Israeli Black Globe Award Went to IEI for Oil Shale Agenda

Business

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March 29, 2011

Israeli Black Globe Award Went to IEI for Oil Shale Agenda

The Elah Valley, which IEI hopes to use as testing grounds for oil shale extraction.

The annual Israeli “Green Globe” award ceremony, hosted by the environmental umbrella organization Life and Environment, took place last Thursday where recipients included Minister of the Environment Gilad Arden. That award ceremony is not all pats-on-the-back and positive recognition, however. It has a dark side, in the form of a Black Globe “awarded” to the most environmentally damaging entity over the past year. Last year the Black Globe went to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for his proposed ineffective environmental planning reform.

This year the Black Globe was bestowed upon Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI) for activities detrimental to the environment. The company’s proposed plan to test oil shale technologies in the Elah Valley would wreak serious environmental havoc on the region and IEI has been met with a great deal of protest.

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Turn Dryer Lint Into Modelling Clay

Health

Varda Epstein

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March 29, 2011

3

When you need to use the dryer, make modelling clay out of your dryer lint.

Dryer lint exists in endless supplies in some households and can be put to good use. Of course hanging your laundry outside is the most green option, but when you can’t we have some solutions for the lint. For years, my mother in-law has complained about the wastefulness of dryer lint, only half in jest. “There must be something a body can do with the stuff! It’s endless!!”

My husband would giggle and agree while I would stifle a serious need to roll my eyes. The two of us would watch for magazine articles that suggested uses for dryer lint. We’d snip out and mail the articles to Mom in-law, back in Chicago. It was an inside joke that somehow bonded the three of us over the miles.

Where I live in Israel, no one in their right mind uses the dryer during the summer months. We have the ultimate clothes dryer: the sun. Drive through any Israeli neighborhood and you are sure to see underwear hanging in many-layered tiers from apartment buildings. The scenic route, my mother calls this, with wry disdain.

I hang laundry outside whenever the weather is nice, crunchy towels, be damned. The kids like to help. They hand me clothespins or hang their little socks and get a nice lesson on harnessing solar power at the same time.

But the rainy season makes drying laundry a daunting proposition during the winter months. I have a portable rack set up in my living room and hang some things there, but must resort to the occasional use of my machine dryer. It’s that, or run out of underwear.

So when I came across this recipe for dryer lint modeling clay, I was thrilled. Not only did I have something funny to share with my mother in-law and husband, but I had a neat way to recycle something no one really thinks of as a commodity (barring my mother in-law).

On balance, it’s good for my kids to see me come up with a creative use for something we would have thrown away.

Make Dryer Lint Modeling Clay

In large saucepan mix 3 cups dryer lint, 2 cups water, 1 cup of flour, and 1/8 teaspoon of vegetable oil.

Stir over medium heat until smooth.
Cool before using.
The modeling clay can be used with soap or candy molds or for free-form modeling fun.
Allow a week of drying time. Items can be painted when dry.

Saudi Arabia’s Green Construction Potential: Insurance for a New Green Economy?

Cities

Rola Tassabehji

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March 28, 2011

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Estidama is like LEED for the Middle East.

Last week, King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz announced a second package of economic initiatives for Saudi citizens, including $67 billion for the construction of 500,000 housing units. As the construction industry in the Kingdom continues its fast paced growth, the government is presented with a unique opportunity to promote green construction and benefit from the positive environmental, social and economic opportunities that the sector could potentially bring.

Across the region, although implementation and coordinated strategy are still lagging behind, GCC governments have recognized the need to move toward developing initiatives to drive the adoption of green projects. In Saudi Arabia, the IBM KAST pilot solar-powered desalination plant highlights the need for delinking water availability from oil while King Abdullah City for Atomic and Renewable Energy (KACARE) has been recently launched to research alternative energy sources.

Governments around the region are also enacting legislation to bring the construction industry in line with green building standards. Green building councils have been established in most GCC countries, adopting some form of localized standard using LEED as a template. Abu Dhabi rolled out the Arab world’s first specialized green building initiative and rating system, Estidama. Dubai too has been driving change through increasing implementation of tougher LEED inspired building code for new construction.

Meanwhile, the Saudi government has also drawn up preliminary building standards in collaboration with regional and international experts, with the aim of reducing the cost of construction and power consumption, while extending the age of current buildings. New universities under construction are leading the way. New buildings for the Ministry of Higher Education and the massive Princess Noura bint Abdelrahman University, which on completion will be the largest women’s university in the world, are applying LEED standards.

