You can grow a living medicine chest in your garden with little effort. The old song says, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Let’s add echinacea, garlic and basil. Most are culinary herbs with poetic histories. All are green medicines that you can harvest at will. The herbs don’t take up much space, if not much [...]
Honest By’s “transparent” green fashions leave nothing to hide Going to the mall or outlet store to buy clothing is not the greenest thing one can do when the truth is known about what materials the clothing is made out of, as well as where and how it is made. Much of this clothing, even top [...]
Greening your wedding is simple, chic and easy to do if you follow just a few of these suggestions. Eco-romantics about to tie the knot pay attention: Green Prophet has the scoop on making your day of love as green as possible without compromising on romance and style. From mass weddings in the Middle East [...]
Living in Turkey and curious about where to find your nearest organic market? How to recycle? Where to take yoga classes? Yeşilist offers Turks tips on greener choices in areas ranging from Home & Garden to Ecotourism, Fashion & Textile to Nutrition. Environmentally conscious Turks are a frustrated lot. Their country is developing along the [...]
Environmentally-friendly designed straw bale houses are energy efficient and earthquake resistant. Pakistan's poorest groups rebuild lives through Pakistan Straw Bale and Appropriate Building (PAKSBAB) micro-financed project.
We celebrate the Muslim environmental campaigner and green activist Ayman Ahwal (right) who passed away last week I think it’s fair to say that Ayman Ahwal was not your average Muslim. A British Muslim convert, he worked tirelessly to support tree-planting projects in Indonesia, campaign for clean streets in his hometown of Birmingham in the [...]
Water trouble has forced residents at Dubai’s man-made Palm Island to wash in the sea and use toilets at shopping malls The sustainability and usefulness of Dubai’s artificial palm-shaped Island has been widely debated but I think a recent problem at one luxury complex has ironically helped raise awareness of how difficult life can be [...]
Dr. Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi, known as the Green Sheikh, at the Mina Al Salam hotel in Dubai. It isn’t often that I eat dates, drink coffee, and wax green with a Sheikh from Ajman. But yesterday I did. Known around the world as the Green Sheikh, Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi [...]
A grape seed, avocado and apricot kernel massage oil is great for eco-intimacy. Recently, the developer of an environmentally friendly, vegan and kosher natural oil for massage and intimacy contacted your Green Love editor with a delightful request. Review their product – TRUST – for the eco-conscious audience in the Middle East. Being ardent advocates [...]
Where there’s a green will, there’s an eco-way, and Anu Agarwal will be leading the fray. Nearly 40% of Ekotribe’s customers hail from the neighboring Emirate, Abu Dhabi, but the store’s recent expansion into the ground floor of Dubai’s Mercato mall reveals a slight shift in the glitzy city’s green leanings. There are only scattered [...]
Italian expatriate and Managing Editor, Lisa Durante’s new book is designed to inspire the UAE to lead a “greener” life. Certain sectors of the United Arab Emirates are savvy about organic agriculture and the environmental benefits of a vegetarian diet. But judging by the ubiquity of mega-malls and towers, not all. Former development journalist and [...]
How far are you willing to go to maintain anti-public peeing social conventions? This is a question that plagues me at night, when I’m camping, and the bathroom is on the other end of the campground. On the one hand, watering a bush seems better than flushing a toilet, but sends untreated pollutants, which will [...]
In over-crowded Gaza, the locals have taken to growing crops on their flat roofs As the most densely populated area in the entire world, the Gaza Strip is understandably short of space. People live in overcrowded concrete homes separated by narrow alleyways and agricultural land is in short supply considering there is a need for [...]
Even with the completion of the “Mekkah Metro” scenes like this are bound to continue during the Hajj for years to come. As the 2010 Hajj pilgrimage begins this week, many wonder if this year’s journey of faith will be more environmentally friendly than in previous years. In previous Green Prophet articles, we have noted the [...]
According to Sheikh Abudulaziz, technology can help stave off environmental crisis, but the real power lies in the people and their willingness to adjust their lifestyles. In the Middle East, “The Green Sheikh” has become somewhat of a celebrity role model for Emirati youth. Though he could easily have followed the money-lined petroleum path, Sheikh [...]
If your design or project has serious green mettle, why not enter the Global Green Awards? We may have our fair share of not-so-eco maniacs in the Middle East, but we also have a powerful body of concerned citizens who realize that the success with which we develop sustainable options in every aspect of life [...]
Mark Boyle, otherwise known as the “moneyless man,” says that the Middle East’s emphasis on caring and sharing should make adopting a “freeconomic” lifestyle easier than in the West. Frustrated and worried about the state of our environment, we chomp at the bits and engage in frothy conversations about irresponsible citizens and politicians, but few [...]
On 10-10-10, thousands of people worldwide will roll up their sleeves and put their environmental conviction to work, including the “Green Sheikh.” Given the continued exploitation of fossil fuel for energy, our atmosphere’s carbon content is escalating to a level that will be disastrous for our environment. Which is why Bill McKibben initiated 350.org, an [...]
Alice Miller claims that by denying the right to open a public ecological pool, Israel’s Health Ministry is also preventing a way of life. In Israel, where language and tradition are deeply rooted to nature, the shift away from the materialistic status quo is spreading. Several kibbutzim around the country are demonstrating that with a [...]
