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Permaculture Hannukah Party at Yesh Meain Ecological Farm

Karen Chernick
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Permaculture Hannukah Party at Yesh Meain Ecological Farm

"permaculture farm israel"In honor of the last day of Hannukah, the Yesh Meain permaculture farm will be hosting an all-day permaculture celebration.

Links are often found between Jewish holidays and the environment, and environmentally-minded organizations in Israel try to find eco-friendly ways to celebrate them.  We’ve seen these eco Jewish celebrations center around Sukkot, a holiday that is spent outdoors anyway.  But this year we have learned of a permaculture party for Hannukah – a holiday praised by Jewish environmentalists for its lesson on energy efficiency.  The party will take place at the Yesh Meain permaculture farm (the same place that sustainable designer Inbal Weisman frequents in order to collect materials for her upcycled fabric owls) on the last night of Hannukah.

The celebrations will include: swapping/sharing of seeds (and whatever else comes to mind), tours and workshops for children, a general assembly of the members of the Israeli Permaculture Organization, and a communal vegan/vegetarian feast.

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15 Yr Old’s Pocket Money Can’t Save Camels Killed by Plastic

Tafline Laylin
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262
15 Yr Old’s Pocket Money Can’t Save Camels Killed by Plastic

wildlife conservation, pollution, plastic, camels, nature conservation, environmental activismHalf of the wild camels near Abu Dhabi are choking on plastic and dying

When the grownups give up on protecting the earth and its numerous creatures, the youth are left to pick up the baton. Cameron Oliver was just 11 years old when he first learned about the plight of camels living in the desert, 50% of which die long, slow deaths after consuming plastic. Four years later and the South African activist who attends the Al Yasmina School in Abu Dhabi is still campaigning at other schools throughout the Emirates to raise awareness, but his pocket money is beginning to run out and he needs help.

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Amman’s New Mega-Mall is Antithesis of Sustainable Development

Faisal O'Keefe
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19
Amman’s New Mega-Mall is Antithesis of Sustainable Development

taj mall, amman jordan
The Taj mall in Amman, Jordan seems as current and eco-sensitive as a polyester leisure suit.

Costing in excess of $170 million and with a total floor area of 150,000 square meters, Amman’s newest mega-project is located in a middle class residential area, skirted by vacant lots of grazing goats and humble concrete houses.  Access to its underground car park on Opening Day was blocked when a sheep sprinted from an adjacent field, a typically surreal Amman experience.

Just in time for Christmas and joining the existing team of city shopping centers, Jordan’s latest retail-abalooza has arrived: Taj is Amman’s newest shopping mall, boy does it  have a ‘shiny nose’. Pitched as a “lifestyle destination”, right now this 21st century citadel is the antithesis of sustainable development.

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Biodegradable Orange Peels Make Fragrant and Functional Tableware

Karen Chernick
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Biodegradable Orange Peels Make Fragrant and Functional Tableware

"orange peel bowl"Orange peels are already the perfect shape for a mug or small bowl, so Israeli designer Ori Sonnenschein helped them transform.

Oranges are in season during the winter months, and so they may have graced many people’s tables recently.  But oranges don’t have to disappear from your diet or your table once spring arrives.  Israeli designer Ori Sonnenschein has found a sustainable way to extend the season of this fruit, in the form of fragrant tableware made out of orange peels.

A self-described optimist, Sonnenschein believed in the potential of this usually discarded material and found a way to make it durable and useful again.

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Raw Bamboo Bench is Green, But Is It Comfortable?

Karen Chernick
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Raw Bamboo Bench is Green, But Is It Comfortable?

"bamboo bench design"Bamboo is universally praised as a sustainable material, but when used in its rawest form is it comfortable?

Beauty has been said to increase sustainability, but what about ease of use?  We’ve seen a few sustainable bench designs out there already, from Yoav Avinoam’s sawdust bench to Green Lullaby’s cardboard work bench – but never a bench made out of the quickly renewable and sustainable material heralded by environmentalists the world over, bamboo.  Israeli designer Gal Ben-Arav’s ‘Bamboo Bench’, pictured above, is a new eco-friendly twist on this furniture staple.

