As heat waves intensify from Dubai to Dallas, millions of air conditioners quietly drip gallons of clean water into drains every single day. This is pure water going down the drain, even though there are many uses for AC water as we’ve discussed over the years.

Now researchers in Jordan say that water — called AC condensate — may be one of the most overlooked alternative water sources in cities worldwide. The 2024 study, published in Case Studies in Chemical and Environmental Engineering, tested water collected from 120 air conditioning units and found the condensate had surprisingly high quality, with low dissolved solids, low heavy metals, and chemistry close to distilled water.

That means the water dripping from your air conditioner may already be usable for gardening, cleaning, flushing toilets, topping up humidifiers, or cooling systems — instead of disappearing into the sewer.

And in hot climates, the numbers add up fast.

How Much Water Does an Air Conditioner Produce?

According to their study, which we will sum up here, modern AC systems can generate between 15 and 70 liters of water per day (about 15 gallons) depending on humidity and unit size. A single apartment AC unit stuck in a window in Brooklyn running through a humid summer can easily fill buckets overnight.

Office towers, malls, schools, hospitals, and hotels produce dramatically more. In tropical cities like Singapore, Miami, Tel Aviv, Mumbai, or Bangkok, entire buildings are beginning to recover AC condensate as part of water-saving systems. These feed into flower beds, toilets and irrigation systems.

What was once considered waste is becoming infrastructure.

What Is AC Condensate Water?

Air conditioners do more than cool air. They also remove humidity. When warm moist air hits the cold evaporator coils inside an AC unit, the moisture condenses into liquid water, which is similar to droplets forming on a cold glass. That water is called condensate and most systems simply drain it away.

But researchers from Jordan say that should change so looked to see if it was safe to use.

Is AC Water Safe?

The Jordanian researchers tested for:

pH
dissolved solids
turbidity
nitrates
hardness
chlorine
heavy metals including lead, cadmium, arsenic, chromium, copper, nickel, zinc, iron, and aluminum

Most values, they found, were far below drinking water and irrigation safety limits which means that when in a pinch it may be okay to consume. Except, they warn that AC condensate water is not automatically safe to drink directly from the pipe.

The water can pick up:

bacteria
fungi
mold
dirt from evaporator coils
contaminants from poorly maintained systems

The study itself notes that microbial testing was limited and recommends further biological analysis before treating AC condensate as potable water. So while AC water often behaves chemically like distilled water, most experts recommend using it first for non-drinking purposes unless it is filtered, sterilized, or professionally treated.

Best AC Water Uses at Home

Air Conditioner Water for Plants

AC condensate is low in salts and minerals, which many plants prefer.

Good for:

balcony gardens
houseplants
lawns
urban farming
drip irrigation

Some gardeners even prefer condensate over hard tap water.

Cleaning Floors and Windows

Because it contains very low mineral content, condensate water often leaves fewer streaks or residue marks.

Flushing Toilets

One of the easiest large-scale reuse applications. Toilets account for a major percentage of household water use.

Steam Irons and Humidifiers

Since condensate is low in minerals, it can reduce scaling inside appliances.

Car Washing

Especially useful during drought restrictions.

Cooling Towers and Industrial HVAC Water Recycling

Commercial buildings increasingly recycle condensate internally to reduce freshwater demand.

Why Cities Are Suddenly Interested in HVAC Water Recycling

Climate change is increasing both:

water shortages
air conditioner use

That means hotter cities paradoxically create more condensate water precisely when freshwater becomes scarcer. The researchers point to Jordan as an example of extreme water stress, but the same logic now applies to California experiencing droughts periodically, southern Europe, India, the Gulf states, Australia, and parts of Latin America.

Entire urban districts may eventually capture AC condensate the same way cities harvest rainwater today.

The Biggest Problem? Buildings Aren’t Designed to Reuse AC Water

Ironically, the study found that one of the main barriers is simple plumbing. Most AC drain lines connect directly into sewage systems which means the water disappears before anyone can reuse it.

