Before promoting sustainability progress, companies must ensure their initiatives are genuine and measurable. Today’s audiences are increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, particularly as awareness of “greenwashing” has grown.
Sydney is best known for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. If you’re looking to enjoy dinner with views of these landmarks, here are some great options.
It's sea turtles which may in the end save islands in the Seychelles. They may also better help us understand climate change. Like rings on a tree, scientists have found a way to read sea turtle shells and how they are impacted by climate change tells a story.
For centuries, the Sámi shaman drum was one of the most powerful sacred objects in northern Europe, and one of the most feared by church and state. If ISIS looks bad to us today for its religious fundamentalism, Christians were just as fervent.
Before promoting sustainability progress, companies must ensure their initiatives are genuine and measurable. Today’s audiences are increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, particularly as awareness of “greenwashing” has grown.
Sydney is best known for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. If you’re looking to enjoy dinner with views of these landmarks, here are some great options.
It's sea turtles which may in the end save islands in the Seychelles. They may also better help us understand climate change. Like rings on a tree, scientists have found a way to read sea turtle shells and how they are impacted by climate change tells a story.
For centuries, the Sámi shaman drum was one of the most powerful sacred objects in northern Europe, and one of the most feared by church and state. If ISIS looks bad to us today for its religious fundamentalism, Christians were just as fervent.
Before promoting sustainability progress, companies must ensure their initiatives are genuine and measurable. Today’s audiences are increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, particularly as awareness of “greenwashing” has grown.
Sydney is best known for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. If you’re looking to enjoy dinner with views of these landmarks, here are some great options.
It's sea turtles which may in the end save islands in the Seychelles. They may also better help us understand climate change. Like rings on a tree, scientists have found a way to read sea turtle shells and how they are impacted by climate change tells a story.
For centuries, the Sámi shaman drum was one of the most powerful sacred objects in northern Europe, and one of the most feared by church and state. If ISIS looks bad to us today for its religious fundamentalism, Christians were just as fervent.
Before promoting sustainability progress, companies must ensure their initiatives are genuine and measurable. Today’s audiences are increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, particularly as awareness of “greenwashing” has grown.
Sydney is best known for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. If you’re looking to enjoy dinner with views of these landmarks, here are some great options.
It's sea turtles which may in the end save islands in the Seychelles. They may also better help us understand climate change. Like rings on a tree, scientists have found a way to read sea turtle shells and how they are impacted by climate change tells a story.
For centuries, the Sámi shaman drum was one of the most powerful sacred objects in northern Europe, and one of the most feared by church and state. If ISIS looks bad to us today for its religious fundamentalism, Christians were just as fervent.
Before promoting sustainability progress, companies must ensure their initiatives are genuine and measurable. Today’s audiences are increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, particularly as awareness of “greenwashing” has grown.
Sydney is best known for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. If you’re looking to enjoy dinner with views of these landmarks, here are some great options.
It's sea turtles which may in the end save islands in the Seychelles. They may also better help us understand climate change. Like rings on a tree, scientists have found a way to read sea turtle shells and how they are impacted by climate change tells a story.
For centuries, the Sámi shaman drum was one of the most powerful sacred objects in northern Europe, and one of the most feared by church and state. If ISIS looks bad to us today for its religious fundamentalism, Christians were just as fervent.
Before promoting sustainability progress, companies must ensure their initiatives are genuine and measurable. Today’s audiences are increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, particularly as awareness of “greenwashing” has grown.
Sydney is best known for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. If you’re looking to enjoy dinner with views of these landmarks, here are some great options.
It's sea turtles which may in the end save islands in the Seychelles. They may also better help us understand climate change. Like rings on a tree, scientists have found a way to read sea turtle shells and how they are impacted by climate change tells a story.
For centuries, the Sámi shaman drum was one of the most powerful sacred objects in northern Europe, and one of the most feared by church and state. If ISIS looks bad to us today for its religious fundamentalism, Christians were just as fervent.
Before promoting sustainability progress, companies must ensure their initiatives are genuine and measurable. Today’s audiences are increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, particularly as awareness of “greenwashing” has grown.
