Built for the Amal West Oilfield in the southern tip of the country, the glass houses create a protective shell around cheap, flimsy mirrors that dangle from the roof top.

These unique solar collectors track the sun’s progress throughout the day and concentrates heat onto a series of pipes containing water.

Instead of providing the fuel for an energy-generating steam turbine, like some solar applications, steam generated is funneled into oil wells to coax the Sultanate’s main cash cow to the surface for processing and eventual export.

This is an eco-friendly alternative to producing steam with either natural gas or oil and so far the pilot facility is working at a clip.

Syham Bentouati, head of new technology implementation at PDO told Forbes in an email that “the system has already proven that it can generate steam at the right specs for oil recovery.”

Now GlassPoint has to prove that the technology will remain effective for a full year, before plans proceed for what Forbes calls a “full scale buildup of the project.”

“So far, the performance is very promising and likely to be above contractual requirement,” writes Bentouati.

No details have been released but industry insiders speculate that Oman could invest a further $1.5 billion to build a 3,000MW facility, and GlassPoint is preparing for the possibility.

Thanks to a $26 million cash infusion from Shell, which has outraged different countries in the Middle East and North Africa with “fracking plans,” the CA group has built a factory in Shenzhen to mass produce components that are so simple to assemble, the company can “keep labor costs low.”

We shudder to think about the low labor costs, and we rue the ingenious technology’s misguided application, but GlassPoint is on to something that might be used more progressively in the future.

The glass walls allow the use of cheaper, less durable components that don’t have to fight against the elements – such as the fierce sandstorms that blow through the Arabian peninsula. And less water too.

CEO of GlassPoint Rod MacGregor told Christopher Helman from Forbes that the company hopes to expand into other gulf countries as well and that the Chinese manufacturing plant will help them become “the IKEA of solar.”

:: Forbes

Image via GlassPoint

Head to the heart of any Middle Eastern city and find a vibrant commercial hub, usually in the shadow of a major mosque – the bazaar. An Iranian bazaar with incredible history (Marco Polo shopped there!) may now win the 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture.

Organically composed of interconnected structures, with a maze of corridors and vast interior, Tabriz Bazaar is both straightforward and complex.  For centuries, its nooks and crannies and open space set a public stage for retail therapy, social meetups, and politics.

Maybe you’ve seen the world’s biggest bazaars?  There’s Istanbul’s labyrinthine Grand Bazaar, Europe’s most-visited attraction with15 million annual shoppers; Cairo’s Khan el-Khalil, which put a stranglehold on the Medieval spice trade, inciting Columbus to go sailing; and Tehran’s Grand Bazaar, where conservative and pro-Khomeini bazaaris (shop owners) organized to help finance the Islamic Revolution.

So what makes this one stand out?

Tabriz Historic Bazaar has been rocking cultural exchange and commerce for millennia.  Pin its staying power on location: it’s smack central on the old Silk Road, antiquity’s busiest trade route.  Moroccan explorer Ibn Buttata visited and raved about the beautiful slaves who modeled jewelry to the wives of rich Turks.  Marco Polo was a repeat customer.

Tabriz, an ancient city with Bronze Age origins, is capital of the East Azerbaijan province of Iran.  Its history is fascinating: an important 9th century military base and twice capital of Azarbin, it evolved into a desirable zip code for 14th century artists and philosophers.

In the run-up to the 1600s, manufacturing grew and diversified (weaving, metallurgy, weapon and tile production, leatherworks and soapmaking) and trade expanded.

The city had rough patches.  It was sacked by Tamerlane, then by the Iranians, Ottomans and Russians.  Even Mother Nature took a turn, sending in earthquakes and floods.  Through it all, the bazaar remained an enduring commercial and economic center fro Tabriz and northwestern Iran.

The building bears history’s scars. Its last reconstruction followed a devastating earthquake in 1780.

In 1975, it became officially protected by the Iranian Cultural Heritage, Handicraft and Tourism Organization, which oversees protected monuments. Tenants then undertook minor rehabilitation via a smart policy of endowments and tax exemptions.  In 2010, it was added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.

The spectacular brick structure covers about 67 acres with almost 4 miles of covered shops and product-specific “sub-bazaars” for gold, carpets, shoes and food.  It’s used for important Islamic holidays, like the Day of Ashura when merchants cease trading for about 10 days and the bazaar hosts religious ceremonies.

It’s increasingly rare in the Middle East for urban development to cast heritage in a catalyst role.  Rather than abandon the bazaar in pursuit of a modern market, or cringe-inducing mixed-use “lifestyle destination”, the people behind this project elected to rejuvenate Tabriz by preserving its history.

Tabriz Bazaar developed over the centuries, remaining true to it’s core function as an economic, social, political, and religious complex where different activities and cultures are integrated in a unique living environment.  Kudos to this project from keeping Iran’s storied past fit for present purpose.

Images from UNESCO

The largest collection of theme parks in the world is growing in Dubai, an enormous development of “pleasure zones” with no completion date in sight. They’re not short on money (having raised $55 billion in private investment for the first phase alone); the open end date is largely attributed to the park’s relentless ambitions to expand and develop.

