“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
If we only listened to mainstream media, we would know Beirut as a city full of bullet holes, terrorists and Syrian refugees – all of which are unfortunate realities in the densely populated capital of Lebanon, which borders both Israel and Syria.
But it is also home to some of the world’s most interesting artists, designers, movie-makers and other talented people. Bokja Design is one of them and they recently rocked Milan Design Week – one of the most important events for furniture and interiors designers – with a new product line called Migration Series.
Situated even deeper in the desert than Morocco and prone to locust swarms, Mauritania’s topography consists of the “mostly barren, flat plains of the Sahara” – as the CIA puts it. They’ve got very little water and less than half of one percent of the country’s land is arable. But they’ve got sun and they’ve got wind and now they’ve got Africa’s largest solar photovoltaic plant.
Just weeks after launching the world’s largest Concentrated Solar Plant (CSP) in their own backyard, just outside of Abu Dhabi, Masdar announces the official opening of their most recent foreign renewable energy plant. The $31.99 million, 15MW photovoltaic plant accounts for 10 percent of Mauritania’s existing energy capacity and has the potential to offset 21,225 tons of heat-trapping carbon dioxide every year.
Israeli street artist Nitzan Mintz writes her poems on the streets of Tel Aviv, using disregarded materials she collects from dumpsters and public spaces. “I use only recycled materials in my art,” she said.
Today marks the first annual ‘Green Khutbah Day’ which also coincides with Earth Day 2013
Muslims have been asked to encourage their spiritual leaders, imams, to devote this Friday Khutbah or sermon (19th April 2013) to celebrate the blessings, graces and beauty of all of Allah’s creation. Muaz Nasir from Khaleafa who is leading the effort is also hoping to raise awareness amongst Muslim of the environmental challenges facing humanity.
“The ‘Green Khutbah Campaign’ is aiming to challenge Muslims to become stewards of the environment by making changes to their daily routines,” explains Nasir. “Although the evidence of environmental damage is stronger than ever, the public is starting to tune out due to the recent economic crisis and a lack of political leadership. But Muslims cannot tune out from the environmental damage – tuning out would mean that we are disregarding our moral responsibility to Allah’s creation.”
As America hunts for clues on the Boston Bomber suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Laurie goes on with life and looks to the follies of communication in the Middle East.
Communication is key to everything. Every driver knows that intersections are risky, but the crossroad of language and culture is especially prone to accidents. Need proof? I pick up my new Jordanian eyeglasses and the doc hands me its case (see above): I’m silenced. Go home puzzled, post the image on Facebook and ask “What is he telling me?” A friend instantly advises, “Your vision in f***ed!”
From Crust toothpaste in Saudi Arabia to f***ed up vision in Jordan, humor can act as a universal grease to help ease awkward situations, and the Middle East bursts with communication comedy. Check out this sign in the newly opened Queen Alia International Airport terminal:
Lotus flowers were once considered sacred in Egypt and parts of Asia. They hold a secret to a clean nanotechnology.
Like the ancient blue pigment found in ancient Egypt, old spiritual materials like the lotus flower inspire new environmental science: As assistant professor of Environmental Sciences and Engineering at King Abdulla University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Dr. Peng Wang seems to embody this Saudi Arabian university’s motto, “Through Inspiration, Discovery.” His research focuses on the possible uses of environmental nanomaterials in order to solve three of the biggest environmental problems of our time; water scarcity, energy production and pollution.
Wang seems to enjoy the fine tuning of the size and form of these tiny materials in order to solve what sometimes seem to be intractable environmental problems.
He says, “on a personal note, there is always a lot of fun working with these very tiny materials.” Who wouldn’t enjoy studying the lotus effect, pore size modulation and superhydrophobicity? The following is a brief explanation of how environmental nanomaterials can help solve real-world problems.
All you can drink coffee for $50 a month at CupsTelAviv.
