Sometimes if you stand on the wrong corner of a busy street in Cairo, taxis will drive right on by, guilt-free, while in less populated cities throughout the Middle East and Africa, they are simply hard to find. Experimental taxi apps are in the works to ease the problem, but Brazil’s Easy Taxi heading our way is already well-established.
Better call out that airborne Mediterranean pollution surveillance crew Tafline just wrote about! Last Tuesday, an oil tanker delivering fuel to a power plant in the Turkish Cypriot-controlled north of Cyprus spilled approximately 40 tons of oil into the Mediterranean Sea.
Chronic and even acute supplies of fresh water in Israel and other parts of the Middle East has resulted in over-dependence on desalination. Even more ominous are predictions for the future of inadequate fresh water supplies following a NASA Image Technology survey of the accelerated disappearance of a large underground fresh water sea under Syria, Turkey, Iraq and Iran.
Hybrid cars have had a slow start in the Middle East in comparison to other markets. One factor influencing sales is the fact that fuel costs tend to be lower than in other parts of the world, creating less demand for electric vehicles. However, a new crop of sport and luxury models could help change that.
The Hyundai Motor Company has just launched their first hybrid car in the region, with the new Sonata hybrid. Is the Middle East ready for a new rash of hybrids and electric vehicles? Hyundai’s Vice President Tom Lee believes so, stating that increasing awareness in the region of environmental issues makes it a good time to meet the new demand for green cars. It’s worth taking a closer look at the new Sonata and some other upcoming luxury hybrids which are due to hit motoring car news sites in the next year or two.
Israeli’s Sol-Chip has developed an everlasting solar battery that can power mobile and remote devices continuously using energy from the sun.
Caravan Collective is a fresh new cycling apparel studio from Israel that fuses quirky graphic design with a passion for cycling, people, and the earth.
Team Israel is all pumped up to show off their design skills at the upcoming 2013 international Solar Decathlon competition in China with All [e] Land – a Mediterranean net-zero prefab dwelling based on a 3,500-year-old archetypal Israeli design.
It is a little known fact outside of conservation and hunting circles, Sherif Baha el Din from Nature Conservation Egypt told The Guardian, but Egyptian hunters will destroy thousands of migratory birds in the coming weeks as they make their way from Europe back to Africa for the winter.
The ruins of a fortified complex at Khirbet Qeiyafa, west of Jerusalem, are the remains of one of King David’s palaces, says Dr. Yossi Garfinkel, archeologist from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Working together with Saar Ganor of Israel’s Antiquities Authority, Garfinkel has worked to uncover the site for the past seven years.
According to Professor Yossi Garfinkel and Sa’ar Ganor, “Khirbet Qeiyafa is the best example exposed to date of a fortified city from the time of King David.” Maybe the great king ordered citron trees like the ones that flourished in Jerusalem at around the same time to be planted there.
Children in Central Asia practice a tradition in the lead-up to iftar (the evening breaking of the Ramadan fast – read our green iftar guide here) that has a decidedly Western resonance: they go Ramadan caroling. As with Christmas caroling, the children go door-to-door singing their neighbors holiday songs. After performing, carolers ask for a treat, usually receiving sweets or pocket change.
As in the West, the tradition is loved or hated with equal energy. The difference is, as with Ramadan, this songfest can last an entire month. (Click on this link to hear and see a sample of Ramadan carols.)
“Small kids come every day singing,” Lola Yunusova from Tashkent told Radio Free Europe. “We give them money. But when the same children come every day, we say, ‘That’s enough. Don’t come again.’ Many parents don’t allow their children to go out singing and neither do we. They are like beggars. Nobody likes them. They pound on your door and keep ringing the doorbell. When you come out, there are usually three or four of them shouting, ‘Blah, blah, blah, blah…give us some money.'”
Her neighbor said he enjoys Ramadan caroling, greeting the children with a smile and asking them to sing more. And the kids seem to love the tradition. It’s the only time of the year when they run around with their friends, getting away with cheekiness to adults, and end up with some free candy to boot.
Ramadan carols often reflect the societal enthusiasm for the birth of a healthy boy. A typical Uzbek song says, “We came and sang a Ramadan song at your door. We are wishing you’ll have in your cradle a boy who is as strong as a ram.” But beware the lyrics if you don’t offer treats, “We came and you heard us sing, but you didn’t give us anything. May your newborn turnout to be a girl!”
Turkmen children sing similarly misogynistic verses, “Let a girl be born to those who give less. Let a boy be born to those who give more.”
Singers may improvise on traditional verses, but some teenagers abuse lyrics by shouting rudely at those who don’t offer gifts, “We will never come to your doorstep again and we are putting a stick in your [key] hole,” sang a group stiffed by a homeowner.
