Rachel interviews Elad Orian, co-founder of COMET – Community, Energy, and Technology in the Middle East. He’s creating solar power for Palestinian villages. Through sustainable energy development for off-grid villages, the project aims to socially and economically empower Palestinian communities of the South Mount Hebron region, one of the poorest and most marginalized areas within […]
Last week, Israeli company Netafim, a pioneer in drip irrigation technology, signed a $22 million deal to supply irrigation for a large-scale sugar cane project in Peru. In conjunction with Maple Energy, a Peruvian company that produces energy for industrial clients, the project will cultivate 20,000 acres of sugar cane for the creation of ethanol, […]
An aquaduct in Petra – A Jordanian water conveyance system that is much less controversial! A major study published last week found levels of radioactive isotopes in Jordan’s Disi aquifer that far exceed international drinking water standards. The study, which was conducted by a team of Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian scientists and led by Duke […]
Snow is a serious matter for Lebanon. So serious, in fact, that the white part of the Lebanese flag represents the country’s snowy mountains. Snow also plays an important economic role, since Lebanon’s six ski resorts draw tourists from nearby countries. Most significant of all, however, is the fact that the mountain soil absorbs the […]
Israel has officially pulled out all the stops for water conservation: Last month, Israeli officials led by Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon sought to combat the country’s urgent water crisis by changing all the mezuzot in the Water Authority offices (Jews traditionally affix a mezuzah, a piece of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, to […]
The Middle East is pretty thirsty right now. Headlines from all over the region chronicle the increasingly serious drought conditions affecting agriculture, industry, and health. Unfortunately, new research from the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology adds reason for even more concern. In their study, “High Naturally Occurring Radioactivity in Fossil Groundwater from the Middle […]
As the resting place of the Abraham and (unfortunately) a hot spot for conflict, the West Bank city of Hebron (or Hevron or al-Khalil, depending on who you ask!) is pretty notorious. Soon, this city will also become an important part of the Middle East’s ongoing clean energy revolution! Last week the European Commission signed […]
This week, executives of major oil companies met at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) annual conference in Houston, Texas and (finally!) expressed a willingness to help combat global climate change. This is a major step, because these companies denied the existence of global warming and deliberately tried to obstruct political progress on the issue […]
Yesterday Daniel wrote a sobering report on the increasingly serious drought conditions throughout the entire region. Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon and Iraq have all reported water shortages that are sure to affect both the environment and international security. Sadly, Syria can also join this unfortunately long list. Syria has been suffering from a […]
As the dust settles on the recent round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, reports indicate that the environmental damage is another unfortunate byproduct of the war. The political situation aside, Gaza’s ecological conditions are already conducive to groundwater pollution. The sandy desert soil tends to absorb water – or pollutants […]
Fresh on the heels of Israel, Egypt, and the UAE, who have all recently made commitments for a renewable energy future, Jordan recently launched EDAMA, an initiative to help Jordan reduce energy demand, water usage, and protect the environment. EDAMA Chairperson Karim Kawar indicates that Jordan is using its energy and water resources in an […]
This past Friday we saw the conclusion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland. This two-week long conference brought together representatives from 189 countries for talks to lay the groundwork for Copenhagen in 2009, where the convention signatories have agreed to finalize a global treaty for the post-2012 period (2012 is when […]
Over the past few weeks, Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip has intensified. Commercial crossings are now closed, preventing the transfer of natural gas and other essential resources for Gaza’s 1.5 million residents. We saw earlier this year, when inventors Waseem Khazendar and Fayaz Anan created an electric car, that necessity is the mother […]
For years I have been using Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap. I like the tingly peppermint smell, how clean it makes my skin feel, and the fact that the ingredient list is short and organic. Last weekend, at the annual Washington DC Green Festival, I learned that not only is Dr. B’s good for my body […]
Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) is a longtime advocate of sustainability and environmental peacebuilding in the region. Fresh off the pages of Time Magazine, where FoEME’s directors were recently named Heroes of the Environment 2008, FoEME is hosting a conference next week as part of the Pro-Aquifer project. Over the past two years, […]
For Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, lack of infrastructure is a big obstacle for protecting the environment. Old and malfunctioning infrastructure (or often none at all!) for properly managing things like solid waste and sewage is a major threat to the Palestinian (and Israeli!) environment. Luckily, however, the European Union announced earlier this […]
Events over the past week indicate that Palestinian surface and ground water resources are in great danger. Last Friday, around three hundred Palestinians protested the reopening of an Israeli dump site near the West Bank village of Deir Sharaf, outside Nablus. The dump, which was closed several years ago, may pose a grave threat to […]
Although Palestinian environmental activism is clearly on the rise, Palestinians still face a myriad of environmental and social challenges. These issues often have both ecological and political aspects; the current water shortage, for instance, is influenced both by global climate change and Israel’s policies in the West Bank. This past year, a team of four […]
Israel’s search for solutions to solid waste management has been no secret. Last year, for instance, the Knesset passed new taxes for dumping in landfills, and a law requiring businesses to recycle tires. Luckily, it’s not only the policymakers who are working on the problem, and it’s not only the Jewish sector either! Ras al-Ayn, […]
Over the past few months, we’ve seen a lot of Prophecies about eco-tourism all over the Middle East. There are dozens of eco-travel options in Jordan, Lebanon, Iran, Syria, Egypt, and Yemen. There is also, however, a very special opportunity for eco-tourism right here within our own borders – and those of our neighbors. Since […]
Last week I took a tour of unrecognized Bedouin communities in the Negev/Naqab, similar to the one that James did with Rabbis for Human Rights. This tour was fascinating because of its subject matter, but also because I was introduced to an extremely cool organization called Lifesource, one of the sponsors of the tour. Barely […]
Israel’s water crisis has been in the news a lot lately. We have all heard how low the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) is, and seen suggestions on how to save water this summer. Although it receives much less media coverage, water scarcity has also become a major issue in the Palestinian Territories. This past […]
The Gaza Strip seems like the last place in the world where we would hear good news on the environmental – or any – front. Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip last summer, Israel has imposed a nearly total blockade, resulting in shortages of everything from fuel to water to food and medical […]
Leaders from Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority concluding talks in Tokyo yesterday with the announcement that they plan to start building an agro-industrial park in the Palestinian Territories by next year. The agro-industrial park could provide jobs for up to 6,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. According to Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, the […]
Desalination plant in Israel Earlier this week, Michael Green wrote about Shimon Peres’ “Peace Valley” project, which will create a canal from the Red Sea to the Dead Sea, as well as a huge tourist complex in the Arava dubbed the “Las Vegas of the Middle East.” Although the Peace Valley is relatively new, plans […]