Sydney is best known for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. If you’re looking to enjoy dinner with views of these landmarks, here are some great options.
It's sea turtles which may in the end save islands in the Seychelles. They may also better help us understand climate change. Like rings on a tree, scientists have found a way to read sea turtle shells and how they are impacted by climate change tells a story.
For centuries, the Sámi shaman drum was one of the most powerful sacred objects in northern Europe, and one of the most feared by church and state. If ISIS looks bad to us today for its religious fundamentalism, Christians were just as fervent.
Before promoting sustainability progress, companies must ensure their initiatives are genuine and measurable. Today’s audiences are increasingly skeptical of vague environmental claims, particularly as awareness of “greenwashing” has grown.
Sydney is best known for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge. If you’re looking to enjoy dinner with views of these landmarks, here are some great options.
It's sea turtles which may in the end save islands in the Seychelles. They may also better help us understand climate change. Like rings on a tree, scientists have found a way to read sea turtle shells and how they are impacted by climate change tells a story.
For centuries, the Sámi shaman drum was one of the most powerful sacred objects in northern Europe, and one of the most feared by church and state. If ISIS looks bad to us today for its religious fundamentalism, Christians were just as fervent.
Post COP 17 FAIL, most experts believe that we are probably looking at a 4°C rise in average global temperatures within the next few decades.
On the face of things, the COP 17 conference in Durban was more successful than Copenhagen or Cancun, but the truth is, nothing has changed. Even though the Kyoto Protocol was extended with a plan to roll out a new protocol by 2015 and put it into effect by 2020, The Economist points out that these protocols will remain useless until such time that meaningful disincentives are put in place to keep big polluters from breaking their carbon-mitigation promises.
Losing elephant steaks was stressful, but helped shape modern man says new study on the Middle East
Dietary change led to the appearance of modern humans in the Middle East 400,000 years ago, say archeology researchers from Tel Aviv University. During a dig at Qesem “Magic” Cave, a prehistoric site in Israel, the researchers see correlation between the rise of modern man and the decline of eating elephant meat. Imagine what veganism might do to our gene pool?
Jordan hits a fork in the energy development road: each route inciting ardent support and dissidence.
Environmental activists united in protest for a second time in six months urging public debate over Jordan’s emerging atomic energy program. Over two dozen anti-nuclear activists protested near Prime Minister Awn Khasawneh’s Amman offices last Saturday, in vocal reaction to a government policy statement reaffirming Jordan’s commitment to nuclear development.
At the center of the storm is planned construction of a nuclear research plant on the Jordan University of Science and Technology campus. The project is slated to commence in 2013, followed by a second reactor on the Gulf of Aqaba intended to power desalination processes.
Four additional nuclear electric power plants would be brought online by 2035. Activists accuse the Jordan Atomic Energy Commission of broadcasting a “feel-good” view: emphasizing job creation and energy independence yet keeping silent on environmental impacts and public safety concerns made more critical in the aftermath of the Fukushima disaster in Japan.
These tiny Egyptian Tortoises are a hot commodity among illegal wildlife traders. They are also facing extinction in the wild as a result.
Fantapants is a “postaholic member” of a reptile forum in the United Kingdom. In January 2008, when gold star member Jay Kickboxer asked where he could buy an Egyptian Tortoise for his “missus” who likes “small things,” Fantapants answered, “they are rarer than rockin horse poo smeared on to chicken lips.”
He then posted a link to Dean Clackett’s 2006 online advertisement which offered “Egyptian Tortoises (testudo kleinmanni) – North Africa’s smallest tortoise – for only £1,100 (or $1,718 using today’s exchange rate.) Meanwhile, the tortoises, which don’t grow much larger than an orange and once plied North Africa’s harsh Scrub forest and desert en masse, are rarely found in the wild.
A spiritual call to prayer or noise pollution? Some communities seek ban on mosque call in Israel
Should Israel be more lenient than Europe in the amount of noise that can emanate from a mosque call to prayer? These are the questions that Israeli government officials are asking recently, with some ministers looking to back a ban on mosque call to prayers. Muslims broadcast in a singing prayer, over a loudspeaker, when the faithful should start praying. The call is made five times daily, and when competing mosques pump up the volume the noise can be quite cacophonous!
