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.
In a real emergency, romance takes a back seat to physics, panic, and how fast 150 people can squeeze through a narrow tube. The Federal Aviation Administration says every aircraft must be evacuated within 90 seconds. That’s the gold standard. But new research suggests that in the real world, especially as we age, that number might be more aspirational than achievable.
Research from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, found that nearly three out of four marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are exposed to sewage pollution.
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.
In a real emergency, romance takes a back seat to physics, panic, and how fast 150 people can squeeze through a narrow tube. The Federal Aviation Administration says every aircraft must be evacuated within 90 seconds. That’s the gold standard. But new research suggests that in the real world, especially as we age, that number might be more aspirational than achievable.
Research from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, found that nearly three out of four marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are exposed to sewage pollution.
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.
In a real emergency, romance takes a back seat to physics, panic, and how fast 150 people can squeeze through a narrow tube. The Federal Aviation Administration says every aircraft must be evacuated within 90 seconds. That’s the gold standard. But new research suggests that in the real world, especially as we age, that number might be more aspirational than achievable.
Research from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, found that nearly three out of four marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are exposed to sewage pollution.
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.
In a real emergency, romance takes a back seat to physics, panic, and how fast 150 people can squeeze through a narrow tube. The Federal Aviation Administration says every aircraft must be evacuated within 90 seconds. That’s the gold standard. But new research suggests that in the real world, especially as we age, that number might be more aspirational than achievable.
Research from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, found that nearly three out of four marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are exposed to sewage pollution.
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.
In a real emergency, romance takes a back seat to physics, panic, and how fast 150 people can squeeze through a narrow tube. The Federal Aviation Administration says every aircraft must be evacuated within 90 seconds. That’s the gold standard. But new research suggests that in the real world, especially as we age, that number might be more aspirational than achievable.
Research from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, found that nearly three out of four marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are exposed to sewage pollution.
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.
In a real emergency, romance takes a back seat to physics, panic, and how fast 150 people can squeeze through a narrow tube. The Federal Aviation Administration says every aircraft must be evacuated within 90 seconds. That’s the gold standard. But new research suggests that in the real world, especially as we age, that number might be more aspirational than achievable.
Research from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, found that nearly three out of four marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are exposed to sewage pollution.
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.
In a real emergency, romance takes a back seat to physics, panic, and how fast 150 people can squeeze through a narrow tube. The Federal Aviation Administration says every aircraft must be evacuated within 90 seconds. That’s the gold standard. But new research suggests that in the real world, especially as we age, that number might be more aspirational than achievable.
Research from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, found that nearly three out of four marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are exposed to sewage pollution.
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.
In a real emergency, romance takes a back seat to physics, panic, and how fast 150 people can squeeze through a narrow tube. The Federal Aviation Administration says every aircraft must be evacuated within 90 seconds. That’s the gold standard. But new research suggests that in the real world, especially as we age, that number might be more aspirational than achievable.
Research from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, found that nearly three out of four marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are exposed to sewage pollution.
Upcycled, easily recycled and sturdy cardboard is the base material for Nokka’s furniture.
Cardboard is one of those miracle materials that has recently been rediscovered and used widely by sustainable designers. It is easy to come by, easy to upcycle, and easy to recycle – and no less importantly, it is surprisingly strong and durable. Cardboard has been used to create furniture for adults, cardboard dollhouses and cradles for kids, and even mounted cardboard deer heads. Now Noah Naveh, a young designer from Moshav Beit Itzhak in Israel, has started making customized cardboard items (such as the New York Times inspired stools above) through her new company, Nokka.
Breast cancer is the boogey man lurking underneath our breastbones, and organizations committed to eradicating the disease are the super heroines wearing pink capes, except when they are selling something that can cause cancer.
That Susan G. Komen’s fragrance ‘Promise Me’ may be laced with cancer-causing ingredients is a blessing in disguise. The world needs a smoking gun to wake up consumers to the toxins we are lathering in as we pursue dangerous beauty. An ecosexual revolution will gain the necessary traction when enough people recognize the inherent value of greening their personal and intimate lives, one vibrator, lipstick, bubble bath, massage oil, sanitary hygiene, condom, lubricant and bottle of perfume at a time. (Just to be clear, that’s a truncated list of ways everyone reading this can be kinder to their somatic and erotic selves; being an ecosexual is actually fairly easy, green and consummately pleasurable.)
Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture denies that a crazy eye-popping disease is killing a substantial population of fish in the Sea of Galilee.
