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Reconstructing Beirut by Demolishing its Identity

Linda Pappagallo
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2
Reconstructing Beirut by Demolishing its Identity

Solidere, destroying heritage Beirut, identity BeirutFar from being Paris of the Middle East, traditional red tiled roof and sandstone houses suffocate inside the “other” vision of Beirut

The Lebanese housing market is a bit of a strange phenomenon. A largely unregulated construction market coupled with grandiose projects from ambitious rich gulf state developers and Lebanese expatriates has created a surplus of largely unaffordable houses. The result is that Lebanon is becoming a haphazard dumping site for cement buildings with little regard of the preceding cultural, historic and environmental resources.

Similarly, many believe Beirut has also turned into a mismanaged affair.

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Israeli Army Building Arms Factory Over Rare Wild Plants

Maurice Picow
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16
Israeli Army Building Arms Factory Over Rare Wild Plants

Do tanks and wild flowers mix? Not according to Israel’s nature protection society.

Israel Military Industries (IMI), which for years has had armament factories located close to dense population areas and as such has polluted area groundwater, is now on its way to exposing its environmental footprint even further. The organization is planning to build a large military hardware and armaments factory in an area full of rare and endangered wild plants. Although Israel’s military has tried to reduce its carbon and ecological footprint by trying to “go green” and translate military secrets into clean technology the practice of building large armament factories near major population centers is now going to be expanded by building another armament factory and a housing project in an area near a present one close to the upscale suburban communities of Ramat Hasharon, Herzliya and Hod Hasharon, according to the JPost.

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Egypt’s Electricity Suppliers Struggle to Meet Demand

Brian Nitz
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1
Egypt’s Electricity Suppliers Struggle to Meet Demand

desert mountain sun egypt powerOn August 9th an electrical power outage hit people in parts of Cairo.  This happened only ten days after India’s massive blackout grew to cover 22 northern states and impacted 600 million people.  Both outages snarled traffic, stopped trains and turned off the lights for millions of people. But they also shared a common cause. When an event impacts 9 percent of the world’s population, it is reasonable to look for a root cause.

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Where do Cairo’s Zabaleen Garbage Sorters Stand Under President Morsi?

Tafline Laylin
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0
Where do Cairo’s Zabaleen Garbage Sorters Stand Under President Morsi?

Zabaleen, Egypt, Cairo, President Morsi, Clean Homeland Campaign, Recycling, Waste ManagementLocal press and environmentalists in Egypt claim that the unofficial garbage workers of Cairo – the Zabaleen – are being sidestepped by President Mohamed Morsi’s Clean Homeland campaign, which resolves to solve the country’s overwhelming garbage issue within 100 days.

This was a dangerous promise to make given that so many of the systems required for effective waste management have long since eroded in the capital (if they ever existed.) Meanwhile, the Zabaleen have been keeping Cairo from being completely buried by waste – all of their own accord – by collecting, recycling and sorting what they can. But the importance of the service they provide has long been overlooked by government.

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Tahini is also a Middle Eastern Pasta Sauce

Kelly Milone
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3
Tahini is also a Middle Eastern Pasta Sauce

boys eating spaghettiTry something a little different than plain-old tomato sauce on your pasta. Try tahini!

On my first night CouchSurfing in Haifa, Israel, in the cozy apartment of a young married couple, the three of us sat down, along with a local friend, at the table on the balcony to eat dinner – which, surprisingly, the men had prepared from start to finish, while the wife and I relaxed. There were more surprises to be had.

The meal was a nice pasta stir fry. I served myself a portion, and it was delicious, but little did I know that it would get better. The husband whipped out a bottle of organic roasted sesame tahini and started pouring some over his helping. Intrigued, although not expecting to fall in love with the combination, I tried some myself. I proved myself wrong; I fell head-over-heels in love. I love pasta, and I love tahini, so why did I think I wouldn’t love them together? Like strawberries and balsamic vinegar, or watermelon and feta, this unlikely food pairing turned out to be delectable.

