A planned dam in southeastern Turkey would submerge Hasankeyf’s 10,000-year-old cultural relics and displace 50,000 people from the region. How many kilowatt hours is that worth? Electric energy demand in Turkey is projected to more than double over the next decade, to approximately 450 billlion kilowatt-hours. Traditional sources of power, such as coal- and natural […]
The 100-MW photovoltaic power station would be the first to harness Turkey’s remarkable solar resource. Turkey has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to solar power. At more than 1 million terawatt-hours (twH) of solar radiation each year, it receives more sunlight than most countries in Europe — for comparison, Spain […]
As a new political order struggles to assert itself in the autocratic states of the Middle East novel challenges – and possibilities – emerge. In looking toward the future, social Greens throughout the region would do well to coordinate an agenda geared toward a sustainable tomorrow.
Istanbul – a major hub for train travel across the Middle East Survey results published this week reveal that the majority of international travelers would prefer to take trains instead of aeroplanes, if they had the opportunity. The poll of 300 consumers, conducted for train technology company Silverrail, showed that 79% would choose trains over […]
Istanbul’s incandescent Bosphorus Bridge will join iconic structures around the world in turning off its lights for Earth Hour this year. For the past four years, Istanbul’s majestic Bosphorus Bridge has been lit all night long by an LED display that consumes electricity at a rate of 90 kilowatts. (That’s roughly 400 megawatt-hours per year, […]
Treehugger blogger Jennifer Hattam writes about environmental issues in Turkey and the greater Middle East. Following a long career with Sierra magazine, Jennifer Hattam packed her bags and moved to Turkey. There she writes about environmental issues for Treehugger (including Turkey’s plans to install nuclear power plants despite the Fukushima disaster in Japan) and the […]
Turkey’s Environment & Forestry minister has demanded that the state highway construction agency build “green bridge” crossings for wildlife. Although the country’s environmental policy is rather bleak overall, with the prime minister vowing to continue building a nuclear reactor on a fault line in the southern region of Akkuyu, and the country’s clean energy program […]
Forty years in the making: Turkey still intent on building the country’s first nuclear reactor on this serene spot on the Mediterranean Coast. Cyprus says the zone falls right on a fault line. Despite the insanity and the imminent meltdown of Japan’s nuclear facilities now going from bad to worse, countries in the Middle East […]
Turkey has a critical role to play in a clean energy future, says former vice president Al Gore. But when is it going to start taking that role seriously? The unusual political identity of Turkey — a stable, democratic, Islamic country — serves as inspiration for democratic reformers in the Arab world. Its government is […]
This female Bald Eagle may be saved – but what about others? Bald Eagles, longtime American symbols of strength and independence, are now fighting for their very survival in Canada due to their main food source, chum salmon, being scarce due to pollution and over fishing. Chum salmon are salmon which after fighting the river […]
With input from over 100 Middle Eastern leaders, the Swiss government has produced a positive tool that could transform regional water policies. There are no foregone conclusions. How the next few decades proceed depends on us, on actions that we take today. We know that the Jordan River barely exists six months every year, such […]
This beautiful valley might have been flooded by another Turkish dam Turkey’s ongoing water resources and energy problems have already resulted in the damming of a number of rivers in that country to create reservoirs for both water storage and creation of hydro electricity. A planned government project to construct a dam across the Macahel […]
This urban center may look normal, if having lunch on a roof of a mall is normal. Sadly replacing the traditional Arab Souqs or markets that tourists flock to see, malls are becoming as much an urban Middle Eastern phenomenon as any American city. But if there must be malls, let them be more like […]
These two babies Monk Seals were rescued after 48 hours of floating on a stormy Mediterranean Sea Development is rampant all along the Mediterranean, whether in Egypt, Israel, or Lebanon, where scuba divers find no life. But building projects in Turkey put additional stress on Mediterranean Monk Seals (Monachus monachus) already listed by the International […]
These women began their epic 10,000 mile biking for transboundary conservation journey in Istanbul. Following their own footsteps down an entirely different path, best friends Kate Harris and Melissa Yule left Istanbul to continue a year-long tour of transboundary protected areas (TBPAs) along the Silk Road. With concern that these outlaying ecosystems are especially vulnerable […]