Qatar’s controversial 2022 World Cup planning got a burst of star power when renowned Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, who was one of Time Magazine’s top 100 most influential people in 2010, was appointed to join AECOM to design the Al Wakrah Stadium.
Q-Fog’s Low-tech Misting Air Con to “Cool” Green Cyclists
It gets hot in Israel, so two local entrepreneurs have invented a water-saving device called the Q-Fog to keeps cyclists cool. Pump a lever on the handlebars and presto – instant air con!
Desperate for Energy, Egypt to Reward Hotels that Go Green
The National Bank of Egypt has announced that it will give low interest loans to hotels throughout southern Sinai and Red Sea provinces that are commited to switching to renewable energy, according to local press. The move comes in advance of crippling energy shortages during the hottest time of the year.
Knafeh Recipe, for the Most Fabulous Middle-Eastern Dessert
Does a vision of rich, creamy, sweet and cheesy dessert with a crunchy topping totally seduce you? Well, it seduces people with a sweet tooth everywhere in the Levant. In Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Greece and Turkey, good housewives make knafeh, the most luxurious dairy dessert.
Qasr Garden Museum: Iranian Prison Transformed into a Hot Cultural Attraction
An old prison in the heart of Tehran has been converted into an enormously popular tourist attraction. The Qasr prison is one of Iran’s oldest penitentiary institutions that was decommissioned in 2008; soon after, the municipality commissioned Experimental Branch of Architecture (EBA) to give it a surprising facelift.
Artistry Egypt Trains Women to Rise Above Post Revolution Madness
Life has changed for Egyptian women since the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak, with sexual harassment, unemployment and illiteracy rates soaring. Artistry Egypt, which is run by the development NGO Ganat El-Kholod, trains unskilled women to learn how to make eco-friendly artisanal textile crafts.
“Extinct” Hula Painted Frog Represents Ancient Species
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) officially declared Israel’s Hula frog extinct in 1996, but now the frog has returned to the Hula Valley, and a team of scientists have made some exciting new discoveries about its genetic heritage.
11 Brutal health consequences of using the wrong lube
Some health friendly tips for the female reproductive organs.
Visit any medical website, and you’ll learn that vaginal dryness is a common health complaint that women have regarding sexual intimacy. It can lead to itching, burning and painful sex, and is caused by a number of things such as menopausal or hormonal changes, childbirth, surgeries, medicine, douching and lack of adequate foreplay. If you do experience dryness, they recommend the use of personal lubrications.
Makes common sense, right?
What most sites rarely explain is that they type of lubrication you use can either make the dryness disappear…or end up forcing you to put a Do Not Enter sign over your nether bits.
Ansel Muir Hall, the CEO of Blossom Organics, a company that makes natural and organic aloe-based lubrication explains that the reason may be in the ingredients. Personal lubricants are popular and the market is “dominated by brands that are starting to offer better products, but most [sold today] include a host of ingredients that are truly questionable,” he explains.
As one of 3 co-founders for Blossom Organics, Hall (who is named after Ansel Adams and John Muir) told me that the company was founded on the principle that people want clean and healthy alternatives.
“Women are becoming concerned with living cleaner, healthier lifestyle. This means making good, smart choices about the products they use, but an area equally or more important that has been largely forgotten is intimacy products.”
There’s also been a general apathy among some environmentalists to examine sexuality and sexual health concerns. It’s a trend that is slowly changing as more advocates find what some advocates call their e-Spot. “If a woman is concerned with what she put on her skin, she should be even more concerned with what she’s putting in the most absorbent skin her body – her vagina,” says Hall.
What ingredients should you avoid in lubricants?
Though this list isn’t by any means complete, some questionable ingredients include: parabens, petrochemicals, benzene derivatives such as sodium benzoate, methyl, ethyl and propylparaben, and benzoate of soda. Boric acid, salicylates and cinnamic aldehyde (an ingredient used in ‘hot’ lubricants) are also questionable.
Hall’s question to women who want to have safer, healthier, better sex is this: why take the risk? Companies like Blossom Organics offer great alternatives. Go with natural, organic and proven safe ingredients, he says.
Whose Fault is It?
Many women have a reaction to the product they are using, and might think the problem is their body, not the lubrication. One reason these ingredients need to be avoided during sex is because your skin can absorb things more readily than if it’s something taken orally.
Take just one potentially toxic ingredient: Parabens.
According to Lisa S. Lawless, Ph.D. and founder of Holistic Wisdom, an organization which provides empowering education, products and resources to promote sexual wellness, it’s best to avoid them all together. In an article for NaturalNews.com, she writes:
“Parabens are controversial toxins that have been shown to alter estrogen in females, increase allergies, decrease sperm count in men, contribute to skin cancer and disrupt normal fetal development in pregnant women.”
Regulations are poor and inadequate, she explains. The consequence is that many products contain toxins, and “there are many unanswered questions about what consumers are using on and inside their body.”
What’s more, most consumers in the middle east and beyond are unaware of what is in their personal lubricant or the effect on their health.
“If a woman is concerned with what she put on her skin, she should be even more concerned with what she’s putting in the most absorbent skin her body – her vagina.” Ansel Muir Hall
11 Possible Brutal Consequences
When it comes to safe sex and using the right lube, it’s consumer beware. Unless you know exactly what’s in that jar of jelly, you could be exposing yourself to some potentially unpleasant side effects and health concerns, suggests NaturalNews.com and other sites. Loopholes in the regulation of the sex product industry, limited testing or inadaquate reporting (depending on where a consumer lives) of reactions mean that you could experience any number of ailments and not know what ingredient, or combination of exposures, contributed to the following conditions.