Savings in going green

The case for greening the construction sector of Saudi is clear. Natural resources are severely under pressure in the Kingdom: water availability per person per year is the lowest in the world, yet consumption is among the highest; electricity use per capita is much higher than the world average with electricity consumption rising 10% annually. Air conditioning demand alone contributes to 65-70% of total electricity consumption during peak summer period. The “grow now clean later” business model is no longer an option.

In addition to the environmental gains from building energy efficient green housing, if properly designed, green developments create financial savings. Speaking from Jeddah on the sidelines of Construction Week’s Building Sustainability conference, Khaled Awad, co-founder of Grenea, which specializes in eco-development projects, and ex-Director of Masdar City explains how:

“Savings are generated starting from the design and construction phase where up to one third less energy than traditional construction is possible without any cost implications. Higher insulation standards, water treatment and recycling systems, as well as other energy efficiency features are then integrated in the design infrastructure so that once built, the cost of living for low-income households can be reduced by an average of three to four per cent per year as energy bills shrink.”

Job creation opportunities

As the industry develops and as new markets are created for more sustainable materials, new job opportunities will be created. Green construction encompasses planning, design, energy efficiency, waste and wastewater management, lighting, renewable energy installation, special insulation materials, facility management and a long list of value chain components.

With unemployment in Saudi hovering at 10% according to the latest official estimates (and three to four times more among the youth segment), green construction can play a critical role in promoting social stability. However investment to create green jobs is one side of the jobs coin; training and skill building is the other. Both are necessary to bring green employment to its full potential. Like specialist reinsurance brokers.

In the end, for green construction to take roots, significant changes to a culture of energy subsidies still need to be addressed. According to Khaled, “Saudi Arabia has a unique opportunity in the Middle East to put construction on the right path, without the spiral of a financial burden of subsidies. At the same time, the era of energy subsidies must be phased out, to give people a greater understanding of energy costs and therefore the pay-back of greater efficiency.”

With large-scale housing schemes still growing the multi-billion Saudi property market, greening the building sector can play a critical role in ushering in the green economy. Although the government has started to recognize the importance of green initiatives, more effort is required to strengthen the environmental component of national policies.

Cloud Invented: Will Solve Climate Change

Tech

Susan Kraemer

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March 28, 2011

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Cloud Invented: Will Solve Climate Change

Qatar scientists have invented the portable cloud, to hover over a football game in 2022

I have long covered wonderful, innovative and sometimes wacky inventions to reduce our use of fossil fuels, in order to prevent climate change. There’s no shortage of the genius needed. But, unfortunately, preventing climate change takes political commitment as well, to invent the policies that efficiently move everyone to alternative technologies that don’t destroy our habitat. The shortage of genius there – let alone basic common sense – is sorely lacking.

As a result, now we are beginning to move into the period of the catastrophic consequences of climate change. So by the 2300s, half the planet is expected to no longer be habitable – according to a study published at PNAS. (Barring some major leaps forward in heat-tolerance genetic engineering of the human body, of course).

But for the next 50 years or so, expect many inventions to be devised to make temperatures bearable – in the meantime. Writers like us, at sites like Green Prophet now, and those that follow us, will increasingly be uncovering some of the climate change mitigation inventions devised. And some of them will be wacky, bordering on the marvelously silly side of sci fi. Here is one.

Scientists at Qatar University have invented a portable cloud to hover over the stadium during a football game, the World Cup planned to be held in Qatar in 2022. It’s manufactured from light carbon materials and helium gas and should cost a mere half million US dollars to build. It will be made to hover using lightweight solar electricity on top, and to be able to be adjusted by remote control.

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Haarp experiments and death ray dolphin killing

Animals

Maurice Picow

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March 28, 2011

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Haarp experiments and death ray dolphin killing

Natural phenomena, fishermen murders, HAARP experiments or an alien death ray? Some 152 dolphins boiled alive with conspiracy theorists pointing to HAARP.

You may think you have seen everything reading about the slaughter of sharks in Persian Gulf waters off Dubai. Think twice, dear readers, because you haven’t! There’s something even more sinister and deadly to marine and non-marine life being experimented on nowadays in these waters – as well in other parts of the world. And it’s more unusual than orcas sinking ships off the southern coast of Spain.

