A new student campaign at a British university is urging people everywhere to “take the piss out of water shortages” by peeing in the shower. You heard right. The practice is pitched as a time-saving tool with a significant environmental payoff – each time you indulge in this guilty pleasure you stand to save up to 10 liters of drinkable water, the amount needed to flush a standard toilet.
Pee in the shower, save the environment
Vertical garden pockets spotted on Tel Aviv patio!
It’s officially a craze! People are starting to garden everywhere in the urban environment. From rooftops in San Francisco to patios in Tel Aviv and Dubai, people are starting to understand that producing one’s own food is a smart way to take control of one’s own diet and carbon footprint. Spotted here is a nice urban design in Tel Aviv called Green Pokets.
Vertical gardens can be complicated hydroponic set ups with pumps and sensors or as simple as pockets made from old plastic signage that contain soil.
Ma ze? What’s that? the guy asks.
On a sunny day last week Green Prophet spotted these pockets filled with soil and plants pushing up into the warm winter Middle East sun. Make your own or call the number to buy them – if you are local.
These simple pockets, probably mispelled as pokets, were found on Salame Street in South Tel Aviv last week. It’s an area heavily populated by African refugees and working class people.
We caught a couple locals checking out the pockets as we took pictures of these easy to do vertical gardens hanging from a small corner bar patio.
Water as a tool for peace for Israel, Palestine and Jordan
A fascinating report published by Mumbai-based think tank Strategic Foresight Group (SFG), asserts that trans-boundary water cooperation directly correlates with regional stability and peace. The inverse also holds true: failure to collaborate when managing shared water resources raises the risk of war.
Sustainable student village from shipping containers!
Sderot’s dusty streets and woeful aspect come naturally after enduring years of rocket attacks from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip. In this Western Negev town in Israel, all bus stops are small bomb shelters. A traffic roundabout represents the town center, with a pizzeria, a stationary store, and some tired-looking clothing shops around it.
The young, active population has long ago left, seeking better employment opportunities and quality of life elsewhere. But the periphery town has received an boost of young energy and willpower from a new student village constructed by the students themselves, out of recycled shipping containers.
Five to six million shipping containers are on the seas at any given moment. What can be done with them after they’re no longer considered seaworthy? Ayalim, Israel’s largest youth organization, has an answer: construct sustainable housing out of them, and rent them out cheaply to students in development towns. The Sderot project is one of 12 such student villages constructed in periphery areas through Ayalim. We wrote about one built in Lod, central Israel.
Stay in one of these underground caves or hotels
Some advocates of eco architecture say that for preserving the urban space the higher up you build, the better. But with an astonishing amount of desert landscape all around us, in Asia, in the Middle East, Africa and even in the United States, we’re thinking – let’s showcase the buried homes, the sustainable buildings that have gone underground or which are built from caves. Underground homes which use earth as insulation can be heated and cooled passively and overhead, well just imagine the possibilities.
Stay with a Bedouin in his underground cave in Petra, Jordan
Although visitors don’t actually get a couch (they get a thin mat instead) and toilets don’t come with the package, just about everyone who has been to the cave in which Al-Bedoul was born and raised has good things to say: “Four friends and I spent one night at Ghassab’s cave. It was one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I wish we had been able to stay for longer. I would go back in a heart beat!”
700-year-old underground hobbit cave homes in Iran
Nothing we’ve encountered yet deserves the eco, efficient, friendly, green, sustainable award as much as these seven century old cave homes that are for rent or for sale in Iran. They look like they might have been conceived by Salvador Dali and built by Antoni Gaudí, but indeed these cave homes are much much older than that. Carved into the volcanic rock at the foot of Mt. Sahand in Northeast Iran, the homes comprise both under and above ground space. A novel idea for future off grid architects?
