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The Weird Science of Pedestrian Behavior Might Help Hajj

Faisal O'Keefe
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The Weird Science of Pedestrian Behavior Might Help Hajj

mecca hajj saudi ArabiaMath helps us understand how people flow, and just maybe it could help Hajj pilgrims stay safe.

A Californian jogs to the beach.  Coming towards him on the sidewalk is a Texan. Unless one steps aside they’ll collide. Quick: which way does the jogger move? If this is in Europe or the USA, heavy odds he moves to his right. In Asia (with Asians), the slide would likely be left. A crazy-making observation, and it’s not connected to driving: Irish drive on the left side of the road, but they’ll step to the right on the pavement.

The folks at Berlin’s Max Planck Institute (MPI) say this behavior is based on an improbable marriage of psychology and mathematical probability.  When we correctly guess another’s intentions, we get a positive subconscious boost. We’ll probably choose the same move when the same situation arises; get another subliminal “high-five”.

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Sinai’s Ecological Future Hangs in the Balance

Tafline Laylin
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12
Sinai’s Ecological Future Hangs in the Balance

Red Sea, Mediterranean Sea, Sinai Peninsula, ecology, development, sustainable development, EgyptAs part of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel, the Sinai Peninsula was restored to Egyptian control – an event that the country celebrated with some fanfare on April 25th, 2012. On that same day, the Egyptian Prime Minister Kamal Ganzouri witnessed two separate development plans that were signed between the Social Development Fund (SFD) and governors of both the Northern and Southern Sinai governorates.

The main goal of these agreements is to extend water networks and create jobs – a welcome move for a largely neglected area of the country. But Sinai development has also become a hot pitching point for presidential candidates, and environmentalists are worried.

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Play God With NASA’s Flood Maps

Faisal O'Keefe
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Play God With NASA’s Flood Maps

middle east flood mapsWhat the Middle East will look like with a 9 meter raise. Play God with the online map to see what we’ll lose. 

When you click around NASA’s online flood maps you can instantly view impacts on the world’s coastal communities. A single meter increase soaks Alexandria and Basra, and rattles the nerves of eastern Saudi shores. Jump sea levels 20 meters and Bahrain becomes an atoll, southern Iraq is submerged, and all of Cairo becomes beachfront property.

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Barriers to Solid Waste Recycling in Saudi Arabia

Mohammed Alnuwairan
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Barriers to Solid Waste Recycling in Saudi Arabia

solid waste saudi arabiaExcellent at recycling oil, what are the barriers to Saudi Arabia in recycling other valuables?

There are significant barriers that hinder the wide application of reverse logistics in some industries of Saudi Arabia. Let me first present the definition of the concept. Iran’s S. Dowlatshahi defined reverse logistics as the process by which a manufacturing entity systematically retrieves previously shipped products or parts from the point-of-consumption for possible recycling, remanufacturing, or disposal.

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Lebanon’s Largest Solar Project Lights up a Green Highway

Tafline Laylin
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1
Lebanon’s Largest Solar Project Lights up a Green Highway

Lebanon, cleantech, solar, transportation

Like Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, Lebanon has been beset with energy shortages recently –  a crisis that will escalate as demand grows alongside an ever-expanding population. Sidestepping these constraints and taking advantage of almost year-round sunshine, the Transportation Ministry has installed 766 solar-powered street lights on a 10km stretch of relatively unpolluted highway in Hermel. Some residents are grateful and excited about the $1,072,000 project, but others are skeptical.

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Morocco to Build Cars in Zero Carbon Factory

Susan Kraemer
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Morocco to Build Cars in Zero Carbon Factory

Morocco’s zero-carbon car factory opening earlier this month, via NY Times.

The CEO of Renault–Nissan alliance Carlos Ghosn and Moroccan King Mohammed VI inaugerated French automaker’s one-billion-euro plant in Tangier which is set to boost Morocco’s automobile industry.The plant will build several new ‘low cost’ vehicles with an annual capacity that could reach ups 400,000 units.

