Vegewarian means choosing more non-meat options in your overall diet. I propose to add: let’s round this philosophy out out to include healthier options all around. For example, we don’t want to give sweet things up altogether, but let’s make desserts with reduced sugars and fats. Searching for a cake to satisfy that craving for something sweet that yet fits that description, this almond torte caught my eye (via the lovely Dinners & Dreams blog).

I fell for this cake because it’s rich in pomegranate molasses, a staple in the Middle Eastern kitchen. Pomegranate molasses is easy to make at home - see our post on making pomegranate molasses. But if you don’t want to wait until the fruit is back in season, you can find pomegranate molasses in any Middle Eastern store.  Here it’s paired with a little honey to balance its sweet/sour tartness. Almond meal is the base for this fragrant, subtle creation.And one of the great things about this torte is that it’s a snap to make.

Almond Torte with Pomegranate Molasses

Recipe with permission from Dinners & Dreams

8 Servings

Ingredients:

Directions:

These designed cotton bags are way cooler than plastic.

Plastic bags are undoubtedly bad for the environment, but sometimes it’s hard to get motivated to carry reusable bags with you for those spur-of-the-moment trips to the store.  Serious and devoted DIYers and plastic bag avoiders may make their own reusable cloth shopping bags out of materials found at home (such as t-shirts), but for others, reusable bags need to be made convenient or they won’t get used at all.

In order to make reusable bags an easy (and chic) solution for shoppers who want to avoid plastic, Kiosk (a design studio based in Tel Aviv) has created an “I Love Earth” collection of reusable cotton bags with unique printed designs.

The bags come in three sizes – extra small bags, little bags, and shoulder bags – and are made out of 100% unprocessed, natural cotton.

The various sizes make them suitable for different things, whether you want to pick up some onions from the market, pack your sandwich for work, or use one of the bags as an alternative to wrapping paper for an eco-gift.

The beautiful hand-printed images on the bags come from atlases, botanical books, children’s books, and games.  Specific designs can also be custom ordered.

:: I Love Earth 

Read more about reusable bags:
Aya Kaya’s Online Upcycling Tutorial for Turning T-Shirts Into Bags
“Waste Lb” Design Company Encourages Lebanese to Waste Fewer Plastic Bags
Israeli Designer Fashions Couture Gown out of Envirosax Reusable Bags

Do you feel that the politics behind environmental issues in Israel-Palestine are being sidelined? 

A couple of weeks ago, Green Prophet reported on the news that Israelis and Palestinians were working together to build a restorative eco-park. It was a relatively feel-good piece showing that despite the political conflict, joint projects could be useful in building bridges between the two nations. One commentator, however, felt that our coverage was politically naïve.

H.Shaka remarked: “I appreciate that GP is trying to report on ‘green’ in the whole Middle East, including both Israel and the Arab world, and I have come to see this as a step in the right direction. However, given the strong political drivers in the region, I think GP should aim to be much more politically informed and balanced if it wishes to gain the respect of its readers, at least in the Arab world.”

From me personally, the comment struck a chord. I can see why the commentator would prefer that politics play a bigger role in the way we see green initiatives in the region. I am the first to admit that green campaigners can be a little idealistic about joint Israeli and Palestinian projects, and tend to ignore their political downsides.

I remember speaking to a green Bedouin organisation about such joint projects and they were eager to point out that they are deeply problematic as the partners are in no way equal. They explained that the Israeli side have more say, more influence and a lot more to gain than Palestinian Bedouins, who are almost token players.

Others add, that joint Israeli-Palestinian projects can be seen as ‘normalisation’. That they allow and even encourage greater acceptance of the unfair political situation and distort the oppressor/oppressed relationship between Israel and Palestine. I understand all that. I also understand that not everyone sees the political situation the same way. That the political situation is quite complex and that solutions are not as easy to point out as the problems are.