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Riviera Seaside Art Gallery Features a Sand Floor and Gritty Art in Israel

Tafline Laylin
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0
Riviera Seaside Art Gallery Features a Sand Floor and Gritty Art in Israel

green design, renovation, Riviera, Mediterranean Sea, sand, street art, architecture, Israel

Israel’s Mediterranean city of Bat Yam is pulling itself out of obscurity with one of the most unusual art spaces we’ve seen. Located just south of Tel Aviv –  the country’s most well-known seaside city, the Riviera used to be a thumping nightclub in the 1950s and 1960s. Now it’s a very yellow and open industrial-chic art colony and public gallery that features a sea sand floor and some seriously gritty street art. 

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4 Summer Rose Wines from the Middle East

Green Prophet
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3
4 Summer Rose Wines from the Middle East

rose wine summerRosé wine is gaining global popularity. Did you know that the Middle East with its long history of wine-making is producing some great rosés of its own?

The summer heat is upon us and if you’ve been smart you’re perfecting those non-cook recipes to beat the heat. If you like a glass of wine here and there, a good companion to a cold soup, salad, or Middle East mezze is a summer favorite – rose wine. If you’re a Muslim and don’t drink alcohol look for a non-alcoholic variety to suit your palette. Similarly our Jewish readers will find something to suit their taste in shops that cater to the kosher market. Today we’re going to look at 4 rosé wines made in the Middle East.

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Honest By Clothing Reveals its 100% Transparent Fashion Line

Maurice Picow
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0
Honest By Clothing Reveals its 100% Transparent Fashion Line

green fashionHonest By’s “transparent” green fashions leave nothing to hide

Going to the mall or outlet store to buy clothing is not the greenest thing one can do when the truth is known about what materials the clothing is made out of, as well as where and how it is made. Much of this clothing, even top line name brands, is often made in poorer locations  such as rural China, Bangladesh, India, and other places  where environmentally damaging dyes are used and clothing is sewn together by people working in sweat-shop and even slave labor conditions.

Finding companies that make environmentally friendly fashion products used to be difficult; but now more and more companies are producing such clothing that even is appeasing purchasers who are restricted by religious requirements of modesty and simplicity.

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Ronen Tinman Turns Junkyard Automobile Parts Into Bespoke Furniture

Tafline Laylin
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0
Ronen Tinman Turns Junkyard Automobile Parts Into Bespoke Furniture

recycled materials, Israeli design, Ronen Tinman, automobiles, junkyard, bespoke furnitureIt’s inevitable that even the best of automobiles will eventually find their way to the junkyard, but to Ronen Tinman, that needn’t be a death sentence. Determined to make use of “every ounce” of the materials that went into making BMWs, Citroens, Toyotas and Kawasakis, the Israeli designer relies on his mechanical engineering background to turn even the dinkiest of dented hoods, trunks, wheels, doors and disc brakes into bespoke lamps, chests, hall tables and cabinets.

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10 Tips To Green Your School Year

Faisal O'Keefe
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4
10 Tips To Green Your School Year

green school tips kids in the lettuce patchSummer’s in its last laps: a new school year’s looming.  Green up the school day with 10 easy tips

Wherever you live around the world, it’s probably time to start the school year at the end of the summer. Here are some tips to pass on to parents with kids. They’re also good for high-school and college kids to follow.

1. Put the word out on Facebook or Craigslist or Freecycle that you’re in the market for staplers, rulers and scissors: bet you’ll be rained on with a “loaves and fishes” appearance of everyone’s extra office supplies. If you must buy, check out biodegradable pencils and vintage refillable fountain pens.

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World’s First All-Women City Coming to Saudi Arabia

Faisal O'Keefe
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7
World’s First All-Women City Coming to Saudi Arabia

arab women city saudi arabia The patriarchal kingdom of Saudi Arabia creates an all-female city where (the arguably better half) of humanity can work freely, within Islamic guidelines.

Saudi Arabia has an increasingly educated female population, but its ultraconservative interpretation of Wahabi sharia law and rigid tribal customs forbid women from interacting with men. The upshot is chronic female unemployment. An utterly Saudi solution is underway.  Why shift cultural mores, when, instead, you can raise up a completely new, self-sustaining city that will be fully devoid of men? The pilot project will go live in 2012 in the Eastern Province city of Hofuf. Smaller “ladies-only” communities will then pop up in capital city Riyadh.

