Whisked away down the toilet and into our waterways, we are losing stocks of phosphorus and the result can be very scary.
Looking for something new to worry about? Phosphorus hops onto the list of rapidly diminishing natural resources: a dangerous dwindling of something that probably never crossed your mind. Production will likely peak in our lifetime, and be fully depleted by 2100. So what’s the big deal? Phosphorus is the bedrock of food production.
The World Wildlife Fund and the Cleantech Group recently published a report saying that Israel is the second best place in the world to develop green technologies, second only to Denmark. Israel has long been a major exporter of such innovations, a leading developer of water-saving technology, such as its agricultural inventions, and solar power. Now Israel is starting to bolster its own energy infrastructure, utilizing that world renowned expertise at home.
When it first emerged that plans for an underwater hotel in Dubai had been revived, Arwa wrote “Dubai has more gimmicks and tacky accolades than a Las Vegas souvenir store so the last thing it needs is more plastic tat. It’s just not good and most of these outlandish projects pay very little attention to the environmental impact of their development.”
Comprised of an above water disc connected to an underwater disc by five legs, a vertical shaft, lift and stairway, the Water Discus hotel “willl allow guests to admire the depths of the ocean while making the most of the warm climate,” according to Deep Ocean Technology, the project’s designer.
This new development follows on the heels of the Hydropolis project that was sunk in 2009 when a financial crisis caused an exodus of expatriates and their investment dollars. But now it seems that Dubai is beginning to recover and has learned absolutely nothing about the impact of too much intervention on the Gulf’s fragile ecosystem. Step in for more renders of this crazy underwater hotel and let us know, should it be built?
Is the sun finally rising on Israeli solar?
After a very slow start in solar energy production, Israel is finally beginning to join her Arab neighbors fast-forwarding into a solar future, like the Saudis’ $109 Billion Solar Plan to Power a Third of Saudi Arabia.
Arava Power Company, Israel’s only solar developer to make any headway against the entrenched bureaucratic resistance, now has financing and power agreements for eight solar power projects totaling 58.5 MW, valued at (a comparatively high by U.S. standards) $204 million.
In March, the company was given the go ahead by the country’s Public Utility Authority (PUA) to install a 40 MW project, once it got funding from the Obama administration in February.
(Related: Arava’s 40 MW Solar to Power a Third of Touristy Eliat’s Peak Power.)
But the only project to be approved prior to that was (again, Arava’s) small 5 MW installation that we covered in Bedouin Solar Power Activate! Even that tiny project faced months of bureaucratic battles.
As I write this, the Solar Impulse is traveling 94.2 km/h at an altitude of 7,016 meters en route to Madrid, where co-pilots Bertrand Piccard and André Borschberg will switch seats before leaving for their final destination Morocco. This is the world’s very first sun-powered transcontinental flight and its historic landing in Rabat, Morocco will coincide with the Moroccan Agency for Solar Energy’s (MASEN) inauguration of the first of five massive thermo-solar plants in the Ouarzazate region.
WEwood watches are the brainchild of an Italian shoemaker who loves watches and two entrepreneurs who are eager to restore the earth we devoured in just 250 years; together they have grown a sustainable, avant-garde business that has expanded its reach from Florence to Los Angeles and most recently to Cairo.
Each unique piece is made of salvaged wood that would have been scrapped otherwise and fitted with Miyota’s state of the art timekeeping mechanism. They are splash-proof and svelte and contain nary a toxic, artificial chemical. Hit the jump to see a few images and to find out how to make one your own.
Today Egyptians stood in line for hours to vote in the first real, competitive presidential election in the country’s history. And our favorite bakery, the only one in Egypt to recycle their own packaging into attractive notebooks, bookmarks and other stationary, is encouraging voters to play a role in the future of their homeland. As part of their “I Got Ink” campaign, all six Cairo branches of The Bakery Store are offering free baked goods to anyone who shows up with a bright purple index finger indicating that they have indeed cast their historic vote.
Democracy used to be at the forefront of Arab Youth’s minds, but in 2012 that has changed. Now youth from 12 Arab countries in the Gulf, the Levant and North Africa claim they are more concerned about receiving fair wages for their work and being able to own their homes, though lack of democracy remains an important obstacle to their ambitions.
This is according to the 2012 Arab Youth Survey. Launched in 2008, the annual survey is conducted by research professionals from Penn Scheon Berland (PSB) who travel to villages and cities in order to interview 2,500 young Arab men and women in person. Here is a list of the top 10 concerns that emerged during these discussions.
Qatar to tap the solar potential of the Middle East to supply 10 percent of its electricity by 2018.
Qatar is the latest of the oil-rich Middle East/North African (MENA) nations to make bold solar plans to trap a world-record insolation to supply energy for its rapidly growing economy – one that bolted an incredible 20 percent last year.
This week a senior official of Qatar Electricity and Water Company (QEWC) announced the replacement of over 10 percent of its conventional forms of energy used to produce electricity and water with solar power by 2018.