Not long ago more than 150 dolphins died in the Hormuz Straits area. Local fishermen were suspected of slaughtering the dolphins to death, but Iranian authorities blamed the US and their “experiments.”

It’s dealing with ongoing experiments with the earth’s ionosphere; and these “experiments” may have resulted in the killing of 152 dolphins in the Straits of Hormuz, off the Iranian town of Bandar Lenge, back in 2008. An Iranian fisherman was an eyewitness to this phenomenon that caused a “mini tornado” or waterspout to literally cause the sea to boil and turn blood red. Sounds like an event from the Bible.

Afterwords, a total of 152 Gulf dolphins and large numbers of fish were found dead – literally burned to death by what appeared to be a ‘death ray’ from the sky.

Surviving dolphin tries to help mortally injured comrade

Very few of you have probably ever heard of the ongoing scientific atmospheric experiments known as HAARP or High Frequency Active Auroral Research Program, that began in the early 1990s and are still continuing today in various parts of the world.

The US government began these programs with the idea of being able to monitor and even control various world surveillance techniques, as well as improving atmospheric communications.

The main HAARP experiments are being carried out as a joint program by the US Air Force, US Navy, and the University of Alaska. The main experiments are performed at a site located near the town of Gakona, Alaska with the main purpose to study the earth’s ionosphere layer inn order “to understand and use it to enhance communications and surveillance systems for both civilian and defense purposes.”

Dolphin killings at the Hormuz Straits

What makes the unusual dolphin killings even more mysterious is that after this phenomena took place, a series of low level earth quakes measuring between 2 and 3 magnitude in size occurred in the area.

There are some theories that believe the power generated by this scientifically created “death rays” heats up sea water and causes the earth’s crust plates to shift; thereby causing earthquakes.

The ongoing scientific experiments at the HAARP site in Gatnoa, Alaska, are kept quiet, and those wishing to visit the site are able to do so only on specially coordinated “open houses” which are conducted once annually. There is no visitor center at HAARP, even though the site managers say that HAARP is not a “classified” site.

Conducting scientific experiments with the earth’s atmosphere is not anything new, and has been going on for well over 130 years. Theories of obtaining energy from the electromagnetic radiation given by the sun were made known more than 80 years ago by scientists like Nikola Tesla, who believed that the sun’s electromagnetic radiation was a tremendous source of “free energy” and might one day solve most of the world’s energy problems. Unfortunately, as noted in a previous Green Prophet article, Tesla’s theories and experiments were disputed and literally hidden by energy companies who were afraid that they might take profits away from companies dependent on fossil fuels like oil and coal.

Who was Nikola Tesla?

But “free energy” from the earth’s atmosphere was not the only thing that Nikola Tesla thought about. He also believed that this same tremendous force could be made into a “death ray” that would be so powerful and so destructive that it might frighten the nations of this planet to put an end to destructive warfare.

After all, if this “death ray”, in the form of a tornado like force can make sea water boil and kill marine life as it passes over, think what it could do to human beings. Perhaps Tesla’s innovations and theories have been finally accepted after all.

It may be possible that this terrible weapon has not been used yet for the fear of what this tremendous force could do. If it actually can make sea water boil (or create disastrous firestorms on dry land) it could cause a chain reaction of earthquakes and other destructive natural phenomena (like “mega storms” and tsunamis) that could become threatening to the existence of life on this planet – as we know it anyway. Scientific experimentation or “X-files” type of paranormal phenomena?

You decide, dear reader.

Read more on threatened Gulf marine life and the phenomena of Tesla’s “death ray” experiments:
Dubai Marine Life at Risk After Devastating Shark Catch
Persian Gulf Mermaids Face Man Made Environmental Threats
Were Tesla’s Solar Innovations “Buried” by Big Oil?
25 Shark Species in Persian Gulf Need Urgent Protection

Jewish World to Rehabilitate Damaged Carmel Forest

Travel

Maurice Picow

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March 28, 2011

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Jewish World to Rehabilitate Damaged Carmel Forest

Carmel fires at their height – “hell on earth”

Rehabilitation of the severely fire damaged Carmel Forest is one of main topics being discussed in the week long World Leadership Conference of Israel’s Jewish National Fund being held in Jerusalem. The annual conference for leaders in one of the country’s most important conservation and forestry organizations, will devote part of its agenda to reviewing plans to rehabilitate the Carmel Forest and mountain range, which was severely burnt by the massive wildfires which burned out of control for several days during the early part of December, 2010.