It’s going to be a new city in the desert, a metropolis of actual and virtual fun-tastic amusements where you can live and work and play (and undergo surgery and food shop and be arrested).
The project was unveiled in 2003, with initial plans to spread six distinct “worlds” over 100 square miles. There is Attractions and Experience World, Sports and Outdoor World, and Eco-Tourism World, followed by Themed Leisure and Vacation World, Retail and Entertainment World, and Downtown World.  In total, the complex promised 45 “mega-parks” and hundreds of lesser attractions.

Then, like Sleeping Beauty, it fell asleep.

The 2008 global money mess saw most of the projects shelved and the workforce fired. American entertainment giants including DreamWorks, Universal Studios and Six Flags dropped out of the project.

But Dubai development is relentless, and last September, Dubai Properties Group announced the revival of their Mudon residential project, estimating early 2014 completion.

Some construction resumed this year, with the 72,000 square meter Dubai Miracle Gardens opening last March.  Four areas are now operational, but still undergoing construction:

• Dubai Motor City
• Dubai Outlet Mall
• Global Village
• Al Sahra Desert Resort

Actual development has clearly scaled back.  The reality, pictured below, is incompatible with artists’ renderings.

But this is Dubai, surely someday some variant of this thing will hatch. And what about its environmental impacts?

Attempts to find a formal assessment proved futile; it’s possible each development is being treated as a standalone project.  But positive features promised by, say, “Eco-Tourism World” are surely be offset by the “Snowdome”  that will house a mountain ski deck and snow play area, a toboggan run and ice rink, and something called a “penguin-arium”.

Author disclaimer: I’m allergic to theme parks.  Scratch that: I hate theme parks.  Revise that. I’d chew off my right arm rather than spend time in another American theme park, historically the world’s biggest and loudest and most crammed with overspent, overstressed families. But I have kids, there’s no escape.

The official tagline for Disneyland – I’m talking the original Pasadena park – is “The Happiest Place on Earth”, an ironic claim given the armies of crying kids and frustrated parents, standard ticket-holders every day I went.

What will Dubaiworld’s catchphrase be?

And we like it.

Elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa, environmental infractions have gone unnoticed for far too long. Do you know how many oil spills occurred in the Red Sea last year with nary a yawn from the outside world?

Neither do we, because it’s been so useless to try to convince successive Egyptian leaders that transparency is a good thing.

But the sultans and sheikhs of the Arabian peninsula have seen the writing in the sooty skies and rising seas. And they are starting to get serious.

The Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD) has cited 1,000 environmental violations in the first three months of 2013, Gulf News reports.

Nobody is going to be beheaded or hanged in public, which still happens in Saudi Arabia, but they will be held to account for their infractions with gentle, practical assistance from EAD inspectors.

The most common of these included issues with staff not being adequately trained for their positions, poor management of hazardous materials (yikes!), and underdeveloped emergency response protocols.

Also, more seriously in our view (well, my view), they have issued warnings and fines to companies that have stunted solid waste and waste water management systems.

In order to help established and new businesses and organizations get up to speed with their handling of natural resources and waste, the Abu Dhabi government has developed umpteen educational, marketing and regulatory systems.

“To enhance its inspections process, EAD has introduced an innovative system to record and monitor compliance at facilities and projects,” writes Gulf Today.

“It uses the Onsite Assessment, Compliance and Inspection System (OACIS) for the electronic collection, analysis and storage of data.”

Good! We hope it catches on.

:: Gulf Today

Image of a whole different kind of “green police,” Shutterstock

Also referred to as black treacle, molasses is formed as a byproduct of refining sugar cane, according to Raef Abdul Salam, who discusses his family business in an interview with Al-Shorfa.

Abdul Salam’s father ran a plantation and sugar cane mill in Upper Egypt, and when he died, the family decided to split up the business. One son runs the plantation, another oversees operations at the mill, and Abdul Salam is the salesman.

He packs ceramic jars filled with a mix of sesame paste and black treacle and rides around Cairo on a motorbike. One jar fetches just $1.07.

Cheaper than honey, according to Abdul Salam, but packed with calories, the sticky sweet molasses is a staple for Egyptian families. But it is also has other applications.

Used in beauty products, such as hair strengtheners, and in pastries and sweets, molasses is said to be a natural cough suppressant, and also wards off anemia and indigestion.

At least, that is what his father used to say.

Sadly, sugar cane production has declined in recent years as more farmers are using their land for more profitable crops, says the salesman, yet molasses remains in rich demand.

While regular refined sugar has repeatedly shown itself to be a natural enemy of the body, black treacle is one of the few sweeteners that have nutritional benefits. It is a source of iron and calcium and also contains potassium, magnesium, vitamin B6 and selenium.

There is an old piece of wisdom, says Abdul Salam. “If you want to live a long life, you should take four spoonfuls of black treacle a day.”

:: Al-Shorfa

Image of man pouring molasses on corn bread, Shutterstock

Remember the story of the href=”http://www.greenprophet.com/2012/03/2000-year-old-date-pit-sprouts-in-israel/”>2,000 year-old date palm recently spouted in Israel? The invasive beetle, the red palm weevil, is slowly but steadily working its way across the region killing mighty date palm trees in its wake.

Pedestrians are being told to watch out for trees that could suddenly fall.

Imagine the Middle East without towering palm trees? It’s like Canada without the maple tree, or beer gardens in Europe without their horse chestnuts. But all these varieties trees are falling prey to invasive species who for lack of natural enemies are taking over new parts of the world.

