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Noble Energy May be Pushing its Luck by Drilling for Deep Oil in the Med

Maurice Picow
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Noble Energy May be Pushing its Luck by Drilling for Deep Oil in the Med

Satellite view of Deepwater Horizen oil spill slick, April 30, 2010Satellite view of Deepwater Horizen oil spill slick, April 30, 2010: Photo by US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Noble Energy, the Houston based energy company, has been working with both Israel and Cyprus to find commercial quantities of natural gas under the eastern Mediterranean seabed . Noble Energy’s Mediterranean undersea energy exploration has included the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields, together with energy tycoons like Delek Energy’s  Yitzhak Tshuva. The natural gas finds so far are estimated to be able to provide Israel with enough natural gas to satisfy energy needs for 150 years – if handled wisely.

Further exploration by Noble and other energy companies are now revealing that oil deposits, located under some of the gas fields, may also be worth going after; even though this would involve very deep and environmentally risky drilling processes. These gas fields include the Leviathan field, off Israel’s coastal city of Haifa; and the Aphrodite gas field off the southern coast of Cyprus.

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Seed Money Available to Protect Mediterranean Basin Birds

Faisal O'Keefe
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Seed Money Available to Protect Mediterranean Basin Birds

mediterranean birds sunsetSeed money up to $1 million to protect your local birds. Apply today.

Sick of reading about Cyprus songbirds killed and pickled for snacks?  Weary of wild killing sprees like Egypt’s sanctioned bird hunt ? Or maybe the downed flamingos in Kuwait ruffled your feathers?

BirdLife International has created a fund to underwrite environmental preservation projects in one of the world’s top biodiversity hotspots: the Mediterranean Basin. Check out their new website to learn more about the group and their work.  Especially nice is a link where you can enter your country and see which species are at risk and find resources to get involved locally.  A search on Jordan, as example, leads to The Royal Society for the Conservation of Nature, BirdLife’s partner in Jordan, which in turn will advise on in-kingdom conservation.

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Jordan Struggles To Provide Water For Syrian Refugees

Arwa Aburawa
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Jordan Struggles To Provide Water For Syrian Refugees

syria water jordan refugeesThe 19-month conflict in Syria goes from bad to worse – and there are environmental impacts for the region too

“The situation is bad and getting worse,” U.N.-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi said today, lamenting the collapse of the truce he helped broker over the Eid al-Adha holiday. A car bomb which exploded near a Damascus mosque shattered the fragile ceasefire which had done little to stem violence across the country. And so, the 19-month conflict rages on with costs to the Syrian people and the region. In a previous post, I covered how poor water policies may have aggravated the conflict in Syria but Jordan – which has taken in over 200,000 Syrians- is now struggling with its own water supplies for refugees.

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Etgar Keret’s Skinny House in Poland

Tafline Laylin
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Etgar Keret’s Skinny House in Poland

Ermitage house, Etgar Keret, Israeli writer, skinny house, Warsaw, Poland, tiny house, Jakub Szczensy, CentralaWe’ve all been trying to imagine: just how skinny is Etgar Keret’s Ermitage house in Warsaw, Poland? Literally wedged between two buildings, the studio is one of the most talked about tiny homes on the web. Designed by Jakub Szczensy of Centrala as a tribute to Keret’s family who died during the WWII Holocaust, the project also has a humorous side. Step in for photos and a bonus cartoon at the end which briefly outlines the origin of this crazy idea.

Etgar Keret, Israeli writer, skinny house, Warsaw, Poland, tiny house, Jakub Szczensy, Centrala

The house is so skinny you can hardly see it squeezed between these two larger buildings.

Etgar Keret, Israeli writer, skinny house, Warsaw, Poland, tiny house, Jakub Szczensy, Ermitage house, Centrala

The image on the left of Etgar Keret was taken by Bartek Warzecha and came from the writer’s official Facebook page.

Etgar Keret, Israeli writer, skinny house, Warsaw, Poland, tiny house, Jakub Szczensy, Centrala

This is the westward side of the home. Notice the grid panel that allows natural light and ventilation to penetrate the interior.

