In a studio in the DC Maryland Virginia area, ceramic artist Alison Kysia is working with clay in a way that feels both grounded and personal. She makes pottery and abstract Islamic sculptures, and one of her recent works focuses on the 99 Names of God in Islam.
Abortion pills, often confused with Plan B (the morning-after pill), and historically referred to as RU486 (mifepristone), are part of a broader category of reproductive health medications that women have been using for decades. But they are not the same thing.
The CFTC, FINRA, and NASAA have jointly warned retirees about precious metals fraud targeting retirement accounts. This checklist provides a structured framework for evaluating any company before transferring savings — and illustrates what credible providers look like across 7 measurable criteria.
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.
In a studio in the DC Maryland Virginia area, ceramic artist Alison Kysia is working with clay in a way that feels both grounded and personal. She makes pottery and abstract Islamic sculptures, and one of her recent works focuses on the 99 Names of God in Islam.
Abortion pills, often confused with Plan B (the morning-after pill), and historically referred to as RU486 (mifepristone), are part of a broader category of reproductive health medications that women have been using for decades. But they are not the same thing.
The CFTC, FINRA, and NASAA have jointly warned retirees about precious metals fraud targeting retirement accounts. This checklist provides a structured framework for evaluating any company before transferring savings — and illustrates what credible providers look like across 7 measurable criteria.
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.
In a studio in the DC Maryland Virginia area, ceramic artist Alison Kysia is working with clay in a way that feels both grounded and personal. She makes pottery and abstract Islamic sculptures, and one of her recent works focuses on the 99 Names of God in Islam.
Abortion pills, often confused with Plan B (the morning-after pill), and historically referred to as RU486 (mifepristone), are part of a broader category of reproductive health medications that women have been using for decades. But they are not the same thing.
The CFTC, FINRA, and NASAA have jointly warned retirees about precious metals fraud targeting retirement accounts. This checklist provides a structured framework for evaluating any company before transferring savings — and illustrates what credible providers look like across 7 measurable criteria.
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.
In a studio in the DC Maryland Virginia area, ceramic artist Alison Kysia is working with clay in a way that feels both grounded and personal. She makes pottery and abstract Islamic sculptures, and one of her recent works focuses on the 99 Names of God in Islam.
Abortion pills, often confused with Plan B (the morning-after pill), and historically referred to as RU486 (mifepristone), are part of a broader category of reproductive health medications that women have been using for decades. But they are not the same thing.
The CFTC, FINRA, and NASAA have jointly warned retirees about precious metals fraud targeting retirement accounts. This checklist provides a structured framework for evaluating any company before transferring savings — and illustrates what credible providers look like across 7 measurable criteria.
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.
In a studio in the DC Maryland Virginia area, ceramic artist Alison Kysia is working with clay in a way that feels both grounded and personal. She makes pottery and abstract Islamic sculptures, and one of her recent works focuses on the 99 Names of God in Islam.
Abortion pills, often confused with Plan B (the morning-after pill), and historically referred to as RU486 (mifepristone), are part of a broader category of reproductive health medications that women have been using for decades. But they are not the same thing.
The CFTC, FINRA, and NASAA have jointly warned retirees about precious metals fraud targeting retirement accounts. This checklist provides a structured framework for evaluating any company before transferring savings — and illustrates what credible providers look like across 7 measurable criteria.
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.
In a studio in the DC Maryland Virginia area, ceramic artist Alison Kysia is working with clay in a way that feels both grounded and personal. She makes pottery and abstract Islamic sculptures, and one of her recent works focuses on the 99 Names of God in Islam.
Abortion pills, often confused with Plan B (the morning-after pill), and historically referred to as RU486 (mifepristone), are part of a broader category of reproductive health medications that women have been using for decades. But they are not the same thing.
The CFTC, FINRA, and NASAA have jointly warned retirees about precious metals fraud targeting retirement accounts. This checklist provides a structured framework for evaluating any company before transferring savings — and illustrates what credible providers look like across 7 measurable criteria.
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.
In a studio in the DC Maryland Virginia area, ceramic artist Alison Kysia is working with clay in a way that feels both grounded and personal. She makes pottery and abstract Islamic sculptures, and one of her recent works focuses on the 99 Names of God in Islam.
Abortion pills, often confused with Plan B (the morning-after pill), and historically referred to as RU486 (mifepristone), are part of a broader category of reproductive health medications that women have been using for decades. But they are not the same thing.
The CFTC, FINRA, and NASAA have jointly warned retirees about precious metals fraud targeting retirement accounts. This checklist provides a structured framework for evaluating any company before transferring savings — and illustrates what credible providers look like across 7 measurable criteria.