Where in the world can you drink as much coffee as you like for less than $50 a month? In Tel Aviv, Israel, it turns out. CupsTelAviv has convinced 40 independent businesses in what is arguably the country’s most caffeinated city to allow members of their program to drink as many cups of coffee as they want in a month for just NIS169 ($45). Albeit great for coffee drinkers and businesses, we have to wonder how good this buffet business model is for public health and the environment?
Cappuccinos, lattes, vanilla-flavored goop, or just straight up espresso are all fair game for this new start up, which CupsTelAviv (site is no longer working since Oct. 2020) CEO Alon Ezer says it is the only loyalty program they know of that goes across a specific chain.
“As far as I know,” he says “this is the only such loyalty program anywhere in the world, and it holds a great promise for not only coffee shops, but for brick-and-mortar retailers of all kinds.”
Back when I was a devoted coffee drinker who couldn’t get past 10am without some serious caffeine coursing through my veins, I used to spend at least $8 a day on a couple of cups of coffee from various venders throughout the country. Multiply eight by 30, and that’s a lot of beans so this Android and iPhone app-driven program would have been great for me.
Ezer insists it’s good for businesses too.
Customers who come in to claim their free coffee are likely to purchase baked goods and other products as well, so the thinking goes, although this assumption underestimates how far a poor hippie will go to stretch what little money they have – and there are loads of those in Tel Aviv.
But too much of a good thing is never great environmentally, particularly if little attention is paid to the source of the coffee offered under this artificially affordable scheme.
Without true dedication to finding fair trade, shade grown coffee, heavy drinkers of this enticing elixir run the risk of supporting businesses that clear large native forests to produce sun-grown coffee. This is not only devastating for biodiversity, but also destroys the carbon sinks so crucial to averting the worst of climate change.
“The caffeine in coffee is a vaso-dilator; it encourages blood out of the circulatory system into the body tissues and it is this that makes it a stimulant,” we wrote in an earlier post. “The veins then re-constrict which leaves too much blood in the tissues, straining the blood system. The vascular system then needs to work that much harder to avoid edema (often seen as swelling of the ankles).”
Much ado has been made of the great solarization of Gulf countries such as Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, but Turkey has made some sun-powered progress too. And the most recent development in the south is also the country’s largest.
Solimpeks is in the process of installing a 500kWp photovoltaic plant on Mercan Mermer’s roof. A well-established stone manufacturing plant in Burdur, the company commissioned the rooftop array in order to reduce its operating costs. All prepped with mounting sets, the roof awaits 2,120 Panasonic HIT N235 modules, which are expected to produce a total of 900,000 kWh of clean energy every year.
About half of Abu Dhabi’s trash will ‘burn’ into green electricity in new $850 million power plant.
Maybe you saw the wonderful movie, Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. Or maybe you’d read stories on Green Prophet about Masdar, or Shams, the world’s largest CSP plant in Abu Dhabi. Arab nations and their economies are certainly not all about oil and natural gas these days, and in fact these nations are becoming leaders in amazing projects in renewable energy. Now in the news: Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates has just announced the creation of an $850 million incinerator plant which will take garbage from the city and “burn” it into green fuel.
An Egypt Nile cruise is synonymous with. A trip to Cairo and Egypt. You can’t say you have been to Egypt without floating down the Nile.
Egypt is not a country that is fond of reporting oil spills – whether they occur on the Red Sea, in the Suez Canal or the Nile. But it has managed to start clean up a worrying diesel spill into the Nile River, a spill which has leaked onto the shores of Lake Nasser, China.org is reporting. The area is near the High Dam in Aswan region, and the Nile waters the breadbasket of Egypt.
Despite much of the government being crippled by ongoing conflicts and protests, the Minister of State for Environmental Affairs, Khaled Fahmy, reportedly ordered that the area be surveyed and the oil contained. Currently there are two marine vessels working to clean up the lake. That which didn’t evaporate is being sponged up, the groups and marine units working on the spill reported to local media.
Legal action will be taken against the cruise ship, the Environment Ministry promised.
Lake Nasser, Egypt. What you see is also Agilkia Island (or Agilika Island) in Lake Nasser, with the the Philae Temple of Isis seen from the Aswan Low Dam.