Etgar Keret, Israeli writer, skinny house, Warsaw, Poland, tiny house, Jakub Szczensy, Centrala

The door almost seems wider than the house, which will be used as a studio for invited guests – young creators and intellectualists from all over the world, according to a statement from the design team.

etgar keret house bed

“The residential program, conducted in the heart of Wola, is supposed to produce creative work conditions and become a significant platform for world intellectual exchange.”

warsaw skinny house etgar keret at desk

Images via Etgar Keret; Wikicommons; two lower photos via EK News

‘Queen of Mean’ Leona Helmsley’s Trust to Fund Solar Energy Research in Israel

Tafline Laylin
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‘Queen of Mean’ Leona Helmsley’s Trust to Fund Solar Energy Research in Israel

Leona Helmsley, Queen of Mean, Convicted Felon, Will for her Dog, Weizmann Institute, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, renewable energy, solar energy, biofuels, clean techKnown as the ‘Queen of Mean’ because of her tyrannical behavior towards just about everyone who crossed her path, Leona M. Helmsley was also a convicted felon who set up a $12 million trust for her Maltese Trouble. That amount was reduced to a more reasonable $2 million to ensure lifelong care for the dog, while the remaining $10 million was passed on to two grandchildren that Helmsley had disavowed in her will.

Famous for saying “We don’t pay taxes. Only little people pay taxes,” Helmsley left $4 billion for the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust that is now valued at roughly $5-8 billion. And $15 million of that, the trust recently announced, will be used to fund a dynamic joint program between the Weizmann Institute of Science and Technion-Israel Institute of Technology to accelerate renewable energy research.

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Eco Craft That Junk Drawer Into Toddler Discovery Toy

Faisal O'Keefe
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Eco Craft That Junk Drawer Into Toddler Discovery Toy

eco toy toddler water bottle
Execute some alchemy and turn random junk and recyclables into a smart toy for your toddler. 

This takes so little time and attracts such rave reviews you’ll be tempted to make a batch for future gift-giving, school projects, and maybe replace birthday “goody bags” with a toy that will get real use.  An Amman school is making them by the boxful to donate to Jordan orphanages. It’s based on a pricey educational toy that’s been around for decades: someone gifted my-then toddler daughter with a “Find It“, and a dozen years on, she’ll still pull it off a shelf and play with it (OK, so maybe just when the internet’s down).

Here’s how to make your own “discovery bottle”.

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A look at Islam’s Eid al-Adha 2012 Across the Middle East

Leigh Cuen
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A look at Islam’s Eid al-Adha 2012 Across the Middle East

Mecca, Holiday, Muslim, Eid, Middle East, Environment, War, FeastThis time of year marks one of Islam’s most sacred holidays, Eid al-Adha. The four-day holiday corresponds with the height of the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca in Saudi Arabia, which draws two million Muslim pilgrims a year.

Eid began Friday and will end Monday, the last day of the Hajj. When traveling in Palestinian cities, I have always marveled at the street art communities make to welcome pilgrims home.

Eid al-Adha is also known as the Holiday of Sacrifice, the Feast of the Sacrifice, the Major Festival, the Greater Eid and Bakrid.

Fires, ritual animal slaughter (and sharing that meat with the poor), and feasts are among the cherished celebratory customs.

There has been much debate about the role of meat in the celebration. In 2011, Jordanian Princess Alia spoke about the importance of humane animal slaughter when celebrating Eid al-Adha.

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Heart-wrenching Video of Two Hyenas Rescued from Lebanon

Tafline Laylin
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Heart-wrenching Video of Two Hyenas Rescued from Lebanon

Lebanon, Striped Hyena, animal rights, wildlife conservation, animal rescue, animal crueltyAnimals Lebanon rescued two striped hyenas that had been captured as pups in the wild and they are now safe in their new home in southern France. Five year old Rita was living in the Ansar Zoo, which was bombed in 2006 and left to ruin. Sara, just two, spent her entire life in a cage the same size as her in a private garden. Her brother, who lived in a cage below her, died not long after he was captured. His bones and skin were left in the cage.

For one year, the animal conservation group worked with the Agricultural and Environmental Ministries to emigrate the two animals, which are badly stigmatized in the Middle East. Some critics said they should have been released back into the wild, but there aren’t sufficient resources in Lebanon to rehabilitate the animals and they almost certainly would not have survived.

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Camel Milk Chocolate and Mideast Dates Permeate Global Markets

Faisal O'Keefe
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Camel Milk Chocolate and Mideast Dates Permeate Global Markets

camel milk chocolate, camel milk middle east

Camel milk and dates are now bona fide links in the international gourmet food chain. And while this bodes well for Middle East economics, is the associated environmental news happy too? I questioned this last summer in Malahide, a tiny Irish seaside village where I used to live.  I was staying with friends and their child offered me some camel-milk chocolate (“It’s just lovely”, she said).  I went to wash my hands, and noticed all of their bathroom soaps contained Dead Sea minerals.

