Do tanks and wild flowers mix? Not according to Israel’s nature protection society. Israel Military Industries (IMI), which for years has had armament factories located close to dense population areas and as such has polluted area groundwater, is now on its way to exposing its environmental footprint even further. The organization is planning to build […]
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The Middle East's love affair with wild animals has hit the headlines again. No, there haven't been sightings of cheetahs on the streets of Dubai or dead wolves and owls on parade, rather Middle Eastern royals are being accused of aiding a massive sell-off of the Serengeti. And in a new twist to the land-grab meme, this land sell-off is not to secure access to precious food supplies but, rather, to indulge in the hunting whims of the Middle East's elite.
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Researchers who collected and studied 100 pale grass blue butterflies from the Fukushima prefecture following last year’s nuclear meltdown have discovered serious mutations resulting from exposure to radiation. The butterflies, which were collected two months after the March, 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, had abnormalities in their legs, antennae and […]
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Africa’s most dangerous animal will make its debut in time for the upcoming Eid holiday at the Al Ain zoo in the United Arab Emirates. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is a massive herbivore that roams swamps and shallow waters throughout sub-saharan Africa. My stepmother kissed Jessica the Hippo on her rubbery snout last year in […]
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I’d love to tell you more about the architects responsible for the 5 star Isrotel overlooking Ramon crater, but it’s impossible to get them to return calls and there’s no information online. As for the communications person, either she wasn’t given the skinny on the design or her English is as good as my Hebrew […]
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The show isn’t over yet. Sky gazers traveled to Mitspeh Ramon, a town on the edge of the Ramon Crater in the Negev desert this weekend. Others followed onthegotours.com to Jordan’s Mt Nebo, Madaba and Wadi Rum. Still others traveled with adventurecompany.co.uk to the Sinai desert in Egypt. These isolated places all have a resource […]
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The more than 20 hydroelectric projects that Turkey has built on the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers have been sharply criticized for displacing populations and harming the local environment. Now it’s even easier for hydro companies to build destructive dams in Turkey. Real estate for 13 different hydroelectric projects in 12 provinces can now be seized […]
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Jordan’s Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature didn’t name its eco-tourism division Wild Jordan for no reason; there is plenty of adventure to be had in the country’s great outdoors. But now yoga has merged onto the scene, offering a softer and more meditative alternative to the action-packed fun. The Yoga in Jordan project […]
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Why grow apples in Lebanon when hashish and cannabis is hundreds of times more lucrative? An overview of Lebanon’s unsustainable drug business in the Bekaa Valley. Escalating clashes between armed tribesmen trying to protect their cannabis fields and the Lebanese armed forces are pushing Lebanon to readdress the long-standing issue of cannabis cultivation in the […]
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We took a family holiday to Koh Samui and relaxed in this eco retreat. with people who walk the walk.
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Soaring temperatures and low precipitation could not occur at a worse time for many farmers in the United States, and around the world. Intensifying drought conditions are affecting corn and soybean crops throughout the Midwest, raising grain prices as well as concerns about future food prices. The US Drought Monitor reports that 88 percent of […]
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It’s hard to convince a sushi lover that the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna doesn’t exist for them alone. I know this because I used to eat the robust pink flesh with abandon in my pre-vegetarian days. And if the wasabi didn’t make my eyes tear up, there wasn’t enough of it mixed in with my heart-exploding sodium-drenched […]
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We have often written about the land mines that riddle Egypt’s desert. Originally planted during World War II by both Axis and Allied forces, these insidious weapons of war have since drifted from their original location, posing tremendous risk to local people. Egyptian researchers strive to find safe methods to clear explosive mine fields and […]
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Early morning on a Saturday in May I headed out on my routine weekend nature trip into the desert. My visit was to a desert area in Sharjah that is approximately 25 kilometers away from Sharjah City and is an area I have been frequenting now for a few years. My trip goals were two-fold: […]
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While humans inch closer to their eventual demise by burning up the resources upon which they so richly depend, the earth’s “lower” species are making moves to ensure their longevity. US and Israeli researchers published a joint study in the journal Current Biology that unveils how a desert shrub called Ochradenus baccatus outwits the spiny mice […]
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