Newer green buildings are beginning to change this with:

dedicated condensate recovery systems
rooftop storage tanks
graywater integration
irrigation hookups
smart filtration systems

In humid megacities, future building codes may eventually require condensate capture.

AC Water Reuse Isn’t Just for Dry Countries

The study focuses on Jordan because of water scarcity, but the implications are global.

In wealthy cities, AC condensate water can:

lower water bills
reduce urban water demand
support green roofs
cool public spaces
irrigate landscaping
increase drought resilience

Data centers, luxury hotels, airports, hospitals, and universities are already experimenting with condensate recovery systems. In a warming world, every building becomes a tiny atmospheric water harvesting machine. And most people still let it run down the drain.

If you are inspired by this article on AC water, learn here how a company from Austria is turning streets into tiny power plants by harvesting energy from trucks when they put on the brakes.

The post AC Water Uses: How to Reuse Air Conditioner Condensate Water for Plants, Cleaning and Water Conservation appeared first on Green Prophet.

For many people outside Islam, the idea of a vegetarian Muslim sounds unusual. (This is what a Muslim vegetarian looks like). Images of Eid lamb feasts, halal kebab shops, and giant Ramadan buffets dominate perceptions of Muslim food culture. But quietly, across the Middle East, Europe, Southeast Asia, and North America, a growing number of Muslims are choosing vegetarian or vegan lifestyles for environmental, ethical, spiritual, and health reasons.

And according to most Islamic scholars, there is nothing in Islam that says Muslims must eat meat. Islam allows meat consumption, but it does not require it. In fact, many Muslim thinkers throughout history promoted compassion toward animals, moderation in eating, and avoiding waste.

The Quran repeatedly calls humans “stewards” of the Earth, responsible for balance and care for creation. For some modern Muslims, that responsibility now includes reducing meat consumption because of factory farming, climate change, water shortages, and animal cruelty. Jews who normally eat meat on Friday nights are also part of the trend. 

Halal does not mean meat is mandatory

One of the biggest misunderstandings is the idea that because halal meat is permitted, Muslims are somehow expected to eat it. But Islamic dietary law mainly focuses on what is allowed and forbidden. Vegetarian food is generally considered halal as long as it contains no alcohol or forbidden ingredients. Read here why Muslims don’t drink alcohol. 

Most Islamic scholars agree that Muslims may choose vegetarian or vegan diets for personal reasons including health, ethics, spirituality, or environmental concerns.

Islam and compassion for animals

Animal welfare has deep roots in Islamic teaching. Prophet Muhammad taught kindness toward animals and condemned cruelty. Islamic tradition includes stories warning against overworking animals, mistreating them, or killing unnecessarily. Of course when we hear about horrific forms of animal abuse in Jordan, Hebron or Turkey where a million dogs were killed last year, that does not define a religion. That’s a human interpretation of it. 

Modern Muslim scholars like Basheer Ahmad Masri argued that industrial factory farming violates Islamic principles of compassion and humane treatment. Masri believed many Muslims would reject industrial meat production if they fully understood the suffering involved. Read here about the time when Daniella Cheslow got close to her meat during an Eid sacrifice. 

This debate has become more urgent as industrial meat production expands across the Gulf states and wider Middle East as more and more people earn greater sums of money for food such as meat. 

Saudi Arabia and the UAE are investing heavily in food security projects, including lab-grown meat, vertical farming, and plant-based foods. Dubai has even hosted vegan festivals and sustainable food summits as governments try to reduce the environmental costs of imported meat.

Young Muslims are changing food culture

Social media has helped create a visible community of vegetarian and vegan Muslims. On TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube, Muslim creators now share vegan Ramadan meals, plant-based iftars, halal vegan recipes, and discussions about animal ethics in Islam. (Reach out to us if you want featured on Green Prophet!)

