Dirty, polluted, and badly managed: Understanding Cairo, The Logic of a City Out of Control goes beyond the usual rhetoric “The Egyptian middle classes and intelligentsia, as well as a sizable slice of the foreign community, love to deplore what Cairo has become. Crowds and congestion, pollution, garbage, chaos, gridlocked traffic, horrendous architecture, and no […]
Make your own applesauce for Hannukah meals this year. It’s surprisingly easy. Apples are in full season – just when they’re urgently needed. For cooking down into applesauce, of course, because during the Hebrew holiday of Hannukah, those delicious latkehs need that sweet apple touch for toppings. If you need a traditional latkeh recipe, here […]
Hila Rawet Karni’s jewelry items look so luxurious, you’d never guess they’re made of paper. As an accessory that often falls victim to changing fads and trends and which is usually made of precious stones and metals, jewelry is potentially one of the more energy intensive (and polluting) of accessories. But it doesn’t have to […]
Aircraft behemoth Boeing estimates at least 90,000 commercial planes fly daily: a massive fuel burn that translates into elephantine emissions of toxic air. There is opportunity for change in the Middle East. If you are not already afraid of the giant plume of methane gas now emitting greenhouses gases into the atmosphere, there’s another worry: […]
The Upper Tigris River in Iraq could get a new lease on life as an Iraqi conservation group receives support to study its numerous environmental threats. Western governments are much more interested in Iraq’s post-conflict “democracy building” than environmental issues, according to the folks over at Nature Iraq, who are well known for their combat zone […]
One day, giant algae biofuel farms like this prototype may help solve world fuel and food needs Interest in creating biofuels from algae is increasing. We’ve covered Isaac Berzin from GreenFuel who rejuvenated NASA’s original idea; then there is Iran creating biofuel from algae (they didn’t answer our emails though); and Seambotic an Israel company […]
Recent discoveries have confirmed scientists’ longstanding fears that global warming would catalyze the release of millions of tons of potential greenhouse gas emissions locked up in ice and permafrost in the great white north. Layer after layer of plant debris that has not yet decomposed lies trapped in arctic and subarctic permafrost. As global temperatures […]
Israel’s natural gas wells could lead to an unsustainable shekel. Although the revolution in Egypt this past spring threatened Israel’s gas supply from the south, Israel took relief in its newly discovered Tamar and Leviathan gas fields deep beneath the Mediterranean Sea, estimated to produce tens of billions of cubic feet of natural gas. But even […]
Thanks to a recent feature in Sadiyaty Magazine, residents of the UAE may soon be interested in recycled cardboard furniture. The latest issue of Sadiyaty Magazine, an Arabic publication on design trends and fashion, featured design team Sanserif Creatius’s cardboard Valentina throne chair – and no wonder. The Spanish designers at Sanserif Creatius are enamored […]
Just because incandescent light bulbs are less energy efficient than CFLs doesn’t mean you need to toss them. Upcycle them! IKEA Israel won’t even sell incandescent light bulbs any more, and people are gradually switching to more energy efficient compact fluorescent lightbulbs (CFLs). No need to toss the baby out with the bathwater, though – […]
We’re so thrilled to announce that Geotectura has finally broken ground on Israel’s very first LEED Platinum Building. We’ve been waiting for this happy moment since November 2008 when Geotectura together with Axelrod-Grobman Architects and Chen Architects first won a prestigious international competition to design TAU’s Porter School of Environmental Studies. After years of information gathering and […]
GE Energy demonstrates its Jenbacher gas engine at the Gas Arabia Summit 2011 in Oman today. The extent of the global problem of gas flaring can be seen in this satellite photo of North America, that is quite bewildering at first sight. On the right we see the twin cities of Minneapolis and St Paul Minnesota, […]
Rent an electric car when you travel to Israel. Often thought of as too expensive or sophisticated for the average driver, plug-in electric vehicles will soon be available even to the occasional driver. Israel’s largest car rental company, Eldan, signed an agreement with Better Place electric vehicle company on December 5, making hundreds of Renault […]
The wonderful thing about living in the Middle East is that we have so many holidays each year. But we like to celebrate the earth-friendly way, so check out our suggestions for good places to buy sustainable gifts. We know most of our readers are unlikely to buy into the mad consumer rush that Christmas […]
Before grabbing another polluting plastic bag, learn how to easily make a cloth bag out of items you already have lying around. Sustainable Israeli designer Aya Tager will be giving upcycling workshops in Tel Aviv in a couple weeks, but for those who can’t make it she is giving an online workshop right here on […]