A comprehensive analysis published by AstroTurf experts on turf field safety identifies several critical factors that separate premium synthetic surfaces from standard installations.
Opioid drugs including oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl have fueled an ever-worsening epidemic in the US. And after giant events in New Orleans they are popping up in the wastewater.
Neom, a bombastic collection of futuristic cities and resorts, has flopped as Saudi oil prices roll back reality. The Saudi plan of hosting the 2029 Asian games to be held at Trojena, a ski report in the desert, has been cancelled.
A comprehensive analysis published by AstroTurf experts on turf field safety identifies several critical factors that separate premium synthetic surfaces from standard installations.
Opioid drugs including oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl have fueled an ever-worsening epidemic in the US. And after giant events in New Orleans they are popping up in the wastewater.
Neom, a bombastic collection of futuristic cities and resorts, has flopped as Saudi oil prices roll back reality. The Saudi plan of hosting the 2029 Asian games to be held at Trojena, a ski report in the desert, has been cancelled.
A comprehensive analysis published by AstroTurf experts on turf field safety identifies several critical factors that separate premium synthetic surfaces from standard installations.
Opioid drugs including oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl have fueled an ever-worsening epidemic in the US. And after giant events in New Orleans they are popping up in the wastewater.
Neom, a bombastic collection of futuristic cities and resorts, has flopped as Saudi oil prices roll back reality. The Saudi plan of hosting the 2029 Asian games to be held at Trojena, a ski report in the desert, has been cancelled.
A comprehensive analysis published by AstroTurf experts on turf field safety identifies several critical factors that separate premium synthetic surfaces from standard installations.
Opioid drugs including oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl have fueled an ever-worsening epidemic in the US. And after giant events in New Orleans they are popping up in the wastewater.
Neom, a bombastic collection of futuristic cities and resorts, has flopped as Saudi oil prices roll back reality. The Saudi plan of hosting the 2029 Asian games to be held at Trojena, a ski report in the desert, has been cancelled.
A comprehensive analysis published by AstroTurf experts on turf field safety identifies several critical factors that separate premium synthetic surfaces from standard installations.
Opioid drugs including oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl have fueled an ever-worsening epidemic in the US. And after giant events in New Orleans they are popping up in the wastewater.
Neom, a bombastic collection of futuristic cities and resorts, has flopped as Saudi oil prices roll back reality. The Saudi plan of hosting the 2029 Asian games to be held at Trojena, a ski report in the desert, has been cancelled.
A comprehensive analysis published by AstroTurf experts on turf field safety identifies several critical factors that separate premium synthetic surfaces from standard installations.
Opioid drugs including oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl have fueled an ever-worsening epidemic in the US. And after giant events in New Orleans they are popping up in the wastewater.
Neom, a bombastic collection of futuristic cities and resorts, has flopped as Saudi oil prices roll back reality. The Saudi plan of hosting the 2029 Asian games to be held at Trojena, a ski report in the desert, has been cancelled.
A comprehensive analysis published by AstroTurf experts on turf field safety identifies several critical factors that separate premium synthetic surfaces from standard installations.
Opioid drugs including oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl have fueled an ever-worsening epidemic in the US. And after giant events in New Orleans they are popping up in the wastewater.
Neom, a bombastic collection of futuristic cities and resorts, has flopped as Saudi oil prices roll back reality. The Saudi plan of hosting the 2029 Asian games to be held at Trojena, a ski report in the desert, has been cancelled.
A comprehensive analysis published by AstroTurf experts on turf field safety identifies several critical factors that separate premium synthetic surfaces from standard installations.
Opioid drugs including oxycodone, heroin and fentanyl have fueled an ever-worsening epidemic in the US. And after giant events in New Orleans they are popping up in the wastewater.
Neom, a bombastic collection of futuristic cities and resorts, has flopped as Saudi oil prices roll back reality. The Saudi plan of hosting the 2029 Asian games to be held at Trojena, a ski report in the desert, has been cancelled.
Historic rains filled the once dry Ayalon River bed that runs through Tel Aviv, flooding highways, homes, and public buildings. Overnight, the Sea of Galilee or Lake Kinneret rose 22 centimeters and water reservoirs near the Golan Heights filled to capacity, prompting Israel’s Park and Nature Authority to peg the storm a “water celebration.”