If you don’t think that joint Palestinian-Israeli projects are fair, does that mean that allowing environmental resources to deteriorate further to make a political stand is the solution? I don’t think I can accept that. There has to be a better option – what that is, isn’t clear right now.

I also have to defend Green Prophet’s openness to discussing these political issues. As well as covering these joint projects, we have reported on less ‘positive’ stories such as Israel’s water apartheid, the dire environmental situation in Gaza and the environmental impact of the conflict. Indeed, the Green Prophet writers are quite a varied bunch of writers and I don’t always agree with my fellow colleagues on issues such as nuclear power, working with corporations, green gadgets and lots more. I also think we don’t need to agree.

All writers are given the freedom to talk about every political issue they feel is important. If coverage appears to be apolitical, I can only guess it’s because writers may feel that there is nothing to gain from bringing up these political issues time and time again. The reader will most probably still believe what they believed when they started reading the article. I know that sound cynical but I am being honest. I have seen how political argument blow up on some websites and blogs and they not only achieve very little but are corrosive too.

I don’t really know how to end the post other than to say that I speak for myself. This is not some attempt to say ‘yes, Green Prophet has it right/wrong’ but rather my personal perspective on things. Yes, I think we need to include politics more in our coverage of green issues in the Middle East. But I can also understand why many of us choose not to. It’s too messy, too complicated and I am not sure that it is what the majority of our readers want.

I guess, now it’s your say.

Do you feel that the political dimensions of environmental issues in Israel-Palestine are being sidelined in our coverage?

And do you want to see more or less politics?

: Image via Michele Benericetti/flickr.

For more on political issues in the environment in the Mideast see:

Israeli Enviro Minister: Please Keep Politics Out of Water!

Jordan Politics Hampers ‘Friends of the Earth Middle East’

Solar Power In The West Bank- Green Progress or Bad Politics?

Last week two airports in Israel had to shut down because the sky was so hazy and visibility was so limited, Haaretz reports. Both the Sde Dor Airport in Tel Aviv and Eilat’s airport shut down on 7th of February as a result of air pollution concentrations more than twelve times higher than usual. These conditions are expected to continue through Wednesday.

Israel’s Environmental Ministry explained that a low pressure weather system over Southern Greece moved into Israel and trapped particulates that traveled from a dust storm in North Africa. This is not the first time that Israeli researchers have discovered pollution stemming from outside the borders – sometimes laced with heavy metals.

Pollution travels

We often note that nature has no borders and this is a classic example. Pollution from Eastern and Western Europe hover in Israeli skies 2/3 of the year, according to a Haaretz news report from last year. And for 1/5 of the year, harmful pollutants travel from Saudi Arabia, Jordan, and North Africa.

Egypt’s air pollution is particularly bad as a result of poor environmental regulations and archaic agricultural, manufacturing, and waste management protocols. Every year, residents of Cairo brace themselves for “The Black Cloud.”

This cloud of dark pollution over the cityoccurs when a low pressure system similar to the one Israel is currently experiencing coincides with farmers burning off  the by products of their annual rice harvest.

According to Haaretz, researchers from the Hebrew Univeristy and the Weizmann Institute have found toxic metals and pesticides that often travel on the backs of dust particles from countries in North Africa and elsewhere. As a result of this, they have called for regional players to establish environmental rules that protect everyone from air pollution.

Domestic pollution

In the meantime, Israel continues to pursue policies that excacerbate their own air pollution challenges. Although natural gas gives off less emissions than oil, it is by no means a “clean energy source.”

According to the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (Working Group III Report, chapter 4), in 2004, natural gas produced about 5.3 billion tons a year of CO₂ emissions. It also consists of methane, which is a far more powerful greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, though it has a far shorter atmosphereic lifespan.

Massive gas fields discovered in the Mediterranean are expected to finally admit Israel to the Middle East fossil fuel game – albeit a little late and in the face of climate change. But this also means that the country’s air pollution – so quickly attributed to sources outside of the country – is unlikely to improve any time soon.