A bizarre disease is killing off a host of fish in the Sea of Galilee, including the St. Peter’s fish considered sacred because of its relevance to the biblical bread and fishes story. After a fish contract the disease, one of its eyes pops out, leaving behind a gorged-out hollow, and then the other. Soon the fish turns black and begins to starve, and finally red spots appear on its body and it dies. While this is very strange, the most bizarre twist to this story is that the Ministry of Agriculture denies that this has been going on for the past 10 years!
Desalination’s negative environmental risks can outweigh the benefits, argues our environmental lawyer blogger Josh.
Israel will quadruple its output of desalinated water by 2050, according to a report released by the country’s Water Authority Council. The government will also encourage construction of new desalination facilities on manmade islands. These measures will ensure a continuous stream of desalted water without developing coastal lands in the tiny country.
Water experts have sung desalination’s praises far and wide lately. It provides a reliable, secure water supply. It reduces our reliance on natural waterways. And not least importantly it has become cheaper as desalting companies develop more cost-effective technology.
Desalination’s critics have, in equal measure, leveled their own concerns at the industry. The process requires exorbitant amounts of energy, they say, is too expensive, and poses potential health risks.
But these concerns only tell a partial story of desalination’s environmental impacts. It affects the marine environment in an important way: through seawater intakes. Decision makers often ignore or downplay this impact. When desalination facilities suck in huge amounts of water, scores of fish and even marine mammals become stuck to the grates. Scientists call this phenomenon “impingement”.
Ethiopia and other African countries upstream have plans to divert Nile River water. What does this mean for Egypt?
Leaking water pipes, evaporation and a rapidly growing population may be significant concerns for those trying to manage and plan water supplies in Egypt, but compounding such problems – and forcing Egyptians to rethink how they use water – is the threat posed by downstream countries which also want to take more water from the Nile, say observers. “Egyptians have to adapt to less water every day,” said Rida Al Damak, a water expert from Cairo University.
Egypt has a population of about 85 million, and receives an annual Nile water share of 55.5 billion cubic metres, according to experts. Around 85 percent of that water is used in agriculture, but a lot simply leaks away.
According to a 2007 research paper by Fathi Farag, an independent water expert, Egypt loses two billion cubic metres of water to evaporation, and three billion cubic metres to grass growing on the banks of the Nile and on river islands.
Around 40 percent of the remaining water – used domestically and in industry (2.3 billion cubic metres) – is lost to leaking pipes and drains, while 2.5 billion cubic metres are used to generate electricity, the paper says.
“If you calculate all this amount of lost water, you will discover that Egyptians are left with a fraction of what their country receives every year from the Nile,” Farag told IRIN. “This can also show why we should start to worry.”
For farmers like Hamdy Abuleinin, who was able to irrigate his 2.1 hectares of rice only after an argument over water with neighbours in Sharqia near Cairo, this year has proved difficult. “Finding water for irrigation is becoming a daily worry for farmers here,” he told IRIN.
International threat
A 1959 water-sharing agreement between Egypt and Sudan gives Egypt 55.5 billion cubic metres of Nile water, but according to Maghawri Shehata, an adviser to the irrigation and water resources minister, population pressure means the country is already facing a shortfall of 10-15 billion cubic metres annually, and “plans by upstream countries to redistribute the water will be very harmful to Egypt”.
According to the Nile Basin Initiative countries that share the Nile River basin have demanded the revision of colonial-era agreements that allot the bulk of the river’s water to Egypt and Sudan and allow Cairo to veto upstream projects.
The Nile Delta, home to 18 million people
Egypt does not recognize a recent agreement signed by Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, that seeks to allow irrigation and hydroelectric projects to go ahead without Cairo’s consent. Ethiopia, for instance, is planning a series of dams along the Nile to generate electricity.
In March, Ethiopia announced the construction of the Renaissance Dam, which aims to be the largest hydroelectric plant in Africa. Experts like Mehari Beyene, writing for the International Rivers network, however, say the dam, which is being constructed near the Sudanese border, has raised concerns about its environmental and human impacts.
Haytham Awad, an irrigation engineering professor from Alexandria University, said Ethiopia’s plan to construct dams along the Nile would reduce Egypt’s current share by five billion cubic metres annually, but he thought this might be manageable if Egypt could cooperate with Ethiopia and buy some of the electricity generated.
Protests over water shortages in Egypt are nothing new especially in July and August, the hottest summer months. On 11 October a 16-year-old farmer was killed in a dispute over water in the southern governorate of Aswan.
Farmers like Abuleinin worry about the future for his seven children. “Fights over water sometimes become physical as water becomes scarcer and these fights might entail loss of life. But the alternative for us is to starve.”
The earthquake struck approximately 20 kilometers north of the city of Van, pictured above. Turkey’s seismology institute estimated the final death toll would reach 1,000.