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German Giant Siemens is Selling Off Solel and its Solar Assets

Tafline Laylin
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German Giant Siemens is Selling Off Solel and its Solar Assets

Siemens, solar, solel, solar trough, photovoltaics, solar thermal, cleantech, This is big news in the solar world: German giant Siemens, which recently unveiled photographs of its new headquarters in Masdar City, has recently announced that it’s selling off all of its solar assets, including Solel, an Israeli solar builder that the firm only acquired within the last few years for $418 million.

“Due to the changed framework conditions, lower growth and strong price pressure in the solar markets, the company’s expectations for its solar energy activities have not been met,” Siemens said in a statement, according to Bloomberg.

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Bosnian Walks 3,600 Miles to Mekkah

Arwa Aburawa
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Bosnian Walks 3,600 Miles to Mekkah

hadzic bosnia walk hajjSenad Hadzic walked for 314 days and crossed six countries from his village in Bosnia to get to Mekkah in time for Hajj

Last year we covered the amazing story of two South African Muslims who had cycled all the way to Mekkah. Not much more you could do to top that we thought at the time, but we were wrong. A 47-year old man from Bosnia has walked all the way from his village to the holy city of Mekkah. With only €200 in his pocket, he said he couldn’t afford to make the sacred pilgrimage any other way. Wakling between 12 to 20 miles a day, Senad Hadzic crossed six countries and entered Saudi Arabia last week in time for Hajj and the upcoming Eid celebrations. Now that’s what I call a green pilgrimage!

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We Interview Better Place Car Owners in Israel

Maurice Picow
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We Interview Better Place Car Owners in Israel

better place battery switchInside a Better Place battery switching station. Maurice interviews two Better Place electric car buyers who defend their decision to buy electric, and support the company which is flailing financially.

Better Place international CEO Shai Agassi has been fired from the company he founded ; and in the wake of his departure, the company may also be laying off large numbers of staff, according to media rumors. But despite these recent revelations, owners of the Renault Fluence ZE cars that were redesigned to be total electric are still upbeat regarding the future of the company which introduced its battery switching network into Israel and other countries as well; including Australia and Denmark. 

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Jordan Terminates Uranium Mining License with French Firm AREVA

Arwa Aburawa
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Jordan Terminates Uranium Mining License with French Firm AREVA

jordan uranium areva nuclearFollowing a dispute over the details of their joint contract, the Jordanian government has parted ways with the french company AREVA

Back in 2010, the Jordanian government granted exclusive uranium extraction rights for nuclear energy to the French company AREVA. It has now been announced that the mining license has been cancelled following a dispute over whether the license covered prospecting or both exploration and mining. Given the exclusive nature of the contract, Greenpeace are now calling on the government to clarify whether this “announcement means the end of all urnanium mining plans.” And if there is no uranium to supply their nuclear power plants, is there still a future for Jordan’s nuclear ambitions?

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Hijab Moves From Sports, to a News Room, to a Green Debate

Faisal O'Keefe
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Hijab Moves From Sports, to a News Room, to a Green Debate

Fatma Nabil headscarf, egypt tv, arab spring, hijab

Last month, a woman wearing a Muslim hijab headscarf presented the headlines on an Egyptian television news program, becoming headline news herself. So why the alarm when anchor Fatma Nabil appeared on Channel 1 (one of several state-run TV stations) wearing an off-white hijab that covered her hair and neck? And why is this issue connected to the environment?

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There’s a Burj Qatar by Jean Nouvel and it’s the World’s ‘Best’ Tall Building

Tafline Laylin
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2
There’s a Burj Qatar by Jean Nouvel and it’s the World’s ‘Best’ Tall Building

World's Best New Tall Building, Burj Qatar, Doha Tower, Qatar, Mashrabiya, Arabian Gulf, ArchitectureChicago’s Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat recently named the Burj Qatar the world’s best new tall building, which is curious to us for several reasons. First of all, famed French architect Jean Nouvel designed the building but we can’t find it on his website. Is he not proud of his towering child?

Second, there’s a council of tall buildings? Who thought that would be a good idea? Third, there’s another giant Burj building in the Arabian Gulf, as if one of those wasn’t enough. (Granted, Burj means Tower in Arabic, so it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that there is more than one.) And lastly, is there really any such thing as a best tall building? 

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