Meanwhile, children, elderly people, pregnant women, and people who suffer from asthma or other respatory diseases are discouraged from engaging in any strenuous activity while conditions remain hazy.

:: Haaretz

image via Austin Evan, Flickr

More on Israel’s Environmental Issues:

Israel’s Environmental Ministry Implements New Green Building Standards

Water Pollution in Israel Threatens People, Plants, and Animals

Polluting Cars May be Banned From Israel

“Distressed” jeans are commonly made by blasting the denim with silica (pictured above) after it has been pressurized into miniscule dust particles. But this fashion trend has been lethal for workers in denim sandblasting factories around the world. In Turkey, İdris Oral has become the 50th factory worker to die from inhaling too much silica dust, according to Bianet Independent Media. The 28-year-old spent the last two months of his life at the hospital in his home district of Bingöl, in southeastern Turkey: a province where there are 320 other known cases of silicosis.

In Turkey alone, there are estimated to be 4,000 denim workers afflicted by silicosis.

While silicosis can affect all who work with stone, such as miners and stonecutters, sandblasters are prone to a particularly acute and deadly form of the disease. Dental aesthetic prosthetic technicians also contract silicosis at an alarmingly high rate; an Istanbul health council reports that 10 percent of that workforce suffers from silicosis or asthma.

Doctors have known the risks of denim sandblasting for the past eight years. In the United States and most of Europe, the process is forbidden because of the risks. But the Turkish Ministry of Health only banned the use of silica in textile production in 2009. Most denim factories in Turkey are located in the country’s poorer southeast, a region that many complain is neglected by the national government.

That was too late for Oral and the thousands of other workers who had already contracted the disease, however. Oral is said to have fallen ill with it in 2005.

How to eradicate silicosis?

Silicosis is untreatable. But there is hope for the millions of factory workers around the world who haven’t yet contracted it.

As Green Prophet’s Tafline Laylin reported in August, high-end clothing company Versace agreed to stop selling sandblasted jeans last year, caving to pressure from multiple fair trade and public interest groups.

A host of other clothing companies, however, including Armani, Dolce & Gabana, and Matalan, continue to sell the lethal pants.

You can help stop silicosis from claiming more lives by not purchasing sandblasted jeans, and telling your friends about their true cost.

Because fashion is never worth a human life.

:: Bianet

Read more about the dangers of jeans production and silica around the world:

Thinking About Giving The Gift Of Jeans? Please Think Again

Dimona Silica To Ship The Negev Desert To China

Armani & Others Pressured to Give Up Deadly Jeans

Image via Colin ZHU

Due to the threat of flooding, communities in low-lying valleys in Oman are being encouraged to relocate

It may be a hot and dry country most of the year but Oman, like Saudi Arabia, is prone to flash flooding. In November 2011, around 14 people were reported to have been killed and more than 200 more injured after flash floods hit Oman. The year before, a tropical storm killed 50 people in Oman. Now, Omanis living in places such as Wadi Dayqah are being asked by the government to leave their homes and farmlands behind and relocate to safer areas.

According to a report from Al Jazeera, however, many residents are reluctant to leave. One local explains that they have a flourishing community in the wadi (valley) and have no intentions of abandoning it due to rising fears over flooding. If anything, they want to improve and preserve their community which boasts stunning landscapes and natural biodiversity.

Low-lying areas such as wadis are particularly prone to flooding. In 2010, torrential downpour triggered strong flows in the wadis which trapped people and shut off some areas from cars after the roads were flooded. Residents of the Omani town of Hail Al Ghaf which is near Wadi Dayqah are being encouraged to leave. Hundreds of free homes have been built as well as a mosque and school to tempt them away from the wadi.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Plans to control the water flowing through the wadi using dams have been mentioned as a more ‘sustainable’ way of farming and using water. Government authorities insist that they are not asking that farmland be abandoned but rather that they are ‘restructured’. As Al Jazeera reporter Andrew Hopkins explains, however, with rising oil and gas revenue in the country the way of life for Omani people living in the wadis looks set to change.

