New regulations will restrict fishermen in Turkey from catching juvenile fish and using dragnets in shallow waters. But environmentalists say the laws don’t go far enough.
The new fishing season in Turkey will kick off in just a few days, on Sept. 1. In preparation, Turkey’s Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock has proposed new fishing legislation, raising the length of legal catches and the depth of legal dragnet use, according to independent media center Bianet.
More popular in the US than the Middle East, the Brazilian Blowout craze (with its chemicals) did make the headlines in Dubai.
I’ve never understood the desire to chemically straighten one’s hair, perhaps because my wavy locks can go either way, and natural tricks for my hair type work just fine. Even so, many curly-haired friends have paid a bundle for this service, which promises to leave your tresses looking lovely for months. As the popularity of the treatment has grown, so too have the concerns. Some of the chemicals found in the products are linked to not so eco-sexy health risks including birth defects and spontaneous abortions.
Among those sweet baby scents have lurked not so sweet ingredients like formaldehyde, claim activists.
If there is a signature scent associated with babyhood, Johnson & Johnson’s baby shampoo could win that prize. It’s a longstanding favorite with parents around the globe and has been for decades. Though the consumer products giant shut down their Israeli offices in 2009, the company’s cosmetic brands in Israel netted them close to $50 million that same year, reported Ynetnews.com. Their products are sold throughout the Middle East including Israel, Lebanon and Saudi Arabia, according to the website.
That means babies have been exposed to what activists have referred to as the ‘toxic tub problem.’ Fortunately, a concerted effort by the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics has led to a activist victory. Johnson & Johnson, makers of Aveeno, Neutrogena, and Johnson’s Baby Shampoo, announced this month that it will be removing some of these toxins from its baby and adult products globally.
A beautiful image is making the rounds on social networks and news websites. It shows three bright planets, Mercury, Venus and Saturn with each poised directly over one of the three pyramids at Giza Egypt. According to the story, this conjunction will occur on December 3, 2012 for the first time in 2737 years. Skeptics such as Phil Plait, “The Bad Astronomer,” point out that neither the story nor the simulated photograph are entirely accurate.
We’ve been talking about chronic water shortages in the Middle East and North Africa for a long time. But now a new and troubling trend is beginning to emerge in the region: municipal, regional and national governments are taking more drastic measures to police water consumption.
Jordan broke out the big (security) guns to prevent its citizens from “stealing” what is actually a part of the commons and most recently, Dubai has threatened to punish water thieves in various neighborhoods throughout the emirate with fines of up to $2,722.
The drug du jour in Israel is khat, and the police are clamping down on its regulation.
Unlike conventional addictive drugs like marijuana, hashish, and cocaine, there is a Middle Eastern drug that has slipped through the cracks of the authorities. Causing societal havoc in countries like Yemen, khat qat, gat or ghat, is a type of leave that when chewed gives a mild feeling of euphoria. It is used by some women in Israel to suppress appetite.
Khat chewing has increased in recent years in the cities of Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and it’s khat’s now officially a trend among Tel Aviv and Jerusalem hipsters. Some concoctors are selling it through convenient stores, like cigarettes, and are even producing an organic ghat juice which functions as a powerful upper.
A tourist attraction in northern Israel has fitted donkeys with WiFi collars so that passengers can surf the web while exploring the historical Galilee region. The Kfar Kedem park originally designed to give visitors an authentic introduction to life during biblical times has added a high-tech aspect to the tour in order to attract a younger crowd. And it seems to have worked!
Tunisian flavors come together deliciously in a salad of charred, chopped vegetables.
Tunisian food features dishes based on simple ingredients dressed in plenty of heat and spice. Mechouia salad is typical of this sunny cuisine, like Shakshukah. Hard-boiled eggs offset chilies and make mechouia a filling vegetarian dish.
To capture this salad’s most authentic flavor, build a coal fire and bury the whole vegetables in the embers until they’re roasted through and soft.
But if a cooking fire isn’t practical, go ahead and grill the vegetables on a barbeque, on the stove top, or even in your oven grill. The idea is to get them cooked to the point of charring their outsides. That gives the characteristic smoky flavor that, like the grilled eggplant in our Baba Ganoush recipe, will take your senses to Tunis.
