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International Call for Papers: Ecosexuality Anthology

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ecology sex, sexualityHave something to say about the sensual side of green? A new magazine is looking for submissions.

As a philosophy, ecosexuality is quite new even to many environmentalists who are keen on greening their personal lives yet are unaware of this socially transformative movement.  From using eco-friendly lubrication to maintaining healthy reproductive and sexual well-being, to adopting the ideals of ecology in one’s primary relationship, ecosex is many things to many observers and mavericks, including myself, who support the idea of sustainable love that is good for people and the planet. Now those who imagine a greener way to love, including lovers in the Middle East, can lend their voice to the symphony and help create as well as advance the idea of what it means to go “green between the sheets.”

Lifestyle Poor for Abu Dhabi Women’s Health, Pregnancies, Babies

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muslim woman with babyLifestyle diseases associated with excess are undermining maternal and fetal health in Abu Dhabi.

According to 2010 statistics by the Health Authority Abu Dhabi (HAAD), 20 percent of Emirati women and 18 percent of expatriate women in the emirate have diabetes. In addition, 38 percent of Emirati women and 32% of expatriate women are obese.  The result is that more women in the country are experiencing complicated pregnancies including  gestational diabetes, and it’s all made worse by a pattern of delaying to seek appropriate maternal and child health care, the experts warn.

Israeli Artist Transforms Rockets Into Roses

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image-kassam-roseBlacksmith and artist Yaron Bob creates beauty and a message of  hope from  deadly rockets.

Karen asked on our post about jewelry made from upcycled bullets, how can we change the context of other discarded or grotesque objects in order to view them as beautiful?

Now, how can weapons of death ever become symbols of peace? It takes a spirit determined to draw hope and grace from terror and despair.

Israeli artist Yaron Bob does the most daring recycling imaginable. He takes spent Kassam rockets and from them welds roses, menorahs, and jewelry.

Egypt’s Military May Be Using Lethal Teargas

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Egypt, Cairo, Toxic Pollutants, Military, Teargas, Tahrir Square

Many people fear that the Egyptian military is using a lethal new brand of teargas to dispel protestors in downtown Cairo.

During the last two weeks in Egypt there existed a menacing energy that I hadn’t experienced before and which felt certain – like a pressure cooker – to explode at any moment. Sadly, as I was waiting to board my flight to South Africa on Saturday, violence did erupt again with terrible crackdowns from both the Central Security Forces (CSF) and the Military.

Presidential candidate Mohamed ElBaradei called what is happening a “massacre” and tweeted that “Tear gas with nerve agent & live ammunition [are] being used against civilians in Tahrir.” This potentially new brand of tear gas has received widespread attention and the medical community is concerned about its long term impact.

Iraq and Libya For Eco-Seeking Bravehearts

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iraq and libya, eco-travel and green tourism Iraqi historical sites are many, but the security situation is still risky
Middle East Eco Tourism has been written about a lot on Green Prophet, including upscale Five Star Eco-Tourism in locations like Abu Dhabi and Jordan, hiking holiday tours in Lebanon, and even how to travel through parts of the Middle East by bike. But if you are looking for really unusual travel destinations in today’s politically changing Middle East, consider places like Iraq or Libya, where archeological sites intermingle with unfinished ecological projects  started by the country’s former strong man, Muamar Gadaffi.

Beirut’s Rooftop Revolution by Wassim Melki

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Wassim Melki green roof, sustainable design, beirut lebanonWe interview urban designer Wassim Melki who envisions a sustainable future for Beirut’s skyline.

Beirut is almost completely bereft of public green spaces. Satellite images show expanses of grey apartment and office blocks and a depressing lack of trees or any other kind of greenery. But architect and urban designer Wassim Melki has a plan to radically change all of this. Whilst finding space to create public parks, or even planting trees alongside roads is practically impossible, he suggests that the solution lies on rooftops.

Recycling Plants and Paying the Green Forward

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"uprooted plant growth"In addition to paper and plastic, now Israelis will be able to recycle their garden and windowsill plants too.

When redesigning one’s garden, sometimes perfectly healthy plants get tossed out in the shuffle.  The plants are not sick or anything, but simply do not match the new landscaping theme of the garden.  These carbon dioxide consuming and oxygen producing plants need not go to waste, however, thanks to the new initiative of a plant nursery in Israel.  Wendy Nurseries recently open a donation center for second hand plants and trees, which in turn are implanted in welfare institutions and military bases that need some aesthetic and ecological sprucing up.

