Not a die-hard environmentalist and need other reasons for going nuptially green? Read on.
If you are newly engaged and contemplating your ideal wedding,consider this: if every couple in the world made just one small green choice – and we’ve given you at least seven simple and chic ways to do it already – there would be millions of greener weddings in the world with a noteworthy reduction in our collective carbon footprint.
Jordan Atomic Energy Commission (JAEC) Chairman Khaled Toukan champions a peaceful nuclear power program, despite opposition from environmentalists and Parliamentary MPs.The Chairman spoke earlier this month in a Lower House session, in reply to MP Mahmoud Kharabsheh’s claim that kick-off of a national nuclear program excluded proper assessment of feasibility and environmental impacts. MP Kharabsheh, a nuclear skeptic, says the $21.2 million project cost stresses state coffers and that Jordan’s uranium reserves fall short of JAEC calculations.
He alleges that the preferred builder is “bankrupt”: energy conglomerate AREVA suspended projects in France, Africa and the USA last December after revenues dropped about $2 billion, citing knock-on impacts caused by Japan’s Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Five thousand Syrians have died since the uprising started but climate change could kill many more in this dry country.
Approximately 5,000 people have been killed in Syria since the uprising began in March last year, according to UN estimates, and an additional 600 detainees and political prisoners have died under torture. And yet there is a force at work that is just as sinister as President Bashar al-Assad, who calmly told ABC’s Barbara Walters that he was unaware of the torture taking place in his country. It’s name? Climate change.
Anyone who loves nature will enjoy Balyolu’s week long tour on Northeastern Turkey’s honey road.
Update May 20, 2020: this tour is no longer operating.
It’s impossible to understate the importance of bees. Like fruit bats – thousands of which were gunned down by unknown assailants in Lebanon last weekend – they are pollinators that ensure human survival. And since they are fond of flowering plants, bees are often found in the world’s most beautiful places.
This is especially true in Turkey, where a group of young nature enthusiasts are organizing the country’s first honey-tasting tour from Kars. A seven day walking trip, the unique Balyolu tour will introduce visitors to the special tastes and diversity of Turkish honey as well as ancient nomadic travel routes and artisan culture.
Experience life as a nature nomad
“Honey is so much more than a food. It is experiencing life as a nature nomad, moving with the tastes, and smells of flower blooms and nectar,” according to the Balyolu’s online literature.
Visitors interested in such a sweet journey can join the one-of-a-kind bee and honey celebration in Kars, just a short flight from Istanbul or Ankara or a historic, scenic train ride on the Eastern Anatolian Express. From there they will begin their seven day walk of 6-10 miles per day carrying basic gear including layers and water.
Four trips have been planned, the first starting on May 19th 2012, and the last ending on August 2nd, 2012.
Feasts and yurts
Women training to become world-class beekeepers and rural entrepreneurs will guide this hyper local and sustainable tour, which will include stops at villages along the way that each produce their own brand of honey, as well as feasts of locally sourced vegetables, cheese, yoghurt, pastries, wild greens and even goose for non-vegetarians.
At night, travelers can rest their contented weary bones in yurts, cabins, and private residences, which is included in the cost of the tour.
Although participants are asked to find their own way to Kars, Balyolu will provide guides, transportation, accommodation, honey, and food throughout the seven day tour.
Kickstarter
Green Prophet first learned of the Balyolu project on Kickstarter, a funding platform that allows the crowd (that’s you, me, and anyone else on the planet that has internet access) to support worthy creative projects. Their goal is to raise $35,000 by February 26th, though the trips will still proceed if a minimum of 10 people sign up for each date.
Visit Kickstarter to support this sustainable tourism initiative or Balyolu to sign up for your very own tour on the honey road.
image via the Balyolu Facebook page
More on eco-tourism in the Middle East:
Green Tours Across Palestine (PHOTOS)
Oxygen aerators at Israel’s IDF Nevatim Air Force Base are purifying sewage water for irrigation use. Photo: Trlabarge/Wikipedia
Many modern armies are now practicing clean technology by using equipment run on solar energy. This also holds true for the Israeli Defense Forces known as the IDF which aims to be greener. One of the prime issues in large military bases, often remote and off the grid, is finding greener solutions to getting rid of sewage. The solution to this problem is now on the way to being solved at Israel’s large Nevatim air force base in the country’s Negev desert region.
Like Tel Aviv and Beirut, Gaza’s getting a boardwalk, but development threatens ancient Roman ruins.
For years, it was a dusty, often garbage-strewn asphalt ribbon winding along Gaza City’s otherwise beautiful Mediterranean coast. Today, it’s a construction site, with heavy equipment plowing sand into position, digging tunnels and laying pipes.
But if the plans proceed on schedule, Al-Rashid Road, popularly known as the Beach Road, will be transformed into a scenic seaside promenade, or corniche, in the style that has made the meeting between land and sea in places like Beirut, Alexandria and Nice tourist attractions and a gathering place for their residents.
That prospect has brought smiles to everyone from beachgoers to property owners, who are looking forward to seeing the value of their land rise. But not everyone is happy.
After being on the air for just a few weeks, “The Green Man” TV show has been temporarily shut down due to allegations of bribery and greenwashing. It is funded by an Israeli chemical company.
A new environmental television show called “The Green Man” debuted just a few weeks ago, hosted by well known Israeli news anchor Gadi Sukenik. The promotional video for the TV show, shown above, shows Sukenik walking through all kinds of environmentally polluted areas and finally asking the viewers how long they can remain detached from the environment. The real question may be, however, how detached from altruistic environmental goals “The Green Man” is.
Following numerous complaints, the show was temporarily suspended last week until further investigations can be conducted into whether the show received compensation for featuring certain companies, and the extent to which it is a conflict of interest that Israel Chemicals is one of the program sponsors.