In today’s local Israeli newspaper Haaretz, a newspaper report highlights the problem of the weevil, a small snout-nosed beetle killing date palms in Israel. They are yet to move in to Tel Aviv but most other major cities are now starting to deal with the problem.

In Haaretz:

“Date palms in cities throughout Israel have fallen prey to a beetle that eats away at the tree trunk and could cause them to fall over this summer, endangering pedestrians, the Agriculture Ministry has warned. The ministry called on the public to inform municipal authorities if they see trees that appear diseased so they can be treated before it is too late.”

The weevil is brown, 3.5 centimeters long and has a long snout.

In Saudi Arabia, there is a national campaign for control of the weevil by containing it, then destroying it using pesticides. Pheromone traps are also used there to control the thread of the beetle which emerges from the base of the tree, boring its way up through under the bark. Signs of infestation which can eventually topple the trees, can appear as a slightly bent and droopy crown hanging like a closed umbrella.

Already in 2006, the problem of the weevil was reported in Lebanon, and in 2008 the weevil was cited as a great danger in Abu Dhabi.

Las week Saudi Arabia claims that it now threatens 6 million trees in the country, and that a better framework for controlling it is needed badly.

The bugs started spreading in the 80s when it was accidentally introduced to the Middle East from Asia.

Obviously a smart biological control system that introduces natural prey to kill the beetles would be a desirable chemical-free way of solving the problem. Asian foresters may be able to come to the rescue. And if they find a solution maybe it can help make some Middle East peace. Just maybe.

Image via apajadore

A new online petition has been created to curtail animal cruelty in Saudi Arabia. It calls for ending the use of violence against animals for human pleasure and currently needs around 1200 signatures in order for the petition and letter to be sent to the Saudi Ministry of Agriculture.

“In this country some ignorant individuals torture and abuse stray animals, they use violence against animals for their own amusement and with no mercy. Our goal is to create a law that will prevent them from harming any animal,” reads the beginning of the petition put forward by “Nyan.”

An example of this cruelty was seen in a June 2012 report by Green Prophet that detailed how a black bear in Jeddah had been trapped in a pet shop cage for five years.

The animal suffered overheating, malnourishment and required psychological attention in order to recover from the trauma inflicted upon him.

Activists said that the bear bites and smacks himself and visitors, including school children, regularly pelt him with food.

This, Nyan believes, makes the time much more important to push for an end to animal cruelty.

“It is a shame that there is no law for the protection of animals in KSA even though Islam has given animals their rights,” the petition continues.

“What is more shameful is that if any one of us passed by a person hitting or kicking a stray cat even if we stopped him, this person wouldn’t be held legally responsible for his despicable actions,” Nyan adds.

Animal rights activists have been pushing for greater protection of animals in Saudi and across the Gulf region for some time.

Ashley Fruno, the Senior Campaigner for PETA Asia-Pacific, told Green Prophet that getting laws on the books is a necessary foundation for the humane treatment of animals.

“An animal protection law is a good first step in fighting cruelty-to-animals in any country,” she said.

“A law acts as a deterrent to people, and of course it would also result in the persecution of those responsible for the worst cruelty. While there is a lot of work to be done for animals in Saudi Arabia, we’re excited to see a campaign for laws in the country.”

For now, activists the region over wait and hope for change when it comes to battling for animals, who continue to face mistreatment, violence and death at the hands of humans.

Image of cheetah behind wire, Shutterstock

A US developer recently approached Barcelona City Hall with plans to build a soaring Dubai-style “Space Hotel” complete with a zero gravity spa, but the city mayor rejected the concept on the grounds that it would create too much of a “spectacle.”

In addition to insensitive timing –  given Spain’s time of great financial “austerity” – city Mayor Xavier Trias expressed concern that a 2,000 suite/residential “distant galaxy on earth” on an artificial island off the coast might sully Barcelona’s identity.

“We have no need or desire to take on projects of this nature. We are a city of culture, knowledge, of creativity, and of innovation, and our project [to develop the city] will follow a different path,” he told local news channel 3/24.

The developer, Mobilina, commissioned Spanish architect Erik Morvan to design the €1.5 billion hotel, and remains optimistic, despite Barcelona’s lack of enthusiasm, that other cities will embrace the project.

In addition to being the tallest structure in Europe, if it’s built, the glass windows will feature transparent glass displays of the galaxy; there will also be a host of parks, pools and beaches and an enormous mall – (sounds like a dismal way to return to earth after exploring the galaxy.)

“This seems more suitable for somewhere like Dubai,” a representative from the city’s planning department told the Telegraph. Any plan to advance Barcelona must be in keeping with the present model of the city.”

Mobilina CEO Jerome Bottari remains oblivious to the absurdity of the design, which he claims combines the perfect blend of “design and technology to simulate any place on earth, or in the universe,” and hopes that Hong Kong and Los Angeles will take the bait.

:: Dezeen

I was an adorable child. No, really. I have photos to prove it. There I was, age four at the pool in the afternoon sunshine, in a cute bathing suit and gettting really, really sunburned. I got sunburned every summer of my life. Nobody took “suntan lotion” very seriously back then. Since those careless times, I’ve learned that sunburns continue destroying skin cells even years later, so our previous post about protecting children’s skin from the sun struck a note with me. I wasn’t surprised when my dermatologist told me I had two basel cell carcinomas that had best be removed. Skin cancer from those old sunburns? Probably, says the doctor.