A complicated issue during Eid

One of the biggest tensions for vegetarian Muslims comes during Eid al-Adha, the Islamic holiday involving animal sacrifice. For many Muslim families, meat is deeply connected to tradition, hospitality, and religious celebration.

Some vegetarian Muslims still participate symbolically by donating money for charitable food distribution rather than personally consuming meat. Others focus on the Quranic message behind the sacrifice: generosity, gratitude, and helping the poor.

The issue can become emotional because food is tied closely to family identity and culture.

In some communities, vegetarian Muslims face criticism or are told their lifestyle is “Western” or un-Islamic. But historically, vegetarian practices existed among certain Sufi traditions and Muslim spiritual movements for centuries.

The future of halal may be greener

The halal food market is now worth trillions globally, and companies are beginning to notice growing demand for halal-certified vegetarian and vegan products.

Plant-based shawarma, vegan kebabs, meatless biryani, and dairy-free desserts are appearing in Muslim-majority countries and diaspora communities alike. They are particularly visible in cities like Berlin, where every second shawarma seems to be vegan.

In places facing climate pressure and water scarcity, including much of the Middle East, reducing dependence on industrial meat could become less of a niche lifestyle and more of a practical necessity. For many Muslims, vegetarianism is no longer seen as rejecting Islam.

In memory of Green Deen Ibrahim Abdul Matin. To learn more about Christian and Muslim vegetarians in the Middle East, reach out to Lebanese Vegans. They offer free vegan meals to those in need. A sample menu is below.

The top image is of vegan Muslims via the Kampungvegan

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“If we announce something and we need to adjust it, accelerate it and make it a priority more than others, or defer or cancel it, we will without blinking,” Saudi Finance Minister Mohammed al-Jadaan said at a public event last year.

Without blinking indeed: Saudi Arabia has reportedly delayed major work on The Line,  the planned 170-kilometer mirrored city slicing through the desert, until after 2030. Tourism projects along the Red Sea are being pushed back, and Trojena, the fantasy ski resort in the mountains fueled with artificial snow, is also effectively frozen. (One project that went ahead to completion is the Red Sea resort, Shebara).

Plans to build a giant cube in Riyadh, known as the Mukaab, were also put on hold.

At Green Prophet, we saw this coming from the beginning. We had been covering sustainable architecture, desert ecology and failed eco-city fantasies long before NEOM became a global branding campaign that felt more like a penal colony. From the first renderings, The Line looked less like a city and more like a trillion-dollar hallucination wrapped in sustainability language.

The world’s architecture and consulting elite rushed in anyway. Smart city. Cognitive city. Regenerative city. Every buzzword imaginable was attached to what was essentially a giant mirrored wall in one of the harshest climates on Earth. Locals also died trying to defend the land taken from them by the Saudi Government. But what activists from America care about that when they are busy boycotting Israeli tehini.

Meanwhile basic questions went unanswered: How much concrete and desalinated water would this require? What happens to wildlife migration routes? How do humans psychologically function inside a compressed linear corridor? And why do authoritarian megaprojects always market themselves as “green”?

Now reality is interrupting the fantasy: The parts of NEOM still moving forward are the practical ones: ports, logistics infrastructure, utilities and data centers. OXAGON, the industrial port city on the Red Sea, continues to receive investment because ports and infrastructure create economic value.

Artificial moons and endless mirrored towers do not.

The deeper problem with NEOM was never just architectural. It was purely philosophical and comical. The project embodied a modern illusion that environmental destruction can somehow be solved through even larger acts of environmental destruction, if presented with enough minimalist branding and futuristic animations developed by European design firms doing anything for cash contracts. Much of the global design world played along.

Western consultants and sustainability influencers lined up for Saudi money, willing to describe almost anything as ecological if the budget was large enough. But sustainable cities are rarely built from above as monuments to power. Real cities evolve slowly around human realities, geography, water access, climate and community. Real sustainable cities look more like Rotterdam.