Morocco has only one car plant in Casablanca and seeks to develop its car industry further with Renault Group which will be exempt from both corporate and export taxes for five years.

The 300-hectare plant, which is located 30 kilometres from the new Tanger Med port and only few kilometres away from the Spanish coast, will reach a production capacity of up to 170,000 vehicles per year at first. This capacity is then set to rise to 340,000 units in 2013 or 400,000 units if the plant operates in weekends.

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Is Better Place Building An EV Monopoly?

Shifra Mincer
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better place charging station israel

Despite concern that Better Place is losing millions as it slowly brings electric vehicles to market in Israel and Denmark, some in the cleantech industry are also worried that the Israel electric vehicle (EV) company is the only one out there trying to make the business work.

A recent article titled, ‘Does Better Place Have A Monopoly On Electric Cars In Israel?,’ Business Insider analyzed Better Place’s role in the Israeli market, noting that once the company starts to sell its cars in Israel, it will have the only electric vehicle available in Israel and will control the country’s only legal EV charging network. Is this a good or bad thing?

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Bassam El-Okeily Converted a Tiny Garage into this Gorgeous Narrow House

Tafline Laylin
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Bassam El-Okeily Converted a Tiny Garage into this Gorgeous Narrow House

green design, minimalist design, architecture, Egypt, Narrow House, Bassam El-OkeilyEgyptians are among the most romantic thinkers I’ve met. Their hearts are so often tangled up in their work, resulting not only in a lot of drama, but incomparable and resplendent art. And Bassam El Okeily’s striking Narrow House in Belgium is no exception. Previously a dingy garage, the new Bilzen home now features a transparent glass facade, an expansive but minimalist interior and an exciting reverie of light and shadow play. Although he is less known in the Arab world, the Brussels and Paris based designer easily competes with any of the world’s most renowned “starchitects.” Step in to see beautiful images of this unusual home.

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Earth-Friendly Vernacular Date Palm Leaf Architecture Revisited in London

Tafline Laylin
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10
Earth-Friendly Vernacular Date Palm Leaf Architecture Revisited in London

green design, vernacular architecture, date palm, desert, Gulf, United Arab Emirates, Royal Geographic Society, eco-building, Arish

One of the most exciting exhibits we’ve heard about is currently on display at London’s Royal Geographic Society. What makes it so exciting? Amidst stately buildings made of brick, vernacular desert architecture is enjoying its month of fame, and dozens of websites are talking about the event.

Polish designer Sandra Piesik is curating the exhibit Arish: Palm Leaf Architecture, which is being hosted by His Excellency Abdul Rahman Ghanem Al Mutaiwee – UAE Ambassador to the United Kingdom, following three years of exploring the role that date palm leaf architecture plays in Emirati history. She has published a book by the same name.

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14,000 Turkish Homes To Be Powered By World’s Most Efficient 1.5-MW Wind Turbines

Julia Harte
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14,000 Turkish Homes To Be Powered By World’s Most Efficient 1.5-MW Wind Turbines

wind energy turkeyWith a rotor diameter of 100 meters and hub heights of 80 meters, GE’s 1.6-100 MW turbines have the highest power production capacity of any turbines in their category.

A 50 MW wind farm in a town near Istanbul will be the first site in Europe to use GE’s revolutionary 1.6-100 MW wind turbines, GE announced at the European Wind Energy Association’s annual meeting last week. A project of Fina Enerji, a Turkish renewable energy firm, the Tayakadin wind farm will use 31 of GE’s super-efficient turbines. It will come online by 2013.

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Middle East Illusions Change Reality

Faisal O'Keefe
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUI_Lq4qhcI[/youtube]

Following violent protests in February, Cairo police stacked 10-feet-tall masonry walls around the Ministry of the Interior to cut access to that hated symbol of Egypt’s ousted regime. New barriers appeared after subsequent riots, turning nearby communities into a labyrinth of roadblocks and checkpoints.