But is it truly comfortable (and therefore sustainable)?

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Israel’s Geothermal Giant Ormat Signs Deal For Solar In California

Shifra Mincer
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ormat geothermal solar
Israel’s Geothermal Giant Ormat Signs Deal For Solar In California

It already has an international presence, but Israel’s Ormat Industries (NYSE: ORA) just made its global presence a little brighter: On December 21, Ormat’s US subsidiary Ormat Technologies announced that it will be developing its very first 10 megawatt solar photovoltaic (PV) farm near one of its geothermal plants in California. Ormat is an internationally recognized geothermal company but has already signed a 20-year power purchase agreement for its newest solar plant with the local community-owned utility Imperial Irrigation District.

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Make Your (Book) Mark With Plastic Bags

Faisal O'Keefe
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plastic bags bok marksGet one up on Rumpelstiltskin by turning plastic shopping sacks into uber-artsy bookmarks. 

I really hate giving cash gifts.  Gift cards aren’t much higher on the “Hey, I burned lots of calories thinking of you” scale.  Even when the card’s end use fits the user, it’s still not very satisfying for me (wow, so it is always about me?).  Do you also need to up the personalization ante?  Here’s the recipe for what’s accompanying all those bookstore gift cards flying out of our house this holiday season:

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Gold and Armored Rolls Royce for $8 million?

Maurice Picow
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Gold and Armored Rolls Royce for $8 million?

white, gold, rolls royce car, stuart hughes

For $8 million USD you too can own a car like this. It’s gold and armor plated too!

We live in the Middle East and can’t avoid noticing the ostentatious and ungreen ways of some people over here. We’ve covered a white gold Mercedes sports coups  and other luxury vehicles highlighted at the Abu Dhabi car show. And now we dig up yet another gold car, a Rolls Royce ultra luxurious EWB Phantom limousine that is not only armor-plated but contains 250 pounds of solid 18 Carat gold trim.

Rolls Royce ultra luxurious EWB Phantom limousine, gold car
Rolls Phantom inside view. Louis Jadot Champagne anyone?

The special project by Stuart Hughes, which took 18 months to complete, is a cooperative effort between Stuart Hughes of Liverpool, a designer of luxury products; and Eurocash AG of Zug, Switzerland.

The car, which was built for an anonymous Middle East businessman, carried a price tag of 5 million Pounds Sterling (US $7,850,000).

fragmentation grenade

DM 51 fragmentation grenade: contains 6,500 steel balls and hurled at the Rolls to make sure it’s bullet proof.

The “businessman” who ordered such a car, and is willing to pay so much for it, must be looking for more than just an outlandishly priced set of wheels. Eurocash AG, a firm that specializes in customizing luxury cars, including bullet proofing and armour plating, appears to have done their work well for this Rolls Royce.

After the armor plating was completed, the car was tested against 570 caliber 7.62 Russian bullets fired from an AK47 assault rifle and aside from numerous scratches came through unscathed. To make sure the car was really assault proof, a couple of military type DM 51 fragmentation grenades were also hurled at the Rolls.

Wealthy businessmen living in the Gulf region have been known to purchase super luxury cars, like white gold Mercedes and gold Bentley cars. But even so, the cost of this armored plated gold-trimmed tank is about as ridiculous and wasteful as it gets. No doubt, the owner wants to not only ride in style, but as safely as possible as well. We can only wish him well, and hope that some of this wealth, most likely from non-green fossil fuels, will somehow find its way to helping the environment.

