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Trees In Jordan’s Ajloun Forest Still At Risk

Arwa Aburawa
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Trees In Jordan’s Ajloun Forest Still At Risk

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. After a lot of hard work and support from ordinary Jordanians, the Jordanian government announced it would carry out an environmental assessment of the project and help minimize the harm to Ajloun forest. The location of the project (a military academy) was moved and an environmental assessment was carried out- campaigners thought that they had won the battle to protect Ajloun forest.

However, over the last couple of days the government has approved amended plans for the military academy which would entail cutting down 300 trees.

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Empower to Cool Dubai With Recycled Sewage

Susan Kraemer
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Empower to Cool Dubai With Recycled Sewage


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 cools Dubai’s most efficient new buildings with district cooling.

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Next BrightSource US Solar Projects Make More Energy than Fossil-Fuel Plants

Susan Kraemer
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4
Next BrightSource US Solar Projects Make More Energy than Fossil-Fuel Plants

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 Mesa Solar is still in development, but the Hidden Hills project has advanced to the point where it is included in the CEC tracking report that was just updated this month.

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The Little Fair Trade Shop Shows Masdar Its Big Heart

Tafline Laylin
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The Little Fair Trade Shop Shows Masdar Its Big Heart

fair trade, eco-store, dubai, eco-design, Little Fair Trade StoreCome 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 sells her wares at the weekend Covent Garden Market in Dubai, where she is surrounded by consumers who prefer brand names to the humble products painstakingly crafted by struggling artisans. But the Little Fair Trade Shop’s founder is so passionate about what she does that she presses on despite a flock of obstacles.

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Live Blog: School Children Pledge To Save UAE Fish

Tafline Laylin
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Live Blog: School Children Pledge To Save UAE Fish

the end of the line, american community school, abu dhabiStudents and parents gather at the American Community School in Abu Dhabi to watch The End of the Line.

Today we’re blogging live from the American Community School in Abu Dhabi, where students have watched an abbreviated version of a documentary called The End of the Line. Based on Charles Clover’s book of the same name, the documentary conveys a crucial message: if we (and our governments) don’t make radical changes now, by 2048 there will be no more fish in our oceans. Joined by Rashid Sumaila, Director of the University of British Columbia’s Fisheries Center, Nessrine Alzahlawi from EWS-WWF, and Melanie Salmon from Global Ocean, we’re eager to hear from kids. Step on in to learn how the children feel about our dwindling fish stock.

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Meet Rawabi’s dreamer: Bashar Masri

Arwa Aburawa
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rawabi palestineWe speak to Bashar Masri, the man behind Rawabi, which means “The Hills”, Palestine’s first planned and green city.

Since announcing plans to build Palestine’s first planned and green city back in 2008, the Rawabi project has faced its fair share of criticism. From political complications over using Jewish National Fund trees, concerns by environmentalists over the lack of water and waste-water management plans to threats by Israel to shut down access roads and boycotts– the project really has seen it all.

Rawabi (which means hills in Arabic) is an ambitious $800 million USD project which aims to build houses for up to 25,000 people in a location between Jerusalem and Nablus whilst respecting the environment. Despite these good intentions the Rawabi project does seems to pose more questions then it answer.

For example, how does it plan to navigate the political conflict between Israel and Palestine during construction? Does the Rawabi project really live up to its green credentials? And what do Palestinians think of the project? In a bid to get to the bottom of these questions we caught up with Bashar Masri, the man behind the Rawabi project to find out more.

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Bin Laden is Dead – Will the Environment Benefit?

Green Prophet
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11
Bin Laden is Dead – Will the Environment Benefit?

bin laden environment carbon emissionsKilled in a hide-out in Pakistan, Osama bin Laden’s body will be transferred to America.

United States President Barack Obama has confirmed that al Qaida leader Osama bin Laden is dead. Bin Laden was killed in a hide-out in Pakistan, north of Islamabad, according to the White House. The Jihadi terrorist was the mastermind of the Trade Tower bombings on September, 11, 2001.

