The journal Nature reports that a team of ocean researchers have captured the world’s first video of a giant squid (Architeuthis dux) in its natural environment. The video was captured 700 meters (2300 feet) beneath the Pacific near the Ogasawara archipelago, about 1000 kilometers south of Tokyo Japan. The mission was funded by Japan’s NHK broadcasting […]
Masdar held a packed press conference late last week to announce its launch of three renewably-powered desalination pilot projects. On the last day of the World Future Energy Summit in Abu Dhabi, Masdar CEO Dr. Sultan Al Jaber said that existing desalination technology will continue to “play its role,” but added that the company will […]
Abu Dhabi wants to ensure that by 2020, seven percent of the nation’s energy mix will be comprised of renewables, and Shams 1 – the world’s largest single unit concentrating solar power (CSP) plant – is about to put the emirate one step closer to this goal. A 100 MW CSP plant located 120 km southwest […]
Look! Up in the sky! Is it an office complex? A concert hall? A Turkish bath? Or a parking garage? No, it’s the new ride of an Arab prince – a King-sized jet – one that could hold 800 people. Will you step aboard this airborne greenhouse gas factory? Stuffed inside the fuselage of Prince Alwaleed bin […]
Jordan’s Ministry of Social Development just approved the first coalition of the kingdom’s environmental protection societies. An underlying message of the Arab uprisings is that there’s strength in numbers and power in unity. The voice of Jordan’s disparate nature and environmental entities is about to change, when they join up as the kingdom’s new Environmental Societies Union (ESU). Members will […]
According to experts, climate change and rising food insecurity are major contributors to the recent destabilization of Mali and southern Algeria Over the last couple of years, there has been a growing link between climate change and political issues in the Middle East. During the Arab Spring there was a real recognition that rising food […]
The chairman of the Jordan Green Building Council Mohammad Asfour tells us why nature inspires him to deliver a practical message of action If you have been keeping an eye on the green scene in Jordan, then there’s no chance that you could have missed Mohammed Asfour. As well as the chairman of the Jordan […]
For the two years I lived in Jerusalem, I tried to bike with my crappy communist throwback – a mini gearless green metallic wonder that I bought for the flat streets of Tel Aviv. The bike looked too pitiful to steal and that’s why it suited my tastes. Transplanted to Jerusalem, the labyrinth of hilly neighborhoods, […]
There’s a lot of mingling afoot at conventions, and news of resulting hook-ups (including those we made there) at last week’s Abu Dhabi World Future Energy Summit are starting to hit the press. Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s renewable energy company and host of Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week (ADSW) has signed a framework agreement with Jordan to help […]
Eat like a Paleo man? A pair of new medical books claim that a continual routine of restricted eating results in fat loss, increased longevity and improved overall health. The Prophet Mohammed, may peace be upon him as Muslims are careful to say when they mention his name, was a proponent of regular fasting. Dr. […]
The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are expected to bring 3.5GW of solar capacity online by 2015: Saudi Arabia and Turkey lead the way. A new report published by Green Tech Media (GTM) Research pins the surge from today’s near-negligible production on rapidly rising energy demand spurred by MENA economic expansion, population growth, and […]
Quinoa is a healthy superfood filling up kitchen cupboards of ethical and vegetarian eaters, but quinoa comes at a high price for those in Peru and Bolivia, If you’re a vegan or vegetarian or someone who is just trying to eat a little more consciously, you know that shopping can be something of a nightmare. […]
It was about a decade in the making: without much fanfare the World Bank has released a report stating that the Dead Sea – Red Sea Canal project (also called the Red Dead Conduit) will work. The basic idea is to take salty water from the Red Sea, pump it up to a channel, desalinate it […]
New Nature study research shows that fatal first world, hospital-born diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile can be treated with donor feces. It’s exactly what it sounds like. Transferring feces of a (healthy, tested) donor to the gut of a patient suffering from life-threatening diarrhea. These are cases where the body’s natural, beneficial bacteria are wiped out from many rounds […]
"In this way, they aim to save the Turkish economy $4 billion," groaned Nilgün Tekfidan Gümüş, a columnist in the Turkish daily Hürriyet newspaper (in Turkish), one of the papers which featured a full-page advertisement from the Mrs. Energy campaign.