Naturally, I never risk exposing my skin to the sun anymore, unless I slather on plenty of sunscreen before leaving the house. But commercial sunscreens are so far from natural – see the scary list of chemicals that they contain – that I was happy to find an inexpensive and effective natural sunscreen I can make by myself.

I can’t say how much sun protection factor this lotion has. I can say that I’m quite fair-skinned and burn easily, but  using the lotion, I stay burn-free – as long as I re-apply it every couple of hours, which is true of commercial sunscreens also.

The lotion initially feels greasy. But once massaged on, it withstands water and sweat. It nourishes the skin, too, leaving it supple and soft.

Inexpensive, effective and all-natural sunscreen. Gotta love it.

All-Natural Sunscreen Recipe:

Equipment:

Pyrex bowl or measuring cup that holds 2 cups volume, or two cooking pots that fit one inside the other

Pan big enough for the bowl/cup to sit in

Spatula

Blender

If using stick blender, a clean towel to rest stick blender on

For storage and use: Very clean, very dry small jars, or ziplock bags, or empty, clean, and dry re-used shampoo bottles.

Ingredients (choose organic if you can):

1/2 oz. – a well-filled tablespoon – of natural beeswax. I use beeswax pellets, but you may simply chop up a natural beeswax candle and measure the wax. When the wax melts, you simply fish the wicks out.

1/2 cup boiling water

3 black tea bags

1/2 cup sesame oil, no other

Optional: 2 drops lavender essential oil. Lavender is healing to skin itself, but it’s included here mostly to perfume the lotion. Don’t go overboard with the essential oil, especially if you mean to apply the lotion to children. Essential oils are powerful.

Make a strong tea infusion with the teabags and water. Cover and allow to steep at least 20 minutes. Remove the bags before proceeding, squeezing them out to extract as much tea as possible.

Place the bowl in a pan with water in it, or if using pots, fill the bottom pot halfway up with water. Place the smaller pot on top. Heat the water over medium heat.

Put the beeswax and oil in the bowl (or top pot). When the wax has melted, remove the bowl or pot from the heat. If using Pyrex, place it on a folded kitchen towel to prevent shattering.

If the tea has cooled down completely, warm it over a low flame. It doesn’t need to boil, just be warm.

If using a stick blender, start blending the oil/beeswax mix. If using a standing blender, pour the mix in.

Very slowly, pour the warm tea into the oil mix, blending at high speed. Keep blending while the lotion takes shape. It will become somewhat paler as it cools down and eventually become quite thick.

Add the essential oil if using, blend again thoroughly, and spoon into storage containers.

Fill a squat lotion tube, like the one in the top photo, or a small shampoo bottle, if you want to take the lotion out with you.

Keep the lotion refrigerated. It will last 3 months. Extra may be frozen – just label it with contents and date or someone may mistake it for dulce de leche. If you are looking for another sunscreen recipe to try, check out this one for organic sunscreen.

More natural skin care suggestions:

• Going Green At The Beach?
• Moisturize Your Skin With Hand-Made Herbal Cream

Image of sunscreen tube via Shutterstock; Photo of sunscreen in the making by Miriam Kresh

Garbage city and the Zabaleen people, who turn mountains, literally mountains (or buildings) full of organic and inorganic waste into something useful has been something of a fascination for the outside world.

Teams of architects have envisioned a way to turn the teeming waste that accumulates in this corner of the city into an energy-generating powerhouse and a wonderful film was recently made to document how the Zabaleen work to recycle so much trash.

The Zabaleen have suffered since 2009. The pigs were essential to the work of consuming organic waste.

Plus, after the culling, thousands of butchers were left without work, according to VOA news, and there was no way to process the waste generated by Cairo’s 18 million residents.

The pigs were controversial – particularly in a Muslim country – but they were effective, and now there are a still a few pigs quietly doing their good work.

“Tucked behind mountains of trash and a wall of flies is a pen full of pigs – the ultimate in organic waste management – and they are making a small, clandestine comeback,” wrote Elizabeth Arrott.

But not everyone is willing to acknowledge they are there, as if drawing attention to them could provoke health officials to clamp down.

Adel Ragi, who is a member of the Garbage Collector’s Union, told the paper that foreign companies have been brought in to tackle Cairo’s phenomenal waste problem, but they just dump the waste on landfills. This is unhelpful – particularly for organic waste, which produces methane when improperly composted.

Christian farmers are trying to set up a new slaughterhouse in order to process the pigs, but they have experienced a delay from authorities.

A Coptic priest who lives above Garbage City calls the pushback a form of religious intolerance since Muslims don’t eat pork, which is perfectly acceptable among Christians.

:: VOA

Image of pigs near pigsty, Shutterstock

Like Israel, Morocco and the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan in the Middle East, Lebanon doesn’t generate enough energy to supply its own country’s demand.

Currently generation capacity stands at roughly 1400MW, according to the Daily Star, while demand hovers around 2500MW.

For the last eight years, rural areas have been crippled by extreme power cuts, but it is unusual for eight to nine hour cuts to reach the capital – Beirut – the country’s cultural, financial and political hub.

Electricité du Liban reports that bad weather is to blame for the extreme power cuts this week, and repairs to the stricken Zahrani and Deir Ammar plants have been completed, adding 34 MW to the national grid as a result.

