world’s highest per capita amounts of trash Rubbish may not be the glamorous topic to think about but it is probably the most relatable. We all throw out trash such as packaging which only seems to serve us momentarily or food which wasn’t eaten in time. [...]
Seed Money Available to Protect Mediterranean Basin Birds
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 [...]
Post-Oil Stagnation in Kuwait at the Venice Biennale
Kuwait is making its debut at the 13th Venice Biennale this year, and they’re doing so with some serious style. The pavilion features a cavernous industrial space interrupted with dangling speakers, orange cushions and abandoned master plans, and it was commissioned by the National Council for Culture, Arts and Letters (NCAA). Unlike many of the [...]
It All Grows In Kuwait – One Bloggers Green Fingered Journey
Alzainah Albabtain, a 22 year old student, is growing her own food in the scorching heat of Kuwait and wants others to give it go too A green fingered student from Kuwait is taking the blogosphere by storm with her ‘It All Grows’ blog. Filled to the rafters with gorgeous photos of lovely fruit and [...]
The State of The Middle East’s Oceans – A Report
Find out how Middle Eastern and North African nations fared in the recent global Ocean Health Index (I’ll give you a clue – not very well) With a recent Greenpeace report urging action to tackle the toxicity of Lebanon’s waters due to trash, now seems the perfect time to look into the health of the [...]
Food Shortages Could Force World To Go Veggie
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 [...]
What Can Islam Do For The Environment? Lots, Actually…
Answering (or at least attempting to answer) what now feels like an age-old question What can Islam do for the environment? That’s a question I have been asking myself for some years now and, in all honestly, I am nowhere near answering it fully. I have definitely enjoyed looking into the green ethics of Islam [...]
Qatar’s GSAS Turns Other Rating Systems Green
Step back, LEED. Back off, BREEAM. Easy there, Estidama: Qatar’s developing a new building standard and it’s called GSAS. Qatar’s revamped its QSAS green building rating system. Re-launched under a new name, the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS) is muscling in as Middle East- North Africa’s green standard. Developed by the Gulf Organization for Research and [...]
Lily Pad Roof to Shade and Power Kuwait’s Sabah Al-Ahmad City Culture Center
Kuwait is planning to build a city in the desert for 2,500 residents, and the Sabah Al-Ahmad Culture Center will be its nucleus. Albeit materially extravagant, BDP. has proposed a design that takes energy conservation very seriously. And in this relentlessly hot and humid seaside environment along the Gulf, that won’t be easy. Integrated with photovoltaic [...]
The Gulf Co-op Council is a European Union Arab-style
Green Prophet’s reports on happenings in the Gulf region have increasingly been using the acronym GCC, which stands for Gulf Cooperation Council. Perhaps a bit of an explanation is in order. GCC is a political and economic alliance between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Saudi Arabia (KSA). It was formed in 1981 following [...]
AGi Residential Wind Tower Wins Best Architecture Multiple Residence Award
The Kuwaiti-Spanish Architecture firm AGi scooped two coveted awards at the International Property Award held in Burj Al-Arab, Dubai. In addition to being recognized for its Wafra Living Complex, the firm’s experimental Wafra Wind Tower project has received the Best Architecture Multiple Residence Award. A Google and Bloomberg TV channel collaborative, the International Property Award [...]
3 Ways a Gulf Federation Could Build a Greener Middle East
I know I know, the proposed federation of six gulf countries has nothing to do with anything remotely green. I also realize that the ulterior motive is to gain political strength and stability in the region and it is possible that this may even escalate the unrest, given that not everyone is happy with this [...]
Qatar (Still) Has the World’s Largest Carbon Footprint
According to the World Wildlife Fund’s latest report, Qatar still has the world’s largest carbon footprint It’s been a couple of years since Qatar was awarded the ‘largest carbon footprint in the world‘ title (relative to the size of its population), but it appears little has changed since then. Despite various green initiative such as [...]
Dubai Radio Mauls Gulf’s Un-green Malls
Emirati malls suffer a blistering review in a 21 minute podcast on green retail. Radio station Dubai Eye 103.8 FM (which not long ago featured Green Prophet here) recently broadcast an interview with Buro Happold’s expert in sustainability and alternative technologies, Robert Cooke. Cooke, who is also Technical Committee Coordinator of Emirates Green Building Council, begins by saying [...]
Nader Khalili Earth Architecture Arrives in Kuwait
Bringing the merits and techniques of earth architecture to those unable to travel to the California Institute of Earth Architecture founded by Nader Khalili in 1986 was always the internationally-renowned architect’s priority, and it finally came to fruition in 2011 at the first six-day onsite International Workshop in Australia. Now Hooman Fazly and Robert Gordon [...]
Sudanese Invents Artificial Pancreas to Eradicate Arab World Diabetes
Sudan’s Mohammad Baloola says his invention can eradicate an emerging Gulf disease: diabetes. As a biomedical engineering student at Ajman University of Science and Technology, Mohammad Baloola found homegrown inspiration for his final year project. Four members of his family are diabetic, a collective muse for his ingenious artificial pancreas. The pancreas is the body’s sole [...]