Read more on NEOM coverage on Green Prophet

• NEOM archive on Green Prophet
• The 15-minute city, The Line knocks back expectations
• The Line’s 15-minute city failure and the limits of green futurism
• Life at NEOM, a 15-minute city in Saudi Arabia
• The Line in Saudi Arabia invites you to live like a Borg
• Video reveals 150-mile-long mirrored skyscraper The Line in Saudi Arabia
• NEOM is Saudi’s mega-green Gotham city
• Saudi Arabia cancels the Asian Games at NEOM’s Trojena
• Saudi Arabia building world’s largest green hydrogen plant at NEOM
• Saudi Arabia archive on Green Prophet

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How many of us looked twice when we saw that South Korea has ordained a robot as a budd?

His name is Gabi, and he wears saffron robes, bows respectfully, and stands inside Jogyesa Temple in Seoul, headquarters of the Jogye Order, Korea’s largest Buddhist sect.

Unlike us, Gabi does not breathe, he does not suffer in the human sense and he does not have cravings or desires. He does not meditate under a bodhi tree while mosquitoes bite his ankles.

But he may do something equally important: he is making young people stop doom scrolling and ask what spirituality means in an age of artificial intelligence.

The robot, based on a commercially available humanoid made by Unitree Robotics, was only symbolically ordained as an honorary monk by the Jogye Order of Korean Buddhism. The purpose here is not to replace monks, but to serve as an ambassador for Buddhism and a conversation starter about ethics, consciousness, and compassion.
Would Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha, approve?

Perhaps he would smile because as his teachings go, the Buddha was less concerned with appearances than with intention. A shaved head does not make a monk, and neither does a robe or a computer chip.

Liberation in the buddhist sense comes from understanding suffering and releasing attachment.

A robot cannot awaken because it does not experience desire or pain. But if Gabi inspires a teenager to step into a temple, ask deeper questions, and sit quietly for ten minutes, then perhaps the machine is doing wholesome work.

Across Asia, monastic life has long been fluid. If you have ever travelled to Thailand, Laos, Myanmar, and Cambodia, many young men and even women ordain temporarily. They may spend a few weeks, months or a rainy season as monks before returning to ordinary life, marriage, and careers. Becoming a monk is a rite of passage, a period of reflection and service rather than a lifelong commitment. You can compare it to Muslims who go on Hajj.

Unlike Catholic priests or cloistered nuns, Buddhist ordination can be reversible and you can come to it from any previous religion. Leonard Cohen was a Buddhist monk and he was Jewish. Many books such as the Jew and the Lotus explain how these two worlds and spiritual approaches can stand side by side.

Gabi simply takes that principle into the age of robotics and if you are worried about a new class of Hare Krishnas or monks, Gabi will not walk barefoot at dawn begging for rice. In Korea, monks generally do not collect alms house to house and Gabi we expect will greet visitors, answer simple AI questions, and remind us that compassion can be, and she be! baked into circuits and code.

The post Robot Monk Gabi Takes Vows in Seoul. What Would the Buddha Have Thought? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Stella McCartney is back at H&M, and the fashion world is swooning again. But behind the tailored jackets, cherry prints and recycled glass beads is a harder question: should we still trust wool when it comes wrapped in ethical language?

The new Stella McCartney x H&M collection is being sold as a sustainability story. Organic cotton, recycled metals, plant-based coatings and certified materials all appear in the marketing. It is thoughtful by fast-fashion standards. But then there is the wool.

According to data from tutoring marketplace Wiingy, while entire categories of white-collar work — from copywriting to entry-level software development — have shown sustained four-year declines in learner demand, craft-based industries like wool and fiber arts have remained largely insulated from the same pressure. The full list of skills most at risk of AI automation tells a striking story about which kinds of work are surviving the shift.

So who is going to be the next sheep farming and shearer? Who will rise up to be the next Stella McCartney.