“We conducted an operation that killed Osama bin Laden,” the president said in a televised address to the United States public.

Other Al Qaida actions against America included bombings of two American embassies in Africa. Obama is vigilant about stamping out terror, a welcome move that would no doubt have environmental and health benefits for the entire Middle East region.

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BrightSource Energy Has Potential to Supply 13% of California’s Electricity

Susan Kraemer
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BrightSource Energy Has Potential to Supply 13% of California’s Electricity


According to its recent filing with the SEC, BrightSource Energy has control of approximately 110,000 acres suitable for solar development in California and the U.S. Southwest with the potential to produce approximately 11 GW (11,000 MW) of installed capacity.

The total capacity supplied to California – from all forms of electricity – both from in-state and from out of state is currently 80 GW. This would mean that – if there were none of the nonsense legal obstacles that seem to beset all solar development – BrightSource Energy alone would be able to produce nearly 13% of California’s total electricity needs, just from solar, well up from the less than the 1% of total solar from all developers on the grid so far.

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Former Masdar Director Says The UAE Must End Subsidies

Tafline Laylin
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2
Former Masdar Director Says The UAE Must End Subsidies

green building, zero carbon, zero waste, grenea, khaled awad, masdarFounding director of Property Development at the Masdar Initiative, Khaled Awad claims that fuel and water subsidies preclude meaningful sustainable development.

Green building won’t be viable until the United Arab Emirates end water and fuel subsidies, according to Khaled Awad. The founding director of Property Development at the Masdar Initiative and co-founder of Grenea, a Dubai-based startup that aims to develop zero-carbon zero-waste real estate communities around the world, Mr. Awad has offices near Jumeirah Beach in Dubai.

Overlooking the Burj Al Arab, a mesmerizing tower that resembles a sail, the quiet interior belies the bustle outside. What used to be a peaceful weekend getaway for Emiratis is now a metropolitan center full of only partially-occupied towers that devour water and energy. But this wasteful development model is at odds with a dismal reality. The oil boom is over, water is not plentiful, and climate change is real.

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A “Fresh” Arab Spring Flows Through Auja, Palestine

Karin Kloosterman
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A “Fresh” Arab Spring Flows Through Auja, Palestine

auja palestine authority palestinian water jericho peaceA visit to Auja, Palestine can open the world’s eyes to sustainable peace through water.

It starts with water and ends with a Debka dance: Friends of the Earth Middle East, a trilateral Israel-Palestine-Jordan non-profit organization has launched an unbelievably hopeful project based on water in the West Bank village of Auja, about 10 minutes from the city of Jericho in the Jordan Valley.

Probably not since the Roman times when an aqueduct ran through the village, has something this exciting came to Auja (said oo-jah), a rundown and dusty Palestinian village of about 5,000 people of local Arab tribes and Bedouin stock. Today, the locals are getting ready for the guest of honor: American Consul General to Palestine, Daniel Rubinstein, is set to arrive in the next hour. He’s an American Jew, who speaks fluent Arabic.

“Oh good, the lions have arrived,” says Gidon Bromberg excitedly, as we wheel into the dusty parking lot in his rental car, staff scurrying around us, including the local mayor, putting the finishing touches on the new building that houses the Auja EcoCenter. Everything is spic and span, polished, swept and dusted. A tent is ready to host Rubinstein and his entourage.

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Anne Frank’s Tree Memorialized in Israel

Green Prophet
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2
Anne Frank’s Tree Memorialized in Israel

anne frank tree
This tree gave Anne Frank so much pleasure when she was in hiding.

Just before it was about to die, seeds from the Anne Frank tree in Amsterdam were collected and germinated so that the tree that she loved so much could live on. In her diary, now a book, The Diary of Anne Frank, Frank recounts her time in hiding from the Nazis. And although she didn’t survive the Death Camps, her father released her diary to the world. In it she mentions the white horse chestnut tree, in the garden of her secret annex hideout. This tree that gave her so much joy will be part of a new memorial in Israel.