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.
In a studio in the DC Maryland Virginia area, ceramic artist Alison Kysia is working with clay in a way that feels both grounded and personal. She makes pottery and abstract Islamic sculptures, and one of her recent works focuses on the 99 Names of God in Islam.
Abortion pills, often confused with Plan B (the morning-after pill), and historically referred to as RU486 (mifepristone), are part of a broader category of reproductive health medications that women have been using for decades. But they are not the same thing.
The CFTC, FINRA, and NASAA have jointly warned retirees about precious metals fraud targeting retirement accounts. This checklist provides a structured framework for evaluating any company before transferring savings — and illustrates what credible providers look like across 7 measurable criteria.
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.
Formerly an architect, Helena Hesayne left her career to care for Lebanon’s abused animals nearly a decade ago, CNN reports, but now fancy villa owners are trying to shut down the shelter that she help to found.
Sa’ar Stream waterfall near the Banias: Israel’s natural beauty at its best
Like other Middle Eastern countries, Israel continuously suffers from a chronic water shortage, which is most often seen in the water level in it’s historic water supplier, the Kinneret or Sea of Galilee. But due to above average rainfall this past winter (the Sea rose 2 meters!), Israel’s green areas, including the Galilee region and Golan Heights, are decked out in Mother Nature’s annual spring greenery and floral displays.
This lush beauty was revealed to us during a day long spring foliage tour to these areas this week.
Patriarch Bartholomew I, of the Istanbul-based Greek Orthodox Ecumenical Patriarchate, stands outside the rundown former orphanage.
Atop the highest hill on Büyükada (“Big Island” in Turkish), the largest of the picturesque “Princes Islands” in the Marmara Sea off the coast of Istanbul, stands a sprawling, abandoned structure rumored to be the largest wooden building in Europe.
Once an orphanage owned by the Greek Patriarchate, the building has been empty since 1964 because of worries about its structural integrity. But soon the space will house a international civil society foundation devoted to environmental work and research, according to recent remarks by Bartholomew.
Israeli designer Hadas Ilani makes unique shoes out of pine needles!
We absolutely love these awesome elven shoes called Needle and Thread by Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design student Hadas Ilani. Displayed at Ventura Lambrate during Milan Design Week 2012 as part of the academy’s “Design Bonanza” installation, the shoes are made out of locally-sourced pine needles and depict a combination of playfulness and respect for nature, as well as an incredible attention to detail.
Five men and four Bactrian camels travel 1500 km through India, but it doesn’t go quite the way it was planned.
If there are two things we love (apart from the planet), it’s camels – because they are the desert dweller’s best friend – and adventure. Do the two go hand in hand? Absolutely. And not only in Morocco and Dubai, but also in India.
Collective Moments of Madness is a heartful documentary about five international travelers who planned to trek 1500 km with Bactrian (double humped) camels through the Himalaya Mountains in Northern India all the way south to the Pushkar Camel Festival in the desert. But as we discovered recently in Tunisia, even the best laid plans go awry, and the camel odyssey was fraught with unexpected challenges that began with ominous words from an Indian Oracle.
Climate change is here and it looks like there is no way back.
Scientists and policymakers are increasing concerned about extreme weather and climate events. These include extended waves of abnormally hot or cold weather, unseasonal temperatures, changes in precipitation and wind patterns, along with more dramatic occurrences like unprecedented blizzards, cyclones sudden downpours, sudden floods and extended droughts.
Attempts to curtail climate-altering phenomena, which is known as mitigation, has been the focus of international protocols (Montreal, Kyoto) and gatherings (such as the failed Copenhagen Summit of late 2009). While the international community can claim modest achievements in some areas, for example, pacts that have led to a decrease in the use of ozone-reducing substances, reducing the emission of greenhouse gases has been far from encouraging. Accordingly, there is a second focus in the climate change literature, dealing with adaptation.
It is sobering then, that the focus of a special report entitled Managing the Risks of Extreme Events and Disasters to Advance Climate Change Adaptation released last week, by The Inter-Governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is not on how climate change can be forestalled. Rather, it deals with what societies will have to do to adapt to such change.
As we learn from Starbucks and their new sustainable approach of using a red beetle to color their pink drinks (that’s instead of oil tar), when you follow dietary laws for any religion, sometimes the least healthy option is the one you have to take. In the midst of the Jewish holiday of Passover, Jews in the United States will not be able to drink Kosher for Passover Coca Cola this holiday season unless they consume a toxic variety.