But urban dwellers aren’t celebrating at all. Sections of the central arteries of Tel Aviv, Ayalon Highway and Highway 1, were closed to traffic in both directions and all four of the city’s railway stations are closed, reports Haaretz. Areas north of the Mediterranean city have been swamped as well and authorities are bracing for the real possibility that both the Ayalon and Yarkon rivers will burst their banks.
Dubai International Airport (DXB) will overtake Heathrow as the world’s biggest international airport by 2015.
What’s the environmental impact of the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) decade of relentless aviation growth? In 2000, Dubai didn’t warrant mention on a register of the world’s Top 100 airports. By 2010, it had soared to 13th place, reaching 4th place a year later. At this rate, Dubai will overtake Heathrow as the world’s biggest international airport within the next three years, according to Willie Walsh, the Head of International Airlines Group, in a speech to London’s House of Commons Transport Committee.
How will airport expansion incorporate – at a minimum – environmental stewardship – and, ideally – environmental leadership? Originally built on a sparsely developed plateau, located about a 10 minute drive from downtown Dubai, the near 9,000-acre facility is now surrounded by dense residential and commercial development.
Sisters or the the Olive trees of Noah, are the 16 oldest olive trees in the world found in the community of Bechealeh, Lebanon. Some 6,000 years old, folklorists say these have Biblical origins.
Tucked away in the sleepy village of Bechealeh, Lebanon, 16 olive trees have witnessed 6000 years of political unrest, plagues, diseases, varying climatic conditions and changing civilizations.
In fact these “trees of Noah” are considered by locals to be a living miracle because nature, as we all know, is often silent and passive in the face of hardship, greed and violence so the fact that these arcane olive trees have managed to skirt 6000 years of climatic shifts, hacking axes and diseases makes me believe that, as improbable as this may sound, that there has been some mystical or divine providence watching over and protecting those trees for Bechealeh, for Lebanon and – who knows – maybe even for all the rest of us.
World’s oldest olive trees are in Lebanon
More endangered than Bengal tigers or wild pandas, “the Sisters” olive trees, as locals call them, should be regarded as a precious national asset.
And although the ministry of tourism and culture have recognized the sister olive trees as a site of national importance and the olive trees have earned a spot on Lebanese stamps, and are on their way to be commemorated on the currency notes of the Lebanese Lira; governmental support to actively protect the trees and the heritage of Bechealeh has been shy at best.
Local populations have worked very hard together to maintain the trees and historical structures, yet financial support is greatly needed to ensure that the sites are being preserved fully and correctly and to valorize the area through different projects such as; creating a wildlife preserve, enforcing hunting bans, connecting the historical sites with the modern trails, christening the olive oil open air museum mill as well as creating Bechealeh’s first cultural and library center.
“The Sisters” olive trees of Noah (as of Feb. 2020 the site was down, and we suspect the NGO too) is a non- profit organization, which has been set up in Bechaleh in order to safeguard its rare ecological and historic gift for generations to come.
Currently the organization is producing and selling top of the line olive oil from its ancient trees to ensure a sustainable source of revenue for the community owned groves and to establish a stable financial inflow to develop the above mentioned projects.
When interviewing George Billing, CEO of The Sisters Olive Trees of Noah, he described to me an olive oil that has been lovingly produced through cold crushing, 4 hours after picking the olives.
The result is unfiltered liquid gold with very low acidity of 0.18°- 0.24°, very high in polyphenols and a unique taste which include notes of pepper, Herbes de Provence and almonds: the goal for the organization is to produce the best olive oil in the Mediterranean Basin.
“The Sisters” olive trees remain one of the great unresolved and virtually unexplored pre-Biblical mysteries; common folklore and a few Biblical Scholars believe that these are the trees from which the dove took the branch back to Noah when the deluge subsided.
This is a plausible theory if you consider that during that great flood when the whole of the Middle East was underwater, “The Sisters” perched at 1300 meters in altitude made them the de facto highest ever planted olive trees from antiquity till our modern day era.
But what we really want to know is…
Are olives a fruit?
Olives are, indeed, small fruits that grow on olive trees (Olea europaea). They belong to a group of fruit called drupes, or stone fruits, and olives are related to mangoes, cherries, peaches, almonds, and pistachios.