Stay cool in this 5 Star underground hotel in Turkey
We were quite taken with these long-standing caves in Iran, and with this eco-boutique hotel in Turkey, but neither match the style of the restored Yunak Evleri hotel in Cappadocia. With fixings such as marble in the reception area, it isn’t the most modest tourism facility we have featured, but we do love to see history, nature, and travel merge in creative harmony. Once a sextet of cave houses carved out of soft limestone, a little cleanup and modern conveniences were added to this 5th-6th century marvel to produce a 21st century luxury hotel.
Emergency underground desert dwelling
This desert home will save you from climate change. Built 3 stories underground these Underground Desert Living Units by Reynard Loki and Jennifer Daniels is more than conceptual. They are about survival: “You’ve seen it happening in Australia already: Desert is spreading and things just won’t grow,” says Lovelock. “The island nations like New Zealand will be spared that kind of damage.”
Emre Arolat’s underground Sancaklar mosque in Turkey
We’ve featured some of the world’s most beautiful mosques on Green Prophet, but this is the first that resembles a cave. Slated for a prairie landscape in Buyuk Cekmece on the outskirts of Istanbul, the Sancaklar Mosque by Emre Arolat Architects is designed to offer genuine reprieve from the growing madness of urban life.
Saudi Arabia to become more insulated than ever!
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) will soon require increased insulation in all new buildings across 24 major cities that, in total, account for 80% of the country’s population. The action intends to substantially cut energy consumption and waste; electricity bills can be reduced up to 40% with a properly insulated structure.
Building codes have been around for nearly 4,000 years. The first was embedded in the Babylonian Code of Hammurabi dating back to about 1754 BC. If ancient Mesopotamia was hip to mandated construction guidelines, why is KSA so slow to join in? Especially since nearly KSA accounts for nearly 40% of Gulf Cooperation Council’s construction sector.
It is estimated that only 25.4% of the Kingdom’s buildings are thermally insulated. In Jeddah, 87.5% of the buildings lack insulation, the ratio is 72.6% in the Eastern Province and 51.3% in Riyadh according to a report issued last year. Mind-blowing statistics when you consider the punishing heat gain these structures are subjected to and the resulting cooling loads needed to make them inhabitable.
Hossam Al Rashodi, CEO of Maskan Arabia Real Estate Development Company, told Maktoob News that the Saudi Building Code should be amended to oblige developers to use energy-efficient materials. The Saudi code is based on international standards which specify insulation values with respect to roofs, walls and floors, based on the requirements of US and EU climate zones. That makes for a solid point of reference, but KSA codes need to reflect the climactic and insolation conditions of this specific region.
The code is applicable to all new buildings, but enforcement is lax and most buildings are still constructed without insulation, relying on mechanical air conditioning to mitigate high levels of temperature and humidity. Saudi buildings consume 80% of all generated electrical, 50% of this is used by air conditioning alone, and consumption is increasing 7% annually. At issue is inflated demand based on building inefficiencies and increased urbanization.
Public awareness is also a challenge because most KSA energy prices are highly subsidized; consumers are unaware of the true value of electricity.
Thermal insulating systems do cause construction costs to rise, on average by 3 to 5% depending on building size and function. However, this uptick in first investment is quickly negated by reduced investment in expensive air conditioning systems, lower power tariffs, and less wasted energy over the life of the structure.
Rashodi said that properly insulating walls, roofs and glass in villas yields owner benefits such as reduced energy consumption, sizable utility cost savings, and enhanced comfort of living. Studies prove buildings with lower operating costs are easier to sell, too. Good-to-know-facts that are older than the Kingdom.
KSA is new to legislated sustainability, but it can pick from the world’s best building standards and, as critically, select best means of code enforcement. With bold leadership on the part of government, developers and designers, the enormous capital being invested in KSA construction projects could be a game-changer for green design. Sadly, the KSA construction business is stalled on breaking world records and superficial glitz.