I love the sound of the call to prayer five times daily, especially the one before daybreak and the one at dusk. But in some cities – I remember being rattled out of bed in a hostel in Istanbul by the call to prayer which was a bit unsettling – the question of religious freedom over the rights of others is coming into question.
Bisharat Golf Course in Jordan is a golfer’s green gone brown, including biodegradable golf balls
Golfers love sunshine, warm dry air and a chance to schmooze business, and Abu Dhabi, Dubai and the Sultanate of Oman have developed dozens of top-flight courses to meet demand. Ironic that the greener the course, the less “green” is its performance thanks to perpetual irrigation – slurping up lots of water and energy – and those toxic fertilizers and pest repellents needed to keep up appearances.
The hottest courses in the Middle East boast high-maintenance waterside addresses and replicate verdant St. Andrews or Pebble Beach, but some clubs go with the micro-climate flow: allowing out-of-play areas to return to native conditions, incorporating natural flora into the landscaping or utilising sand courses, oiling the “browns” to stabilize and groom the surface.
Bisharat Golf Club is a “brown” green in Jordan
Bisharat Golf Course, established in 1990 as Jordan’s first private golf club, offers golfers a chance to reduce their carbon footprint to near-zero while enjoying some of the Kingdom’s most beautiful scenery. This brown course, located south of Amman, spans two natural valleys surrounded by dusty rolling hills and ancient olive trees. Landlocked and naturally rugged, the course is maximally challenging and minimally invasive.
A sustainable golf green in Europe, powered by the wind. Green greens make sense where there is ample water.
And now golfers can rev up their personal sustainability performance by choosing a biodegradable golf ball made from discarded lobster shells! A great idea if you are looking for golf gifts for men.
Researchers at the University of Maine have invented a ball that will dissolve in water: perfect for cruise ship driving ranges or any course with a water feature.
The balls are created by crushing into paste these crustaceans’ exoskeletons (a by-product of food processing usually consigned to landfills) then adding a biodegradable binder and shell. The lobster balls retail for about a buck apiece, less pricey than a mid-grade non-biodegradable version.
Creators Professor David Neivandt and undergrad student Alex Caddell claim their invention performs similar to biodegradable balls with less-tasty beginnings, though performance is slightly less than their non-biodegradable cousins.
Final words on lobster balls? Not kosher, and likely not halal, so please don’t eat the golf ball.
Is this a sign from the heavens that Iran has no excuse now to pursue nuclear proliferation?
A new reserve of natural gas in the Caspian Sea suggests that Iran might be the world’s biggest owner of natural gas reserves, owning more even that Russia, some experts say.
According to an Iranian Government website a new reserve of 50 trillion cubic feet was found some 700 meters below sea level.
Walk in the footpaths of Jesus on the Gospel Trail.
It’s pilgrim’s progress: walking in the footsteps of Jesus. There are now two trails where Christian pilgrims can get outdoorsy and follow in the footsteps of their prophet.
Late November, the Israel Ministry of Tourism launched the Gospel Trail, a modular trail that follows the paths that Jesus is believed to have taken when he left Nazareth, the home of his childhood, for Capernaum on the northwestern shore of the Sea of Galilee, which became the center of his ministry. It is the second trail to follow the footsteps of Jesus, joining a somewhat parallel course as the Jesus Trail nearby.
Sustainable designer Aya Tager will teach upcycling workshops this month so that the lighting miracle of Hannukah can continue beyond the holiday’s 8 days.
The Jewish holiday of Hannukah celebrates the miracle of a single day’s supply of oil lasting for eight days of lighting, and is beloved by environmentalists who appreciate the energy efficiency aspect of the holiday. Sustainable designers have taken the energy efficiency aspect of Hannukah and integrated it into eco-friendly and upcycled Hannukah menorah designs. While beautiful and made using materials that would otherwise end up in landfills, those upcycled Hannukah menorahs are only used once a year. During this year’s Jewish festival of lights, sustainable designer Aya Tager will teach workshops on how to upcycle glass jars into lanterns that can be used all year long.