MENA Is Changing Drastically & NASA Has The Pictures To Prove It
From urbanisation in Morocco to lake shrinkage in Iran, these shocking NASA photos prove how this region is in dramatic ecological flux. Unless you have been living in a consumer-induced coma, it will not have escaped your attention that the world is under serious environmental stress. And a large chunk of that stress has been human-induced. [...]
Tire Fire In Kuwait Seen From Space
A fire which broke out in a Kuwaiti tire dump last week could be seen from space Kuwait hardly has a green reputation (in fact, it’s been pretty obstructive in global efforts to set emission targets) but recent events have definitely undermined what left of its eco credentials. As well as shocking stories of animal [...]
Gentle Kuwaiti Marine Activism (VIDEO)
Recent images of a dead, bloody wolf and broken flamingos that young Kuwaiti men killed for sport gave the oil-rich state a dark reputation. But a new video narrated so eloquently by Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, a Kuwaiti Phd candidate studying Gulf marine ecology at the University of British Columbia, provides a glimpse into a less-celebrated segment [...]
Was the Arab Spring Good for Renewable Energy?
Some notable new investments made in the MENA region include a new solar thermal power plant in Saudi Arabia. The revolutions that have been taking place in the Arab world since December 2010 have had a significant impact on the economy, not only in the countries involved, but also the rest of the World. How [...]
Saudi Arabia’s Fast Food Boom is Finger Lickin’ Awful
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s (KSA) fast food market is expected to reach $4.5 billion in gross sales by 2015, driven by growing demand from its young, western-influenced population, higher disposable incomes, and new financing arrangements, according to a report by Euromonitor, a leading analyst of global markets.Western coffee chains are less about catching a [...]
Supersized Boys and Girls in Gulf States
Born in an economic boom, kids in oil-rich Arab Gulf States use their silver spoons to up caloric intact. Blame laziness, love of Western brands, or ample disposable income, but children across the Gulf region are getting fatter. Recent studies tag 20 percent of children in Dubai as overweight, and another 12% as obese. Their Gulf nations’ [...]
Kuwaiti Musician Zahed Sultan Launches Eco-Electronica Track “Reuse Me”
Zahed Sultan is an internationally-celebrated musician from Kuwait who also happens to promote sustainability! Zahed Sultan is one of the most visible musicians in the Arab world. Not only does he enjoy a massive following on regional social networks, but he is also internationally recognized. One of his tracks was included in the Hotel Costes [...]
World’s 13th Tallest Building Towers Over Kuwait City
The Al Hamra Firdous Tower in Kuwait City is the world’s 13th largest Kuwait is now competing with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to build the biggest, baddest skyscrapers. The recently completed Al Hamra Firdous Tower also called the “Enshrouded Figure” is 412 meters tall and is ranked by the Council on Tall [...]
Sustainable Break-up Tips To Turn Your Blues Green
Laura offers tips on unloading the stuff that comes between you and a broken heart. Broken relationships may leave us sad, lonely, or even relieved, but they also leave us with a pile of stuff acquired over that love-lifetime. Oh, the twaddle we collect in a romantic stupor. Maybe your lonely-heart loot has amped up value: [...]
IKEA’s Blue and Yellow Also Has a Green Face
IKEA Israel’s Blue-Yellow buildings also have a green policy IKEA’s blue and yellow store motifs have become familiar to households all over the world, including the Middle East with stores in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. IKEA’s Israel stores have been serving the public since 2001, and have introduced environmental policies into both [...]
New Green Roofed School in Kuwait Will Promote Hands on Agricultural Learning
Kuwait used to have a strong agricultural movement, which this new school will hopefully help to revive. When we think of Kuwait, not only do we have a hard time getting past the young hunter who killed a wolf and then posed for a series of family shots, but we also envision an unforgivable industrial [...]
Exciting “Stars of Science” Reality TV Show Completely Lacks Green Vision
The Stars of Science reality TV show would be so much more exciting if it spurred sustainable ideas. Perhaps we shouldn’t begrudge the Arab World’s first serious reality TV show, particularly since Stars of Science was designed to encourage more youth in the region to pursue science and technology. But it’s hard to turn a [...]
EU Emissions Tax Blows Change into Middle East Airways
Time to scale down on Diamond Class sleeping suits? Image via Etihad United Arab Emirates-based airlines, Emirates and Etihad Airways warn of higher ticket prices as they seek to pass on costs of a European Union (EU) aviation carbon trading scheme to passengers. Dubai’s Emirates will spend almost $52 million US this year to purchase [...]
7 of the Saddest Wildlife Stories From the Middle East
Although many people in our region revere wildlife, too often we write about egregious abuse. Here are 7 of the saddest wildlife stories from the Middle East, and what you can do to help such harmful practices come to an end. Many people living in the Middle East believe that it is haram to harm [...]
Kuwait’s Environment REUSE 5.0 Exposition Calls for Applications
For the fifth year Kuwait’s eco en.v REUSE exposition will showcase green companies, retailers, galleries, restaurants, social initiatives, and people. Re-users of all ways, shapes, and forms are now welcome to apply for exhibition space at REUSE 5.0, an exposition that will take place at the Australian College of Kuwait (ACK) in February 2012. The [...]