We speak to Mario Cucinella the architect behind Gaza’s eco schools about building under conflict, water, education and bringing hope to a desperate region
Early 2013 will see the launch of a green school which will collect rainwater and regulate internal temperature using thermal technologies. Whilst such a project would not be noteworthy in Europe, this project is coming to the energy-scarce, water-poor and conflict-ridden region of the Gaza Strip. Constructing a green building in such a region definitely comes with a whole cache of problems- it also comes with a whole load of benefits. Building green schools that save water and reduce the amount of energy needed offers huge benefits to the people of Gaza. I caught up with Mario Cucincella, the architect behind the project to find out more.
On one hand it is planting mangrove forests. On the other it’s developing Neom and ski resorts in climates too hot to ski. Saudi Arabia needs a special climate plan.
Who doesn’t want to jump onto the carbon offset bandwagon when you see Coldplay advocating it? I mean come on, that’s a cool bunch of guys, and if they are doing it, it must be the right thing to do. As interest in environmental issues has grown, so has the alluring, politically correct, celebrity-sanctioned model of carbon off-setting.
Carbon offsetting is still a relatively unknown concept in Saudi Arabia but a few foreign carbon offset companies have stated to speed up their marketing efforts in the Kingdom. While I am all for conserving the ecosphere, I think it makes sense to question the relevance and feasibility of offsets in the kingdom. Many experts now believe that the offset model comes with its own set of challenges and it will be interesting to see how these manifest in the Saudi context. Here are my arguments for why I think it won’t work:
1. Coldplay shows how trees can be Troublesome:
Forestation makes up about 20 percent of the carbon offset market. Based on the idea that trees absorb carbon, companies wishing to offset their emissions sponsor the planting of trees designed to reduce greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.
While this seems great in theory there are multiple problems with this. Firstly “Carbon emissions from burned oil, gas or coal cannot be considered as equal to the same amount of biological carbon in a tree,” according to scientists at the Forests and the European Union Resource Network.
Secondly, it may take years before a tree is able to fully offset the estimated emissions and companies mistakenly offset immediate emissions with reductions that would occur only during the 100-year life span of a tree.
Lastly and most importantly, as we saw in the case of the “Cold Play Forest”, Trees are not the most reliable carbon offset investments. Ten thousand trees were planted in India to offset the Band’s emissions during their second album and according to this detailed article in The Telegraph, 40% of those trees died within 4 years.
2. Shift of Responsibility:
There have been concerns internationally that the carbon offset model triggers the natural human desire to compensate and consumers may see it as an excuse to indulge in pollution and overly consumptive behaviours.
Saudi society is well known for its excessively lavish lifestyle and if the carbon offset model becomes the norm or the “IN” thing there is a risk that it may lead to people using it as an excuse to pollute.
3. Redistribution not Reduction:
Last but not the least, the main reason I think an offset model cannot work for Saudi Arabia is because it does not address the real issue of carbon emissions in the first place. Consumers and companies in Saudi Arabia need to discover their environmental stance before they rethink it.
In a country where the utilities are dirt cheap and the fuel costs less than a can of soda, the real problem is to wake people from their stupor. To make them realize that the resources are not unlimited and that the time is running out.
The danger of carbon offset model is that it is the easy way out. As Kevin Anderson, a scientist with the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research puts it, “Offsetting is a dangerous delaying technique because it helps us avoid tackling the task [of dealing with climate change]… It helps us sleep well at night when we shouldn’t sleep well at night.”
I think more than the star-crusted, latest new fad of buying carbon credits, what Saudi Arabia needs is a new model of carbon offset; a model where companies can offset their emissions by investing in their own renewable resources and energy-efficient products. A lot of local companies are already shifting to green products but what is needed is to link it with their emissions through their own customized carbon offset model.
Though Israeli electricity prices rose nearly 9 percent at the end of last month due to reported natural gas shortages, Israel’s energy ministry has decided that Israel will export half of the natgas it pumps from its offshore reserves in the Mediterranean Sea.
Called the Zemach Committee, and led by Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Energy and Water Resources Shaul Zemach, the group that made the decision published a report in early April which says Israel needs a stable natgas supply of around 400 billion cubic meters (BCM). But Israel also needs money and the government is hoping that by properly massaging market conditions, Israel can keep up the market value of gas.
“The geopolitical situation, and the need to create market certainty to ensure conditions to create incentives for continued gas exploration and development, should be taken into account,” said Israel’s Minister of Energy and Water Uzi Landau at a press event releasing the report.
Half as tall as the Burj Dubai, this soaring tower (if realized) could absorb some of Cairo’s crowds.