That makes wool fascinating right now. It is ancient, tactile and stubbornly physical. AI can write ad copy and generate fashion campaigns in seconds, but it cannot shear a sheep gently, sort fleece by touch, or spin fiber into yarn. Wool remains tied to animals, land and human hands.

But this is also where the romance gets complicated.

Several key pieces in the Stella McCartney x H&M collection — including the double-breasted blazer, matching trousers and wool car coat, are made with wool certified to the Responsible Wool Standard, or RWS. The standard is administered by Textile Exchange and is designed to verify animal welfare, land management and social responsibility.

On the surface, that sounds reassuring. Consumers see the certification and imagine sheep grazing peacefully under blue skies. But investigations suggest the reality can be much more troubling.

In reporting by Green Prophet, The New Zealand Merino Company, now known as Zentera, quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website after an undercover investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into farms within its certified supply chain. Zentera now describes its wool more cautiously as being “grown with care.”

PETA investigators say they documented shearers kicking, beating and roughly handling sheep on farms producing certified wool. Some animals were reportedly left with wounds stitched without pain relief. The findings have prompted renewed scrutiny of the wool industry’s ethical claims.

The problem is not limited to one company. Critics argue that many certification programs rely on announced audits, giving farms advance notice before inspectors arrive. Procedures such as tail docking and castration may still be allowed, and enforcement standards vary.

Even when certification improves conditions, it does not guarantee a cruelty-free product. Nor does it answer the broader environmental questions surrounding wool production, including methane emissions, land use and water consumption.

That does not mean every wool garment is unethical. Some farms undoubtedly treat animals better and manage land more responsibly than others. Certifications can help move the industry in the right direction. But they should not be treated as a final verdict.

Wool may be one of the rare industries that survives the AI age because it belongs to the body before it belongs to the market. It is touch, weather, grass, lanolin, sweat and skill. It carries the memory of shepherding and textile traditions thousands of years old.

Yet wool is also a business, and businesses are skilled at storytelling.

The Stella McCartney x H&M collaboration is more than a fashion event. It is a test of whether sustainability labels still mean something in an era when consumers are increasingly skeptical and artificial intelligence is stripping value from so much knowledge work.

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Seramic Materials is part of a new wave of companies rethinking what ceramics are made from and what they can do. Instead of digging raw materials out of the earth, they are using what industry throws away.

Based in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, Seramic Materials was founded in 2019 by Dr. Nicolas Calvet and Dr. Jean-François Hoffmann, researchers working at the intersection of renewable energy and materials science. The company grew out of the Masdar Institute ecosystem and is supported by clean tech programs like The Catalyst, with early backing of around $150,000 and more than $2 million invested in research and development over time.

At its core, Seramic takes industrial waste such as steel slag, incinerator ash, and other mineral byproducts and transforms them into ceramic materials. These materials are then used to create building products like tiles and pavers, as well as advanced technical ceramics. Instead of extracting new clay or minerals, the company treats waste as a resource, reducing landfill use and cutting carbon emissions by at least 20 to 30 percent compared to traditional ceramics.

This is where the circular economy becomes real. Ceramics have always been made from earth. Seramic simply expands that idea by using what has already been taken from the earth and discarded. The result is a loop rather than a line. Waste becomes material, material becomes product, and eventually returns without adding new burden.

One of the company’s most important projects is ReThink Seramic Flora, a high temperature ceramic designed for thermal energy storage. It can store heat at temperatures up to 1250°C, making it useful for solar power systems and industrial heat recovery. This connects ceramics directly to the energy transition, allowing renewable energy to be stored and used when needed.

The company is also working with partners like Bee’ah in the UAE to scale waste conversion systems and address growing volumes of industrial ash.

Where this is going is clear. Ceramics are no longer just tiles or bricks. They are becoming part of energy infrastructure, waste management systems, and low carbon manufacturing. Companies like Seramic are turning one of the oldest materials on earth into something that fits a future built on circular thinking.

