Increased levels of male breast cancer and early onset puberty are consequence of water pollution in Israel. The 52nd Conference of the Israel Geographical Association conducted the last week of December at Tel Aviv University dealt with developments affecting Israel, the Middle East and the planet as a whole. Geography, a discipline that is multi-varied […]
Lead and other pollutants are seeping into Israeli drinking water at alarming levels. Lutra numbers decimated; human health at risk. Water pollution in Israeli lakes, streams and groundwater aquifers is reaching alarming levels. Although the country has regulations in place to prevent discharges, including a comprehensive Water Law, contamination is commonplace. And now scientists are […]
By being longer, Nanosolar’s solar panels are less costly to install Advances in solar energy panel technology is reaching a stage where it is now possible to purchase DIY home kits to create solar powered electricity on the roofs of your home. And solar array panels are even being installed on the roofs of chicken […]
Dubai-based Jonathan Eric Defante plastic “eco-brick” pitch won him a UN Citizen Ambassadorship. Jonathan Eric Defante submitted his “One Bottle, One Life” YouTube pitch to the United Nations as a potential solution for poor recycling performance around the world. The Filipino man living in Dubai suggested that people can build their own homes made out […]
Can Sivan Askayo’s photographs convince us hang dry our laundry? What if art had the power to change our habits for the (environmentally) better? Could a photograph change governmental policy, or at the very least, some of our daily behaviors? Artistic photographers have tried, and acclaimed photographer Spencer Tunick’s naked Dead Sea shoot this year […]
Lifeguard shack on drummer’s beach in Israel is soon to be upcycled into a unique new boutique “pixel” hotel. We’ve heard of pixelated screens and buildings, but pixel hotels are a new phenomenon that started as an art project in Linz, Austria. Now these tiny hotels established in unusual, typically abandoned urban settings – whether […]
Be lonely no more. Morocco’s “love potion” candy hides a secret high note in its heart. To Westerners, Alice B. Toklas’s “Haschish Fudge” was a culinary aberration, a bizarre recipe gleefully revived by the Flower Children of the 1960s. Tongue well in cheek, Ms. Toklas wrote, “…it might well prove an entertaining refreshment for a […]
Israel’s Eco Wave’s clappers get energy from the sea. Developers first looked to the ocean for offshore wind power, a conveniently windy and out-of-the way site for giant turbines. But increasingly, energy companies are realizing that sea water itself can be harnessed to generate electricity. Israel’s Eco Wave Power announced on Tuesday that its initial […]
Simply put: “best friends are not meant to abused”. The fashion industry is not known for being friendly towards animals (particularly those of the furry variety), but Fashion Beirut contradicted expectations last month when it created a photo campaign together with Animals Lebanon. The photo campaign shows a fashionable young woman accompanied by a dog […]
Unless you are a really big fan of tornadoes and hailstorms, it’s time to ditch the car (or at least carpool), grab a bus, or pick up your bicycle. For so long scientists were reluctant to draw relationships between increased pollutants in our atmosphere and certain climate change events. Bill McKibben and others started warning […]
Could the ocean make pumped hydro power? In the Middle East, it could. A brilliant proposal has been made to build a massive 2,400 MW sea water hydro project using the Mediterranean Sea, and the Dead Sea, which is below sea level. The Dead Sea Power Project would use the ocean to make hydro power, […]
We speak with Alisa Ananbeh, a student leader on the environment, on going green in Jordan. Around six months ago, Alisa Ananbeh took part in a US funded five-week programme to help young people from the Middle East deal with environmental problems. Just under twenty students from Gaza, Jordan and the West Bank travelled to […]
Although many people in our region revere wildlife, too often we write about egregious abuse. Here are 7 of the saddest wildlife stories from the Middle East, and what you can do to help such harmful practices come to an end. Many people living in the Middle East believe that it is haram to harm […]
It’s not a stretch. Vanishing shark populations affect the food chain in a very concrete way. Karin’s post on shark meat’s high mercury levels made it clear: a bowl of shark fin soup is a bowlful of poison. But a slower death awaits people who depend on healthy seas. That means all of us. Because […]
Experiencing the incredible bond between game warden Tonie Joubert and Jessica the Hippo, it’s easy to forget that this is Africa’s most fearsome animal. Having grown up to fear hippos more than any other creature on the African continent, it was with great hesitation that I approached Jessica’s giant canine teeth and powerful gaping jaw. […]
Desalinated water is costly for Israel, and practically no one is talking about the hidden costs. Making drinking water from sea water has been touted as a solution for water shortage in the Middle-East and elsewhere. In southern Israel, near Ashkelon, a small pilot project has been pumping out 24 million cubic meters of fresh […]
Gulf experts say that shark meat contains extremely high levels of mercury. The picture above depicts a deformed Japanese boy whose mother had mercury poisoning. If shark conservation isn’t your thing, and you are one of the people creating a worldwide demand for shark fin soup, think about this next time you slurp: filmmaker and […]
Considered by some as the father of solar thermal electricity generation, Newton Becker, was the founding investor and Chairman of the Board of Luz International – the company that went on to become what BrightSource is today. He died Monday in LA at age 83. Back when, Luz became the largest solar company in the […]
Our VIP list of 11 environment heroes for the Middle East 2011. If you don’t know these people already, now is the time to start. Top heroes are from Israel, Turkey and Iraq. The year 2011 has been a year like no other in the Middle East. We’ve seen protests against corruption, people have taken […]
Crunchy, just-sweet-enough tidbits that perfectly match a hot cuppah. Hospitality is a fine art in the Middle East, with traditions to dictate every gesture. A guest will always be offered tea, coffee, and one or more old-fashioned sweets, like kanafeh pastry, or silky malabi, or light fekka cookies. The traditional fekka is baked twice, like […]
Masdar will break ground on a new Facade Test Center in a few months. It will research the most energy efficient building materials on the market. Masdar is constantly reinventing itself in order to ensure that the Gulf’s first genuine low-energy and low-carbon building project succeeds, and its latest reincarnation may well become one of […]
The groundbreaking net-zero energy NYCTech Campus designed as a collaborative project between Technion – Israel Institute of Technology and Cornell University will also be one of the world’s most environmentally-friendly campuses. The Technion – Israel Institute of Technology has earned considerable esteem as a world leader in clean technology – a reputation that matched Cornell University’s […]
Long live the queen, if she can manage to sit on Niloufar Afnan’s recycled ‘Royal Stool’. At this year’s New Designers Exhibition in London, Lebanese-born designer Niloufar Afnan decided to poke a little fun at the royal family and demonstrate the possibilities of upcycled furniture. She exhibited Royal Stool (pictured above) and 46 (shown after […]
Post-Durban World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi is now a huge opportunity for clean energy developers in the Middle East region. Ever since the European Union adopted the Kyoto Accord and with it the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) which funds renewable development in the developing world to offset carbon emissions in Europe, the developing […]
High water demand is putting pressure on scarce water resources and destroying the agricultural sector in Gaza Water shortages are a widespread and common problem for the people of the Gaza Strip, between Israel and Egypt. There just isn’t enough water for the growing population and an Israeli blockade which limits imports and exports means […]