How to deal with Cairo’s crowds is a complex dilemma that IAMZ Design Studio has approached with this soaring Father and Son Skyscraper. Inspired by the relationship between a father and son, the young Egyptian architect has fused traditional Islamic architecture with modern design in a concept for an 8,000 square meter building that receives its energy from the sun and boasts a series of carbon-sapping green roofs. Read on for more details and then let us know: do you have any ideas for revitalizing a once vibrant downtown Cairo?
Within 50 years, water trapped hundreds of thousands of years ago will be depleted by Saudi desert farms using pivot irrigation.
Water is a non-renewable resource in the Saudi desert, which only receives one inch of rain a year, so it makes sense to use existing resources very, very carefully, right? For ancient desert dwellers, this concept was a no-brainer, but for modern society – not so much.
Concerns about creating food security for Saudi Arabia’s population has led to an insane agricultural program depicted in NASA satellite images collected between 1987 and 2012. These eye-opening pictures demonstrate how the fields have grown using finite water sources trapped during the last Ice Age that hydrologists estimate will be gone within 50 years!
Able to store enough heat to generate power that can last well into the night, Masdar’s Gemasolar, built in Spain last year was state of the art in solar thermal energy storage, able to reach temperatures of over 500°C. Now a U.S. startup funded by the Obama administration energy department with a $3.3 million ARPA-E grant has a way to make that even better.
Halotechnics has devised the perfect material to store higher heat, so that more solar energy can be stored to keep the lights on well after sundown.
Their innovation could make solar thermal as cheap and convenient as fossil fuels, but with none of the nasty side effects of burning fossil energy – like asthma, and petrostate political systems, and an unlivable climate for our children.
This could be very big news for Desertec and the MENA region, because it is at center stage for solar thermal development.
Dubai is considering biological control: camels to dine in Dubai’s Ras al Khor wildlife sanctuary overrun by mangrove trees
Too many mangroves is not a good thing – at least not at the Ras Al Khor Wildlife Sanctuary in Dubai, where they were introduced in 1990. So an ecologist at Dubai’s Wildlife Protection office has proposed using camels to trim back the excess canopies that have buried wader feeding areas. Kevin Hyland told The National that camels used to have access to the sanctuary before it was fenced off in 2002, and that reintroducing them would help restore the site’s sensitive ecology without disrupting bird life.
Greedy Grazers
Hyland emphasizes that the camels would be introduced as part of a careful management program, and that they will not be left to run amok.
“The key phrase in the whole proposal is ‘managed camel grazing,'” the ecologist told the paper. “It’s not, ‘let’s just chuck in 100 camels’, because we don’t want to destroy the mangrove canopy.”
According to Hyland, BirdLife International opposed the plan to introduce mangroves to the Ras Al Khor Sanctuary in 1990 as part of a “greening” program, and now, 20 years later, the wildlife protection office and Dubai Municipality are beginning to glean the error of that initiative.
Although spoonbills have proliferated as a result of the invasive mangrove canopies, feeding grounds for certain species have been buried by five meters of mangroves. So now they want to reverse some of the damage.
Instead of employing 20 workers to cut back mangroves, which is likely to scare off spoonbills and other bird species, the camels can munch on the green leaves. And just in case too many mangrove leaves are bad for camels too, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory will be on hand to monitor the animals.
Camelback Tours
And when ground-nesting birds breed, the camels will be removed. Hyland also likes the idea of using the camels to create a new eco-tourism initiative. Instead of putting the sanctuary’s rangers in 4x4s, he told the paper that they could lead bird tours on camelback instead.
Camel milk may also become available at a new visitor center that is being floated as a potential part of the new management plan, which would help to educate visitors about the importance of the wetland reserve so famous for attracting a great number of migratory species amidst Dubai’s urban sprawl and for its 500 flamingos.
As long as mangrove fodder is healthy for the camel trimmers, Ras Al Khor camels face a better fate than that of Falaj Mualla camels, half of whom die from eating plastic despite concerted efforts to draw awareness to this situation.
Saudi Arabia has lots of open land, and lots of sand which is rich in silicon; which is needed to make polysilicon for the solar industry.
This year, the Kingdom has announced its second polysilicon manufacturing partnership, this time with Germany’s Centrotherm Photovoltaics.A year ago, Saudi Arabia had announced a $1 billion solar joint venture with South Korea that was to have brought the first ever solar factory to Saudi Arabia to make polysilicon, the essential ingredient of traditional solar cells. That Saudi-based joint venture company, Polysilicon Technology Company, was to be in production by 2014. However, a year later, no website, and no further news announcements…
There are 250 rescued animals living at the BETA animal shelter just outside Beirut; too many for fancy villa owners.
Sa’ar Stream waterfall near the Banias: Israel’s natural beauty at its best
Climate change is here and it looks like there is no way back. 
