Now there is a good reason not to buy an electric bike: the Copenhagen Wheel from the Senseable City Lab can make you go hybrid with the switch of a tire. In a sense, it turns an ordinary hilly city such as Jerusalem and Amman into flat cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
Copenhagen Wheel is like a dynamo rocket booster for bikes! [video]
10 sustainable online shopping tips to tick the Triple Bottom Line
Pressured to knock off your Christmas shopping? Need a uniquely sustainable gift? Online marketplaces Etsy and Dawanda let you browse quirky, handmade items without burning any petrol, and offer a decent alternative to glitzy energy-guzzling “lifestyle centers.”
Moroccan fish trawlers pumping and dumping tons of dead fish into Sea [graphic video]
![Moroccan fish trawlers pumping and dumping tons of dead fish into Sea [graphic video]](https://www.greenprophet.com/wp-content/uploads/adrar4_609-Fish-dumping-off-W.-Sahara.jpg "Moroccan fish trawlers pumping and dumping tons of dead fish into Sea [graphic video]")
A graphic indication of unsustainable commercial fishing was conveyed by two environmental watch organizations, Greenpeace and Western Sahara Watch, have revealed severe unsustainable practices by Moroccan commercial fishing vessels who were seen dumping tons of sardines overboard into ocean waters off the Western Sahara.
Google “spies” find weir trap fishing used illegally in Iran, Qatar and Bahrain
A Kuwaiti in Canada uses Google Earth to uncover how a banned method of Middle East fishing is being used to trap an estimated 31,000 tons of fish per year.
City Transformer electric folding car is a kit car for urban dreams [video]
![City Transformer electric folding car is a kit car for urban dreams [video]](https://www.greenprophet.com/wp-content/uploads/city-transformer-folding-car.jpg "City Transformer electric folding car is a kit car for urban dreams [video]")
Israel may have flopped big time when its electric car company Better Place folded this year. It ended with almost a billion in financing and less than 1000 customers signed on to its electric charge network. “Folding” in a positive way is a new concept car from Israel called the City Transformer.
Cautionary tale when saving refugees, and the world
Cash is King. An essential ingredient of charitable giving; it greases the wheels when moving goods. A month after 4,000 hats were collected and shipped from Ireland to Jordan, they’re finally keeping some of Syria’s refugees a bit warmer. But in the end, it took money to drop the curtain on this act of giving.
Grow a Middle Eastern Beard in Under 2 Hours! [knit pattern]
![Grow a Middle Eastern Beard in Under 2 Hours! [knit pattern]](https://www.greenprophet.com/wp-content/uploads/Beard-hat-21.jpg "Grow a Middle Eastern Beard in Under 2 Hours! [knit pattern]")
I’ll bet snow-capped pine trees and ice-crusted cars don’t spring to mind when you think of the Middle East, but that’s what we’re seeing in Amman as we tuck into the second straight day of fierce blizzarding. A perfect setting to tuck in with some simple knitting.
Shale gas and fracking lies exposed in Tunisia by local bloggers
The fight against shale gas extraction through hydraulic fracturing continues in Tunisia where governments are lying and the water weary warn of disasters ahead.
Open source prefab bee hive helps the masses protect our pollinators [video]
![Open source prefab bee hive helps the masses protect our pollinators [video]](https://www.greenprophet.com/wp-content/uploads/Open-Tech-Forever-Prefab-Bee-Hives.jpg "Open source prefab bee hive helps the masses protect our pollinators [video]")
Enlisting the masses to save the bees, Open Tech Forever has developed a high tech CNC-cut hive that allows global citizens to keep an eye on our precious pollinators.
Wadi Rum Bedouins Defy Nature by Growing Organic Veggies
Who says you can’t make the desert bloom? The desert regions of Israel and Jordan have for years been the subject of numerous agricultural projects. Some of these projects include creating community gardens by residents of desert towns; and being involved in epic Sahara forest projects. Now let’s look at what’s happening in Wadi Rum.
Shigeru Ban’s Design Souq pavilion is made entirely of cardboard in Abu Dhabi
Residents of Abu Dhabi might be familiar with buildings made from palm leaves and earth, but cardboard? Legendary Japanese architect Shigeru Ban built Design Souq – a mobile, recyclable pavilion made entirely out of cardboard that is every bit as sturdy as brick or stone.
Tunisia’s handmade tiles risk disappearing forever
The history of handmade tiles in Tunisia is fascinating. Green Prophet digs deep between the tiles of a rundown factory in Roman Neapolis, Nabeul, a historic tile making center in Tunisia, to discover what fragments remain of this disappearing art.
UNESCO to Protect Olives and Turkish Coffee as Cultural Heritage
We love olive oil and hummus, but there is more to the Mediterranean diet than just food. UNESCO has recently added the rituals, knowledge, and skills associated with the food common to residents of Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco, and Portugal to its list of heritage “intangibles” that are worthy of protection.
To eat cous cous, chickpea soup or other spicy Moroccan dishes means to consume not just the plate of food at hand, but also a long history of rich cultural tradition, ritual, and knowledge – from animal husbandry to water management and terraced agriculture.