You can also checkout Al Jazeera’s new environmental programme called ‘Earthrise – An Environment for Solutions‘ which is now in to its eighth episode. All the episodes are available online and cover the issues from an international perspective.

: Image via ringogoingo/flickr.

For more on water issues in Oman see:

Aflaj: Ancient Channels Keep Water Flowing In the Desert

Geoscientists Say Oman is Sinking and Shrinking

New Arabian Humpback Whale Species Located In Oman

TIME Magazine paid allegiance to the brave hearted souls in the MENA region who rose up against despotic regimes by naming “The Protestor” as their 2011 person of the year. Known now as the Arab Spring, this powerful movement was sparked by the self-immolation of a college-educated fruit vendor in Tunisia who was fed up with corruption and dismal living conditions. Since the subsequent Jasmine Revolution, the country has teetered between its tainted past and uncertainty, but these five stories point to the very real possibility that its residents can look forward to a freer and greener future.

1. Tunisian Graffiti Artist eL Seed Breaks Down Stereotypes of Arab Culture

Tunisian graffiti artist eL Seed was born in France. According to Green Prophet writer Laurie. he played around with graffiti as a hobbyist but only became serious about the controversial art form within the last decade or so. He enjoys this medium for its immediacy and accessibility and for its very public nature. Graffiti isn’t hidden behind doors or restricted to fancy art galleries. His “calligraffiti” is designed to promote Arab culture and break down erroneous stereotypes.

2. The Bedouins Convert an Ill-Begotten Mansion into a Skate Park

Once the glittering home of the country’s former Construction Minister and nephew-in-law of ousted dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, a giant mansion had been trashed by protestors during the Jasmine revolution. So a team of skaters and locals known collectively as “The Bedouins” converted the ill-begotten space into an inspiring skate and art park. Led by Nathan Gray, The Bedouins promote cross-cultural collaboration, self-expression, and a healthy working through of post-revolution issues.

3. Tunisia Announces 4th Desertec Deal and 2 GW of Solar!

Tunisia may be pursuing one of the most ambitious renewable energy sectors on the planet with the possible exception of Scotland and a series of Scandinavian countries. Truly, their plans are staggering, and their willingness to float a substantial amount of money to support alternative energy programs even more so. One recently announced project is the 2 GW TuNur Concentrating Solar-thermal Power (CSP) plant from the Mediterranean solar developer - and founding member of MedGrid – Nur Energie.

4. Tunisia Among World’s Top 50 Tourism Destinations

The recently released 2011 “Travel and Tourism Competitiveness” report by the World Economic Forum compiled in conjunction with Booz & Company demonstrates a noticeable shift that tourists around the global are heading to the East, with Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) and Asia rising in rank, and sustainability continues to establish itself as a key tourism trend. While eco-tourism has taken a back seat to other pressing issues in the Middle East, Tunisia placed 47th on the list of desirable destinations.

5. Tunisian Eco-Retreat Offers Warm Ecological Hospitality

This beautiful Dar HI eco-retreat in Tunisia designed by Matali Crasset demonstrates just one reason that Tunisia is one of the most accessible and desirable holiday destinations for eco-aware travelers. Set astride a clip of the Sahara desert and nearby a salt lake, it was built using local knowledge and local materials and features a soothing minimalism that takes the edge off any greater uncertainty. Hit the title to learn more about this beautiful space.

The Empire State Building was completed in 1931, the same year E.Y. “Yip” Harburg wrote these lyrics: “Once I built a tower up to the sun, brick and rivet and lime. Once I built a tower, now its done. Brother, can you spare a dime?” The song grew to become an anthem to unemployed American builders during the Great Depression. But these words could easily apply to those put out of work after building Burj Khalifa or one of hundreds of other skyscrapers that now cast long shadows across the Mideast.

