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Nuclear Power Continues World Dependence on Middle East Oil

Susan Kraemer
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16
Nuclear Power Continues World Dependence on Middle East Oil

arab oilOut of the frying pan…are uranium reserves to run out in a decade?

In its haste to free itself from oil-powered electricity, during the Arab oil shocks of the ”70s, France switched to nuclear energy. It had been vulnerable in its dependence on the Middle East, and moved to nuclear to free itself of the risk from more oil shocks. Since then, it has been the poster child nation for nuclear energy, getting almost 80% of its electricity from nuclear power. It must be in good shape to weather the bumpy exit from the oil age, right?

Wrong.

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Cooking With Sheep Manure In South Hebron

Tafline Laylin
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4
Cooking With Sheep Manure In South Hebron

yair-teller-biogas-project-coordinatorYair Teller is one Arava Institute alumni who is improving quality of life for Palestinians living in Susya, South Hebron.

Despite the relative luxury of Tel Aviv and parts of Jerusalem, many people throughout Israel and the Palestinian territories continue to eek out a meager living with no access to basic amenities such as water, gas, or electricity. In Susya, South Hebron, the Nawaje family have to fork out $15 for a tanker of water and up $20 for cooking gas which doesn’t last long. To help ease their struggles, talented alumni of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies installed a bio-gas system that not only provides cooking fuel but also fertilizes agricultural projects and reduces greenhouse gas emissions.

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Jerusalem, 3/29: TED-Inspired Environmental Peacemaking

Tafline Laylin
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0
Jerusalem, 3/29: TED-Inspired Environmental Peacemaking

solar-panels-middle-eastSpeakers from Israel, Jordan, and Palestinian Territories will converge to make enviro-peace in this Ted-inspired event.

The Guardian emphasizes the importance of cross-boundary cooperation in order to solve the pending water calamity that could grip the Middle East in a near-permanent state of discontent and suffering. No stranger to such challenges, Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians have long struggled to make environmental peace amidst ongoing political disputes with the help of group such as Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). Now a new TED-inspired event will take cross-border discussions yet another step forward.

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The Water Behind Middle Eastern Woes

Tafline Laylin
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2
The Water Behind Middle Eastern Woes

camel-drinking-holeHow governments respond to water woes will determine the future stability of the Middle East.

It’s impossible to point to any one issue and claim it as the final explanation for the protests unnerving leaders in the Middle East. Weeks ago one Tunisian man set himself on fire when he was told he couldn’t sell his wares, and his fire has raged on since. But the root of today’s discontent, and the root of tomorrow’s continuing trouble, will have a close correlation with water. Siting the same document we reported on last week, Blue Peace, The Guardian reports that in time water will be of more geopolitical consequence than even oil. Because, quite frankly, we’re running out. And thirsty people can’t be stifled.

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Dating an Environmentalist? 5 Tips For Avoiding the Pitfalls

Karen Chernick
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4
Dating an Environmentalist? 5 Tips For Avoiding the Pitfalls

"environmentalist romance green compromise"This guide is a must-read for anyone dating a “green” person. If you want to keep them till next Valentine’s Day, read on.

The most recent Valentine’s Day may have reminded you that it’s a harsh dating world out there. Whether you’re lucky enough to meet someone through a chance encounter at the coffee shop, free dating sites, or even through unorthodox methods such as Chinese astrological sign alignment – once you’ve met someone special you probably want to do everything in your power to make it work.  Easier said than done, though.  This can be especially tough sometimes when your love interest is a hard core environmentalist and has some less-than-conventionally-romantic habits. You may love your baby for having those strong beliefs, but watch out before they become deal breakers.

As with all relationships, the name of the game is compromise.  For those of you that just starting dating an environmentalist (or “greenie”), watch out for these five potential deal breakers and figure out how to resolve them:

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Interview With Dubai’s Most Innovative Design Couple

Tafline Laylin
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0
Interview With Dubai’s Most Innovative Design Couple

Studied Impact Design, Land Art Generator InitiativeRobert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian working in their Abu Dhabi Studied Impact Design studio.