With an incredible daily supply of 16 hours of solar insolation, Qatar has the chance to build a solar-based electricity supply which is far more efficient than any other part of the world.
Nothing is more earth-friendly than carving out an existence in the belly of a cave. Yet, despite its 1985 UNESCO cultural and natural World Heritage Site listing, development and mass tourism often overrun traditional life in the surreal fairy-chimney-pocked landscape of Turkey’s Göreme-Cappadocia, rendering genuine cave dwellers a near-extinct species.
Gripped by a longstanding love affair with the region, visual artist Aili Schmeltz spent last summer in the Ibrahimpasa village documenting the homes of more than a dozen cave dwellers. She collected hours of audio footage and thousands of images, four of which she has shared with us. Within the next year, she hopes to arrange her work in a book that will help save this priceless heritage.
Israeli cleantech has long been present in the American market. Companies like Ormat have been developing geothermal resources in the US for decades. Now Israeli companies may be getting support to expand to developing countries as well. A senior official from the International Finance Corp (IFC)–a member of the World Bank, with a portfolio of $12 billion, which actively supports investment in developing countries–said the group was looking to invest tens of millions in Israeli cleantech companies that could expand operations to developing countries, Reuters reported on May 17.
She might travel on a budget, but this backpacker can spend double the amount of money of the average non-budget traveller, and she’ll probably have more fun.
It’s easy to look down on the lowly backpackers when you are a country looking to earn lots of income from tourism. Many Middle Eastern countries rely seriously on tourism for bolstering the local economies, like Egypt, Morocco, Turkey and even Israel. When tourism drops, people feel it. So popular is tourism to iconic sites like the Nile River and the pyramids, or the Old City of Jerusalem that luxury vacations and hotels spring up all around these markets to reel in the Big Fish: you know the rich tourists who spend a week and $300 and per night on a hotel room. Bargain travellers, you know who they are: they look for deals on last minute flights, search online sites like Agoda religiously looking for the best hotel deal, and when they arrive at their destination tend to stay at cheaper hotels and hostels, sometimes working in reception, even washing dishes to subsidize their “rent”.
Tourism ministries haven’t been too keen to focus on these kinds of travelling “parasites” who try to live on dollars a day. Because, you know, the Big Fish bring in more money –– or so it would seem. Our friends over at the Fauzi Azar Inn in Nazareth just sent us an illuminating article based on research that will surprise you about the economic impact of budget travellers.
A wild superfood, purslane, is growing somewhere near you.
As noted in May’s seasonal produce feature, purslane is starting to pop up everywhere. Like dandelion greens in the US, this edible weed has recently become fashionable, appearing at upmarket greengrocers and anyplace with a claim to “organic.”
As with expensive dandelion greens, smile and pass it by. Keep your eyes open – you’ll see purslane sprouting, wild and free, in a nearby empty lot or even a neglected windowbox.
Purslane makes a tremendous number of tiny black seeds that escape their pods easily, and it grows whichever way the wind blows.
Which is a good thing for us. Succulent, with a mild lemony/salty taste, purslane stems and leaves fit nicely into any salad, substitute for lettuce in sandwiches, and add superfood nutrition to stir-fries and soups. Verdolaga con queso, the traditional Mexican purslane dish, adapts perfectly to the Middle Eastern palate with a few crafty adjustments.
Choose tender new growth for this dish. Tough older stems may be set aside for pickling or for adding to soup.
Scrambled Eggs with Purslane and Feta Cheese Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cups rinsed, chopped, tender purslane – stems, leaves, and flowers if any
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large tomato, chopped coarsely
chopped fresh hot pepper to taste
1/2 cup feta cheese, cubed
4 eggs, lightly beaten
salt and black pepper
2 pita breads, halved
Sauté the onion in the olive till golden. Add the minced garlic; stir 1 minute. Stir in the chopped tomato and chili. Cook 5 minutes over medium heat or until the tomatoes soften.
Have ready your beaten eggs, but add feta cheese to the pan first. Stir it in to distribute, then add the eggs. Scramble the eggs loosely in the vegetable/cheese mixture. Season to taste.
Spoon into the pockets of warm pitas that have been cut in half.
Enjoy!
More about superfoods both wild and cultivated on Green Prophet:
Five Edible Plants You Can Pick Yourself
Photo of windowbox purslane by Miriam Kresh
In ways both understood and yet to be discovered, the Arab Spring has changed us. All of us. Having finally tapped their personal and collective power through social media and community engagement, youth in the region are taking their creative, environmental and intellectual lives back into their own hands. But the unfolding of this process is not simple.
Nor is it linear, and it is this notion that informs Kapow! – a fast and frantic novel by Adam Thirlwell. Tracing twitter accounts, citizen anecdotes and other news sources during the Arab Spring uprisings, a London-based character attempts to put the events in perspective. As the narrative becomes more confused, so does the text, which takes on an unconventional visual form.
This past weekend Yael Stav offered tours of her home and vertical garden as part of the “Houses From Within” Batim Mibifnim exhibition in Tel Aviv. Some of the garden was built using recycled materials and compost from her children’s eco-friendly diapers.
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