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What You Should Know About Polio

Karin Kloosterman
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8
What You Should Know About Polio

polio israel gaza, Egypt posterPolio, a crippling virus which lingers in polluted water sources is not a dead virus, says an Israeli researcher. It is in Israel, Gaza and Egypt. But some current vaccines may be deadly.

I know women in Israel who were unsure about vaccinating their kids against polio. The nurse practitioners there said that polio is still “alive” in northern Israel. Getting a vaccine is very recommended. But new research by Tel Aviv University which warns about avoiding the “live” version of the vaccine, questions what kind of vaccine should be given to prevent the crippling disease which 60 years ago affected one of my husband’s family members.

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Eco Education Caravan Touring Lebanon This Month

Karen Chernick
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0
Eco Education Caravan Touring Lebanon This Month

"environmental education caravan"An eco caravan is bringing green education directly to the people of Lebanon this month.

A solar powered taxi is traveling the globe at the moment, and now an eco-education caravan has taken to the roads of Lebanon (which, unfortunately, have seen a 538% increase in car use over the past 24 years).  The caravan will be bringing the Lebanese people an opportunity to receive an “e-ecoeducation” (eee) and learn about electronic waste management, collection and recycling.  The caravan, which is sponsored both by the Lebanese Minister of Environment Nazem al-Khoury and Fondation Saradar, hopes to “promote and develop understanding, skills and values that will enable people to participate in the achievement of an ecologically sustainable society.”

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Moroccan Poor Leapfrog Fossil Fuels – Switch on the Sun

Susan Kraemer
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10
Moroccan Poor Leapfrog Fossil Fuels – Switch on the Sun

Morocco_poor-rural-solar-Tenesol

163,000 Moroccans who previously had no access to electricity are going solar, thanks to Tenesol.

The world’s poorest two billion people have no access to any kind of electricity at all. Among them are people living in rural Morocco. These households are among the two billion that will greatly add to the world’s environmental problems over the next fifty years if they get on the dirty energy treadmill.

One solar company focused on the problem is the solar manufacturer and project developer Tenesol, headquartered in Lyon in the South of France, with its principal markets in the French Overseas Territories. The French company is helping rural Moroccans go straight to solar by installing 26,000 household solar systems far from the grid.

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Jerusalem’s Green-Roofed Gutman Center is a Home for the Birds and the Bees

Tafline Laylin
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0
Jerusalem’s Green-Roofed Gutman Center is a Home for the Birds and the Bees

green architecture, urban development, sustainable development, green building, Jerusalem, SPNI,The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel commissioned a very green addition to the Jerusalem Bird Observatory, and let’s just say the birds and the bees are making themselves at home!

Many buildings tend to create hazardous environments for fauna and flora, or else wipe them out altogether, but the Gutman Visitor Center at the Jersulem Bird Observatory is designed to do the exact opposite. Not only does the building designed by Weinstein Vaadia Architects have a turf roof covered in wildflowers and weeds that invites insects and crawlers to go wild, but the walls have been designed specifically to encourage all kinds of birds to nest in them! Step in to learn more about this super green design and to see a few more images of this inspiring project finished last year!

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Q&A With Greenpeace Campaigner Raefah Makki

Arwa Aburawa
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Q&A With Greenpeace Campaigner Raefah Makki

greenpeace-middle-east-lebanon-makkiWe speak to Greenpeace campaigner Raefah Makki about nuclear power, the Arab Spring and what she would do if she were president for the day

Greenpeace is one of the most recognizable green organisations in the world and the fact that it has branches scattered across the globe is part of the reason why. Greenpeace first came to the Middle East in 1986 with a wider agenda aimed at the Mediterranean and has since become an influential figure in the environmental movement in the region. As well as a presence in Turkey, Israel and Lebanon, Greenpeace campaigners have also sprung up in Jordan to fight the country’s nuclear plans. I caught up with Raefah Makki, Greenpeace’s Arab world communications officer to talk about the organisation, its anti-nuclear stance and the impact politics has on the environmental agenda.