The skyscraper index

Burj Khalifa’s construction coincided with a global economic downturn and it was completed just in time for Dubai’s financial crisis. This caused Burj Kalifa’s rents to plummet 40% and left 92% of its apartments empty.  Similar stories are being repeated around the globe.

If you’re beginning to wonder whether skyscrapers are an economic jinx, you are not alone.

What began as Andrew Lawrence’s tongue-in-cheek “Skyscraper Index” to correlate skyscraper construction with business cycles has grown into serious research. As recently reported by BBC news, Barclays capital wrote: “Often the world’s tallest buildings are simply the edifice of a broader skyscraper building boom, reflecting a widespread misallocation of capital and an impending economic correction…”

Misallocation of resources is one of the unfortunate side effects of economic bubbles. Mega skyscrapers may be an indication of a distorted relationship between land values and construction costs. But  that hasn’t stopped India, China and Turkey from doing what was once thought to be a bad idea.

Is there an economic reason for building these things?

The construction cost of a one story commercial building is typically $100-$200 per square foot.  (It varies widely because up to 70% of this is the cost of the land.)  The construction cost per square foot of a skyscraper is approximately $500 per square foot and the cost of WTC 1 in New York City is $1,150/square foot.

Working through the details is an exercise for the reader, but economic reasons for building a skyscraper seem to vanish by the tenth floor. So if a pencil building seems to be the best fit for the economics of a site, you might want to consider funding horizontal public transportation to another location.

Chances are good that the land values are floating atop an economic bubble. And when the bubble pops, the skyscraper will have to support itself long after it makes economic sense.

Are they Green?

While there can be an advantage in avoiding horizontal sprawl, vertical sprawl can be just as bad for the environment, possibly worse.  Even so-called “green” skyscrapers consume a massive amount of resources and energy.  They cast long shadows, kill millions of birds and expose far more surface area for collecting solar heat than the land beneath them.

If the buildings are dark, this excess heat contributes to the urban heat island effect.  If the buildings are reflective, the heat can be concentrated where it doesn’t belong. So while one skyscraper can claim to be slightly greener than another, none are as green as the empty lot it was built on. None are green when they are only designed to work for a decade or two.

Skyscrapers are symbols of…?

The Great Pyramid of Giza stood as the highest man-made structure on earth for almost 4000 years before the Lincoln Cathedral exceeded its height in the 14th century. This record held for another six centuries before the Washington monument topped it at 555 feet.

These were all symbolic structures. They didn’t pretend to be green or economically practical. They were works of art which symbolized something. Skyscrapers rarely make economic sense, but they can be powerful symbols. So many people think of modern skyscrapers as symbols of economic prosperity it has become a cliche since they often indicate quite the opposite.

The real question is, will they be regarded as useful works of urban art six months from now when they are no longer breaking any records. How about one hundred years in the future? Do they symbolize a harmonious relationship between people and nature or do they symbolize a temporary insanity, pride and hubris?

image via Uggboy, Flickr

More on unsustainable development in the Middle East:

An Ant in Dubai

Sustainable Architecture Saudi Style: King Abdullah Financial District

Dubai Breaks its own Record for the World’s Tallest Hotel

One of the first changes my wife and I made to our house was to install a Solotube in the kitchen. This device consists of a translucent dome on the roof which is connected to a highly silvered six foot long pipe through the attic. The bottom end of the pipe spills sunlight into the kitchen even during the dullest winter days. But we have discovered that the idea isn’t new. Islamic architects have been using a variation of the technique for hundreds of years.

Click here to view the embedded video.

The modern variation of solo tubes in the Phillipines

I shouldn’t be surprised that this idea predates the 1990s. In fact, we found something very similar in the Islamic architecture in Granada and Istanbul. A star-shaped skylight would be deeply set into white-washed walls and angled such that the summer sun would bring a glow into the room without the intense heat of direct sunlight.