Robert Ferry and Elizabeth Monoian have made the United Arab Emirates their home, for which we are very grateful. Their teachings, their design studio Studied Impact, and their public initiatives such as the internationally-acclaimed Land Art Generator Initiative (LAGI) have coincided with a thrust to incorporate more renewable energy sources into the region’s portfolio. As we have noted time and again, Abu Dhabi is leading that paradigm shift, with brilliant innovators such as this extraordinarily-talented American couple making a crucial and heartfelt contribution. They talked with Green Prophet about their vision.

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Qatar Plans To Make Barren Land Arable To Increase Food Security

Tafline Laylin
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1
Qatar Plans To Make Barren Land Arable To Increase Food Security

barren-land-agricultureQatar will secure 70% food security in the country by exploiting the latest technology to make its barren land arable.

Roughly as large as Connecticut, Qatar relies almost exclusively on imports for food with only 10% of the country’s edibles produced within its own borders. Unlike other Gulf countries that are usurping African land to expand their agricultural capacity, Qatar intends to transform its own barren land into an agricultural powerhouse. According to Gulf in the Media, the National Food Security Program (NFSP) committee has established a five-stage plan to first identify and then overcome challenges to achieving food independence.

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GM Hydrogen Hy-Wire and Sequel Cars Could Power Our Future

Maurice Picow
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0
GM Hydrogen Hy-Wire and Sequel Cars Could Power Our Future

GM hy-wireThe Sequel: A hydrogen-electric hybrid who’s time may soon come

General Motors, whose Chevrolet Volt electric hybrid is now beginning to roll into Chevy dealerships across America, is also in involved in innovating some very interesting transportation concepts. Two of these concepts involve using hydrogen powered fuel cells to provide electricity for one or more electric motors to propel the cars along at speeds ranging up to 130 mph and with cruising ranges of up to 300 miles (480 km). The Sequel car concept, called the “next-generation hydrogen car” was unveiled at the Detroit auto show already back in 2005.

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Eating Real Food Can Save The Environment

Miriam Kresh
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0

roof top garden
A blooming rooftop garden, or a share in a local CSA. Individual actions add up to change for the better in our fragile world.

A far-off cry in the wind, that’s what the vital issue of climate change has become. Legislation imposing change on carbon-emitting industry drags. American politicians even argue that the U.S. can’t afford to protect the environment – a short-sighted view that will inevitably create a frightening debt to nature. Saving the planet is no longer sexy. The well-fed have turned their attention to problems like obesity and health, issues that hit them where it hurts personally, and pay mere lip service to the world hunger crisis.

Gloomy scenario? Yes, especially for activists expecting  political force to rescue the environment and the peoples of the planet. 

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Shark Attacks Up 25% Worldwide

Hannah Katsman
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2
Shark Attacks Up 25% Worldwide

three sharks swimmingEnvironmental changes may have led to Middle East shark attacks and a worldwide increase.

Shark attacks increased a whopping 25% worldwide, including recent attacks in Egypt. In the 2010 report released by the University of Florida International Shark File, file director and shark expert George Burgess said that “the most unusual shark incident of my career” occurred in Egypt.

Related: Man killed by shark in Israel

The December 2010 Red Sea attacks, responsible for one of the year’s six fatalities, also led to 5 injuries.

Burgess gave several possible reasons for the attacks:

  • Very high water temperatures due to an unusually hot summer;
  • Sheep dumped into the water by a cargo ship after they died in transit;
  • Divers feeding reef fishes and even sharks.

Overfishing may also have led to sharks searching for new sources of food.

Usually the sharks are not found so close to the shore. The Egyptian authorities killed two of the sharks thought responsible for injuring 3 tourists, but they turned out to be the wrong sharks. The most vicious of the sharks struck a second time, killing a woman.

Florida, where most incidents occur, saw shark attacks drop to 12, half its annual average. The US still led with 36 attacks. Sharks also attacked humans in Australia, South Africa, and Vietnam.

Burgess emphasized that fishing kills 50-70,000 sharks a year, to be eaten as a delicacy in soup. Humans are a much greater danger to sharks than sharks are to humans. Sharks kill an average of 5 humans annually.

More posts on animals and the environment:

8 Exquisite and Endangered Animals of the Middle East

Governor Bans Recreational Sports Fishing in Southern Sinai

 

INTERVIEW: Bringing the Ancient Wisdom of Tantra to a Love-Hungry Middle East (part 2)

Tinamarie Bernard
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0
INTERVIEW: Bringing the Ancient Wisdom of Tantra to a Love-Hungry Middle East (part 2)

Ben and Efrat, Tantra, Israel, Middle East
Part II on tantra and eco-sexuality in the Middle East.