This combined with the Fatmagül fuel barge’s limited capacity caused by contaminated fuel supplied by EDL has forced the Minister of Energy to ration power over the last week – leaving the capital without energy for nearly half of every day.

Businesses, homes, retailers and anyone else without a backup generator of some sort have been forced to pause their operations, though EDL announced that service would be restored “soon.”

Turkey is sending another energy-generating sea barge in June, which should bring the capacity of both to approximately 270MW. This should in turn ease rationing by at least three hours per day, according to the Daily Star.

Image of Beirut, Shutterstock

With the hot days, the desire to spend time cooking in the kitchen dwindles, although the desire to eat remains. This past salad recipe works for hot summer days. Here at Green Prophet, we publish at least one hot-weather recipe every summer, like this easy and delicious potato salad. And of course, summer’s wild herb, purslane, is popping up in every windowbox and garden, like, well, a weed, for you to nibble on or stir into dishes. If you need more inspiration, here’s an entire summery menu plan for you to choose from.

Broccoli is in season now. Combined with tricolor pasta and other quickly-cooked vegetables, it makes a salad that satisfies fickle summer hungers but doesn’t leave the diner uncomfortably full.

Pasta Salad With Summer Vegetables

More easy, summery salad recipes:

• Vegan Chickpea and Artichoke Salad
• Easy Moroccan Orange Salad
• Freekah, Feta and Fig Salad

Vegewarian is a phrase used to indicate awareness of eating less meat and more sustainably produced foods like vegetables.

Miriam also blogs at Israeli Kitchen.

Image of pasta salad with broccoli via Shutterstock.

The safety of the balloon industry is again questioned in the wake of a hot air balloon crash near Cappadocia, Turkey today that killed two, officials announced. Some 23 other tourists from Brazil, Spain and Argentina have been injured as the hot air balloon hit another’s basket mid-air while drifting over volcanic rock formations.

This is the second fatal incident for Turkey’s hot air balloon industry in the region – active for about 10 years. When I travelled to Cappadocia 14 years ago, there were no balloons for hire, at least none that I could see in sight.

Another major hot air balloon crash took place in Egypt this year when a hot air balloon caught fire, killing 19 tourists as it hit the ground.

Green Prophet’s Laurie was recently on a hot air balloon ride in Turkey, where she took some stunning photos.

Hot air ballooning is a gentle way to see our world’s beauty from above, but better safety standards might better be put into place to avoid more accidents as this mode of transport becomes more popular.

But let’s put the crash into proportion. Every day we hear of a bus crash, car accident or biking incident that kills tourists. 

In the recent Turkish accident most of the surviving victims suffered bone breaks. One witness E. Wayne Ross riding in another hot air balloon told CTV news that the crash happened early in the morning, as some 100 hot air balloons took off to the skies.

“We could hear the radio chatter and we knew something was happening. There was a frantic urgent transmission: ‘Release your parachute! Release your parachute!” said Ross, whose balloon was some 200 metres (yards) away from the vessel that crashed.

“It was probably some 300 metres in the air and it descended increasingly rapidly to the ground,” he said in a telephone interview. “There was a large tear in the fabric, probably some 10 to 15 metres long.”

After the crash he reported one person on the ground with others inside the basket as ambulances arrived to the scene. Before the crash his wife had told him that she thought the balloons were travelling too close to each other.

The owner of the hot air balloon company Anatolian Balloons said one of the victims died from a heart attack, and the second while being treated at hospital.

Above is illustration image of hot air ballooning over Cappadocia.

Bike riding is taboo for Afghan women, considered a marker of promiscuity and ranking on the cultural offenses index somewhere between driving and being spotted with an unrelated man. That belief eliminates a sustainable means of travel and undermines women’s mobility, creating another obstacle to accessing education. Watch a new generation of cyclists race away from the ban.

In 2006, Shannon Galpin founded Mountain2Mountain, a nonprofit that connects American mountain communities with their geographic cousins abroad. The organization focuses particularly on women and children in conflict zones. She made her first trip to Afghanistan in 2008.

Galpin claims to be the first woman to ride a mountain bike through the Afghan countryside.  Bending norms as a foreigner, she’s used her bike as an icebreaker with tribal elders in remote villages, and in bold fundraisers (she pedaled 140 miles across the Panjshir Valley, rough terrain with a 4,000 vertical foot drop).

Last year, on her 11^th visit, Galpin met another cyclist who told her that an Afghan women’s national cycling team had been created.  They practiced before dawn with the men’s cycling team coach, helmets atop headscarves and limbs fully covered.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Galpin, a former Pilates instructor from Colorado, told The New York Times. “I’d been in the most liberal areas of the country, and I’d never seen a little girl on a bike, let alone a grown woman.”

Inspired, she spent the past winter fundraising and returned to Afghanistan last month to distribute 40 duffel bags stuffed with tools, bike seats and jerseys. Liv/Giant, a brand focused on female cyclists, joined the effort, supplying new bicycles and another company, Giro, donated helmets and shoes.

Afghanistan has 45 licensed female cyclists, according to the International Cycling Union (ICU).  Some participated in the Asian Cycling Championships last March, although four of them failed to finish. The riders hope to compete in the 2016 Olympics, but need to start earning points in the ICU nations ranking through bigger events like the Continental Championships and Women’s Road World Cup.