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The GINK Manifesto: Childless, Proud and Loud

Lifestyle

Tinamarie Bernard

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March 27, 2011

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The GINK Manifesto: Childless, Proud and Loud

If she’s a GINK, her uterus is officially closed for reproduction.

There’s a ‘dirty little’ secret that’s now coming to a green light in discussions around the sustainability cooler these days. Children, it turns out, do not guarantee happiness. In fact, the benefits of going childless are actually well documented, and in lieu of the impact of unfettered population growth on the planet, many notable environmentalists are touting the eco-sexy choice to not breed at all. They even have a name: GINKs as is Green Inclined, No Kids. Making love: Great for you and the planet. Making babies: Not so much… In her groundbreaking 2010 blog, “Say it loud: I’m childfree and I’m proud”, Grist writer Lisa Hymas (who we’ve interviewed on Green Prophet) is credited with coining the GINK manifesto. Hymas’ decisive ode to the importance of conscious choice documents the very real benefits of foregoing motherhood, beyond financial relief and increased levels of happiness.

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Yiuco Marketplace for Handmade Upcycled, Recycled, or Reused Products

Design

Karen Chernick

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March 27, 2011

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Yiuco Marketplace for Handmade Upcycled, Recycled, or Reused Products

Yiuco may be the Middle East’s greener Etsy.

Etsy, the global online store, has enjoyed great success due to the fact that it enables individuals to buy handmade, unique items from other individuals around the world with the click of a mouse. It has even spurred what some people are calling the “Handmade Revolution” by encouraging people to buy handmade (as opposed to energy-guzzling machine-made) products. Taking the site’s green message even further, eco-friendly vendors have emerged on Etsy and they sell upcycled, recycled, or otherwise resource-lite items.

While these trends have emerged on Etsy, they are not the online shop platform’s focus. A new online marketplace – Yiuco – has popped up in Greece, though, and it strictly peddles the upcycled, recycled, and reused.

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Foster + Partners Finish Gorgeous Green Building In Morocco

Cities

Tafline Laylin

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March 27, 2011

2

Foster + Partners Finish Gorgeous Green Building In Morocco

This beautiful dome-building from Foster & Partners is the first building the firm has completed in Africa.

We haven’t always loved Foster & Partners developments in the Middle East. Although they are visually spectacular, we often wonder at the true sustainability of buildings that cost millions of dollars to construct. But the first of three Moroccan projects commissioned by BMCE (Banque Marocaine du Commerce Exterieur) may be an exception.

Albeit no quaint mom-and-pop straw bale building, the bank is nonetheless slightly less flamboyant than other F&P projects. By incorporating several energy-saving and passive design elements, the firm has kept the building’s carbon footprint to a minimum, while relying extensively on local materials, craftsmanship, and design.

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Natural Gas Line Bomb Averted

Business

Karin Kloosterman

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March 27, 2011

0

A bombing attempt of the natural gas line that runs between Egypt, Israel and Jordan was averted today, according to the Associated Press. In Sinai, six gunmen targeted the natural gas pipeline that carries natural gas from Egypt to Israel and to Jordan. They overpowered a guard and planted a bomb, and then fled. Failing to detonate, the region was spared the need for having to burn, yet again, the much more polluting diesel fuel, as was the case last month when the line was bombed at another location.

Violence doesn’t only hurt people. It cripples the environment.

::AP

Must It Be “The End Of The Line” For Fish?

Travel

Tafline Laylin

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March 27, 2011

0

Must It Be “The End Of The Line” For Fish?

If we do not arrest the current rate of overfishing, our oceans could be depleted of fish by 2048.

Following Arwa’s recent blog on shark finning in the United Arab Emirates – a cruel and destructive practice that produces the so-called delicacy that is shark fin soup, and another story about the turtle that pooped plastic for a month, we’re relieved to offer a potential solution.

Like Al Gore’s The Inconvenient Truth, which enlightened millions about the dangers of global warming, The End of The Line has the power to educate the masses about our destructive fishing practices. Global Ocean will be screening the documentary throughout the UAE this May. Find out more about the film and Global Ocean after the jump.

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Should You Breastfeed Your Baby After Exposure to Nuclear Radiation?

Health

Hannah Katsman

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March 27, 2011

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Should You Breastfeed Your Baby After Exposure to Nuclear Radiation?

