Morocco recently announced that it has pre-selected several solar power producers to build two additional concentrated solar power plants (CSP) in Ourzazate. Saudi Arabia’s Acwa Power, which is currently building a 160MW CSP plant in the same area, is among the firms picked to bid.
For as long as they’ve known each other, Mohsen and Sepideh have dreamed of having an ethical fashion line that conveys how deeply the earth, or Zameeg in ancient Persian, needs our protection. And now the dream is manifesting.
Two of the top four oil-producing OPEC members, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have joined forces in a push to secure $1 billion in funding for Middle East solar-power, Bloomberg reports.
Beyond the Mediterranean coastline, northern Morocco’s mountains are pocked with small scale dope farms. The government has tried hard to eradicate them, to little effect, but one governor sees green in the “illicit” plants.
Governor Mohamed Boudra of Hoceima-Taounate, the country’s northern region that is rich with high-enducing resin, told Business Week that it hopes to push through a bill in the next three years that would legalize medicinal marijuana for export.
Currently, the $10 billion trade takes place underground.
Although farmers are persecuted by the government, often losing their carefully-tended crops to slashing and burning – the go-to method of control, scores continue to take their chances. Why? Because there is a real market for marijuana – locally and abroad.
The government has attempted to persuade farmers to switch to almonds and olives, according to Business Week, but hashish has proved too lucrative and successful. So Boudra wants to pump the profit out of pushers’ pockets and into the trade deficit, which the paper reports to devour 23 percent of the national GDP.
Instead of letting allowing middlemen and drug traffickers make all the profit off this pay up to $1,780 for a kilogram of hashish.
Before any bill can be passed, lawmakers say that it’s first important to do the necessary legwork in order to find the right market for their marijuana. Obviously a Muslim country can’t sell THC-laced drugs to the warlords of central Africa. Instead, activists recommend a study of the herb’s medicinal benefits.
“We have to ensure that any legalization is done in an optimal fashion,”Abdelhalim Allaoui, a lawmaker with the ruling Justice and Development Party, told Business Week.
“We need to establish what the medicinal virtues of the plant are and then think of exports, pharmaceutical industry developments, and how to draw foreign investment. This is a promising sector for the economy.”
Legal medical marijuana in Morocco would be a first in the Muslim world, and will obviously be approached very gently, but Israel has one of the world’s most progressive medical marijuana programs.
Farms thrive in relative secret though laws governing them were relaxed in the beginning of 2012.
Image of marijuana plants via Shutterstock
Kuwait didn’t earn a mention in the “worst countries for journalism” published by online ‘zine Foreign Policy, even though three of its Middle Eastern neighbors made the cut. But it should be named and shamed for the recent prosecution of a young microblogger.
Jordan’s Minister of Water and Irrigation and Agriculture, Hazim Al Naser, disclosed that the controversial Red-Dead Water Conveyor project may now be shelved in favor of a series of smaller schemes to provide the kingdom with drinking water.
His statements mark the first time that a ranking official questioned the project’s viability. Al Naser spoke at a recent presentation of the final Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the project, where the World Bank and the Ministry of Environment advised stakeholders of the plans more dubious aspects.
Employers in Gulf countries often come under fire for making their employees work during hot summer days, when temperatures regularly hit the 40°C or 100°F mark, so the Dubai municipality came up with a curious solution.
Sunrise Ltd, the court-appointed new owners of Israel’s Better Place electric vehicle company, now known as Green EV, is struggling to pay the company’s liquidators, and other potential buyers are asking the courts to reassign assets. Green EV is having a hard time paying off its bills, and that is surprising? Step in for a short history lesson.
Olive Oyl is so much more than a 1930’s cartoon character, she was my first role model. This dark-haired skinny-bones with the giant feet was a working woman and single mom who always had two muscle-bound sailors fighting over her. What a welcome relief from Malibu Barbie! So when I spotted a set of bulbous heels named “Olive Oyl” (image below) I had to see who was behind them.
Biking enthusiasts in Palestine have welcomed the construction of the first cycle lane in the Palestinian territories on the main road leading from Jericho to Jerusalem.
The 1,200-metre two-way cycle lane on the west side of Jerusalem Street in Jericho was completed in July at a cost of 179,000 euros and will be formally opened after the end of Ramadan.
Cousin to the world’s tallest building, the rounded silhouette of Burj Doha soars over the capital of Qatar’s skyline. Designed by Jean Nouvel, it is the first building in the emirate with a vertical garden, and check out that modern mashrabiya.
Scientists have long been worried about the possible harmful effects of regular cellular phone use, but so far no study has managed to produce clear results. Currently, cell phones are classified as carcinogenic category 2b — potentially carcinogenic to humans — by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC). A new Tel Aviv University study, though, may bring bad news.
The ionosphere, one of the regions of the upper atmosphere, plays an important role in global communications. Ionized by solar radiation, this electricity-rich region is used for the transmission of long wave communications, such as radio waves. Now Prof. Colin Price of Tel Aviv University (he discovered the link between lightning and climate change) has found that the radio waves reflecting back to Earth from the ionosphere offer valuable news on climate change as well.
Long sustainably-made silk robes, vibrant headscarves fro organic cotton, and intricate lace face veils paint a modest, underground and mystical picture of Muslim fashion. Despite the modest nature of Islamic clothing designed to honour the religion, Muslim attire is adorned with bright designs, bold colours and stunning materials. In recent years Islamic clothing has taken on a more modern element, amalgamating comfort and privacy with style and modernity, crafting hip and stylish individuals of the Islamic faith – and best of all some of these traditions are turning “green”.
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