Infrared thermovision image of an insulated house from Shutterstock
دم العنقاء اليمنية تقطر دما
لو كنت مسؤولا عن دائرة ترويج السياحة اليمنية لاخترت شجرة التنين المحلية شعارا للدائرة
هذا الشجرة النادرة و غريبة الشكل، و التي تستوطن جزيرة سقطرى اليمنية، قد تطورت في بيئة معزولة عبر ملايين السنين
و تعرف الشجرة أيضا بإسم دم الأخوين، و قد أطلق عليها السقطريون اسم دم العنقاء نظرا لما يخرج منها من عصارة حمراء حينما تُحطب، يظن أن لها فوائد صحية
و تعد سقطرى أكبر جزر اليمن مساحة، و تشكل حوالي 95 بالمئة من مساحة أرخبيل سقطرى في المحيط الهندي
و يعد ثلث الثروة النباتية في الجزيرة من النوع النادر الذي لا يتواجد في أي بيئة أخرى في العالم، و ذلك بسبب عزلة الجزيرة البيئية. و قد نعتها البعض بأكثر أماكن الأرض غرابة
هكذا تبدو شجرة التنين حين تجف تماما
إذا شجرات التنين هذه لم تجعلك مهتما بحماية البيئة، لا أدري مالذي سيدفعك
How freak algae blooms can solve climate change
Weird, wonderful and sometimes toxic algae blooms at sea attract attention. But algal blooms, known as harmful algal blooms or HABS, can actually be a living carbon sink, a good thing for the sea and our climate, Israeli researchers have found.
When we talk about global carbon fixation in the context of climate change “pumping” carbon out of the atmosphere and fixing it into organic molecules by photosynthesis – proper measurement is key to understanding this process.
By some estimates, almost half of the world’s organic carbon is fixed by marine organisms called phytoplankton – single-celled photosynthetic organisms that account for less than one percent of the total photosynthetic biomass on Earth.
Algal blooms are good
Assaf Vardi, a marine microbiologist of the Weizmann Institute’s Plant Sciences Department, and Prof. Ilan Koren, a cloud physicist, and Yoav Lehahn, an oceanographer, both from the Earth and Planetary Sciences Department, realized that by combining their interests, they might be able to start uncovering the role that these minuscule organisms play in regulating the carbon content of the atmosphere.
Green slime. Red tide. Brown scum: Tiny and “ugly” as they are, phytoplankton can be seen from space: They multiply in blooms that can reach thousands of kilometers in area, coloring patches of the ocean that can be tracked and measured by satellites.
These blooms have a tendency to grow quickly and disappear suddenly. How much carbon does such a bloom fix, and what happens to that carbon when the bloom dies out? That depends, in part on what kills the bloom.
If it is mostly eaten by other marine life, for example, its carbon will be passed up the food chain. If the phytoplankton are starved or infected with viruses, however, the process is more complicated. Dead organisms that sink may take their carbon to the ocean floor with them. But others may be scavenged by certain bacteria the surface waters; these remove the organic carbon and release it back into the atmosphere through their respiration.
Algal patches fix as much carbon as rainforests
The scientists estimated that an algal patch of around 1,000 sq km – which forms within a week or two – can fix around 24,000 tons of organic carbon – equivalent to a similar area of rain forest.
Since a viral infection can rapidly wipe out an entire bloom, the ability to observe and measure this process from space may greatly contribute to understanding and quantifying the turnover of carbon cycle and its sensitivity to environmental stress conditions, including marine viruses.
See related: Red Tide in Sinai Treats Blindness
Vardi, Koren and Lehahn asked whether one can use the satellite data to detect the signs of the demise of a bloom due to viral infection, an occurrence that Vardi has investigated in natural oceanic blooms and in the lab. During a recent research cruise near Iceland with colleagues from Rutgers University and Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, the researchers were able to collect data on the algal-virus interactions and their effect on carbon cycles in the ocean.
Studying viruses and algal blooms
By combining satellite data with their field measurements, they were able, for the first time, to measure the effect of viruses on phytoplankton blooms on large, open ocean areas. To do this, the scientists first had to identify a special subset of ocean patches in which such physical processes as currents did not affect the blooms – so they could observe just the biological effects.
