The new roads required to transport wind turbines to installation sites in Turkey can delay projects and add to their costs, but also create hundreds of new construction jobs. An anonymous representative from one of Turkey’s largest wind energy companies says that every new wind project requires new access roads, because the best wind is […]
A recent report by the BBC has revealed that holy water from Mecca known as ‘Zam Zam’ is contaminated with high levels of arsenic It seems that these days nothing is holy. First the holy waters of the River Jordan were found to be sewage infested and now the ‘Zamzam’ holy waters of a sacred […]
By 2100, at least ten billion people will devour the planet. At a recent film screening in Al Ain, one female student asked: “what’s the point of changing if nobody listens to us?” It is a powerful question and it is a powerful obstacle that becomes mute in the face of this: 10,000,000,000 (billion) people […]
Ethiopia has agreed to hold off on an agreement that could dispossess Egypt of its historical monopoly of the Nile River. In order to give Egypt time to elect a new parliament following the revolution that toppled President Mubarak, Ethiopian Prime Minister Melis Zenawi has agreed to postpone the Nile Basin Agreement. The agreement will […]
Thanks to a new US study, the world has a benchmark on how environmental pollution is toxic to our babies. Green Prophet’s Sophie had her own nightmare come to life when her son was almost poisoned by bleach during Passover cleaning in Israel. In light of the scary risks of poisoning, a new US study […]
Mostly concerned expatriates snag bean bags ahead of The End of the Line screening outside the Pavilion Dive Center in Dubai. A dead dugong was found floating in the Gulf waters near the artificial island development Palm Jebel Ali in Dubai on 2 May, 2011. Listed as vulnerable on the International Union of Conservation’s (IUCN) […]
The Tanjero River that flows southwest of the city of Sulaimani in Iraq, is remembered by many to be a sizeable and beautiful river. It might not be the Euphrates, the great biblical river which allowed for the growth of civilization, but today it is reduced to a polluted and sewage filled stream. In a […]
Rola asks why the Middle East is consuming so much bottled water. Time to fix the tap? In his recently released book, The Big Thirst: The Secret Life and Turbulent Future of Water, Charles Fishman explains that while the US has among the safest, most monitored water system in the world, consumers are still choosing […]
Once common, animals and porcupines like this one are now becoming rare in Israel as development surges, and open spaces diminish. Israel’s birds and other wildlife are threatened with extinction due to over development of the country’s open spaces, according to an article in Haaretz. According to a new study on Israel’s nature situation, it […]
Six Gulf states hook up for profit A few years late, phase two of the long-planned GCC Grid was inaugurated this week. When all four sections are complete it will unite the six Gulf nations on one unified electric grid, making it much easier to build and share power from renewable energy sources, and realize […]
Conservative Muslim bloggers and women’s rights activists bring harassers and inadequate legal and cultural protection to task, with women leading the charge. Women’s rights are a key environmental issue, a topic we’ve covered in recent articles about the need for a language revolution and the Arab Spring of women. Women in the MENA region are […]
Despite a campaign by environmentalists to protect the Ajloun forest in Jordan, 300 trees will be uprooted to make way for a military academy Back in January 2011, Jordanian environmentalists launched a campaign to help protect Ajloun forest from a development project which would have seen 2,200 trees cut down across 45 dunums of land. […]
District cooling is already super green. Now Ahmad Bin Shafir plans to take the mission one step further Wild and crazy Dubai is hardly known for sensible conservation of scarce resources, but CEO Ahmad Bin Shafir could change all that with a radical new approach to keeping cities cool. His rapidly growing company Empower already […]
BrightSource Energy has two new mega solar thermal projects in “advanced development” in California, according to its recent filing with the SEC. Rio Mesa Solar is planned on a 6,000 acre site, and Hidden Hills Ranch in Riverside County is a solar thermal project on 10,000 acres with a rated capacity of 500 MW. Rio […]
Come sun or more sun, Sabeen Ahmed intends to keep growing the Middle East’s first fair trade store. Along with other vendors, Sabeen Ahmed set up her little eco-booth for the first time at Masdar City’s Street Fair and Organic Market last Friday. The first to introduce Fair Trade to the Middle East, she normally […]