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Green Prophet readers know we write a lot about hair. We have covered the halal and the haram sides of hair removal for Muslims. We have written about sugar waxing, Persian sugaring, threading, and the beauty secrets that came out of the Middle East long before salons started calling them trends. Our articles on sugar wax broke the internet a few times.

We have also written about people who would rather grow it all out. For them there is Januhairy, where body hair becomes a statement rather than a problem. We have written about Persian women with mustaches, once considered beautiful in Tehran. We have even looked at natural ways to lighten darkened knees for women whose prayer practice leaves a mark on the body.

Hair is never just hair. It is religion, culture, modesty, rebellion, fashion, hygiene, sexuality, and sometimes just one more thing we are tired of managing.

(If you have come looking for a hair transplant, you’ve come to the wrong place, but we did see tens of people in the airport of Istanbul with new plugs in their scalp – so that’s probably the place).

Today we are talking about lasers.

Once a woman or man reaches an age where laser hair removal is appropriate, it may be one of the more ecological choices for people who already remove hair regularly. That part matters. If you love your hair, keep it. If you remove it for religious, cultural, personal, or practical reasons, then it is worth asking how much waste your routine creates.

Razors, plastic cartridges, shaving cream bottles, wax strips, applicators, salon paper, depilatory creams, packaging, and water use all add up. Waxing every month or shaving every few days is not just a beauty routine. It is a supply chain.

I have spoken with women and men who have used laser treatment to remove hair on different parts of the body. Most say the same thing. After years of waxing or shaving, five, six, or seven laser sessions made the whole business easier. Not always perfect. Not always permanent forever. But enough to remove much of the hassle.

For many Muslims, hair removal is recommended within a forty day rhythm, depending on practice and interpretation. For traditional Jewish women, preparation before the mikveh can include careful grooming and cleansing before immersion after menstruation. How much hair is removed is personal, but the body, water, and ritual all come into the conversation.

Laser treatment enters that space in a practical way.

There are different kinds of machines, and this is where things get real. Not all laser treatments are equal. Some of the newer machines have better cooling systems, skin sensors, and settings for different skin tones. Someone in my family uses a more expensive machine and is told to stay out of the sun for about three days after treatment. That is manageable.

Other clinics are far more restrictive. We tried one while on holiday in Canada and were told to stay out of the sun for two weeks. Two weeks in summer is not a small ask. That is not sustainable unless you are planning your life around your legs.

The common machine types include Alexandrite, Diode, and Nd:YAG lasers, along with IPL, which stands for intense pulsed light and is not technically a laser. Alexandrite lasers are often used for lighter skin with darker hair.

Diode lasers are common and can work across a broader range of skin tones.

Nd:YAG lasers go deeper and are often considered safer for darker skin tones when used by experienced professionals.

IPL is usually cheaper and more available, including in some home devices, but it is less targeted and may require more sessions. People can buy them online and teenagers use them often, but the efficiency is almost not worth it.

This is why you should ask questions before booking. Ask what machine they use. Ask whether it is a true laser or IPL. Ask if the operator has experience with your skin tone. Ask how many days you need to avoid sun before and after treatment. Ask what cooling system they use. Ask if maintenance sessions are likely later. And how many? Laser treatments aren’t recommended for teenagers before they hit peak puberty. Chances are the overdrive hormones will not have any effect on rampant hair growth.

The American Academy of Dermatology warns that laser hair removal can cause burns, scars, or permanent changes in skin color when done badly, especially in inexperienced hands. Cleveland Clinic says tanned skin can make the procedure less effective and increase side effects. Mayo Clinic also advises avoiding sun exposure and tanning beds before treatment, using sunscreen, avoiding sunless tanning products, and stopping waxing or plucking before sessions.

That may sound like a lot, but it is better to know before you pay. The machine matters. The person using it matters more.

