NASA’s newly released video of the earth has a strange hypnotic beauty that resembles the shifting sands of the desert or the psychedelic swirling colors of soap bubbles. But this video reveals an otherwise invisible threat caused by the short-term release of millions of years of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere. Facebook Comments
A hundred employees from The Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh planted over 300 trees in the hotel’s surroundings as part of a new environmental campaign called Green Earth, Clean Earth. The project is part of a global initiative called Clean up the World with a dual purpose to preserve the natural environment and give back to the […]
Second (and third!) – hand marketplaces offer some of the greenest shopping options available – especially in the run-up to frenzied winter holiday consumerism – but in developing countries, they are also an economic necessity for both buyers and vendors. In early October, the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM) closed down a popular souk in the Abdali […]
The world is warming. Glaciers are melting. Added carbon dioxide gas is causing our seas to become acidic. This in turn melts corals, and causes a host of environmental problems scientists are just beginning to quantify. But measuring the effect of acidification on oceans and seas is tricky because water moves and it can be […]
While online hightech companies might seem to be on the money, investors are hungry for new advances in physical products. But developing them takes years, and lots of money. There is a lots of waste in the prototyping stage in terms of time, materials, and money. Rapid prototyping using 3D printers can help form ideas […]
From San Francisco, to Amsterdam to Tel Aviv to Cairo, and now Beirut. Rooftop gardens are growing everywhere. Fueled by a desire to suck greenhouse gases, create heat sinks, beautify the city and even grow food, rooftop gardens may be the only way to feed our planet’s 7 billion mouths. While today many of the gardens are […]
Growing crops by hydroponic farming, or on water, has been practiced since the ancient Babylonians planted their legendary Hanging Gardens of Babylon. These were the world’s first vertical farms concept. Hydroponic water gardens also include roof top gardens in Middle East cities like Beirut and Cairo. In fact, the practice of hydroponic, water based farming for smart […]
Those of you who grew up in countries blessed with ample fresh water supplies may have fond memories of going fishing as a child with paper carton filled with small, wriggly earthworms. Most people in the Middle East, however; due to chronic water scarcities, have seldom seen this little squiggly creature that is often found […]
Another terror attack today in Jerusalem. Vengeful and permanent acts of aggression that leave no room for negotiation. I want to remind you that despite the horrible killings by axe and guns there are builders of peace from this Holy Land. Thomas Friedman from the New York Times said it last month, and it’s been something I […]
What would the world’s major cities look like if they were plunged into complete darkness? We get a glimpse during black-outs, like when New York City suffered major power outages during Hurricane Sandy, but those scenes occurred under overcast skies which blocked the stars. There’s a fascinating photography exhibition underway at East Wing gallery in Dubai that […]
WASHINGTON — Israel is the best-prepared country in the Middle East for climate change, followed closely by the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Turkey, according to data released Nov. 5 by the University of Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index (ND-GAIN). Publication of the 2014 index was followed only a week later by the signing of […]
In this day and age, with the superpower of Google, you can locate any recipe, and find infinite recipe ideas, online. So what’s the point of owning a cookbook? Aren’t cookbooks a little outdated? The answer, in my opinion, is no. An analogy could be made comparing “real books” to “E-books,” such as those purchased […]
Photographs are visual reminders of past events, at least for those of us who can see. Scan a stack and stimulate long-forgotten memories. But what artifacts help the visually impaired to stroll through their histories? Singapore-based tech company Pirate3D is helping the blind to “see” photographs through their innovative 3D printing project, “Touchable Memories”. It began as […]
Dutch designer Daan Roosegaarde has created an LED-lit glowing bike path that. The solar-powered LED lights glow at night, and give cyclers a trippy ride that looks like Van Gogh’s Starry Night painting. The path is less than a mile long, and was created using both glow-in-the-dark tools and solar-powered LEDs. Find it in Brabant, the Dutch county […]
The unconventional American Jewish physician and surfer Dorian Doc Paskowitz died earlier this month on November 10 at an old age. He started a surfing Odyssey with his family, a wife and camper full of kids, and came to Israel in 1956 bringing with him the first surfboard which he showed to locals on the Frishman Beach in […]
Until you’ve cycled high noon in the Middle East summer you’ll have no idea how incredibly hard it is to live without shade. I live in Jaffa, Israel – a Mediterranean Middle East city that will fry eggs on cars most days of the year. If you dare to venture out during the summer days, […]
Open a newspaper in the Middle East and expect to be whacked with some bad news. Still, I wasn’t prepared to read that – according to the World Misery Index (the name was a tip-off to what was coming) – Jordan (where I live) is the fourth most miserable country in the Arab world. Regionally, only […]
What’s vegewarian, anyway? Answer: it’s selecting sustainable dishes based on non-meat foods at least once weekly. Halloumi is said to have originated long ago in Cyprus. Cheesemakers spread the Halloumi technique abroad of compacting milk fresh curds and curing them in brine, and now many Middle Eastern countries produce the cheese. It may be made […]
Drop-A-Brick is a clever PR campaign to cut water waste in severely parched California, a state with dwindling aquifers that is experiencing its worst drought in 500 years. It’s a project that can be implemented everywhere there is indoor plumbing, and the concept is sound – displace some tank water and over time, save buckets of the […]
Social media websites are awash with pictures of flooded underpasses and traffic snarls caused by exceptionally heavy rainfall in West Amman, Jordan. The skies ripped open late yesterday morning, quickly dropping several inches of rain across the capital city, overwhelming storm sewers and turning roads into raging rivers. I was there – it was a […]
Jerusalem’s been boiling over with violent and deadly conflicts over the last half a year. But faith leaders intent on ecological ideals as a peace bridge have met again at the the Faith and Ecology conference in Jerusalem last week. Green Prophet has attended meetings in the past (see our coverage from 2011) and a […]
Although the tropical cyclone Nilofar has been veering away from Oman’s coast downwind towards Pakistan and India, it had inundated the infrastructure of several areas in the country, including Muzra, Dabab, Al Khabourah, Al Seeb, Al Khoud, Rusayl, Jalan, Sur and Al Ashkara. Nilofar is a Persian baby name and it means lotus or water lilly. Flooded […]
Once again there are calls for Halloween to be banned in Jordan and other parts of the Muslim and Christian world where this ancient solstice tradition is misunderstood. Halloween of today is a mutt of a holiday. It combines ingredients from stone-age Celts Irish and Scottish Catholics, native American harvest festivals and marketing from candy and […]
Halloween landed on a Friday this year, meaning your “I have to work tomorrow” excuse for not dressing up becomes as flimsy as a ghost. So, with a few hours to prep before tonight’s parties begin, how do you devise a spooktacular costume without buying more polyester (most likely shipped over from China) to crap […]
All round the globe and most importantly the business world, the use of barcodes has been emphasized in areas other than the traditional stock identification. Barcodes are more than just codes anymore. They can help us trace materials, sources of production and pollution, and even help sustainable businesses manage stock. But the way we use […]