One man goes on a mission to live a year without money; James tells us how it’s done. If we take green living seriously, we all must examine every aspect of life, from consumerism through to energy use and our personal economic and social attitude. This is what Mark Boyle has done, to an extreme [...]
Eco Options Egypt is working on becoming a one-stop shop for resources on leading a green lifestyle in Egypt. It’s not always easy to be green. Good intentions aside, if you habitually need to go out of your way to be eco-friendly then the chances are that eventually you’ll give up. If you can’t find [...]
Want a new way to travel? Want to meet a world of like-minded and interesting people? Go couch surfing. When was the last time you picked up your daily newspaper and the headlines read: “Despite Corruption and Corporate Greed, Every Day Citizens are Saving the World.” Chances are, it’s been a while, so you turn [...]
In order to change our unending addiction to Stuff, we need to redefine progress. We need to realize Stuff doesn’t make us happy. The Story of Stuff is subtitled “How our obsession with stuff is trashing the planet, our communities, and our health – and a vision for change.” Its author, Annie Leonard, is not [...]
A search for a cure to his own health problems led to a whole new profession for Dr. Shaul Eger – including a recipe for olive oil chocolate. Thirty years ago Dr. Shaul Eger, an Israeli physiologist specializing in animal husbandry, was told by specialists that his heart arrhythmia was incurable and that he might die. [...]
With a strong environmental flavor to its courses already, it’s no wonder that Ben Gurion University is embracing the Green Campus label with such enthusiasm. It may not be the first, or the only, university campus in Israel to receive the “Green Campus” label from the Ministry of Environmental Protection, (Haifa reduced their energy consumption [...]
Green Jeddah project wants to teach Saudi youth importance of recycling, cleaning up toxic waste and pollution. Saudi Arabia’s interest in environmental issues and projects is now being tailored to attract the country’s large youth population, now said to compose as much as 60% of the entire population of 28 million. In an article published in [...]
Green Prophet reported awhile back on the Dinah Project, an Israeli-based site that, among other things, gives women tips on how to “green” their sex lives. Today, Sisters, a five year-old, woman-owned, woman-run chain of Tel Aviv sex shops, is building on this tradition of helping women in Israel get our green groove on! Sister [...]
Well, winter is upon us and the rain is finally dampening the earth but that does not mean that we should forget about our water conservation efforts. One way of saving water and keeping our little ones a little more dry-eyed is by cutting back on bath-time. Coming from England where water conservation was never [...]
How many times have you printed out a final draft and found out that it wasn’t as final as you had thought? I always feel bad for the paper, the ink, well, lot’s of guilt. Now there’s a solution! “How much of a letter can be removed while maintaining readability? After extensive testing with all [...]
With the traditional bi-annual Israeli university strike nipped in the bud a lot of students are on their way to their new dorm room. Here are a few tips to keep it green. Reduce – Moving to a new place is a great time to rethink how you do things. Just because it was done [...]
With the holiday of Sukkot midway through now is the time to start thinking about what to do with your four species when the holiday is out. I would suggest composting the leaves. I know this is controversial, since they were used for a mitzva, but considering that usually they are thrown onto the ark [...]
Harness the power of the ripple. When you drop a small pebble in a big pond it sends out waves in every direction affecting the entire pond. There are many ways that you can harness this power. One way is by donating US$1 to your favorite eco-cause (check out some options at www.onebuckfortheplanet.org). If you [...]
Every ton of paper, roughly 200,000 sheets, that is recycled saves approximately 17 trees. The average school tosses 38 tons of paper each year, the equivalent of 644 trees. When you buy notebooks and paper think green and spend a couple extra to get recycled (it’s not always more expensive). Raise the awareness in school, [...]
With everyone going back to school over the next few days, now is a good time to connect with parents from your children’s school. Find out who has children in grades above your child and see if you can get their old books. There are also many book stores which will buy and resell used [...]
A bus stop that grows its own foliage as shade? A children’s playground, made entirely from trees? A shelter made from living tree roots that could provide natural protection against earthquakes in California? “Eco-architecture” may sound like a Buck Rogers vision of an ecologically-sustainable future, but that future is now thanks to the guidance of [...]
Once you buy clothing if you have chosen well you are going to want to keep them for a while. Nothing wrong with wearing a shirt more than once… Even if your job depends of fashion. Take care of your clothing and it will mean less waste, and more money in your pockets. Green living [...]
For some there is nothing more rewarding than a new item of clothing. Nothing wrong with that. Right?! You’re thinking: “those greenies won’t let me have any fun!” It’s true, being green can seem oppresive. But it’s really about attitude. Nothing wrong with a nice shiny new article of clothing, but if it sits forever [...]
There is a yearning for ecologically and environmentally responsible choices that I’ve been observing in Tel Aviv, especially among a select group of young, influential artists. There are continual hurdles for them, though, showing how sometimes thinking green and acting green don’t always go hand in hand. Hayarkon 70 is a disparate group of artists [...]
The noise about the importance of fixing our climate has been growing louder and louder over the past few years. We can only hope the the damage we have caused to our planet is not irreparable. But it’s easy to get overwhelmed by it all. To say: “What can I do?” and just give up. [...]
Stay tuned for our future eco-tour of Dubai, but in the meantime let’s take a look at some green goings-on in Dubai. Because we’ve been pleasantly surprised to discover that very interesting things are happening over there. For starters, the Dubai government recently issued a requirement that all buildings in the emirate be constructed with [...]