- Rashes and/or skin lesions
- Fatigue
- Nerve degeneration
- Yeast (candida) infections
- Inflammation
- Myalgia
- Cancer
- Reduced sperm count
- Birth defects
- Liver damage
- Insulin resistance
Safer sex tips
Our advice is simple
1. Only use a product that clearly reveals all the ingredients to you.
2. Avoid using anything with the ingredients listed above.
3. If you can’t find or order a product like Blossom Organics, and are in a pinch, consider using something like coconut oil, vitamin E or even olive oil (though oils are not advised for use with latex condoms).
4. Never use something like motor oil, petrolatum or mineral oil.
The biggest challenge is getting the word out there,” says Hall of Blossom Organics when it comes to using good, healthy ingredients in intimate care. “We need to have an a more open dialogue about the importance of sexual health in our society. We are moving in that regard, and people are making that happen.”
In other words, it is up to you to be smart and practice safe sex when it comes to your intimate wellbeing.
Read More Sexual Health News:
3 Ways Eco-Consciousness Can Improve Your Love Life
Why are Environmentalists Avoiding the e-Spot?
Winners of Recycling Design in Qatar Featured on World Environment Day
A belt made of tin. A hat made of cardboard. A dress made of newspaper with DVD and CD accents. These were some of many designs showcased during Qatar’s “long” celebration of World Environment Day starting in May continuing until after World Environment Day on June 5.
WMS Metal Industries Sorts Recyclables and Makes $ With Push of Button
The United Arab Emirates is planning to ban non-biodegradable plastic products beginning next year, and it is possible it can work with the latest technological invention from WMS Metal Industries now working locally. And the best part of this machine may be that it makes money!
Can Captain Sunshine Save Better Place?
Better Place’s sudden bankruptcy announcement only a week ago left more than 900 electric car owners in Israel uncertain about the future of the cars they bought. But Captain Sunshine, a solar energy pioneer in Israel says he might be able to help save Better Place.
Giza Zoo Kills Three Black Bears, Tries to Cover it Up
Zookeepers at the Giza Zoo in Egypt accidentally killed three black bears and officials then tried to cover up their negligence. A local newspaper, Al Watan, uncovered their deception and now activists are calling to close all seven government zoos due to prolonged abuse of wild animals throughout the system.
Higher CO2 Levels are Greening the Middle East
Desertification, water scarcity and food security are among the most important byproducts of rising temperatures due to increased CO2 emissions, but researchers from the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization (CSIRO) in Australia have found that higher CO2 concentrations are also greening the Middle East.
Taksim Protest Not Just About Turkey’s Trees at Gezi Park
Motivation behind Turkish demonstrations is more complicated than protection of public green space. Spotty media coverage blurs underlying causes; a real-life case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
Turkish Lipstick Ban Reversed, But Booze Sales Get Corked
Turkey is in the news for its social protests which may also be linked to this: a new Turkish law bans late night alcohol sales and requires boozy products to be smacked with warning labels.
Shops can’t openly display intoxicating wares or sell them between 10:00 pm to 6:00 am. No more free hats and T-shirts either: alcohol producers are prohibited from sponsoring public events.
Turkey’s Muslim majority is ruled by a secular constitution, and this law (which requires presidential approval) is viewed by secular Turks as another proof of the government’s Islamic agenda.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan says that the party is not restricting freedoms but rather elevating Turkey (now jockeying for European Union membership) to international standards that emphasize health and protect youth.
Turkey has sought to discourage alcohol consumption by enforcing a minimum purchasing age of 18, and by applying steep sales tax. Some private businesses endorse the scheme; Turkish Airlines banned alcohol on some of its domestic flights.
The PM is also tackling tobacco, saying at a May 31 anti-tobacco conference (held at a Convention Center near Taksim Gezi Park as the protesters were starting to demonstrate) that restricting alcohol and banning smoking in public areas had “pleased the public.”
Speaking of his past accomplishments as Mayor of Istanbul, he told the conference goers, “We banned drinking, we banned smoking. These places began to fill up. It is our duty to protect the lawful acts of the minority as well. Our people want peaceful places,” Erdoğan said.
Did he run that credo by the nearby demonstrators in Taksim Square?
Erdoğan denied that this is an alcohol ban, “What’s essential to us is the benefit of our people. I will not back down from taking steps toward the preservation of my people’s future just because someone’s fun is being interrupted,” Erdoğan added, according to Hurriyet Daily News.
Did Turkish airlines ban lipstick for its flight attendants?
In a separate but related news, Turkish Airlines is backpedaling on its recent ban on red lipstick for its flight attendants.
“Lipstick-gate” erupted last week when the airline’s Media Relations department issued a memo forbidding flight crew from wearing red or dark pink lipstick and nail polish.
The memo declared that colorful cosmetics “impairs the visual integrity of the intended look,” concluding that, “Turkish Airlines has adopted a policy that requires service personnel to use personal grooming products that are in a more muted color palate.”
But the carrier’s boss, Dr. Temel Kotil, later said the memo (prepared by “low-level” managers) was not a rule, but rather, a guideline, adding that the experience was, “Taking us one step back but we’re going four steps forward”. See Reuters.
Human rights versus rights to buy midnight cocktails; freedom of speech versus freedom to smoke; environmental protections versus cosmetic liberation: it’s good that Turkey’s got their priorities straight.