Then, following a bloom in one of these patches, they managed to trace its whole life cycle. This enabled them to quantify the role of viruses in the demise of this particular bloom. Their conclusions were verified in data collected in a North-Atlantic research expedition.
Abu Dhabi investors looking for water tech innovators!
Want to make a splash with your water tech idea, vie for a chance to get funded and earn customers right away? In an X-factor style, water innovators are being called on to submit their company ideas for a competition being held at the International Water Summit (IWS) during the now famous Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) happening January, 2015.
For this competition tech innovation consultancy Isle will offer technologists from across the water industry anywhere in the world the chance to showcase their ideas to an expert panel of end users, technologists and investors in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region.
The new event called Innovate@IWS will launch at the IWS, hosted by Masdar.
The Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week 2015 is by far the region’s largest and most ambitious gathering on sustainability issues, products, services and technologies. Green Prophet has been part of the event for the last two years and we are looking forward to attending this year as well.
Organisers looking for water technologies have issued a call for submissions to the competition, which will test the merit of breakthrough water technologies in the MENA market, offering those responsible an opportunity to submit ideas and demonstrate their potential impact to global experts.
Participating technologists and entrepreneurs have until November 25, 2014 to submit entries to the selection committee via the IWS website here www.iwsabudhabi.com.
The competition categories include ‘Municipal Water’, ‘Industrial Water’, and ‘Water for Real Estate’.
Submissions, organizers point out, must demonstrate excellence in terms of their impact, innovation, leadership and long-term vision.
Yeah, that’s probably you.
Shortlisted submissions will be invited to present to a leading panel of experts, capital investors and potential end users from across the MENA region, live at IWS.
IWS offers a unique window to a rapidly growing clean technology market in the GCC, whose governments plan to allocate US$300 billion to water and desalination projects by 2022.
The third edition of IWS is hosted by Masdar, and takes place from January 19 to 22, in partnership with Abu Dhabi Water & Electricity Authority (ADWEA).
“Innovate@IWS presents technological innovators, large and small, with a tremendous opportunity to access the Middle East and North Africa market – a region facing significant water stress, with plans for large-scale capital investment into solutions,” said Stuart Moss, Acting Managing Director of Isle.
“The platform also allows regional municipalities and utilities to understand the impact and potential of technologies that may have been deployed in other arid parts of the world.
“Innovate@IWS is designed to close the gap between technology development and commercialization across the clean technology value chain,” he continued. “And, we are excited about this feature’s ability to accelerate that process and benefit both the industry and the region.”
The MENA region falls into the category of ‘physical water scarcity’ with water supplies depleting at one of the quickest rates in the world.
IWS offers a unique opportunity for policy makers, business leaders and technologists to tackle water sustainability for arid regions and drive the region’s market opportunities.
“This is an outstanding opportunity for the global clean technology industry,” said Naji El Haddad, Show Director of the International Water Summit. “The region has demonstrated its commitment to seeking, investing and deploying technology to address its water challenges, and Innovate@IWS platform extends that commitment.
“This is an X-factor style competition, offering the global water technology community a chance to compete for a share of the huge market opportunity in the MENA,” he continued. “I urge them to put their best foot forward to capitalise.”
IWS is held under the patronage of His Highness General Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces.
The 2015 edition of the event is organised by Reed Exhibitions and endorsed by the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water, the Environment Agency of Abu Dhabi, the Regulation and Supervision Bureau and Abu Dhabi Sewerage Services Company.
Image of Arabian Gulf water and clouds from Shutter
Vegan Israeli soldiers have a beef about army grub
A battalion of vegan soldiers dissatisfied with military menus have fired off a complaint to Israel Defense Force (IDF) ombudsman Brigadier General (res.) Yitzhak Brik. The soldiers claim that IDF policy doesn’t give special food for vegan troops yet prohibits them from bringing their own home-prepared food into military dining halls. They contend that an alternative solution – ordering specialty food deliveries – is expensive and problematic for those residing on more remote army bases.
Stopping energy leaks in the Middle East
Winter has rolled around again in the Middle East. The colder fronts have moved in, the winds are blowing, and the rains have started – again.