More articles about extravagant Middle East cars:
Tuataras , not Hybrids Rule the Road at Dubai Car Show
Will GM’s Green Cadillac Sell in the UAE
Abu Dhabi’s White Gold Mercedes Bio Fuel; Another Dubious Green Development
White Gold Bentley Upstages Emirati Gold Mercedes; How Un-green!
Ride the Abu Dhabi Stretch Limo Superbus

Smoking Linked to Skin Cancer in Women

Tinamarie Bernard
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1
Smoking Linked to Skin Cancer in Women

smoking women skin cancerRates of skin cancer in Israel are some of the highest in the world, though the rest of the MENA region has significantly lower incidence, according to the World Health Organization.

Conventional thinking suggests that the best way to avoid skin cancer is to use sunscreen, particularly one made from organic materials. New research, however, continues to find other risk factors. Long known as a causative factor in lung cancer, new research suggests that smoking increases your chances of developing skin cancer, especially if you are a woman. For the now, the data is correlational.

According to reports, the study, which is published in Cancer Causes, compared 383 patients with skin cancer to 315 people without the disease (355 men, 343 women). It found a significant increased risk for skin cancer among women, with the data less robust for men.

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Link Between Unhealthy Sperm and WiFi Use

Tinamarie Bernard
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Link Between Unhealthy Sperm and WiFi Use

sperm and wifi link, hot guyHe may appeal to the eyes, but what is all that computer use doing to his sperm?

Infertility is a family affair. In the Middle East, the matter is often more than a medical concern. Larger families are the norm and in certain communities (for example, the more religious), a sign of honor and prestige. Couples trying to conceive without success must rule out male infertility as one of the culprits.

Male infertility can be a result of several factors including low sperm count, sperm that are immotile (don’t swim properly to reach the female egg) or sperm with altered DNA (DNA fragmentation).  Successful fertilization depends on sperm being able to reach and penetrate the egg, but globally, fertility rates are declining, with many speculations about why sperm counts and sperm health are shrinking.

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Morocco Airport Counts Solar Power Carbon Savings

Karin Kloosterman
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Morocco Airport Counts Solar Power Carbon Savings

morocco solar energy airport power marrakesh, NAPS oyMarrakesh also known as the “Ochre City” is my favorite place in Morocco. Visiting there last summer, I got to see how the futuristic transport hub is creating solar power in action. Supplied by the Finnish company Naps Oy, who I met in Finland in 2010, I like the way the solar elements integrate with the design experience. I also love how the company has added a solar energy meter (see above), showing how much carbon dioxide has been spared from the atmosphere. Placed inappropriately below the meter is a large plastic wrap center where worried tourists slap reams of plastic onto their luggage to protect it. Well, the world can’t be made perfect all at once. See below for some remarkable photos of the beautiful Marrakesh airport.

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Frankincense is Soon to be the Ghost of Christmas Past

Tafline Laylin
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2
Frankincense is Soon to be the Ghost of Christmas Past

holiday tradition, christmas, frankincense, biodiversity, horn of africa, forestsFrankincense burners such as those depicted above could eventually become unnecessary as frankincense supplies dwindle.

We all know the story. The Three Wise Men (Magi) traveled to Bethlehem upon the birth of baby Jesus and laid gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh at his feet. The story is so engrained in the consciousness of Christians that many people burn frankincense in front of nativity scenes during Christmas time in order to relive this collective memory.

But a new study published in Britain’s Journal of Applied Ecology warns that this tradition is at risk of extinction. After studying dozens of Boswellia tree populations in Ethiopia, from which much of the world’s frankincense is derived, scientists predict that within the next 15 years, 50 % of the world’s supply will be lost. And by 2060, 90% of resin that produces the aromatic scent of many Christmases past will be completely sapped.

Even though the Boswellia tree is exceptionally hardy, Frans Bongers, who co-authored this alarming study, told the BBC that “the forests that remain are declining because the old individuals are dying continuously, and there [are] no new individuals coming into the system. That means that the forests are running out of trees.” Oman and Yemen cut down the trees systematically, and in Ethiopia they are being cleared for agriculture.

Fire, grazing, and beetle attacks are other factors putting frankincense at further risk. Are gold and myrrh next?