In Kazakhstan, Ramadan caroling was suppressed during the Soviet era, when Kazakh Muslims secretly fasted to avoid being targeted as troublemakers. Today, carolers can openly sing, “May the Lord Almighty accept your prayers and to all who are fasting for Ramadan, may the Lord be good to you.” Now free to practice their faith, but it always goes back to the candy, “We are children of Muhammad. We are one community. If you give us some treats, it will make us stronger.”
Ramadan carolling was also popular across Afghanistan before the 1979 Soviet invasion, but the tradition disappeared during subsequent decades of war and the emergence of the Taliban, which considered all music to be un-Islamic. Caroling has resurfaced only recently in some of northern Afghanistan’s ethnic Uzbek, ethnic Turkmen, and ethnic Tajik neighborhoods.
In Kyrgyzstan, most carolling takes place during the three days leading up to Eid. (The video above shows young men in national dress from Kyrgyzstan’s Issyk-Kul region singing Ramadan songs.) Western materialism has crept in, with Bishkek children wishing listeners the good fortune of being able to “have a pocketful of US dollars” and “drive a Mercedes“.
Songs in northern Tajikistan often dispense religion altogether, instead singing folklore rhymes.
According to an excellent article by Radio Free Europe’s Ron Synovitz, Ramadan caroling extends far beyond Central Asia. Children in Bosnia-Herzegovina collect money by shouting “Ramadan bank” as they move door to door. Egyptian street drummers play for cash during Holy Month celebrations.
Ultraconservative Sunni Wahabbists argue that Ramadan carolling is un-Islamic and should be forbidden, but according to Tora Mirzayev, professor of folklore at Uzbekistan’s Academy of Science, Central Asia’s caroling tradition has pre-Islamic roots.
“In old times Ramadan songs were sung by adults,” he told Synovitz. “But since the beginning of the 20th century, these songs have been sung only as children’s songs. There is a mixture of different pre-Islamic rituals like ‘calling for rain’ or ‘stopping the wind.’ When Islam came to the region, these rituals were transformed into Islamic rituals.”
It was a lovely discovery to stumble upon this story. Let the children sing.
Representatives from six Arab Gulf countries that form the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) recently expressed concern about the Bushehr nuclear power plant in Southwest Iran after an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.3 on the Richter scale struct the region earlier this year.
Star Wars fans lovingly restored Luke Skywalker’s Tatooine home in Tunisia recently, but the former home of young Anakin, who would eventually become Darth Vader, is about to be engulfed by fast-moving desert sand dunes.
A five star hotel will offer chefs, tennis and golf pros, hairdressers and masseuses, but the Park Hyatt Abu Dhabi just upped the ante by adding a marine biologist to its permanent staff. The resort’s resident marine expert will be organizing workshops and eco-excursions to educate and entertain guests, but her primary mandate is to ensure that the hotel adheres to strict environmental standards laid down by the emirate.
What is up with Israeli designers? On the whole, they’re an eco-conscious group that use their creative genius to churn out groundbreaking designs, but two young students seem to be heading in the wrong direction.
We recently featured Yariv Goldfarb’s Bezalel graduation project with 3d printing technology called “Play with Poop.”
In order to deviate from social norms, Goldfarb 3D printed plastic molds to sculpt dog poop into a variety of geometric shapes. He then took the resulting shapes into the heart of Tel Aviv and arranged them to look like major landmarks throughout the city.
His intentions are in the right place, since he is trying to encourage Israelis to be more aware of their surroundings, but his methods are a bit absurd. Sort of like Yael Mer’s Evacuation dress to escape climate change. How about finding a way to slow climate change by working with more ecologically sound ideas? Rather than an every man for himself?
Itay Kirshenbaum’s design, on other hand, has no redeeming social or environmental value at all.
For his final project at Haddasah College, Kirshenbaum designed a furniture collection that grows itself – the first backyard furniture set we know of with this curious skill.
Comprised of different colored canvas sacks, the furniture initially looks like jackets lying on the ground. But when a sprinkling of water interacts with the concrete powder that fills them, the sacks spring to life.
Wire pulls allow the user to mold the canvas bags as seats and within 24 hours of drying, they can be used as chairs and tables.
Don’t get me wrong. I think the concept is clever. But the material choice is disappointing. How can this idea be done better? Maybe using an idea of furniture or buildings to come to life for refugees. See these 10 shelters for refugees that top our list.
As for Goldfarb. Should we tell you that concrete has the highest embodied footprint of just about any other material commonly used today. Which means that using it – whether in construction projects, homes or DIY furniture, is irresponsible.
It’s also unnecessary. Many Israeli designers who are working with more earth-friendly materials that biodegrade that have virtually no environmental impact. Or this
It’s time to step up to the times, boys. Luckily, you still have the chance.
Other slightly insane Israeli design ideas:
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