When in doubt ask a friend of yours with smooth arms if they have ever been hairy. If yes, ask them about laser treatments.

From an ecological perspective, the logic is simple. Fewer treatments over time can mean less reliance on disposable products, less plastic, less packaging, less chemical runoff, and less repetition. It is not perfect. It is still a treatment. It still uses energy. It still costs money. But compared to a lifetime of razors, wax strips, creams, and salon waste, laser hair removal starts to look like a reduction model rather than a consumption model.

It is also not for everyone. Light hair, red hair, grey hair, hormonal conditions, darker skin tones treated with the wrong machine, pregnancy, medications, and recent sun exposure can all complicate results. A good clinic will tell you that. A bad clinic will sell you a package before asking enough questions. We actually had a clinic near Toronto turn us away because it was summer and the lasers might do damage if we came into contact with the sun.

So maybe the question is not whether you remove hair or leave it alone. That is personal. It can be cultural. It can be religious. It can be nobody’s business. The better question is how you do it.

Good luck and enjoy your summer. We love you.

The post A summer of sugar wax or time for laser treatments? The environmental answer appeared first on Green Prophet.

Drinking alcohol the night before physical labor or exercise in hot conditions of Texas, California, Florida and in the Middle East may increase inflammation in the body and raise the risk of heat-related illness, according to research presented at the 2026 American Physiology Summit in Minneapolis, the flagship meeting of the American Physiological Society.

Related: 10 alcohol-free drinks for the summer – mocktails

This is especially relevant for outdoor workers in roofing, paving, hardscaping, pool installation, and residential construction exposed to extreme heat.

Working or exercising in heat already triggers inflammation as part of a normal stress response. But excessive inflammation can contribute to heat illness. Alcohol can further elevate inflammation, especially darker alcoholic drinks such as whiskey, tequila and red wine, and through acetaldehyde, a toxic byproduct created when the body metabolizes alcohol. Alcohol may also irritate the gut, allowing bacteria to enter the bloodstream and activate an immune response — a concern for construction crews, landscape contractors, and tradespeople working long hours outdoors.

Elevated inflammation can strain the heart by making it work harder in heat, impairing blood vessel function, and increasing the risk of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.

Related: why Muslims don’t drink alcohol

While a cold beer is the first thing you will want after a day in the sun — whether roofing, laying down pavers, building decks or installing backyard pools — what happens when alcohol and heat exposure are combined is less clear. Previous research suggests around 30% of construction workers report working with hangover symptoms at least once a month. Alcohol-related inflammation is typically temporary, but its interaction with heat stress is still being studied.

Summit Sisters at work on a roof in Canada

In two trials, volunteers walked on a treadmill for four hours, simulating half a workday, in a hot room (100°F with 40% humidity). In one session, participants consumed about eight standard drinks the night before (reaching a blood alcohol level of 0.11), while in the other they abstained. Blood samples taken after exercise showed higher levels of inflammatory markers following alcohol consumption.

“These findings suggest that drinking alcohol the night before prolonged physical work in the heat may amplify parts of the body’s inflammatory response,” said Jonathan Specht, PhD, the study’s corresponding author. “Those exerting themselves after drinking should take extra precautions, including hydration, rest and seeking shade.”

The take home? Be mindful about alcohol consumption. Cancer studies have found that no amount is safe, and if you are hard-working and in the sun, don’t drink heavily the night before. Your heart health may depend on it.

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Sometimes conservation doesn’t begin with moving animals around in cages or intervening in their genes. Sometimes it begins with something quieter and easier: where you place water, how you let a landscape develop, how you choose to share its resources. And in this research project, it’s a first for me: the first one that I have seen that is funded between the UAE, and Israel. Peace happens when partners have a common interest

A research team from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev is suggesting that small, thoughtful shifts in habitat management can ripple outward into the genetic future of a species.

In a paper published this month in Ecological Applications, Dr. Shirli Bar-David, Prof. Amos Bouskila, and PhD researcher Noa Yaffa Kan-Lingwood explore how the simple redistribution of essential resources can reshape mating systems, reproductive success, and ultimately genetic diversity in wild populations.

Their case study takes us into the Negev Desert, where the Asiatic wild ass (Equus hemionus) still moves across a harsh and beautiful terrain. Here, survival (and love!) revolves around water.

Related: see how watering holes are helping animals in the jungle

These animals follow a mating system known as resource-defense polygyny: males establish territories near scarce water sources, and in doing so, gain access to females. Control the water, and you shape the social order, hypothesized the researchers.

So they something deceptively simple: they increased the number of water points from one to three. The result wasn’t just ecological, it was social, and political.

Before the intervention, only about 16% to 18% of males held territories and reproduced. Afterward, that number rose sharply to 42%to 48% because more males had a chance. And in terms of science, more makle voices entered the genetic conversation.

And with that, genetic diversity increased as well, from 34.9 to 38.4.

“We saw new reproducing males establishing themselves בעיקר near the new water sources,” says Kan-Lingwood, pointing to how quickly landscapes can reorganize social hierarchies when resources shift.

The new males didn’t come from nowhere. They emerged at the edges, near the newly available water, claiming space that didn’t exist before. A quiet redistribution of opportunity.

Bar-David notes that the implications stretch far beyond the Negev: species under pressure — especially those clustered around limited resources in deserts may benefit from this kind of low-intervention thinking. In a warming world, where habitats are shrinking and fragmenting, the idea that we can support genetic resilience without capture, relocation, or heavy-handed management is more than useful.

Additional contributors to the study include Dr. Liran Sagi, Prof. Alan R. Templeton, Naama Shahar, Ariel Altman, Nurit Gordon, Prof. Daniel I. Rubenstein, and Prof. Amos Bouskila.

The research was supported by the United States-Israel Binational Science Foundation and the Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund. In the end, it’s a reminder: sometimes the most powerful conservation tool isn’t intervention. It’s placement.

The post Israel and the UAE find that animal conservation can be as easy as adding new watering hole appeared first on Green Prophet.

Oman is returning to the Venice Biennale with Zīnah, an immersive installation by artist and curator Haitham Al Busafi that transforms a traditional form of horse adornment into a large-scale sensory experience.

Rooted in the Omani practice of Al-zaanah, where both horse and rider are equally adorned as a sign of mutual respect, the work reimagines this Middle East tradition as something visitors can physically enter.

Instead of viewing objects on display, people walk across a sand-covered space beneath suspended silver forms that move and produce sound in response to their steps. A sketch of the installation is provided above.

The result is a shifting environment where each visitor becomes part of the artwork. Movement creates sound. Paths form in the sand and over time, the installation evolves through collective participation rather than remaining fixed.

The piece was also shaped through community involvement in Oman, where artists and members of the public contributed markings to the silver elements. This idea of shared authorship continues in Venice, as each visitor leaves a trace through movement and interaction.

At its core, Zīnah is about rethinking value, extending ideas of beauty, care, and recognition beyond humans to include animals and the environment. It aligns with broader themes at the Biennale calling for more sensory, reflective forms of art rather than spectacle, says the artist.

Presented at the Arsenale in Venice from May to November 2026, the installation marks Oman’s continued effort to bring its cultural knowledge into global conversations.

About Haitham Al Busafi

Haitham Al Busafi (b. 1985, Muscat, Oman) is an interdisciplinary artist, architect, and curator whose practice operates at the intersection of architecture, art, and technology. Educated at the University of Applied Arts Vienna (dieAngewandte), his work foregrounds immersive environments, and the translation of cultural narrative into spatial experience.

Zīnah extends his ongoing investigation into how heritage knowledge can be activated through contemporary immersive form, moving from the participatory frameworks of Memory Grid into a fully kinetic and sonic environment.

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