The skylights in the 14th century Los Baños del Almirante in Valencia Spain (above) are an example of this Moorish inspired design.  I.M. Pei’s atrium skylight in Qatar’s museum of Islamic art is a modern variation on this technique.

My architect friends must be laughing at me for being impressed by something this simple but I only have to compare it with my workplace. It’s a two story office building with an atrium that was built in the late 1990s, but no one seems to know how regulate heat and light here in Ireland – even though the country has such a mild climate.

Boneheaded designs

During a few days around the Winter Solstice, sunlight slips between two buildings and bounces off a pond onto my desk. I would be impressed if I wasn’t convinced that this is a complete coincidence. A few miles away there are some ancient burial tombs which are intentionally aligned with the solstice sun.

Newgrange is about 5,000 years old and has the equivalent of a Solotube aligned with the winter solstice sun. Why do we seldom see such examples of celestial alignments and optics being used in modern architecture?  I suppose it’s because oil is so cheap and therefore air-conditioning, lights and heating compensate for boneheaded designs.

Our Solotube kept the cold rain out and brightened up our dreary kitchen for about $500.  The fiber optic version can pipe sunlight longer distances but it is much more expensive at $8000. The skylights in the mosques, hammans and the Qatar museum are also expensive.

But a group of students from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) recently came up with a much less expensive way to pipe sunlight into the interiors of shanties in the slums of Manila Philippines using plastic bottles filled with water.

Flickr photo of Baños del Almirante in Valencia by Chosovi

More on Islamic Architecture:

Gaza’s Green Schools Fuse Islamic Architecture and Sustainable Design

13 Principles of Sustainable Architecture From Nader Khalili Student

Hassan Fathy is the Middle East’s Father of Sustainable Architecture

The western-led sanctions against Iran have crippled the country’s ability to provide for its 74 million strong population, Reuters reports. Food prices have skyrocketed and many ships holding supplies are waiting for payment before allowing Iran to collect inventory. Meanwhile, sanctions have made conducting financial transactions virtually impossible. While the government’s failure to act could be disastrous for Iranian nationals, one potential upside is that the Energy Minister has recently admitted the importance of beefing up the country’s renewable energy sector.

Fledgling renewable sector

At present, Iran has a fledgling renewable sector. The 250kw solar power plant in Shiraz that is being upgraded to a 500 kW plant will be online by 2015 and the country launched a 484 MW solar thermal combined cycle power plant in Yazd  last May.

But these plants alone are not robust enough to replace the oil and gas industry at a moment’s notice.

According to Reuters, Iran is the world’s fifth largest oil producer and the second largest gas holder, so it’s no surprise that the nation has been beset by what some refer to as a natural resource curse. But the glory days of fossil fuels are over.

At the end of 2010, Iran was the first country in the Middle East to cut its energy subsidies in order to stay excess domestic consumption of its own resource, which means that long before the United States stepped up the severity of its economic sanctions, it was understood that fossil fuels are finite resources.

Incentive to go green

But the hardship caused in the last few months may have given the Energy Ministry in particular additional incentive to establish a twofold strategy to maintain its energy security: enliven the renewable energy sector as soon as possible and improve energy efficiency and conservation.

Leaving aside political rhetoric for one second, Iran has long maintained that a nuclear energy industry would create an alternative to fossil fuels, but nuclear energy is not the most viable solution – especially since the country enjoys plenty of sunshine that could feed a stronger solar industry.

Rostam Qaserie, the Iranian Energy Minister, explained at a recent National Energy Conference that “Reliance on hydrocarbon resources in the long run is neither possible nor meets national interests,” according to Reuters.

In the meantime, many of its main customers, including China, are seeking out alternative suppliers.

:: Reuters

image via Ali Reza, Flickr

Read more about Iran’s green energy sector:

Iran’s Islamic Regime Aims to be Solar Supreme by 2015

Iran Quit Dirty Energy Subsidies and Survived

Green Building in Iran: The Bagdir Windcatchers of Iran