The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences wants your vote for its project aimed at protecting coastal fisheries
One of the world’s oldest Green Islamic organisation is asking supporters to vote for its community-based project which helps protect coastal fisheries. The Islamic Foundation for Ecology and Environmental Sciences (IFEES) has managed to make it to the top 10 finalists in RarePlanet and the National Geographic‘s Solution Search. They now need your vote to be in with a chance of winning $20,000. The competition which is titled ‘Turning the Tide for Coastal Fisheries’ is a global search for community-based innovations which help conserve near-shore fisheries.
Desertec takes third step to reality in as many months with Sonelgaz agreement
Algeria‘s state-owned Sonelgaz has just signed the third deal in the MENA region to export desert solar power to Europe, with a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to cooperate with the European Desertec Initiative (DII) in the export of solar from the country, according to a report at Platts.
DII is the consortium that plans to harness the gigantic potential of the desert sun in North Africa and the Middle East to ship massive amounts of renewable energy to Europe, supplying 15 percent from the desert sun – once dismissed as a dream, but increasingly taking shape.
Jerusalem belches out its untreated waste to area of beauty, holy sites
Mohammed Nakhal is normally a calm man, but he’s seething now. The stench of raw sewage is overpowering. It is rushing by, down the biblical Kidron Valley through the Judean Desert toward the Dead Sea where even you know what floats.
Nakhal, an urban planner, has been instrumental in clearing out the mounds of debris dumped in the valley and is lobbying hard for the sewage to be channeled through underground conduits and treated. It’s all part of an ambitious plan to turn what had been for millennia a pilgrimage route for Jews, Christians and Muslims going up to Jerusalem but over the past few decades has become a way down and out for the holy city’s refuse, into a green tourism path.
Living in Turkey and curious about where to find your nearest organic market? How to recycle? Where to take yoga classes? Yeşilist offers Turks tips on greener choices in areas ranging from Home & Garden to Ecotourism, Fashion & Textile to Nutrition.
Environmentally conscious Turks are a frustrated lot. Their country is developing along the route of traditional industrialization, with little regard for local livelihoods or human health, and the government is encouraging investment in dirty energy far more than Turkey’s abundant renewable resources.Though it can’t solve these larger problems, the website Yeşilist is Turkey’s first online guide to greener, more sustainable choices at the consumer level.
After years of planning, a Bedouin eco-farm in the Negev will finally get under way next week.
For years the Sustainability Laboratories (a New York-based organization) and the mayor of Hura in the Negev, Dr. Muhammad El-Nabari, have been planning an eco-farm for the Bedouin community. The farm, Project Wadi Attir, would aim to create a community that combines traditional Bedouin values with modern and sustainable farming techniques and energy solutions. Thanks to the recent commitment of approximately 10 million NIS from the Israeli government, the vision for Project Wadi Attir will soon become a reality and a groundbreaking ceremony will take place this week at the farm’s 45 hectare plot of land.
As described by the Sustainability Laboratories,
“Project Wadi Attir commits to a vision of humanity in which all people live in peace; use the planet’s resources wisely; avoid adverse impacts on other forms of life while actively enriching life’s complex fabric; develop communities which encourage the creative self-realization of individuals as well as society; and celebrate the underlying mystery, unity and sacredness of all existence.”
A slightly sweet, floral salad that goes surprisingly well with tomatoes and onions.
Does this seem more like dessert than a side dish? Yet this ultra-easy salad of orange slices works well next to the main dish as well as after the meal.
Children love it, and it’s a good way to get some vitamin C into them at this time of year.
Seasonal fruit, after all, is more nutritious than hot-house produce grown out of season.
Post COP 17 FAIL, most experts believe that we are probably looking at a 4°C rise in average global temperatures within the next few decades.
These tiny Egyptian Tortoises are a hot commodity among illegal wildlife traders. They are also facing extinction in the wild as a result.
A spiritual call to prayer or noise pollution? Some communities seek ban on mosque call in Israel
Is this a sign from the heavens that Iran has no excuse now to pursue 
Walk in the footpaths of Jesus on the Gospel Trail.