The women are also eligible for scholarships through the Olympic Solidarity Commission, which helps countries in need to develop their sports programs.

Galpin said, “They’re no different than women in Afghanistan who risk their lives to attend school or run for Parliament.”  (Or who use paint and graffiti to express themselves.) “They know the only way to break the taboo is for other women to see them riding bikes.”

This goes beyond sending cyclists to the Olympics.  It’s a way to shatter a standard that curtails women’s mobility.  Bikes are affordable, sustainable, healthy.  They allow riders to travel independently, without guardians and absent a mass transit structure.

Galpin is creating a documentary about the team titled “Afghan Cycles“, and the cyclists remain eager to speak publicly about their team, despite having received death threats.

The women need money to train, to travel to races, and to hire coaches. Sound like a project you’d like to support? Donations can be made at the Mountain2Mountain website.

Said Galpin, “Once they’ve all finished a race, they can start trying to win one.’”

Images from Afghan Cycles Facebook page

Wearing full body clothing might not be the thing for everyone in the Middle East: but cover up the very young – especially those with light skin. Middle East sun exposure in the young leads to higher rates of skin cancer later in life. 

The new study by the Hebrew University in Jerusalem looked at extensive medical records of over one million Israeli adolescents before military service. They reveal how how exposure to the intense Israeli sun of young, light-skinned children increases substantially the risk of cutaneous melanoma – a serious form of skin cancer.

The incidence of cutaneous melanoma is on the rise in all parts of the world where light-skinned people live. Rates have tripled over the last decades in the United States, and the rise was even steeper in Europe.

What about in Israel? What segments of the population are more at risk and at what stage? Dr. Hagai Levine and Prof. Jeremy Kark set out to find the answers, using records of young Jewish males who were examined between 1967 and 2005.

These men were followed up by data linkage for cancer incidence until the end of 2006. Females were not included because their baseline data were available only for a more recent period.

In their study, the researchers found – not surprisingly – a quadrupled higher risk of skin cancer among native-born Israelis of European origin (including the Americas, Australia and South Africa) and those immigrating from those countries over those of North African or Asian origin.

Israel’s subtropical latitude means residents are exposed to more solar radiation than in much of Europe, and therefore the findings implicate childhood sun exposure as a clear, preventable risk factor for melanoma.

But even for those who spent their childhood in Europe, the data showed that those who came to Israel before age 10 had almost double the risk of cutaneous melanoma compared to those who arrived from Europe later in childhood.

The study of melanoma susceptibility according to countries of origin is especially suited to Israel because of the massive immigration that has taken place since the establishment of the state, bringing Jews of varying skin hues from Europe, North Africa and Western Asia.

The study on Israel and cutaneous melanoma was published recently in the International Journal of Cancer. In addition to Levine and Kark, researchers from the Israel Defense Forces Medical Corps, the National Cancer Registry and other institutions participated in the work.

Israel is one of the few western countries where military service is mandatory. All Israeli Jewish adolescents are obligated to present themselves at age 17 for a medical board examination before military service (even if exempted later from service).

Consequently, use of these data provides a generally representative sample of the young Jewish population, particularly of males.

These findings, say the researchers, provide solid support for the importance of stressing the issue of childhood sun exposure, particularly in light skinned people, as a preventable risk factor for cutaneous melanoma and can aid in directing public health and research efforts.

Here at Green Prophet we urge readers to use sunscreen, and if possible that without parabans. You can try your hand at home made organic sunscreen here. And while we are on the issue, read here why sun caught later in the day is more dangerous than early morning rays.

Image of mom and baby via Shutterstock

A business man in the Gaza Strip has found a lucrative way of satisfying the urge for KFC by smuggling it through underground tunnels. It may be four hours cold, with a side of soggy chips, but for Gazans it is a taste of freedom. Oprah might like to hear this news.

Green Prophet learns about the smuggling operation through a report in the New York Times. While we like to celebrate  positive eco movements that are coming to light under the difficult political situation there in Gaza –– slow food, growing food on rooftop gardens, reliance on home cooked meals (see this new Gazan cookbook) –– we also like to support food freedom and food choices, even if it means greasy, cold take-away.

When I was pregnant with my first child a couple of years ago I had a strange craving for Big Macs – without cheese. It was something to do with the secret sauce and the way it combined with the pickles and rehydrated onions that satisfied my urge. There was one week where I ate three of them to satisfy this shameful craving.

But urges in pregnant women should not be ignored. So I gave into it. Urges could be a sign of some important mineral or vitamin missing in one’s diet. I’ve even heard of strictly observant pregnant Jewish women being pardoned to eat non-kosher food combinations if her desire to eat this food is over-powering.

Over in the Gaza Strip most women (pregnant or not) have probably never tried a Big Mac (lucky for them probably) because you won’t find Western fast food chains setting up shop in a very unstable political environment.

A young entrepreneur Khalil Efrangi, 31, found a way around the blockade. According to the New York Times:

Formerly called Kentucky Fried Chicken, a KFC franchise opened in El Arish, just over Gaza’s southern border, in 2011, and in the West Bank city of Ramallah last year. That, along with ubiquitous television advertisements for KFC and other fast-food favorites, has given Gazans a hankering for Colonel Sanders’s secret recipe.

So after Mr. Efrangi brought some KFC back from El Arish for friends last month, he was flooded with requests. A new business was born.