After 105 degree heat in summer, it’s hard for us to remember how cold it can really get. And after months of dry spells, that we can suddenly see floods.
It might be those old leaks in the roof which are nagging us again that winter is here and our houses are not properly protected and insulated.
Unlike North American homes which are built with modern standards to keep the cool inside during the summer, and the heat inside during the winter, Middle East homes are rarely built that way.
We just suck it up and pay extraordinary amounts of money every winter to keep ourselves cosy.
Many Middle East homes are old and have been modernized over the years with electricity and running water. But even in the most advanced countries like Turkey and Israel the homes are built with cinder blocks, with no insulation, and windows are barely one pane at all.
If you have decided for environmental reasons, or economic ones that it’s time to weatherproof your house and need to add a little more fuel to your decision, check out this infographic below.
While it’s designed for American standards where natural gas is available (consider that most of the heating in the Middle East is from electric heaters!), it does go to show how incredible the energy savings can be if you decide to insulate your home.
Just imagine that about 40% of all the energy you are spending to heat your home will just be leaking through air holes.
This infographic recommends foam, but there may be more passive design elements you can use to insulate your home from inclement weather. A mashrabiya is one way to protect your building from heat and wind, and which is an ancient Arabic building technique. There are newer methods of creating heat-generating compost at home. And of course, you can always throw on a sweater and just heat the space just around where you are, and not the entire house.
Via: SprayFoamKit.com
Top image of Middle East home from Shutterstock
Socotra Island dragon trees from Yemen bleed when cut
If I were in charge of promoting tourism in Yemen, I’d be using the native dragon tree, or Socotra tree, as my mascot. Native to the Socotra Island these unusual trees have evolved in isolation over millions of years.
The Latin name of the endangered Socotra dragon tree or dragon blood tree is Dracaena cinnabari and it is native to the Socotra archipelago of islands in Yemen in the Indian Ocean. It is called a dragon tree due to the red sap that the trees produce.
“If you prick us, will we not bleed?”
What is Dragon’s Blood Resin?
The sap is believed to have medicinal purposes: The Socotra tree, also called the Dragon’s Blood tree, holds significant medicinal value, and various parts of the tree have been used in traditional medicine for centuries.
One of the primary medicinal uses of the Socotra tree is from its resin, known as Dragon’s Blood. This resin has been prized for its therapeutic properties and is extracted by making incisions in the bark of the tree. Dragon’s Blood has been traditionally used as a healing agent for various skin conditions as it is believed to possess antiviral, antibacterial, and antifungal properties, making it effective in treating wounds, cuts, and skin infections.
The resin is often applied topically to promote wound healing, reduce inflammation, and prevent infection.
Dragon’s Blood from the Socotra tree has been employed for its anti-inflammatory properties to help alleviate joint pain and arthritis symptoms.
In addition to its external applications, the Socotra tree has been explored for its potential internal medicinal uses. Some studies suggest that compounds found in the tree may have antioxidant properties, offering protection against oxidative stress and contributing to overall health. Scientists say that more research is needed.
The largest island of Yemen is also called Socotra and it comprises about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago.
Due to its isolation one third of its plant life is found nowhere else in the world. It has been described as “the most alien-looking place on Earth”.
Travelling to Yemen is currently not advised due to the attacks by the houthis on American and allied forces. Do book it down for one of your future bucket list things to do. In good days it not easy getting to Socotra.
This is what the dragon tree looks like when it is completely dried out.
If these dragon trees from Yemen don’t make you want to get out and do something to protect our earth, we don’t know what will.
Middle East plants won’t migrate during climate change
Climate change predictions for the Middle East, like other arid regions of the world, are alarming. In an area known for its water scarcity, rainfall is expected to decrease even further in the near future, spelling disaster for the functioning of unique ecosystems — hotspots of biodiversity and rich genetic fodder for essential crops.