Olives are very high in vitamin E and other powerful antioxidants. We started eating them only after discovering their oil. Olives are a key component of the human diet, culinary culture, and economy of the Mediterranean region. Archeological findings and written testimony shows that olive oil was used extensively for consumption, lighting, worship, hygiene, and cosmetic purposes in ancient times. However, the date when olives began to be eaten has remained a mystery. But this story suggests it has the answers.
They took their pilot run from Europe to Morocco, now the Swiss solar plane will fly across America.
Sometime next summer, an airplane with the wingspan of an Airbus A340 but weighing not much more than a Toyota will fly from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., and on to New York. The history-making cross-country trip will be achieved without burning a single ounce of jet fuel — or any other fuel for that matter.
If the two Swiss pilots behind Solar Impulse can pull that off, their next goal will be even more ambitious: a round-the-world flight in 2015 lasting 20 to 25 days.
It’s an attractive recipe. This all-natural sugar wax is most popular in Egypt and Lebanon. There are plenty of videos which present efficient instructions on how to proceed with the depilatory “cooking.” But we like the video better below.
Sugar wax sugaring recipe
Sugar, white or brown (1 cup)
Water (2 Tbsp)
Lemon juice (1.5 Tbsp)
Salt, optional (1 tsp)
Sugaring Wax Method
Combine these above natural ingredients in a saucepan and simmer on low heat. Allow the mixture to thicken and turn golden-brown. (Just like freshly baked cookies you know it’s good when it’s golden-brown.)
Stir the mixture with a spoon, making sure the sugar crystals dissolve. Within roughly eight minutes, it will thicken considerably and take on a syrupy consistency. Be careful not to let it burn.
Watch as the mixture turns a darker brown, turn off the heat, and let the forming wax cool for a couple of minutes.
And voilà (as this is also called Persian waxing), there you have your wax. Apply where desired and pull in the opposite direction of hair growth.
The wax is totally reusable so stick the leftover portion in plastic and put it in the fridge. 10 seconds in the microwave will be enough when you want to use it later.
The sweetness of this sugar wax cannot be denied: it’s sticky, like toffee, and the color of caramel.
It’s also effective, cheap, and non-harmful.
Great for sexy legs. So try it at home. I know I will!
Every year when farmers start harvesting their sugar cane, maize and other crops, Cairenes brace themselves for what is ominously known as “The Black Cloud.” Caused when seasonal meteorological conditions meet the smoke released by burning agricultural waste, the heavy black pollution settles over an already smoggy Cairo, and respiratory diseases flourish.
Now a new team of ambitious young Egyptians aims not only to scrub the skies clean of its soot, but to make a pile of money doing so. Founded by Yahia Mohamed Reda, who devoted his graduation project at Banha University to finding a way to convert agricultural waste into activated carbon, RecycloEgy must first raise the funds that will see this lofty ambition through.
Why and how have migrant domestic worker’s rights been violated in Lebanon?
Five decades after the development of the kefala (sponsorship) system, Lebanon’s two-hundred thousand migrant domestic workers continue to be denied central human rights like the right to self-realization which is interlinked with the right to freedom of movement, just conditions of work and the right to legal recognition.
The issue of domestic violence and the rights of migrant workers in Lebanon has already been covered by Green Prophet, but the origin of such human rights issues has never been fully deconstructed before. Here, for the very first time, the details of how the sponsorship system has brought about such abuses is revealed through a detailed infographic story board designed and researched by AltCity (Dima Saber), the Migrant Worker Task Force (Jeremy Menchik) and graphic designer Joumana Ibrahim.
A group of Yemeni high school girls have created a suite of solar-powered gadgets to help illuminate their country’s post-revolution darkness. When the first revolutions began to sweep through the Arab world, we were all so hopeful about the changes to follow. So hopeful, we called this time the “Arab Spring.” But for people living in Yemen, hope was almost completely extinguished with the lights.
Wafi Al-Rimi told Al Monitor that there were times when the capital, Sanaa, only had electricity for one hour a day, which made studying for exams tricky. So she and her all-girl posse developed low cost solar-powered solutions with help from an entrepreneurship program offered through their school by the non profit INJAZ Yemen, an offshoot of the Colorado-based business education program Junior Achievement Worldwide. They even started a company!
Ecolon, a silicon based coating ingredient, is not only used in the cookware industry, but also has many uses in other products as well, including automobile parts and accessories.
The issue of whether ecolon and other coating substances (including teflon) are dangerous to human health is still not entirely settled; and one company, Neoflam, which was singled by Kolbotek even filed a lawsuit against against the television program for giving what that company says is a false report on the dangers of its ceramic cookware products. A few years before the Kolbotek program was aired, back in 2007, Neoflam sent samples of its products to America’s FDA laboratories for testing. The test findings determined that there were 0.5 mg per kilogram of cadmium, 5 mg per kilogram of lead and 2 mg per kilogram of mercury present in the ecolon coating . The findings at that time were “non-determinable” as to any harm caused to consumers as a result of the use of these coatings.
Chart showing effects of high cooking temperatures on PTFE coated utensils
One interesting recent finding that people might be interested in learning, however, is the effect that cooking fumes from polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) or teflon coatings on many cooking utensils have on both humans and animals; especially pet birds like parrots. Studies on this substance . which is also used in bags containing microwave popcorn, have found that not only is prolonged use of these utensils causing low birth weights in humans but may also be responsible for the deaths of pet birds, especially parrots.
The bird deaths are said to be attributed to the fumes emitted by the non-stick coatings when the cookware is submitted to high temperatures during cooking. The emitted fumes are then said to cause the birds to quickly produce high amounts of fluids in their lungs as a protective measure measure against the fumes. The increased fluids then literally choke the birds to death. These bird death from teflon fumes have been noted in various studies going back to 2003 and earlier . No findings on bird deaths from fumes coming from the use of ceramic coated cookware have been noted, however.
As the jury is still out on the dangers on using ceramic coated cookware, consumers who use these products should only use the higher quality ones that have been certified as “green” cooking utensils. Following the manufacturer’s usage instructions, including not cooking on extremely hot fires or burners and using a bit of oil like olive oil in the pan, are good ideas as well.
More articles on issues surrounding ceramic and PTFE coated cookware:
Can computer generated Bengal tigers help save the 1850 real ones which remain in the wild?
The Life of Pi is a novel by Yann Martel, first published in 2001. It told the story of a boy whose family is shipwrecked while moving their private zoo’s animals from French India to Canada. It was thought to be unfilmable. In Ang Lee’s film adaptation, Piscine Molitor (aka Pi) , played by the delightful young Suraj Sharma, is the only human survivor of the shipwreck. No, I haven’t given the story away. The Life of Pi is open in Turkey, Jordan and other cinemas throughout the Mideast. It faces stiff competition from Peter Jackson’s The Hobbit and Les Misérables, but if you’re looking for a beautiful movie with a thought-provoking environmental connection, consider the Life of Pi.
“We’re dying Richard Parker. I’m sorry.”A tearful Pi says this to a surviving castaway aboard his lifeboat. His companion is a Bengal tiger who was dubbed Richard Parker after a name mix up between a tiger its hunter. Like the novel it was based on, The Life of Pi takes us on a philosophical adventure. It explores the nature of reality, truth, religion and storytelling. Like the book it also contains some fascinating ecological metaphors. We can imagine his lifeboat as Noah’s ark or as a microcosm of our world. As a boy, Pi studied many religions and several of these hold that humans are stewards over our planet.
Is there a Middle East nation with the chops to follow this public health leader?
Government scored a massive win over the tobacco industry in 2012 when the Australian High Court ruled in favor of plain packaging for cigarettes, making this the first country to require all tobacco products to be sold in plain, standardized packaging.
Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd told AlJazeera, “Cigarettes are not cool. Cigarettes kill people. Therefore, the government makes no apology whatsoever for what it’s doing.”
So starting last month, it’s goodbye brand-specific logos, symbols, and colors. The new packaging has a dull matt finish, with graphic health warnings printed against a drab brown background. Brand names are featured, but in a standard position, font size and style.
It works to deter people from smoking, especially young women and children, so says new research from BioMed Central, online publisher of peer-reviewed scientific research. It’s also expected to help smokers wishing to quit. Wildly unattractive, they leave no chance that people will be misled about the dangers of smoking.
The upshot is that the packaging’s most prominent feature is stark medical images.
Sanjid Amatya, a cashier at a Sydney newsagent, told The Jordan Times that many customers found the new packaging (which feature images such as a gangrenous foot, mouth cancer and a skeletal man dying of cancer) “off-putting”. Another retailer said customers select the least offensive images (a hand stubbing out a cigarette), or opt to buy cigarette cases so they can toss out original packaging.
Stafford Sanders from Action on Smoking and Health Australia told AFP, “The images are supposed to be disturbing, be confronting. If the images stop one child from taking up smoking, hasn’t it been worth you being offended by it?”
Other countries are considering the Australian example.
Last summer, American courts ruled against use of similar imagery saying it went beyond offering up information that cigarette smokers need to know. The tobacco industry fought the change, claiming the horrific pictures limited freedom of expression which is guaranteed by the first amendment of the United States constitution. The US Food and Drug Administration had planned to post the photos on cigarette packages beginning in September 2012. It’s uncertain if the FDA will appeal the decision at the Supreme Court.
Irish Cancer Society (ICS) head of advocacy and communications Kathleen O’Meara said the society would be seeking to progress the issue of plain packaging with the Ministry of Health, “perhaps becoming the first European country to introduce plain packaging”, she told The Irish Examiner. The ICS conducted focus groups that found cigarette packages targeting female smokers did not look as if they could cause any harm and were viewed more like a fashion accessory.
Last August, to comply with World Health Organization treaty obligations, packaging on cigarettes sold in Jordan and Egypt began to feature vivid photos of smoking health risks. It’s a big step for countries where public discussion on the evils of tobacco is nearly nonexistent. The American Cancer Society says smoking grew 8.6% in the Middle East over the past year. Jordanians spend half a billion US dollars annually on tobacco. This, in a nation where 25% of households earn less than $6,000 per year. The associated costs due to lost productivity, chronic illness and death are incalculable.
We hope Middle Eastern governments will calmly review the evidence emerging from the Australian action, not be swayed by the distorted misinformation put out by the tobacco industry and its allies, and implement similar public health protections.
Worldwide close to 50 million couples are unable to conceive after five years of trying, states a recent report.
A recent World Health Organization report of 277 national surveys estimates that infertility rates have remained consistent over the past 20 years, with North Africa and the Middle East showing the strongest negative trends in reproductive fertility.
Land mines kill 42 people every month. They’re all over Egypt, where Bedouins frequently lose limbs while daring desert treks, and in 81 other countries around the globe. Pernicious and anonymous, these weapons of mass devastation are almost impossible to destroy without compromising human lives. Which means that any solution that attempts to do so deserves the full weight of our support.
Enter Massoud Hassani and the biodegradable bamboo “minesweeper” featured previously on Green Prophet. An enormously popular wind-powered device modeled after the Afghan designer’s childhood toy, the spherical Mine Kafon has biodegradable bamboo and plastic spikes that detonate landmines rooted out with help from a sophisticated GPS chip embedded in the large ball.
When 97 percent of a nation’s energy is imported, every renewable energy gift counts. Jordan received a $300 million grant from the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which Minister of Energy and Transportation Alaa Batayneh says will be used to develop a host of solar and wind energy projects in southern Jordan, The Jordan Times reports.
Need incentive to eat healthier? Diabetes, stroke and heart disease, have become the dominant cause of death and disability worldwide.
Obesity and its myriad complications produce health problems greater than those caused by hunger: according to a new report published in the British medical journal The Lancet, it’s the leading cause of disability around the world. Middle Eastern countries are more obese than ever, experiencing a 100% increase since 1990.
Green Prophet has reported on the Gulf’s supersized children, and advised readers that four of the ten fattest nations weigh in from the Middle East. According to the World Health Organization’s Global Burden of Disease Study 2010 (GBD 2010), more years of life are now lost from obesity than from hunger. But its not just this region that’s straining at the seams. In the past twenty years, global obesity rates have increased over 80% in an epidemic touching every country outside of sub-Saharan Africa.
Historic rains filled the once dry Ayalon River bed that runs through Tel Aviv, flooding highways, homes, and public buildings. Overnight, the Sea of Galilee or Lake Kinneret rose 22 centimeters and water reservoirs near the Golan Heights filled to capacity, prompting Israel’s Park and Nature Authority to peg the storm a “water celebration.”
Sisters or the the Olive trees of Noah, are the 16 oldest olive trees in the world found in the community of Bechealeh, Lebanon. Some 6,000 years old, folklorists say these have Biblical origins.
Can computer generated Bengal tigers help save the 1850 real ones which remain in the wild?