This accumulated knowledge and tradition is so rich and so important that UNESCO, which is also tasked with protecting physical landmarks and historical monuments as heritage sites, believes they deserve urgent safeguarding.
Which is why they added The Mediterranean Diet and other intangible cultural relics from the Middle East and North Africa to their heritage site.
“The Mediterranean diet involves a set of skills, knowledge, rituals, symbols and traditions concerning crops, harvesting, fishing, animal husbandry, conservation, processing, cooking, and particularly the sharing and consumption of food,” writes the group.
“The Mediterranean diet emphasizes values of hospitality, neighbourliness, intercultural dialogue and creativity, and a way of life guided by respect for diversity.”
Turkish coffee – that potent caffeinated soup common throughout the region – has also been added to the list of cultural relics that should be preserved.
“Turkish coffee combines special preparation and brewing techniques with a rich communal traditional culture,” according to UNESCO.
“Traditionally, Turkish coffee is made in a finjan,” according to our in-house food writer Miriam Kresh to preface this fantastic recipe.
“It’s a special pot with a long handle, wider at the bottom so that most of the grounds stay behind when you pour the coffee out. In the Middle East, they’re commonly available. But if you don’t have a finjan, any small pot still makes good coffee.”
UNESCO calls the tradition itself a symbol of hospitality and friendship that “permeates all walks of life.”
“An invitation for coffee among friends provides an opportunity for intimate talk and the sharing of daily concerns.”
Other rituals from the region include the annual pilgrimage to the mausoleum of Sidi And el-Qader Ben Mohammed, a trip that nomadic and settled Sufi communities undertake a pilgrimage beginning each year on the last Thursday of June, as well as practices and knowledge linked to the Imzad of the Tuareg communities of Algeria, Mali and Niger.
World’s coldest temperature ever recorded in Antarctica
Some more convincing evidence that the effects of global warming are real and now. Nasa’s satellites have recorded the coldest temperature ever recorded on earth this week –– a freezing -94.7C.
4 wearable luggage ideas to beat excess baggage charges
Park your complaints about cramped seats.The growing gripe in the flying experience lies in luggage fees as costs for checked bags rise (and weight allowances reduce).
But there is a loopy loophole that luggage jackets want to solve. Airlines don’t (yet) regulate the weight of passengers’ clothing. Why carry luggage when you can wear it instead?
New luggage jackets let you skirt the rules as you cram your essentials into their roomy reinforced pouches. So what if you look like the Michelin man, you’ve saved cash and beaten baggage claim lines too. And ponder the carbon reduction as you lessen dependence on diesel-fueled baggage tugs and electric baggage handling systems. Fashion can save the world!
1. Rufus Roo (about $50 above) is the simplest form of wearable luggage: an ultra-light polyester utility vest with huge pockets that can stow a weekend’s worth of clothes and amusements, even a laptop. Load it up, pop it on, and catwalk your way through check-in.
Stuff it into the overhead bin once you board the plane. It’s got a 10kg loading limit, likely because the fabric is so thin. It also comes in tiny sizes, letting the kids earn their plane fare by schlepping their own gear.
2. Stuffa (about $115) (above) was created more to provide additional storage than to replace a full suitcase. It’s a stylized flak-jacket with 12 concealed pockets. Two external pockets allow easy access to essentials like your phone, passport, or tickets. This one comes with a loading max of 5kg.
3. Jaktogo (starting at about $105) also works as a garment just long enough to get you past boarding. It’s enormous (pictured above and in lead “x-ray” photo) with massive pockets and a complicated packing process that involves lots of Velcro. Made of polyester, it’s lightweight and weather resistant, and also comes in leather and denim versions. Assume a positive reply to the query, “Does this suitcase make my ass look big?”, but there’s no flight discount gain without a bit of sartorial pain.
4. Bagket (about $115) is a shape-shifting jacket that allows you to carry it as a bag until you check-in. Then put it on as a jacket, bypassing baggage baloney, and cleverly revert it to a carry-on case once you board the flight. It’s big, with 22 pockets. Made from strong polyamide fabric with durable shoulder straps and heavy duty zippers, it seems able to exceed the recommended 7kg of packing. Check out the video, above, to see how it works.
The concept of dual-function clothing isn’t new.. My job once demanded frequent flying between Dublin and Glasgow; a 50 minute flight on an infamous low-cost Irish carrier. My meager carry-on was given over to a laptop and paperwork. I could snap up toothpaste and shampoo once I landed, but what about everything else?
Decades earlier, I’d scored a bright orange field jacket at a Patagonia discount outlet in Maine. Lightweight yet impervious to wind and water, it was my go-to gear for sailing or skiing, with enough pockets to replace a backpack.
It wasn’t rocket science to see how this beauty could fix my airborne commute, and it became my flying uniform. Pockets bulged with socks and underwear, a paperback and travel documents, and a few sheep’s worth of yarn to keep me knitting along the way. The only limit on what I could (freely!) take with me was the weight my back could handle.
Today there are loads of wearable luggage options on the market. Check them out; they’ll help you to Keep Calm and Carry On.