Just this past October oil spills were being detected in the Nile by cruise ships and local facilities dumping waste there. It was found contaminating the Nile in Aswan region, which then flowed onto Luxor, Qena, Sohag and Assuit governorates.
A special unit has been formed to fight Nile River pollution and tourist ships are starting to be followed and inspected.
Built at the lowest elevation on earth, and less than a year old, this jewel-box of a museum showcases the Dead Sea region’s rich past.
After Israel, no nation has as many Biblical sites as Jordan. The Dead Sea gets several mentions in the Bible, and it’s where the Dead Sea scrolls were found. Jesus was baptized by John in Bethany-Beyond-the-Jordan, before the baptist lost his head in Machaerus.
Jordan was a favorite stomping ground for Moses: he struck a rock in ‘Ain Musa and his people and their livestock drank of its flowing waters. He gazed across the Jordan Valley to the Promised Land, then died at Mount Nebo.
And there’s Lot’s Cave, where the prophet and his daughters sought refuge after the fiery destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. That’s perhaps the Bible’s spiciest story: clan Lot narrowly escapes annihilation in the ancient “sin cities”, the missus turns to salt, and dad runs with his daughters into the Jordan hills for a future seeped in alcohol and incest. And now you can step right in to see where it all went down.
In Israel and well all over the western east, avocado season has arrived. Plump, green avocados are grown from the north of Israel down to Jaffa in the center, all the way to agricultural communities in the southern Negev, such as Neot Semadar.
It is both a local favorite and a major national export. In 2010 the pear-shaped green fruit’s sales reached one-third of all the fruit sold in Europe, according to a Wall Street Journal article dedicated to Israeli produce exporters Agrexco.
Here’s a seasonal recipe for springtime in Israel, a guacamole that tastes like California:
Best guacamole recipe
One ripe avocado
Garlic salt (we like a lot, but you don’t have to overdo it.) Or fresh garlic, even better
Pepper
A dash of salt
Paprika
Some mayo for creaminess
Lemon juice
Chunks of white onion and tomato
A spoon or two of salsa if you want to add a spicy kick
Israeli archaeologists are baffled by a giant cone-shaped structure submerged beneath the waters of the Sea of Galilee.
Twice the diameter of Stonehenge and weighing more than ten elephants, a mysterious cone-shaped structure on the bottom of the Sea of Galilee is challenging archaeologists to determine its purpose and age.
The mound was first detected in 2003 during a sonar survey of the southwest portion of the sea, rising nearly 32 feet high and about 230 yards in diameter under water. Divers have been down to investigate, confirming that it’s made of basalt boulders and cobbles, many over 3 feet long.
According to a report in the latest issue of the International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, the stones don’t conform to a specific pattern of placement, nor do they show signs of cutting or chiseling. Israeli researchers are trying to determine what the estimated 60,000 ton pile of rocks was used for, and who built it.
While the rest of the world is beguiled by Walmarts and Targets, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI has given a $39 million handicraft complex in Fez his royal seal of approval.
Recognizing the value of authentic handmade crafts sought after by tourists in particular, not to mention the job opportunities that accompany such a vibrant cottage industry, Morocco sought assistance from America’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) to resettle an entire community of coppersmiths and tanners in a modernized complex that has less of an environmental impact on the Sebbou River.
Ever wonder what an Arabian lighthouse looks like? Mariners approaching the Red Sea harbor at Thuwal, about one hour north of sprawling Mecca, Saudi Arabia are now guided to shore by a soaring new honeycomb lighthouse designed by the Australian firm Urban Art Projects.
Commissioned by the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), a leading Arab research organization that is devoting increasing resources to clean energy and water research and development, the 60 meter Breakwater Beacon also functions as a communal rendezvous spot.
If we only listened to mainstream media, we would know Beirut as a city full of bullet holes, terrorists and Syrian refugees – all of which are unfortunate realities in the densely populated capital of Lebanon, which borders both Israel and Syria.