Via BBC, ABC

image via aleutia, flickr

Playful Packaging From Gugu Design

Karen Chernick
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Playful Packaging From Gugu Design

"alphabet game design"The packaging from Gugu Design’s games is not merely protective, but actually another game.  Two games for the price of one package!

We’ve seen sustainable designers upcycle the packaging from other products to make something new (such as the Ecoist clutch purses made from candy and potato chip bag wrappers), and we’ve even seen them make recycled paper furniture inspired by industrial packaging.  Yet these designs were based on the premise that packaging is something external to a product, and which can be discarded once the product has been opened.  Israeli designer Oshrit Ben Gal of Gugu Design disagrees with this concept and has come up with another one.

What if the packaging for a product could transform into a product of its own?

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Yemen’s Shibam is 400 towers made from earth – like a Manhattan in the desert

Tafline Laylin
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2
Yemen’s Shibam is 400 towers made from earth – like a Manhattan in the desert

If you have lost faith in earth architecture, take note: Yemen’s Manhattan of the desert, Shibam, boasts 400 habitable clay towers!

Yemen has a UNESCO World Heritage Site secret, but it’s not so well-kept anymore. One of the most impressive examples of earth architecture that has survived for hundreds of years, the Shibam district in Hadramaut province boasts 437 tall clay towers, of which 400 are still habitable.

It is unclear when this “Manhattan of the desert” was originally built, though construction of at least one of the mosques probably occurred during the reign of Abbasid Caliph Harun al Rashid (786-809), according to World Architecture News.

vernacular architecture, sustainable architecture, green building, clay building, Shibam, UNESCO World Heritage Site, vernacular architecture, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development,

Once a popular destination for caravan traders, Shibam fell into disrepair when the routes dried up, so in 2000 GTZ (German Technical Cooperation) and the GOPHCY (General Organisation for the Preservation of Historic Cities of Yemen) launched the Shibam Urban Development Project (SUDP) to help the city and its residents to thrive once more. Already more than 100 homes have been restored, and sustainable agriculture and cottage industries reintroduced.

vernacular architecture, sustainable architecture, green building, clay building, Shibam, UNESCO World Heritage Site, vernacular architecture, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development,One of SUDP’s most important aims was to get the local community involved in re-building their own city so that they would have a vested interest in keeping it alive.

Nearly 1/3 came forward to investigate the possibility of renovating their clay towers, and more than 100 took advantage of generous funds made available to them. GTZ and GOPHCY provided roughly 35% of the renovation costs and technical advice, but locals also had to raise their own contributions.

vernacular architecture, sustainable architecture, green building, clay building, Shibam, UNESCO World Heritage Site, vernacular architecture, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development,Great care was taken to ensure the historical integrity of any renovations. Local master builders that have buttressed their knowledge of traditional architectural techniques with certain modern advances were commissioned to provide their expertise, and new sewage systems were put in place by the local government.

vernacular architecture, sustainable architecture, green building, clay building, Shibam, UNESCO World Heritage Site, vernacular architecture, sustainable agriculture, sustainable development,Shibam’s long term survival depends richly on the community’s ability to fend for itself. As a result, abandoned oases have been revived and women have been empowered with new handicraft skills so that they can contribute to the family’s income. Three new organizations have been registered to keep up the promotion of cultural tourism, skills development, and continued sustainable agriculture.

The wisdom of the ancients wins again!

Solutions To Jordan’s Energy Crisis Must Be Sustainable

Arwa Aburawa
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Solutions To Jordan’s Energy Crisis Must Be Sustainable

Jordan may be dealing with an energy crisis exacerbated by attacks on the Sinai Peninsula gas pipeline – but now is not the time for rash decisions

Over the last of couple of months, voices highlighting the threat of an energy crisis in Jordan are getting louder. The situation is desperately alarming they say and whilst they’re right to be concerned about the country’s heavy energy dependency – their calls to embrace shale oil and nuclear power are shortsighted.

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