When caring for infants after any kind disaster breastfeeding is usually safest because of fears about water supplies.

Whenever there is an earthquake, flood or other large-scale disaster, the first concern is for the infants in the area. Rescue organizations rush to send infant formula to the area, but because access to clean water is usually limited the formula is useless. Continuing to breastfeed protects the baby from diseases that spread through a disaster area, and unnecessary weaning can cause problems if the supply of formula or clean water becomes unavailable. After Haiti, aid organizations are realizing that protecting the breastfeeding relationship and helping women return to breastfeeding (relactation) are the best means to save vulnerable infants.

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Japan Radioactivity in Sea Water 1,250 Times Above Normal as Radiation Levels Approach Those of Chernobyl

Cities

Maurice Picow

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March 26, 2011

3

Japan Radioactivity in Sea Water 1,250 Times Above Normal as Radiation Levels Approach Those of Chernobyl

Japan’s PM Naoto Kan apologizes to his nation, and to the world, concerning radiation leakage at Fukushima reactors

Is the Japanese nuclear radiation crises getting better, or getting worse? It depends on who is reporting the ongoing events at the Fukushima nuclear reactors, which were heavily damaged by the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit offshore two weeks ago. The radiation leakage at the Fukushima reactors, which many are saying will have a serious affect on the world’s environment, is already having a catastrophic affect on Japan’s immediate environment, with indications of radiations levels even surpassing those of the 1986 nuclear accident in Chernobyl.

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As Energy Demand Swells, Turkey Falls Dark for Earth Hour 2011

Julia Harte

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March 25, 2011

0

Istanbul’s incandescent Bosphorus Bridge will join iconic structures around the world in turning off its lights for Earth Hour this year.

For the past four years, Istanbul’s majestic Bosphorus Bridge has been lit all night long by an LED display that consumes electricity at a rate of 90 kilowatts. (That’s roughly 400 megawatt-hours per year, which is approximately the amount of energy consumed by 200 average Turks, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.) But tonight, its glittering reflection will disappear from the Bosphorus — for one hour.

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Cook Persian Fish Stew

Health

Tafline Laylin

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March 25, 2011

1

White fish stew is a healthier variation of meat stew and very tasty when treated Persian-style!

There are all kinds of delicious Middle East recipes to choose from on Green Prophet, but not so many from the Persian kitchen. Guest blogger Dave Bishop sent this in and we just had to share. A true Iranian delicacy, this stew livens up white fish with spinach, fenugreek, limes, and turmeric. Although it is possible to use a variety of white fish (preferably farmed or caught sustainably) Persian recipes typically call for sturgeon. It is also usually served with delicious, fluffy white rice, but wholegrain can be used as a substitute.

Persian Fish Stew – Gormh Sabzi Ba Mahi

Ingredients

4 tablespoons of red kidney beans
About 60 grams of butter(you can use a light butter alternative)
4 tablespoons of fresh parsley
2 leeks thinly sliced and thoroughly washed to remove any dirt residue
2 fresh limes (or 4 dried limes) cut in half
500g spinach thoroughly washed and chopped quite fine
3 sticks of celery thinly sliced
350ml of fresh fish stock is best, but bought ready stock is also ok
950g of fresh white fish – usually sturgeon or haddock – chopped
1 tablespoon of fresh fenugreek
2 teaspoons of turmeric
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons of salt
2 cups of rice.

Place the kidney beans in a good size pan, cover with lighty salted water and bring to the boil.

Simmer for one hour.

Melt the butter in a large saucepan, add the parsley, leeks, spinach, celery, and fenugreek, and sauté for a few minutes. Stir continuously.

Add the stock, stir well, cover and cook over a low heat for about 15 minutes.

Add the rice to a pan with 2/3 water and leave to boil at a medium heat with the pan lid on.

Add the limes and fish into the vegetable pan and continue cooking for around 30 minutes on a good heat until the fish skin is flaky.

Switch the rice off and leave with lid on to steam for 10 minutes or until the rice is ready.

When tender, drain the kidney beans and add to the stew. Add pepper, and more salt if needed.

Cook for a few more minutes and serve with the rice. Garnish with a little bit of parsley and your delicious Persian meal is complete. Enjoy!

More recipes from Green Prophet:

Eat The Whole Animal: Lamb’s Testicles

RECIPE: Potato Salad with Fresh Fava Beans

RECIPE: Artichoke Dip

image via Miriam Kresh

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