Turkish Town Bewildered By Strange Chemical Precipitation

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That bluish stuff on their hands? Sticky powder that can’t be washed away with regular cleaning products — and is probably coming out of one of the many factories in the area.

It’s raining unidentified factory exhaust in the township of Dilovası, about 100 kilometers east of Istanbul. Since early last week, residents have been baffled by the sticky substance falling from the sky, and frustrated by its adherence to their cars, houses, windows, and trees.

Three brave locals wiped some onto their hands to show a photographer for the Turkish daily Milliyet. (Don’t worry about the orange spot, though — it’s henna, and it’s just a sign that the hand’s owner has been to a wedding recently).

Top 6 Freaky Foods To Avoid

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meat glue, food and health, industrial food, organic food, water, water contamination, holy water, vegetarian foodHuman hair in bread, arsenic-laced holy water, and chemically-treated veggie burgers are among the top 6 freaky foods to stay away from. Step on in to learn more.

Over the years we have covered a host of freaky food and water-related stories that have the power to turn even the most adventurous eater into an obsessive label-reader, so we thought it was high time to collate six of the most disturbing in one convenient post as a reminder of how important it is to question just about everything we eat and to source our food from ethical markets.

You’ll be shocked to learn that holy ZamZam water from Mecca was found to be laced with arsenic, non-organic soy goes through a toxic chemical bath before it is compressed into a veggie burger, and that bread you love so much could very well contain traces of human hair. Learn more about these and other “hair-raising” food stories right after the break.

New Electronic Monitoring Device Could Foil Bluefin Tuna Exploits

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Bluefin Tuna, illegal fishing, Mediterranean, Gaddafi, animal conservation, endangered speciesBluefin Tuna fishing stakes have risen with the adoption of a new electronic monitoring system that will make it harder for frausters to fudge their catch numbers.

Although considered largely unsuccessful at preventing the nearly inevitable extinction of the Atlantic Bluefin Tuna at last week’s International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas (ICCAT) gathering in Istanbul, Susan Lieberman of the PEW environment group told Jennifer Hattam with Treehugger, one of the contributors to our recently launched blogging guide Barefoot Bloggers, that certain progress was made.

In particular, the group was able to persuade ICCAT to adopt a new electronic monitoring device that will make it a lot harder for fishermen to fudge catch numbers. If unsuccessful, if Bluefin Tuna fishing in the Mediterranean is not better managed, another member of the PEW delegation Lee Crocket told the Washington Post that the population will have less than a 24% chance of reviving in the next decade.

Mannequin-made Chair Puts Human Form in Motion

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mannequin gravity chair, Israel designer, designs free fall
When this mannequin free falls, low-carbon-footprint chairs with “human” form are made.

Israeli designer Ezri Tarazi, the head of the Industrial Design Department at Israel’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, is no stranger to sustainable design.  Some of his previous projects include eye glass frames made from wood, and home furnishings created from upcycled ammunition boxes.  But he put an entirely new spin on sustainable design recently with his free-falling mannequin chair – which employs the drop of a female mannequin filled with 100 kilos of concrete in order to sculpt the metal chair instead of using energy-guzzling machines.  The chair is almost entirely man (and mannequin) made.

Crazy Kuwaitis Use Shotguns to Kill 12 Flamingos

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Egypt's 1st Ever Solar Decathlon Team May Fail Because of Fundraising ConcernsAn animal conservationist lines up 11 dead flamingos shot by crazy Kuwaiti yahoos for absolutely no reason at all.

We have seen some shocking images of animal abuse on Green Prophet, but this picture of 11 dead flamingos in Kuwait is definitely on our list of the most disturbing. Earlier this year Arwa published a story depicting dead sharks in the UAE killed for their fins, and only a few weeks ago, we learned about one million migrating songbirds that are killed for a pickled dish in Cyprus.

In both of those cases, the animals were at least killed for food, but last week one or more crazy Kuwaiti yahoos shot and killed 11 flamingos for absolutely no reason at all. These images come directly from the Kuwait Society for the Protection of Animals and Their Habitat (K’s PATH), who rushed to the Abdaliya Nature Preserve to rescue 2 flamingos that had been left to die, and to document the senseless carnage poachers left behind.

Egypt's 1st Ever Solar Decathlon Team May Fail Because of Fundraising Concerns

According to K’s PATH, a worker at the Kuwait Oil Company (KOC) called them to report that poachers had broken through fencing at the Abdaliya Nature Preserve and shot 13 flamingos in total. 11 died immediately, one was in fatal condition with a broken leg and birdshot, and another suffered from stress and myopathy.

Abdaliya Nature Preserve is a joint KOC and Public Authority for Agriculture and Fish Resources (PAAFR) project.

animal conservation, wildlife conservation, animal abuse, middle east, kuwait, flamingos,

K’s PATH employees rushed to the scene, photographed the dead birds, and transported the two injured birds to the Royal Animal Hospital, where Dr. Jill Mullen and staff examined them. The team consulted Dr. Robert Aguilar, an American veterinarian, who advised them to place the birds in an adapted raptor cage with standard mirrors that help the birds feel like they are still a part of a flock, thereby reducing stress.

The flamingo with the broken leg died, but the other bird is doing reasonable well, eating, and is undergoing a rehabilitation.

animal conservation, wildlife conservation, animal abuse, middle east, kuwait, flamingos,

K’s PATH relies on donations for funding since government support is paltry, despite press material that reveals His Highness the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah showing support for wildlife conservation projects in Kuwait. The Emir was reported to have released some rabbits and deer into the Sabah Al-Ahmad Nature Preserve.

According to K’s PATH, poaching in Kuwait has reached epic proportions, and it is not uncommon to see men shooting at animals from moving vehicles.

K’s Path closed in 2017. From their press release:

K’S PATH announced this morning the decision to close K’S PATH by the end of six months that is December 2017. All animals at the K’S PATH shelter will be adopted out in Kuwait or will be rehomed in international shelters. No animals will be put down.

Citing reasons for closing K’S PATH, Sheikha Fatima M. Al Sabah explains that the K’S PATH team has worked very hard for the past 12 years to protect Kuwait’s animals and the environment and thankfully, much has been achieved through the years.

Therefore the decision to close the Society is not based on financial or administrative reasons or as a result of any problem; but this decision was made based on the knowledge that Kuwait’s animals and environment will be cared for by compassionate people in the community.

She further adds that the new animal protection and environmental laws passed by Kuwait’s Parliament reflect the progressive approach of the Government authorities to foster future generations that appreciate Kuwait’s natural heritage.

Cairo’s Fixers: Repairers That Are Helping Heal The Planet

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Superior repair skills in developing nations mean that broken electronics can be mended and reused – a much greener alternative to recycling

A couple of months ago, I wrote about the death of my laptop and my predicament over what to do with it. I had become wary of sending broken electronics to developing countries after news emerged that they were being pulled apart by poor children in unsafe conditions.  As such, recycling appeared to be my only option.

However, one reader got in touch to point out that poorer nations tend to have superior skills in mending electronics so rather than just recycling them, they would be able to repair them which is the more eco thing to do. He also noted that the image of poor children working with toxic electronics was unrepresentative of many professional and skilled repair workers in the developing world who are helping divert electronics away from landfills.

Guilhem Eustache’s Magical Home is Made With Traditional Moroccan Materials

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green building, eco-design, eco-architecture, morocco, sustainable architecture, natural materials, traditional architecture, Morocco

While many architects look to concrete as a cheap building material, Guilhem Eustache chose natural materials used by local Berbers for hundreds of years. Looks good, don’t you think?

Morocco is a magical country full of exotic scents, argan oil, eco-Kasbahs, and challenging mountain trails, but capturing this essence in a building is no easy feat. Foster + Partners comes close with this gorgeous bank, but Guilhem Eustache has taken a more minimalist and traditional approach. Commissioned by a Belgian film producer to design a sustainable home on a massive plot just south of Marrakech, Eustache responded with simplicity, geometry, and locally-sourced natural materials that together ward off the hot summer sun. 

A Funeral for the Dead Sea in Jerusalem Today

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naked dead sea, spencer tunick, photo
We’ve seen naked people bare all for the Dead Sea, and a pledge by the Israel Chemicals Corp to pay billions in damage to save the hotels there. But this is not enough: The Dead Sea is dying and governments aren’t doing anything to protect it for future generations. In response, today November 21, Friends of the Earth Middle East are staging a funeral procession for the Dead Sea at 9:30 this morning opposite the Israeli Parliament building in Jerusalem. If you are nearby, join the funeral.