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Saudi Arabia & Iran Are Overexploiting Their Groundwater Supplies

Arwa Aburawa
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1
Saudi Arabia & Iran Are Overexploiting Their Groundwater Supplies

iran-saudi-water-exploitation-groundwaterAccording to scientists from Canada and the Netherlands, the world is depleting underground water reserves faster than they can be replenished

In the Middle East, water shortages are a widely accepted reality which many countries are trying to fight head on. Worldwide, however, the issue is not so pressing with environmental issues such as energy and emissions taking centre stage. Despite this, new research from McGill University in Montreal and Utrecht University in the Netherlands indicates that the world is increasingly dependent on an unsustainable supply of groundwater. They estimate that the world’s ‘water footprint’, which is defined as the area above ground required to sustain groundwater use, is about 3.5 times the actual area of the available aquifers. And this has huge implications not only on water supplies but for food and political security too.

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Tchensol’s LEGO and Pop Art Jewelry Shakes up Lebanese Fashionistas

Tafline Laylin
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0
Tchensol’s LEGO and Pop Art Jewelry Shakes up Lebanese Fashionistas

recycled materials, fashion, repurposed design, LEGO, jewelry, food jewelry, Lebanon

Some of the most fashionable people on the planet, the Lebanese are also very concerned about what people think of them. But the lovely Yasmina Sawma of Tchensol is shaking things up a bit with an intriguing new line of re-purposed accessories. The trained interior architect converts LEGO pieces into chunky earrings and rings, strings stuffed grape leaves together into a bracelet and even chops off the tips of coloring pencils to make bright and cheerful rings.

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Could Phones Revolutionize Palestinian Agriculture?

Leigh Cuen
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6
Could Phones Revolutionize Palestinian Agriculture?

Palestine, West Bank, Gaza, Mobile Phone, Technology, Food Prices, Agriculture, Education
World food prices soared over 6 percent in July according to the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization. Prices are continuing to rise, and food security is already a constant threat in the West Bank and Gaza.

The Applied Research Institute in Jerusalem estimates that over half the households in Gaza are food insecure, and almost 80 percent of households in Gaza are reliant on relief support. The institute estimates there are up to 550,176 food insecure persons in the West Bank, 22 percent of the population, and 829,954 in the Gaza Strip, around 52 percent. In the West Bank, those living along the border and separation barrier experience higher levels of food insecurity. These dire circumstances need innovative, domestic solutions.

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Agriculture and Water Connect Israel to Africa

Leigh Cuen
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0
Agriculture and Water Connect Israel to Africa

Nile, Egypt, Israel, River, Water, Agriculture, Sudan, Ethiopia, Uganda, Africa, RelationsIsrael’s Deputy Foreign Minister, Danny Ayalon, landed on Monday in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. He continued on to Uganda and Kenya, where he will inaugurate two Israeli-cooperation projects in agriculture and health. According to Gil Haskel, Israel’s ambassador to Uganda, the Jewish state is interested in strengthening agricultural cooperation and collaboration with Uganda.

Agriculture and water are becoming the foundation for a new era of Israeli relations with African states.

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Appalachian lithium could supply America with EV batteries for 300 years

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A vast and largely untapped lithium reserve may be hiding beneath one of North America’s oldest landscapes, the Appalachian Mountains, offering a surprising twist in the global race for clean energy materials. According to new findings from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), as much as 2.5 million tons of lithium could be buried across the region, stretching from the Carolinas up through New England.

OPEC and energy stocks in the UAE – insight from eToro

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Energy equities are responding unevenly to the evolving landscape. Companies with direct exposure to UAE production growth and infrastructure are benefiting from increased activity expectations, while global oil majors face a more mixed outlook.

10 Surprising AC Water Uses Cities Are Ignoring

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All air conditioners release water. That's Physics. Cities like Los Angeles pour billions of water down the drain every year. And while home owners who are savvy to water reuse are finding ways to use AC water in the garden (here are 5 ways to use air con water at home), or in art studios (it's basically free distilled water), cities could save water in meaningful ways by using creative ideas. These are solutions you can send to urban planners and those running smart city accelerator programs. Pick one of them and you might win the grant! 

Hormuz 2026 Conflict Poses an Energy and Food Security Dilemma in a Warming World

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As tensions rise in one of the world’s most critical maritime chokepoints, the ripple effects go far beyond oil—touching food systems, climate pressures, and regional stability

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