Mechouia, Tunisian Charred Vegetable Salad
serves 4
Ingredients:
4 large plum tomatoes
2 green bell peppers
2 fresh, mild chillies such as poblano or Anaheim
1 large red onion
4 large garlic cloves
½ teaspoon ground caraway seeds
½ teaspoon coriander seeds
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt
Zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
3 tablespoons olive oil
4 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
Do not peel any of the vegetables. Grill until they’re soft and the peels are charred. Keep an eye on the vegetables, as each kind cooks at a different rate. Remove them to a large dish or platter.
Allow the vegetables to cool. Peel the garlic. Discard any really burnt onion parts. Peel and seed the tomatoes and peppers. Turn the tomatoes upside down in a sieve or colander to drain for a few minutes.
Chop the vegetables finely, or process in a food processor into a coarse mix – not a smooth puree.
Add lemon zest and juice, dry spices, and salt. Mix. Add olive oil and mix briefly.
Serve in a deep dish, garnished with olives and hard-boiled eggs.
Bon appetit!
More summery Middle-Eastern recipes on Green Prophet:
Image of mechouia salad by seelensturm via Flickr.
Back in early 2012, Human Rights Watch warned that tens of thousands of Ethiopians were being made destitute so their land could be leased to foreign investors such as Gulf Arab states
Following last week’s news that rich Middle Eastern royals were threatening Maasai land, I look back at land grab stories which have involved the Middle East this year – from Ethiopia, Tanzania and the Congo. The worst case to catch my eye is the forced displacement of Ethiopians.
According to a report by Human Rights Watch which came out in January 2012, the Ethiopian government is forcing tens of thousands of people off their land so it can lease it to foreign investors, leaving former landowners destitute and in some cases starving. The US human rights group states that there plans to lease 2.1 million hectares of land – mainly to countries such as China and Gulf Arab States.
We probably shouldn’t poke fun at the Dubai Municipality for bribing local residents with cash awards and iPads as part of their recently-launched My City, My Environment recycling program. Because their intentions are essentially good.
But it’s so hard to resist when so much that happens in the Vegas of the Middle East (need I list the stories we’ve covered over the years – the Burj Khalifa, a white gold Mercedes, bottles of water that cost $2600?) is so absurd.
If you want a taste of what is so wrong with the world, read this news clip from India. The US firm behind the cloud-sniffing Burj Khalifa in Dubai, Turner Construction, has been awarded a $450 million contract to build a a 392 foot tower of Sardar Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel in a country where 230 million people go hungry every day.
Called the Statue of Unity, the world’s tallest statue will be placed in the middle of the Narmada River, according to the Times of India, right across the way from one of the world’s biggest dams.
In August, Jordan’s Ministry of the Environment started a waste sorting and recycling project at public agencies. According to statements by the ministry, in the first phase of the project, they will implement waste sorting and recycling across a number of ministries, institutions and schools.
Environment Minister Yaseen Khayyat said the project is being carried out in cooperation with the private sector.
German/Iranian designer Siba Sahabi has handcrafted Istanbul Twilight – a series of sophisticated felt candlesticks that mimic the city’s skyline at dusk and dawn. A self-described poetic designer, Sahabi coils long strips of moody-colored felt that resemble the facades of Istanbul’s historic buildings during moments of low light, and tops them with different sized candles.
Africa’s largest wind farm to date is slated to begin construction as soon as a long-delayed financing agreement is completed, according to Wind Power Monthly.
Morocco’s state utility Office National d’Electricite (ONE) awarded a $350 million, 20-year PPA contract for the 300 MW Tarfaya wind power plant to a consortium consisting of the local firm Nareva and the UAE-based Karabel Fez/International Power (a subsidiary of GDF Suez Energy International) and International Power from the UK after months of haggling over the details.
This new app from the UK helps solar panel installers the world over choose the best location on your property for installing solar panels.
Investing in solar panels for your home or company isn’t just about taking a leap of faith, and being green. It’s a solid business investment that can give you good returns as the panels feed back to the grid, depending on where you live and the set feed-in tariffs. And if you are living or running a business off your supply, the energy savings by going solar will be significant.
But if you are installing solar panels on roofs or are a keen do-it-it-yourselfer how do you know the best location to get the most from the shifting sun? While your panels are stationary, the sun is not. It not only rises and falls but shifts position throughout the year. A new app, the Solar Panels Suitability Checker can tell you where is the best place to put your panels. And it may not even be on the roof!
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