Recently, artists “removed” them, overpainting concrete with images of the streetscapes they blocked. In a few days, the “No Walls” protest covered every barrier with a mural.  Some residents are sanguine about the obstructions, expecting them to come down as the new government emerges. Others, like these nameless artists, don’t want to wait. Their optical illusions convey a powerful political message: Give us back our streets.

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Robot Sex the CleanTech Future of Tourism?

Tinamarie Bernard
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2
Robot Sex the CleanTech Future of Tourism?

sex robot tourism
Are android sex workers the future of tourism or an absurd use of clean technology?

People will soon be having sex with robots as the latest in sex tourism, suggests a recent news report.  This novel twist on ‘clean technology’ (the inventors point out that the androids will be made of bacteria-resistant fibers) is enough to turn us green, and not with envy. More of the puke, I’m going to be sick, let me run to the market and get some organic veggies and eat them raw kind of green. We are already living in a wired world. Do machines have to commandeer our genitals too?

That’s the con. A pro? Maybe robot hookers will offer a meaningful solution to the problem of sex slavery (a concern in the Middle East and globally). Let’s examine the wild wired world of robots for pleasure from two sides: the revolting and the revolutionary.

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Tire Fire In Kuwait Seen From Space

Arwa Aburawa
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Tire Fire In Kuwait Seen From Space

kuwait tire fire from spaceA fire which broke out in a Kuwaiti tire dump last week could be seen from space

Kuwait hardly has a green reputation (in fact, it’s been pretty obstructive in global efforts to set emission targets) but recent events have definitely undermined what left of its eco credentials. As well as shocking stories of animal cruelty, there are rising concerns of childhood obesity and a growing carbon footprint. A fire also broke out last week in a tire dump which was so big that it could be seen from space.

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Gentle Kuwaiti Marine Activism (VIDEO)

Tafline Laylin
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1
Gentle Kuwaiti Marine Activism (VIDEO)

Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, En.v, marine conservation, overfishing, Gulf, KuwaitRecent images of a dead, bloody wolf and broken flamingos that young Kuwaiti men killed for sport gave the oil-rich state a dark reputation. But a new video narrated so eloquently by Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, a Kuwaiti Phd candidate studying Gulf marine ecology at the University of British Columbia, provides a glimpse into a less-celebrated segment of society – one that we really need to support.

In fact, this battle between ignorance and education, or entitlement and accountability seems to be at the crux of our many environmental woes. Hit the jump to enjoy, for just a few minutes, the power of one woman who has taken it upon herself to help restore the Gulf’s marine ecosystem to its pre-Gulf War glory. 

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Mine Landfills, Not Asteroids!

Tafline Laylin
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6
Mine Landfills, Not Asteroids!

Planetary Resources, Google, earth, asteroids, mining, resource extraction, landfills, pollution, consumer culture When we learned about Planetary Resources’ asteroid mining scheme, a well-known Cree Indian proverb came to mind: “Only when the last tree has died and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught will we realize we cannot eat money.” We knew this day would come.

Not content to change our consumer culture, which has been vastly destructive not just to the planet, but also to our very social fabric, Google billionaires are supporting a hugely expensive scheme to pull asteroids into the moon’s orbit and mine them for gold, platinum, and other rare earth metals. These will then be used to produce more unessential stuff on earth.

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“The future,” says Elon Musk, “is going to be...

Street Vegan in Sri Thanu is a must-stop family lunch spot on Koh Phangan, Thailand

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If you’re anywhere near Sri Thanu on Koh Phangan, Thailand, around the yoga centers: Zen Beach, Haad Yao, or Salad Beach—make time for Street Vegan. It's vegan and so satisfying that one meal might convince you that eating plant-based is not a compromise. I suggest for any vegan restaurant owner or chef to come to this modestly-priced venue to learn from a master.

Plants can eat dust and grow – should we stop dusting them?

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Dusty plants? Let them eat their hearts out.

Paris Modest Fashion Week offers style without exposure for Muslims

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France is home to around 5 to 7.5 million Muslims according to estimates, and Özlem Şahin, head of the organization behind Modest Fashion Week, has described Paris as "one of the leading modest fashion capitals in Europe".

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