A 7.2-magnitude earthquake slammed Turkey‘s eastern province of Van on Sunday. Two days afterward, 366 deaths have been reported, 1,301 injured persons are being treated, and more than 2,000 buildings have collapsed.
Although the temblor didn’t shake the Black Sea region of Sinop, which was some 800 kilometers northwest of the epicenter, it may have stalled plans to build a nuclear power plant (NPP) there. The Korean nuclear industry now expects the Sinop NPP to be canceled, news agency dongA reports.
This week’s announcement by energy experts during a World Economic Forum event that regional governments need to shift to clean, renewable energy resources should, however, go some way to rectifying the situation.
Israeli leaders have started hosting a preparatory meeting for the 2012 Earth Summit (Rio + 20), the UN Conference for Sustainable Development, to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The preparatory meeting is now taking place today through to October 27 in the Maccabia Village in Ramat Gan.
Iran, becoming more isolated appeals to Pakistan to move ahead with natural gas “peace pipeline.” Saboteurs have already had their say in the idea. Image via BSO-NA
As Iran becomes more marginalized with US-backed sanctions, Iran seeks to conduct business with more hospitable partners, like Pakistan. Every year floods devastate Pakistan, this year with a momentous 6 million displaced. Lack of regular power, according to Natasha Paracha (Miss Pakistan 2008), is a top 3 problem in Pakistan, along with food insecurity, and the diseases and troubles that flood waters carry with it. But as past US President Clinton seeks to repair US-Pakistan relations Pakistan could be doing itself a disservice by looking to Iran to furnish its energy needs via an Iran-Pak gas pipeline.
5000 MW by 2015? Iran wants to launch the largest solar power plant in the Middle East. A solar plant is in the works is in Shiraz, Fars.Image via SUNA
About 27 people die every day in Tehran, from its shocking levels of air pollution according to our Iranian blogger Mehrdad. Some anti-regime environmentalists, by the way, have joked that they hope this will eventually be the end of their jogging president. This week, however, Iran’s Renewable Energy Organization says it will launch the largest solar power plant in the Middle East by 2015.
Edgelands are the spaces outside of towns and cities that play host to a rough element. Largely considered no-man’s-land, they too deserve attention, Marion Shoard argues. Two poets respond to the call.
The term edgelands was coined in 2003 by Marion Shoard. She wrote, “The expanses of no-man’s-land which have sprung up on the margins of our towns and cities play host to a mix of uses characteristic of our age. Rough and ready in the naked functionalism of their edifices and in the lawlessness and vigour of their natural vegetation, these places are unappreciated by the arbiters of landscape taste, but they too have their story and their needs. The time has come to give these ‘edgelands’ their due and recognise them as landscapes in their own right.”
An architect in Beirut illustrates how a small splash of color can completely transform a concrete environment. But trust us, that is just the beginning of this city’s problems.
I judge a country by its public transportation, and Sandra Rashini, an architect who held a magnifying glass over Lebanon’s colossal urban problem for Mashallah, will tell you that it’s not looking so good in Lebanon. The consequences are enormous: everything – from agriculture to human health – is affected in the absence of good planning. Absolutely everything.
Much of Morocco’s argan oil still comes from nuts excreted by goats. The fabulously expensive oil is now produced in Israel – without goat droppings.
Ever get the feeling that you’re barking up the wrong tree? Well, this goat up a tree is bleating with joy at his favorite nosh: argan nuts. As Karin revealed to us in this post about argan oil production, in Morocco, Berber women process argan nuts the laborious traditional way till this day. Recently in 2022, the UN has updated argan as one of 12 at-risk plant products.
First, goats are set free in the argan groves and allowed to eat the yellow mature fruit. They excrete the indigestible nuts, which are gathered, cleaned and broken open, revealing an oil-rich kernel. Lightly roasted, the kernels yield oil with the deep, nutty taste so highly prized in the foodie world. Extracted raw, it is used as a cosmetic. If we’re to believe what we’re told about how miraculously argan oil reverses damage to skin and hair, it’s worth the expense. Current prices go as high as US$50 for 100 ml. (Makes you want to run to the kitchen and simmer some butter to make smen.)
Upcycled, easily recycled and sturdy cardboard is the base material for Nokka’s furniture.
Desalination’s negative environmental risks can outweigh the benefits, argues our environmental lawyer blogger Josh.
Iran, becoming more isolated appeals to Pakistan to move ahead with natural gas “peace pipeline.” Saboteurs have already had their say in the idea. Image via 
An architect in Beirut illustrates how a small splash of color can completely transform a concrete environment. But trust us, that is just the beginning of this city’s problems. 