“I accepted this challenge to prove that Gazans can be resilient despite the restrictions,” Mr. Efrangi said.

In the past few weeks, Mr. Efrangi has coordinated four deliveries totaling about 100 meals, making about $6 per meal in profit. He promotes the service on Yamama’s Facebook page, and whenever there is a critical mass of orders — usually 30 — he starts a complicated process of telephone calls, wire transfers and coordination with the Hamas government to get the chicken from there to here.

Religious Islamist governments don’t always see eye to eye with America and the ideals of the West. Fifteen years ago when I was in Syria, those same fast-food shops you could find in neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, Israel or Jordan were non-existant in Syria. Though Syrians craving a burger could get their fill eating a local variety, usually with odd names that vaguely sounded like the famous chains.

The flip side? Pirated versions of burgers and chicken we bet are less likely to contain industrial food additives like pink slime, meat glue, horse meat, or arsenic, which may be in KFC chicken.

Politics, ideology and healthy food choices aside, there are no Kentucky Fried Chicken chains in Gaza.  But smugglers have found a way to bring it through the illegal underground tunnels that link Gaza to a black economy in Egypt.

Most officials in Egypt turn a blind eye to the tunnels run by the Hamas Government. The tunnels offer an alternative to the Gazan blockade. Israel only allows certain necessary items through the land-based border crossing. While live animals, even lions and other zoo animals, complete cars in pieces, and sewage floods are making it through the tunnels, for about $27 Gazans can now get a taste of the west, and the Colonol’s secret blend of herbs.

::New York Times

Image via notionscapitol

Ministers from seven countries that participated in the 15th session of the Regional Organisation for Conservation of the Environment of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden (PERSGA) met recently in Jeddah to discuss climate change, development, improved waste management facilities and programs, and other threats to the Red Sea’s fauna and flora, Al-Shorfa reports.

During the meeting, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement that they would both devote expertise, research and training to the mutual goal of promoting their shared water’s health; they have also announced their commitment to understanding what changes to expect as a result of rising global temperatures and subsequent climate disruptions.

At least, this is what Prince Turki bin Nasser bin Abdulaziz, head of the kingdom’s Presidency of Meteorology and Environment Protection told the paper.

“Efforts are under way to maintain a clean environment for the Red Sea and life in it, especially in Saudi Arabia, to preserve its natural beauty and resources,” he said.

Jameel Hassan of the department of wildlife studies at the Egyptian Ministry of Environmental Affairs chimed in as well with a commitment to developing nature reserves and ecotourism.

So far, however, Egypt in particular has failed miserably to protect any of their coastal areas from human encroachment.

Head north to the Mediterranean and you will find miles and miles and miles of semi-developed holiday homes constructed with concrete, and without proper consideration for sewage, etc.

Saeed Basyouni from the Tourism Development Authority adds that new recycling facilities will be built as part of the scheme and old ones will be resurrected.

All of this is great, but fails to consider the ways in which the land and sea bridge is expected to cause considerable harm to the Red Sea’s ecosystem.

Part of the bridge will be constructed right on the Ras Mohamed National Park, we reported in an earlier article.

”If they build this bridge, coral reefs, endangered species and at least 22 dive sites will all be gone,” Ibrahim Mohamed, an activist with the anti-bridge group IBRedSea told us last year.

Still, the fact that there is even dialogue about the issues signals enormous progress.

:: Al-Shorfa

Image of the Red Sea at Sharm el Sheikh, Shutterstock

A queer smell arose from the bomb shelter of the Kiryat Gat school for Haredi girls located about 35 miles south of Tel Aviv, The Jerusalem Post reports.

One teacher followed her nose, so to speak, and stumbled upon a professional growing lab in a bomb shelter below the school, which was complete with all the special lamps and irrigation technology required to grow twelve marijuana plants in a dark, enclosed space.

But here’s where it gets funny. Perhaps to divert negativity away from the Orthodox community, law enforcement officials were quick to say they will explore the possibility that a stranger to the school had coveted the space for their illegal drug operation.

In fact, they are going to launch a full-scale undercover operation to root out the bad guy (girl?) with an attitude reminiscent of that recently directed towards 269life vegan activists who protested the meat industry with decapitated animal heads scattered in visible public places in Tel Aviv and surrounding neighborhoods.

Most rabbis consider all kinds of smoking to be a form of self-endangerment, so – given marijuana’s mild mind altering qualities caused by the presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) – it’s probably safe to say that finding a pot growing lab at an Orthodox school is pretty darn scandalous.

However, and this is the case with so much in Israel, the country has a split personality when it comes to marijuana.

Expressly illegal, though rarely penalized when used for personal consumption, the plant is legally cultivated for people suffering from chronic illness. The heavily guarded Tikkun Olam farm in the Galilee, where Jesus once walked, is the biggest source of the country’s medical marijuana.

The government dishes out special licenses to ensure those suffering from cancer and other crippling diseases can seek relief from the plant’s palliative properties.

Researchers with the Hebrew University have even developed a marijuana pill, according to the New York Times, in preparation for the day when the world is evolved enough to permit export of such a thing.

As for the girls, they’ll be on their best behavior while the cops are snooping around. Unless they found our Moroccan love potion spiced with pot?