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Interview with MiKlum Studio, Designers of Furniture Out of Nothing

Karen Chernick
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Interview with MiKlum Studio, Designers of Furniture Out of Nothing

"upcycled wood shelf design"Singular upcycled wooden boxes called “Frank” combine to create larger design pieces.

Tel Aviv has been fortunate enough to experience a recent influx of sustainable design studios, creating anything from rotary telephone desk lamps to wood veneer light fixtures.  These studios are slowly bringing upcycled and sustainable design to the mainstream, and two new girls on the block recently opened yet another studio – MiKlum.  MiKlum (or, “from nothing” in Hebrew) is the south Tel Aviv studio of Daphna Olinsky and Einat Zinger-Feiler, two ladies who decided to create, in their own words, “renewvative design”.

The two “gather and re-design materials that have completed their ‘conventional’ life cycle and are considered waste,” using their design prowess to transform these materials into new, functional, interesting pieces.  Green Prophet spoke to Daphna and Einat recently, learning more about sustainable design, the eco-design community in Tel Aviv, and how they go about collecting materials.

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Strip Naked for the Dead Sea and Spencer Tunick

Karin Kloosterman
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Strip Naked for the Dead Sea and Spencer Tunick

dead sea nakedThe Naked Sea installation is intended to draw attention to the declining environmental situation at the Dead Sea. Will you get naked for the Dead Sea?

Naked-people-installation-artist Spencer Tunick is still trying to raise funds to create a massive naked art exhibit which he plans on photographing at the Dead Sea – which we covered last year.

Called “Naked Sea,” he plans on using real life floating bodies to float on the Dead Sea while he documents the event in print. Spencer and his Israeli partner Ari Fruchter are now trying to raise $60,000 by June 6 to make it happen by the end of this year.

Even winter at the Dead Sea can be warm and divine. But does Spencer have any idea what the high salt content of the Dead Sea can do to your private parts, when exposed?

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Obvious Rainwater-Harvester Idea Wins Phillips Livable Cities Award

Susan Kraemer
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5
Obvious Rainwater-Harvester Idea Wins Phillips Livable Cities Award


Yemen has the dubious distinction of being the first country that is expected to entirely run out of water, as the globe heats up. Its capital city Sana’a could be the first city to be emptied of its nearly half a million inhabitants by the catastrophic water scarcity that threatens billions by the the 2030s, with climate change. Except, for Sana’a, the end of water is expected in as soon as in six years, in 2017. So perhaps it is no surprise that it is a Yemeni who has had the winning idea for an international contest for “innovative ideas to improve the health and well-being in cities” Livable Cities Award, from Phillips, the US lighting company.

If there is one thing that makes a city unlivable it is no water.

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Exclusive: Masdar City Open House Photos

Tafline Laylin
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1
Exclusive: Masdar City Open House Photos

masdar city, green building, zero carbon, abu dhabi, desertThe first Masdar city Market Street Fair and Organic Market was a huge hit among expats and Emiratis! Green Prophet was there. See exclusive pictures below.

Hundreds of expatriates and Emiratis attended Masdar City’s first Market Street Fair and Organic Market this past Friday. A friendly family affair complete with cotton candy, clowns, and princess fairies, the event gave locals and visitors alike their first glimpse of some of the world’s most sustainable architectural and cleantech developments. It also gave local businesses such as the Little Fair Trade Shop, Ekotribe, and Bokashi the chance to show off their eco-friendly wares, while organizations such as the Land Art Generator Initiative and the Middle East Vegetarian Group likewise strutted their good green stuff.

Although remarkably well-attended, all was not smooth. Only one set of bathrooms was available for the throng, the pod car journey was exciting but unsightly, Mazaraa Organic farm nearly cooked their ducks and goats alive in the roaring sun, and visitors had to line up for a solid 20-30 minutes in order to ride the pod cars back to the entrance. Since the small center of the future Masdar City has never before experienced such a large influx of curious bodies, these hiccups are to be expected, and organizers have until September to fix them. But it was otherwise an enormous success.

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