The production company is currently being investigated under allegations that companies paid to be on the show, with prices dependent upon the amount of time that the company wished to be featured. Documents were found suggesting that companies could purchase small amounts of time (such as five minutes) or even an entire episode.
The broadcasting company issued a statement saying that “The Green Man will not be broadcast until the investigation of the production company has been completed. The results of the investigation will be send to us, and we will respond to the actions of the production company with great severity.”
The show may have been laden with problems since the very beginning, though, since Israel Chemicals is one of the main sponsors. Sukenik, the host of the show, sees no problem with the sponsor, however, and said that “if you ask me, it’s good that a polluting company takes steps to partly rectify its actions… I believe eventually they’ll repair… I hope it won’t be too late.”
Read more about eco-friendly TV shows and TVs:
Thirteen Part Television Series on Geography and the Environment Broadcast in Israel
Qatari TV Program “Stars of Science” Focuses on Environmentally Friendly Innovations
Israel Has Plans to Outlaw Dinosaur TVs
Making alcohol from sugars is easy; maybe the third oldest profession in the world. Making butanol from zebra droppings is another story.
Processors have made ethanol from cornstarch and sugar for decades, but using food products to make biofuel raises demand for staple commodities like corn and seed oils with disastrous impact to the food chain.
So let’s try again, back things up a step. Start with cellulose, not sugar. Add some enzymes that convert the cellulose into sugar. Next ferment the sugar into alcohol. Then distill the alcohol into fuel. Four simple steps and we’re juicing our cars with sawdust and coconut shells instead of Middle East oil. Scientists know how to turn plants into fuel, but doing it profitably is another thing: Cellulose is the problem.
Is a two year old study pitting the natural immune benefits of mothers’ milk against the machine of big pharma?
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States published a abstract in 2010 that is now alarming some environmental activists around the globe. Naturalnews.com took a strong stance against the recommendations – which suggest women who are nursing should refrain from it in order for vaccinations to work more effectively in their children – stating that “ludicrous notions like these that are birthed from philosophies that view drugs and vaccines as being equal, or even superior, to natural food.”
Crystal Lagoons has developed an alternative cooling and energy harvesting system for power plants that doesn’t require the use of seawater.
Gulf countries that lack freshwater resources rely deeply on seawater desalination to meet their daily needs and cool down thermal generation plants. According to Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates alone uses four trillion litres of Gulf seawater each year to cool down its power plants, foundries and desalination plants.
The byproduct of these operations produces a hot briny fluid that is then pumped back into the Gulf, seriously compromising coral reefs and the overall marine ecosystem. But Crystal Lagoons – the same people who were behind the worlds largest artificial lagoon planned for the Red Sea, is marketing a new closed-loop cooling system that would ensure that no more water would have to be extracted from the Gulf to cool down industrial plants!
The new Siemens Headquarters in Masdar City will be 65, 617 square feet when completed by the end of this year.
We recently reported that Siemens has teamed up with Masdar to develop a new generation of sand-resistant solar panels that will make more sense for desert environments, and that building the firm’s Middle Eastern headquarters in Masdar City is part of their commitment to see that project through to completion. Now we’re happy to bring you the first round of pictures recently released by designers Sheppard Robson and spotted over on World Architecture News. Construction of the 65, 617 square foot building is well under way and should be complete by the end of 2012.
Jerusalem’s light rail may be a great way to encourage the use of public transportation, but why doesn’t it allow bikes on board?
Four months ago the much anticipated Jerusalem light rail was launched after years of construction. (The future of the Tel Aviv light rail has yet to be seen.) The new light rail provides another convenient, comfortable means of public transportation within the city and further eliminates the need for gas-guzzling and carbon emitting personal vehicles. It is not proving convenient for one environmentally significant group of Jerusalem residents, however: the cyclists. Despite the fact that the light rail cars have a device specifically for storing bikes, bicycles are forbidden aboard the Jerusalem light rail.
Cycle Jerusalem, a group of local cyclists, is protesting the issue with a Critical Mass today starting at Safra Square.
In just six hours, the deserts receive more energy from the sun than humankind produces in a year, and Desertec is harnessing it.
Right now hundreds of people are gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland making the same kind of noises about the security of our future as the suits at COP 17 – mostly aimless. In the meantime, real people are doing real work to confront the day-to-day challenges of climate change and energy poverty, including the folks at Desertec. One of the most progressive organizations of our time founded in 2009, the Desertec Industrial Initiative (Dii) is slowly turning the Middle East and North African region into a serious solar powerhouse. Here is a roundup of the first four deals that make our energy future seem significantly more secure.
Thousands of fruit bats in Lebanon were sprayed with shotgun and AK-47 bullets over the weekend.
Thousands of fruit bats could have used Batman’s help last weekend when one or more unidentified assailants unleashed a spray of shotgun and AK-47 shells inside a cave in northern Lebanon. This senseless massacre wiped out at least 5,000 of these highly endangered flying mammals who populated the largest colony in the Middle East. Animal Encounter founder Dr. Mounir Abi-Said told The Daily Star that the bats didn’t die right away and that they probably crawled to shelter.
For those times when you can’t use electronic delivery methods and just need those paper products, eco-friendly suppliers like Flyerzone come in handy.
As much as we may try to avoid the need for paper products (or find creative ways to reuse paper), sometimes you just need to get something printed on good old-fashioned paper. Business cards are a classic example (and not everyone can stamp their business cards on the back of used railway tickets in the style of Israeli green business guru Erez Steinberg). So when you do need to create a paper product – such as leaflets, business cards, flyers, stationary, invitations, posters or postcards – it is best to go through an eco-friendly supplier. UK-based printing company Flyerzone fits the (paper) bill. Better news, they deliver around the world.
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