Image of indoor marijuana garden, Shutterstock

I had expected this brand new ‘hot doc’, Fuck for Forests, doing the European circuit to be more sensationalist, funny, perhaps even poking fun during its portrayal of a radical group based in Berlin who produce pornographic material to raise money for environmental causes. Ultimately, though it didn’t sensationalise, it did disappoint, and I’m frustrated at its lack of coherency and structure.

I had heard of ‘Fuck For Forest’ a while back, and enjoyed their website, which has plenty of free images, perhaps defeating the point – although images of human beauty draped in foliage and enjoying their naked bodies in natural spaces is a great thing.

I certainly support that message and hope that their work, with its stated noble aims, might go some way to promote healthy nudity and sexuality in a shaming society.

The film, made by Michal Marczak, picks up on what clearly is a great story.

However, it becomes a semi-psychological profile of the individuals involved in ‘FFF’, yet I felt afterwards it doesn’t clearly portray their vision, or it slowly unpeels that they have little coherent vision, and the camera actually starts to pan between the characters, not allowing a central figure to emerge and dominate the narrative.

One of the main characters is Danny, newly arrived and in possession of a wonderful voice and eclectic dress sense. He has deep personal issues of estrangement, and an other-worldly sense of commitment to his cause, as seen in the closing shot where he asks a group of disaffected Palestinians to come and protest naked with him outside the German Parliament.

However, he isn’t given the central role of the film, and I feel the narrative lacks a structure to hang around, perhaps as the group is composed of strange characters who ebb and flow with their wavering energy levels.

It is clear that ‘FFF’’s philosophy is well intentioned but not so well thought through.

Standing round, smiling either inanely or looking either hostile or vacant, the film does include sex scenes, including a public copulation, where the male, Tommy Hol Ellingsen, smears his sperm mingled with his partners menstrual blood over his face, and declares it “organic”.

It is a rare documentary that leaves the viewer wondering is it the style or the subject that is discordant and under-developed? A few hours after viewing I realise it is actually both. It is a tough proposition to make a documentary about sexuality, without being either gratuitous or academically distant.

The most interesting parts of the film are when the group approach people to come join them and be photographed naked, or filmed having sex. They share the statistic at about 1 in every 10 they approach agree and shed their inhibitions. That is a fascinating study, which the maker could have explored a bit more, including an early scene where a chap with a lot of emotional baggage gets photographed naked in an inner-City park to try to heal.

Naturally enough, they manage to raise a huge sum of money to take to donate to Indigenous groups in the Amazon region, but here is where the well intentioned plan beaches.

When they arrive there, they are welcomed, taken into the forest and the heart of the human community, even given a traditional herb to create hallucinations and open up parts of the mind to a more enlightened state.

But in an excruciating scene, where the group attempt to articulate their vision to the locals, and offer up their overflowing wallet, the community want specifics from them like jobs or self-directed job creation, not idle hand-outs from oddly dressed Westerners.

The group leaves bruised, mis-understood, their vision in tatters, for want of poor research and naïve ambitions. The group splinters, and they all go off on separate journeys.

I’m curious where they all are now, and if they have abandoned the lofty ideals that created ‘FFF’.

A follow up film, going deeper into the individuals involved, finding and following a central point of tension that shifts the narrative down a different course, and more of a challenge to the ‘us against bottled-up society’ as well as how the group might attempt further outreach to the peoples living within the forests, would be welcome.

Fuck for Forest trailer:

Click here to view the embedded video.

::Fuck for Forest website (warning – the site is loaded with explicit images (eco-porn) that should not be viewed by people under 18)

Christian pilgrims to Israel may be thrilled to have a chance to bathe in the historic Jordan River, believed to be the original baptismal river of Jesus. It’s clean, safe and totally free.

Pilgrims arrive to the southern tip of the Sea of Galilee (where mysterious objects are still being found) at Yardanit, get off the bus and within a few hundred yards are themselves in the river in white robes.

I can understand the appeal but was put off by the whole idea that these pilgrims aren’t really baptizing in a river, but a standing pool created for tourism. The real river actually starts as a sewage pump outlet further downstream.

A series of dams on the Sea of Galilee block water from flowing to the River Jordan. The story is really sad. What ends up in the real “river” is effluent and all types of waste, and those brave souls who disregard the warning and dip into the water on the Jordan side far downstream are taking their lives into their hands.

By the time this wastewater flows down to its final destination it is merely a trickle of sewage, if it reaches the end at all.

This is what I learned a few years ago while on a Jordan River tour with the eco group Friends of the Earth Middle East. (That’s me above checking out the sewage pipe at the Jordan River’s source).

Local newspapers are now reporting that the Israeli Government along with various interest groups have decided to turn on a pump from the Sea of Galilee to restore the Jordan River’s native habitat. Some 1000 cubic meters of water will be pumped into the river every hour.

Recharging the Jordan River is a great idea our friends at Friends of the Earth maintain, but much more water will be necessary to bring it up to healthy levels, they assess.

They say that some 30 million cubic meters a year will not be enough to renew the Lower Jordan River. Something magnitudes bigger, 400 and 600 cubic meters would be needed for restoration, and Israel should allot 220 million cubic meters to do its part. It should be noted that the Jordan River is shared between three major stakeholders: Israel, the Palestinian Authority and Jordan. Peace making over a river important to all people is a very easy way to start real peace efforts on the ground.