Natural gas drilling near Cyprus could affect lucrative tourism industry says its commerce minister. Drilling for natural gas by Israel in the eastern Mediterranean has already resulted in undersea territorial disputes between Israel and Lebanon, resulting in the United Nations deciding to mediate the dispute between the two countries. Besides the environmental concerns of this […]
Hydrogen-fueled vehicles and power systems could be feasible in Turkey by 2020, says Mustafa Hatipoğlu, managing director of the UN’s International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies in Istanbul. Since it was established in Istanbul eight years ago, the International Centre for Hydrogen Energy Technologies (ICHET), a project of the United Nations International Development Organization, has been […]
Yerukim believes that money should be “green” and if it doesn’t grow on trees, it should at least help trees grow. A new economic project is slowly growing in Kiryat Ono, Israel with a currency based on rewarding good environmental deeds. Sound crazy? It just might be, but it is slowly growing and it will […]
An update on the latest climate negotiations in Bonn as well as Middle Eastern countries which made the headlines during the talks Believe it or not, the latest climate negotiations at Bonn – which discussed the future of the Kyoto Protocol which ends in 2012 as well financing adaptation – have come and gone without […]
Five governmental committees and eight scheduled discussions plan on painting the Israeli Knesset green tomorrow during “Environment Day”. Every one gets his or her day in court, and hopefully every important issue gets its appropriate representation in governmental legislation. Tomorrow is the environment’s day, as the Israeli Knesset will be observing it’s own “Environment Day”, […]
There was life before oil. And life will go on when it’s all used up. Iran becomes an unlikely leader by ending dirty energy subsidies. Iran has done what every politician on earth secretly dreams they could do: enforced the end of dirty energy subsidies. And the country is still standing. Mr. Dominique Guillaume and […]
General Electric’s design integrates a traditional combined cycle plant with wind and solar energy, allowing it to generate electricity with unprecedented efficiency. Less than 100 kilometers from the planned site for Turkey’s first nuclear power plant, another alternative energy “first” has been planned. But this one promises high energy returns for low emissions without any […]
“Pollinating” social and environmental justice as it goes, British bicycle activism group P.E.D.A.L. launched a 100-day trip from London to Palestine this spring. Next month in Jerusalem: that’s the goal of 22 bicycle activists who passed through Istanbul this week. The community organizers, artists, farmers and ordinary cyclists have been visiting communities across Europe where […]
From climate events to marine conservation projects, it seems that green organisations in the Middle East are happy to take money from not-so-green corporations It goes something like this. A green organisation is set up with the good intentions of sorting out some environmental injustice be it pollution or marine destruction. That green and very […]
Is it possible to keep politics out of water negotiation in the Middle East? Israel enviro minister (center) thinks so In a statement to the panel Hydro-Diplomacy: A Path to Peace, at the For’UM Conference on Innovation, which took place in Paris on May 31, Israel Minister of Environmental Protection Gilad Erdan called for keeping […]
Turkish dams don’t just affect Turks — they cut off access to water in Iraq and Syria as well, forcing entire populations in those countries to resettle. Hydropower seems like the perfect solution to Turkey’s escalating energy demand: a clean form of energy and an irrigation source that can be harnessed from the many rivers […]
Libya’s government forces could use their control over enormous water reserves as a weapon in the current conflict between Gaddafi and rebels trying to overthrow his regime The ‘Great Man-Made River’, a great civil water works project dubbed by Gaddafi as the 8th wonder of the world, was built to resolve Libya’s severe water scarcity […]
The proposed canal has been slammed by Turkish environmentalists. But authorities at Turkey’s center for hydrogen energy technology see a silver lining: the canal could enable Turkey to become one of the world’s most important producers of hydrogen energy. When Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan announced his self-termed “crazy project” last month – a […]
We have 50 years to get unhooked. Is it too late? A senior economist at HSBC claimed in a recent report that the world’s oil resources are only expected to last five more decades, according to the New York Times. An earlier report from Wikileaks that Saudi Arabia’s peak oil is expected to happen much […]
Looking for scrap metal, unexploded ordinances a major danger to local Libyans There is so much ammunition and unexploded ordnance scattered across eastern Libya that local people will face a serious threat when they return home, reports the United Nations. But it is difficult to determine the exact quantities because of ongoing fighting just how […]