To test these dire predictions, Prof. Marcelo Sternberg of the Department of Molecular Biology and Ecology of Plants at Tel Aviv University’s Faculty of Life Sciences, together with ecologists from the University of Tübingen in Germany, subjected natural ecosystems to an experimental drought over the course of nine years, simulating predicted future climate scenarios.
In the course of their experiment, conducted in four different ecosystems ranging from desert (3.5 inches of annual rainfall) to moist Mediterranean woodland (30.7 inches of annual rainfall), the researchers found that, contrary to predictions, no measurable changes in annual vegetation could be seen.
Species richness does not change
None of the crucial vegetation characteristics — neither species richness and composition, nor density and biomass (particularly important for ecosystems traditionally used as rangelands) — had changed appreciably in the course of the rainfall manipulations.
“Based on our study, the going hypothesis that all semiarid regions will react strongly to climate change needs to be revised,” states Prof. Sternberg. The surprising results of the study were recently published in Nature Communications.
The affected ecosystems proved resilient, likely due to the highly variable amounts of annual rainfall for which the regions are known. The experimental climate changes, which simulated a decrease of about 30 percent of current rainfall, seem to fall within the natural “comfort zone” of wild plants.
Plants won’t migrate
In their experiment, the scientists were intent on testing one of the basic assumptions of climate change — that an affected plant species will migrate to more hospitable areas in order to survive. The researchers tested for two possible alternatives: first, a species dying off due to its inability to migrate to new and more suitable areas, and second, other varieties of the same species adapting to the new conditions created by the climate change.
“This second option has been overlooked by most researchers,” said Prof. Sternberg, who found local adaptation to be the primary course of action for the plant communities that were tested.
“Our experiment is likely the most extensive climate change study ever done, because of the number of sites involved, the long duration of experimental manipulations, and the immense species richness,” said Prof. Sternberg.
According to Prof. Sternberg, the Mediterranean and semi-arid annual plant communities would be little affected by climate change, at least in the short to medium term.
However, it cannot be ruled out that species composition could change after 20-30 years, because natural short-term climatic variations impose a different selection regime on organisms than a long-term trend of changing climate conditions.
Prof. Sternberg is currently searching for a new collaboration and funding to maintain the long-term experiment and expand its breadth and scope.
Dragon tree in Yemen from Shutterstock
Something fishy about new iridescent fashion?
Leading fashion houses are turning to schools in search of new materials for high-end handbags, shoes, and accessories. We’re talking fish schools, as designers troll seafood industry waste streams looking for alternatives to increasingly banned exotic leathers. It’s not new, but it is trending. Is “leather” made from fish skin inventive recycling or another misstep for our master species?
مجازر الطيور في لبنان
تخاطر الطيور المهاجرة بحياتها حين عبورها سماء لبنان في رحلاتها الموسمية بين أوروبا و افريقيا، إذ أن هنالك قوانين موضوعة تنظم الصيد فعلا، و لكن ليس هنالك من ينفذ أو يحاسب
الصور المرفقة في الرابط هي من غنائم موسم الصيد في لبنان هذا الصيف: ضحايا من كافة أنواع الطيور البرية – لقالق، بجع، هداهد، نسور، طيور مغردة. و هذه الصور هي فقط للذين تفاخروا بجريمتهم عىلى مواقع التواصل الاجتماعي، و ما خفي أعظم
هذه الظاهرة ليست لبنانية بامتياز، ففي قبرص تصاد ملايين الطيور المغردة لتقدم كأطباق مخللات، و الصور الواردة من القاهرة لا تقل بشاعة
ترحل هذه الطيور عن أوروبا في الشتاء لتلجأ إلى أفريقيا عبر الشق السوري الأفريقي، لتعود إلى أوروبا حين يذوب الشتاء، هذا طبعا إن ما أفلحت بارودة صياد بإنهاء الرحلة مبكرا. هذا الجرائم بحق الحياة البرية التي هي شاهد على ابداع الخالق يجب أن توثق، و المطاعم أو المحلات التي تقدم أطباق أو بضائع من جراء هذا الإجرام يجب أن تقاطع و تهمش