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Exclusive Pics: Kuraymat – Egypt’s First Solar-Thermal Plant

Tafline Laylin
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4
Exclusive Pics: Kuraymat – Egypt’s First Solar-Thermal Plant

Kuraymat, solar energy, ISCC, solar-thermal, hybrid power plant, Egypt, desert, Desertec, Flagsol, Ibderola, Orascom, renewable energyRenewable Energy professionals from Europe and Egypt (and Green Prophet!) took a field trip to Egypt’s first solar-thermal plant 90km south of Cairo!

Brimming with the kind of energy that infuses a school field trip, roughly 80 professionals from the renewable energy industry packed into two large buses outside the Semiramis International Hotel in Cairo last Friday. This was the 3rd and final day of the Desertec conference that addressed many of the concerns related to funding, legislating, and monitoring the push to harness North Africa’s endless renewable energy sources (experts say solar is the future) and eventually ship part of that energy to Europe. The buses were headed for Kuraymat, Egypt’s very first solar-thermal plant located 90km south of Cairo, and Green Prophet was on the scene. Step in for exclusive photographs of this 150 MW Integrated Solar Combined Cycle (ISCC) power plant, which has been feeding energy into the grid since July, 2011. 

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Urban Open Spaces: Good or Bad for the Environment?

Karen Chernick
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Urban Open Spaces: Good or Bad for the Environment?

"tel aviv map"What is a friendlier urban environment – dense constructed areas dotted with large, open public areas, or a slightly less dense urban environment infused with nature?

Living in a city is better for the environment than living in the suburbs.  Denser living allows for a lower carbon footprint since people can walk (or bike commute) to work, shop locally, and live a car-free, energy-reduced lifestyle.  Some would argue that the denser, the better, since more people can share resources and reduce commuting that way.  But even hardcore urbanites want a little green in their lives.  (Just think of all those diehard Manhattan residents piled on top of each other in high-rise apartments and their luscious Central Park.)

Israeli urban planners and environmentalists are currently disagreeing on the best way for a city to be green, after an annual convention of the Israeli Association of Landscape Architects.

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Sunday’s Green News Snippets

Arwa Aburawa
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1
Sunday’s Green News Snippets

green-news-middle-eastGet your weekly dose of green news snippets from the region

It’s been another great week of green news coming from the Middle East. We hope you managed to catch our interview with Green Hajj expert Dr Husna Ahmed, our coverage of the quake-proof straw houses  as well as Tafline’s time at the Desertec conference in Cairo.  And we have more bite-size news to keep you busy this quiet Sunday too. Read on for green courses on climate change, mega-rail projects and record high fines for an oil spill in Israeli waters.

Also, don’t forget to nominate your green hero from the Middle East/North Africa region and they could win a cash prize!

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Masdar’s Organic Market and Street Fair Re-Opens

Miriam Kresh
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0
Masdar’s Organic Market and Street Fair Re-Opens

image-masdar-marketEducating people about sustainability in the Middle East – while having fun.

The eco-curious public thronged Masdar’s open organic market and street fair last week.  As at last April’s first event, people experienced renewable energy in the flesh, riding in neat little driverless pod cars that shuttled between the parking lot and the fair grounds. Once at the market, organic shwarma and snacks tempted appetites. Displays of colorful produce and shelves of organic cosmetics appealed to the health and beauty-conscious.

The Little Fair Trade Shop opened again, selling beautiful craft items made from recycled materials. Kids were treated to  “Mad Scientist”  and recycling workshops, magic shows and more. Education in sustainability lightly disguised as fun.

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Bike Sharing Launched in Nicosia, But Environmental Commissioner Has His Doubts

Karen Chernick
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1
Bike Sharing Launched in Nicosia, But Environmental Commissioner Has His Doubts

"bike sharing cyprus"Bike sharing sounds like progress, but not if the plan only supports leisurely (and not commuting) cycling and without proper biking lanes.

It was only a couple weeks ago that a Cypriot law proposal threatened to fine cyclists for riding on sidewalks (among other things out of the cyclists’ control due to lack of proper infrastructure).  At the same time, strangely enough, a bike-sharing system was being launched in Nicosia to increase cycling.  The system, which is similar to the bike-sharing networks launched in Tel Aviv and Doha earlier this year, allows users to cycle the streets of Nicosia on one of 315 bikes docked at 27 stations throughout the city.

