Submarine Rail Linking Morocco and Spain Gets UN Push
The United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) is pushing to revive a thirty year old plan to build a submarine rail link between Morocco and Spain, local Moroccan press reports.
Ancient “Weed” Could Save Middle East Wheat
A particularly virulent strain of stem rust that first struck Uganda’s wheat crops in1999 before it spread up into Sudan and Yemen, Ug99 might have met its match in a 5,000 year old weed.
14 Animal-Free Foods That Are Not Vegetarian
Last night at dinner, two seasoned lacto-vegetarians exchanged an ingredient slap-down about seemingly animal-free foods that really aren’t. My friends talk endlessly about vegetarianism. They can be evangelical, comical and tedious. Don’t hear me wrong. I’m omnivorous, but eat mostly plants. I love eating and I love eating with friends, but I hate talking about […]
George Orwell Never Imagined These Deluxe Farms for Bees and Animals
Animals have a hard life in the Middle East. Working beasts endure grueling outdoor elements and pet culture is unfamiliar. In a region where millions of displaced people lack adequate housing, is it an indulgence to create comfortable homes for critters? Tucking into sushi at one of Amman’s rooftop restaurants; the sinking sun painting distant […]
Lebanon’s Reconstructed Refugee Camp in Tripoli Up for Aga Khan Award
Why do we love “makeovers”? What draws us to images of women dunked in hair dye and better lighting, or old furniture stylin’ after sanding and new hardware? The reconstruction of the Nahr el-Bared Refugee Camp in Tripoli, Lebanon is an architectural “before” and “after” with improvements far deeper than a slap-on of fresh paint. […]
Powdered Water Hydrates Drought-Stricken Farms
Mexican farmers have been fighting drought with Solid Rain for more than a decade, but the powdered water designed by chemical engineer Sergio Jésus Rico Velasco only hit the American market last year. A highly absorbent substance with a potassium base, Solid Rain stores one liter of water in just 10 grams!
Bird’s Nest: Solar-Powered Studio Perches on School Roofs
Onat Öktem, Ziya Imren and Zeynep Öktem are among the most exciting eco-minded architects working in Turkey, and Bird’s Nest is also among their most unique projects. Eschewing the bigger is better thought pattern, this solar-powered accessory dwelling “perches” on existing buildings to create extra space.
Reed Beds: Cleaning Waste Water in the Desert
Earlier this year I decided to visit a strange looking waste management site in Um Al Quwain – one of seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates. From satellite imagery it looked like raw sewage was being dumped in the desert, just a couple of kilometres from Um Al Quwain’s precious mangrove estuary.
Abu Dhabi Imams Dish Out Sermons on Food Waste
Imams at mosques across Abu Dhabi recently coordinated on a consistent message to urge people not to waste food. Worshipers at every mosque in the United Arab Emirates capital were given a pre-Ramadan message, prepared in cooperation with the Environment Agency Abu Dhabi (EAD), advising them to think twice before cooking up too much food […]
HUSH: A Seating Pod that Creates Privacy Anywhere
HUSH is a brilliant seating pod designed by Freyja Sewell that creates a small tucked away spot anywhere – even in the most crowded cities. A Brighton designer who finished her studies at Nagoya University in Japan, Sewell knows what it’s like to crave a quiet space that makes her feel comforted and safe.
Captain Sunshine Takes Over Better Place Electric Car Company
The Better Place electric vehicle network was always an ambitious dream, and now it doesn’t have to die thanks to the man known as Captain Sunshine. The company declared bankruptcy in May, but today an Israeli court awarded the liquidation of its Israel-based assets and Swiss-based intellectual property to Yosef Abramowitz and a union of Better […]
Abu Dhabi School Sprouts Green Paper Bag Boy
Eleven-year-old Abdul Muqeet, a student at Abu Dhabi Indian School, says his life mission is to save the environment. His project to create carrier bags from discarded newspapers earned him the nickname Paper Bag Boy, which in turn got him a 2011 Abu Dhabi Environment Award. This pre-teen dynamo is energizing friends and strangers to […]
Naked Immersions Takes Interspecies Connectivity to Extremes
A naked Russian diver plunged into freezing Arctic seas to frolic with Beluga whales. Was it a (literally) splashy media event or legitimate scientific experiment to tame the shy beasts? What’s remarkable in either case is that Natalia Avseenko survived ten minutes of swimming in temperatures of -1.5 °C. Five minutes in sub-zero water should […]
Lush Green Terraces Top the Palestine Museum by Heneghan Peng
Dublin’s Heneghan Peng has designed a new museum for Palestine that is topped with a series of unfolding green terraces planted with vegetation that also grows in the surrounding hills.
Mediterranean Surveillance Crew Eyes Oil Spills from the Sky
It’s hard to monitor vessels that pollute out at sea, so five aircrafts from Algeria, France, Italy, Morocco and Spain got together to keep an eye on the Mediterranean Sea in a recent coordinated aerial surveillance program organized by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Center for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC).