All suited to the Middle East climate and budget, here are 6 green buildings that just about anyone can build without a mortgage. People often say of green building projects that they aren’t affordable. This is true if you’re shooting to live in a glittering LEED certified urban high rise in Dubai or Saudi Arabia, […]
Dubai is not the first Middle Eastern country you think of when you think climate-friendly. That’s about to change. Dubai will develop a strategy to reduce carbon dioxide and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as recommendations for ultimately monetising them through a groundbreaking carbon trading scheme, it was announced today. “Our commitment towards a green […]
10,000 years after inventing agriculture, will we 7 billion take this strange next step?
Do you keep a covered bucket in the kitchen for the organic garbage? If you do, you know only too well how awful it can smell. Hamamit, an Israeli supplier of greenhouses and composters, offers an odor-free home composter that turns kitchen scraps into dry compost in 18 hours.
Huge bee die offs do not bode well for agriculture in Lebanon A staggering proportion of bees in an important agricultural hub have frozen to death in Lebanon. A recent influx of extreme weather that produced ice and frost combined with a series of diseases has wiped out up to 75% of the bees in […]
The most recent satellite image of Iran’s Lake Urmia demonstrates how drastically the lake has shrunk since 1998! Last year an Iranian activists were beaten for protesting government projects that are detrimental to Lake Urmia – the largest landlocked salt lake in the country. Before and after images captured by the Thematic Mapper on NASA’s […]
Laura offers tips on unloading the stuff that comes between you and a broken heart. Broken relationships may leave us sad, lonely, or even relieved, but they also leave us with a pile of stuff acquired over that love-lifetime. Oh, the twaddle we collect in a romantic stupor. Maybe your lonely-heart loot has amped up value: […]
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is not particularly known for its commitment to conservation of the environment. Instead, being the world’s largest producer of petroleum products it faces a number of related dilemmas. From oil spills to decline in sensitive marine habitats, to plain old oil pollution, the kingdom has its feet firmly grounded as […]
Back in November we reported on a solar plant in Hebron that was threatened with demolition orders issued by the Israeli administration. However, diplomatic pressure from the Spanish government which paid for the project helped save the solar panels from destruction. It now appears that a further 6 solar and wind turbine projects in the […]
Visual clues about you are just the tip of the information iceberg. Your shopping habits can be made malleable by others through data mining. New York Times writer Charles Duigg wrote how Target predicted a teen’s pregnancy before her own father knew. He described a man demanding to speak to a superstore manager: “My daughter got this […]
Are you up for a bit of quiet activism? Take our plastic bag challenge This is a call to arms, and to hands: my challenge to you when you shop this week, this month or this year. Tell the clerk you’ll pass on that bag, instead tuck your purchases into your pockets or purse. Bring your own sack and […]
Two fertilizer companies are funding R&D of cutting edge agricultural and energy innovations at a new pilot plant in Qatar. The Sahara Forest Project was borne out of a dire necessity to ensure the long term survival of residents living in the Middle East’s desert regions. 60 People from 12 countries have contributed research to […]
A retired Saudi teacher has built a now-coveted guesthouse using discarded materials from nearby construction sites. Hadram Bin Shalan was the object of neighborly scorn when he announced plans to build a guesthouse out of recycled materials in southwestern Saudi Arabia. Seven years later and the former science teacher earns a healthy sum each time […]
Country data reveals that Syria, Lebanon and Iraq are potentially the only virtual water exporting countries in the Middle East. Get in the know about blue, green and grey water footprints. Following the previous article on measuring your Ecological Footprint, here we will focus on the Water Footprint. Let’s start with understanding the Virtual Water […]
This year's MENASOL on the 16th and 17th of May in Abu Dhabi, offers something even more special!