Environment Commissioner Charalambos Theopepmtou is skeptical of the system’s truly positive environmental impact, though, saying that “the purpose [of the system] was to connect the universities and encourage leisurely cycling, not cycling on an everyday basis.”

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7 Tips for a Sustainable Eid ul Adha Festival

Zaufishan
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8
7 Tips for a Sustainable Eid ul Adha Festival

eid adha hajj sacrifice zabiha meatZaufishan gives 7 tips on making the Muslim Eid festival more sustainable.

I’m overjoyed and giddy like a child on Christmas eve. As a Muslim, my year is punctuated with two religious festivals, or Eids. Eid-ul-Fitr ended the 30-day fasting in Ramadan two months ago, and Eid-ul-Adha which marks the end of the Hajj pilgrimage in Makkah with a sacrifice.

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Rebuilding In Earthquake-Stricken Turkey With Eco-Friendly Strawbale Architecture?

Julia Harte
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3
Rebuilding In Earthquake-Stricken Turkey With Eco-Friendly Strawbale Architecture?

turkey earthquakeBy choosing more quake-proof, sustainable, and cost-effective materials, developers could avoid future scenes like this one in Van, Turkey.

In the aftermath of a devastating earthquake that rocked its southeast region in October and rendered 14,000 buildings uninhabitable, Turkey is about to embark on its biggest ever urban renewal and construction campaign. Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has promised that the new buildings and property, which will require an estimated $255 billion in investment, will be “safe and sustainable” — unlike their predecessors.

If Erdoğan’s serious about those goals, we have one piece of advice for him: straw bale construction.

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‘The Story of Hajjar’: Muslim Women and Water Conservation

Arwa Aburawa
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0
‘The Story of Hajjar’: Muslim Women and Water Conservation

The Alliance of Religions and Conservation has launched a special water conservation guide aimed at Muslim women and families

Every year at Hajj, Muslims commemorate the struggle of Hajjar; an Egyptian hand-maid and second wife of the Prophet Ibrahim [pbuh] who was stranded in the desert without water for her child. The hajj pilgrims walk, as she did, between two mountains in the Saudi Arabian wilderness known as Safa and Marwa to remember her search for water. To mark the significance of this event, the Alliance of Religions and Conservation has launched a special water conservation guide which focuses on the story of Hajjar, to accompany its Green Guide to Hajj.

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Green Prophet at UK-Israel High Tech Hub Launch

Joshua Basofin
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0
Green Prophet at UK-Israel High Tech Hub Launch

israel Uk high tech hubHobnobbing: Green Prophet attends a new UK-Israeli tech hub hosted at the house of UK Ambassador Matthew Gould. With the UK’s help, Israel can accelerate more clean tech innovation.

The UK is making a bid to leverage investment in Israeli tech start-ups. Ambassador Matthew Gould has launched a Tech Hub in Tel Aviv. This endeavor will foster the growth of Israeli companies in their nascence and connect them to markets in London.

Israel has made a name for itself in recent years for its innovation in emerging fields such as biotech, telecommunications and cleantech. In the book “Start-up Nation,” Dan Senor and Saul Singer discuss how “Israel has beaten the odds to become a major player in the global business world, especially in the technology sector.” They explain that the country has achieved this “economic miracle” notwithstanding its decades-long regional conflict and lack of natural resources. And entrepreneurs there are just getting started.

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The Grand Green Mufti of Egypt

Moshe Terdiman
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61
The Grand Green Mufti of Egypt

ali gomaa grand green muftiSheikh Ali Gomaa is the Grand Mufti of Egypt issuing environmental fatwas.

Sheikh Ali Gomaa is the Grand Mufti of Egypt since September 2003 and one of the highest ranking and respected religious authorities throughout the Sunni world. He holds the second highest religious position in Egypt, after that of Sheikh al-Azhar. As the Grand Mufti, he oversees the premier institution throughout the Muslim world for religious legal direction, Dar al-Iftaa. It turns out his educational approach is also very “green”.

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