There are many teachers of ecstatic sexuality, but not so many in the Israel. Ben and Efrat, together as a couple for several years, epitomize what can be accomplished when two people harmonized their efforts at love and living. In the first half of our interview on eco-sexuality with these long-time teachers of the sacred sexual arts, we learned about the connection between Tantra and the ecology of sustainable love. In this second half, Ben and Efrat reveal the secrets of how they build bridges between lovers from the diverse groups eking out a life in a love-hungry Middle East who are committed to creating a more sustainable love.

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TaxiBot: Airbus and Israel Aircraft Industries Make Tugboat for Planes

Karin Kloosterman
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0
TaxiBot: Airbus and Israel Aircraft Industries Make Tugboat for Planes

taxibot israel aerospace industries airbus photo taxi runwayTaxiBot, A unique towing system for airplanes to save jet fuel will save billions of tons of greenhouse gases.

The idea has been around for a while, but engineers weren’t able to make it work. At least as far as Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) knows, the Taxibot Dispatch Towing system is the world’s first tugboat-like way to tow both wide and narrow body commercial airplanes to taxi to and from the gate and the runway without the use of their jet engines.

Consider that a Boeing 747 can burn through a ton of jet fuel for every 17 minutes it’s taxiing: I spoke with the project leader at IAI, and I learned how the TaxiBot can save billions of dollars of runway fuel, and greenhouses gases.

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The Wild Winter Iris in Israel

Maurice Picow
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0
The Wild Winter Iris in Israel

The Argaman Iris in all its glory awaits you this winter

Further to my article in the Jerusalem Post about open places in Netanya being squeezed out by mega housing projects, this writer decided to pay a return visit to one of the nature reserves, the Argaman Iris Reserve, located in southern Netanya next to the ongoing Ir Yamim development project. The iris reserve contains a variety of indigenous wild flowers, most notably the wild purple or Argaman iris.

Found in only a few parts of Israel, including small areas in southern Netanya, this perennial plant blossoms only during a 2 to 3 week period from mid February to early March. The iris reserve is confined to a site of around 100 acres, and bordered on the east by the construction projects and on the west by what used to be the city’s garbage dump, until it was relocated elsewhere. 

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Masdar Calls for Bids For A Second 100 MW Solar Project

Susan Kraemer
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0
Masdar Calls for Bids For A Second 100 MW Solar Project

Plans to create a local cleantech industry drove part of Masdar’s ecotopian vision. That may be changing.

According to bidding documents obtained by Bloomberg News, the Abu Dhabi Future Energy Company (ADFEC) is about to decide on the awarding of Masdar’s second 100 MW solar project, for completion in 2013. ADFEC is a private joint stock company wholly-owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, and given a mandate to drive the Masdar project for a zero carbon city in the wealthy UAE.

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UAE To Get 300 New Electric Buses Each Year

Tafline Laylin
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1
UAE To Get 300 New Electric Buses Each Year

DesignLine-Zero-Emission-BusAbu Dhabi plans to best the US with a bigger, greener line of zero-emission buses.

Abu Dhabi never ceases to amaze us with their growing emissions reduction initiatives. A couple of their most recent developments include the sewage-fed forest and solar-powered recycling bins. While the emirate occasionally produces environmental hazards such as the bejeweled Christmas tree, we feature efforts like these new electric buses on a near-daily basis. Of course, electric vehicles are only as green as the fuel used to produce them (which will be oil for the foreseeable future in Abu Dhabi), but at least they will cut emissions.

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Jean-Pierre Conte: Five Principles That Guide My Philanthropic Decisions

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Ancient Roman strategy game figured out with AI

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First ever recorded humpback whale recording found from 1949

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Unlike most recordings from this era, which were lost as early media deteriorated, the audograph discs survived and appear to have been uniquely used for underwater sound — making them a rare, possibly singular example of early ocean listening preserved from the dawn of marine acoustics.

Forever chemicals banned from Europe’s drinking water

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The EU is taking a bold step in making sure all European Union member states worked to monitor and reduce PFAS levels in drinking water.

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