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Environmental Oxymoron: A ‘Green’ Filling Station In UAE

Zaufishan
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ENOC Dubai's 'Green' Petrol StationHow green can a gas station be? Dubai’s Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) launches the first “green station” in the UAE.

We reported on the green gas station in the UAE last week. Featuring solar-powered lights, a waterless car wash system, eco-friendly products, and the vapor recovery system, a new technology that reduces carbon emission and fuel wastage.

It does sound like an environmental oxymoron: an ‘eco-friendly’ petrol station? But officials at the Emirates National Oil Company (ENOC) last week showcased its first green station, with environmental upgrades worth about Dh3.6 million. ENOC has an aim to reduce the ecological footprint of the station’s consumers, so they are literally pumping eco-sensibility.

The World’s First Green Petrol Station

The new station is located in The Meadows, part of Dubai’s Emirates Living residential area, and is fitted with noise reduction barriers and a system that collects the harmful vapours released from fuels, as well as solar lights, water recycling and other “green” features. ENOC’s ‘green’ station is the first of its kind in the region to generate half of its energy requirements from renewable sources.

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Abu Dhabi Builds Huge Artificial Aquifer to Hide Desalinated Water from Terrorists

Susan Kraemer
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Abu Dhabi Builds Huge Artificial Aquifer to Hide Desalinated Water from Terrorists


Abu Dhabi is almost entirely dependent on desalination for its vital water supply. If desalination plants were bombed, the city would have just four days of water.

The wealthiest of the United Arab Emirates federation has just begun to build the world’s largest artificial aquifer beneath its scorching sands, at a cost of $436 million, according to a report in the Washington Post.

With no rivers, the UAE shares with its neighbors an inherently unstable reliance on a diminishing natural groundwater. Add in the threat of terrorism from Al Quaeda, and Abu Dhabi is in a precarious position due to this most fundamental weakness.

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Israeli Green Police to Receive More Arrest Powers

Karen Chernick
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[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uASd-doKOlk[/youtube]

Are you an environmental criminal?  Don’t mess with the Green Police.

Until a few years ago, environmental law enforcement was a big problem in Israel (as it is in many countries – Interpol is even getting tough on green crimes).  There were some really great environmental laws in place, but the Israeli Ministry of Environmental Protection was having a hard time collecting environmental fines.  But a few things have happened in recent years to remedy the situation: local authorities have been given more power to enforce environmental laws (instead of the central government), and the Green Police has been fortified.

Yes, there is such a thing as the Green Police.

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Platform For Architecture & Research: This Is How To Build In The Desert

Tafline Laylin
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Platform For Architecture & Research: This Is How To Build In The Desert

eco-dwellings-desertNotice that there are no lush gardens? No towers of glass? This is how to build in the desert.

Modern humans have always wanted to make their presence known, from the earliest cave drawings to opulent Ottoman architecture. Although we occupy but one of billions of galaxies, our ego knows no bounds.  In the desert, we build giant structures like the Burj Khalifa. And we build with glass, which draws in rather than deflects heat, as though no problem is too great for us to conquer.

There is a better way, a way to live without disfiguring nature in our wake. And for those who aren’t excited about cave dwellings, Platform For Architecture & Research’s villas planned for the Mojave desert are not only attuned to its harsh surrounds, but are sleek and intelligent. In other words, we need not revert to a primitive past in order to show our respect for nature.

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Brown Rice and Bisli: Why Don’t Consumers Make Healthy Food Choices?

Hannah Katsman
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Brown Rice and Bisli: Why Don’t Consumers Make Healthy Food Choices?

young woman purchasing greens in grocery, candy in backgroundBad food choices lead to obesity and poor health. Why do we do it?

Israeli business magazine The Marker reports that sales of healthy foods have increased in the last two years. However, sales of snack foods and soft drinks have remained stable or increased slightly. People are simply buying more food, and obesity rates continue to rise. Of course, purchase of healthy food doesn’t mean it gets eaten. The brown rice might find a home at the back of the cabinet, or  the garbage.

We all know we should eat healthier food, so why don’t more people choose it? Here are the main factors that affect all of us.

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Jordan’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Set For 2012 Inauguration

Tafline Laylin
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Jordan’s Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) Set For 2012 Inauguration

amman-jordan-trafficTo unclog Amman’s road arteries, the municipality hopes to bring its state-of-the-art public buses online by next year.

While it’s neighbor brings Better Place electric cars online, a move that may reduce emissions but not congestion, Jordan is instead pursuing a state of the art BRT system for its capital, Amman, the site of several green projects. Emissions reduction will be an important side effect, but Amman’s municipality is mostly concerned to clear out the city’s traffic bottlenecks. The intention to publish tender for the BRT’s second construction phase was announced at a press briefing last week. Plans are also in place to beautify Amman’s streets and improve waste management.

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How to Become a Middle Eastern Invasivore

Karen Chernick
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How to Become a Middle Eastern Invasivore

"edible weeds invasivore middle east"Protect the environment by eating the (animal or plant) species trying to invade it.  What does a Middle Eastern invasivore look like?

Environmentalists have a lot of crazy eating habits.  You’ve got the hardcore vegans who avoid all meat and animal byproducts, the vegetarians who will not eat meat (but eat dairy and eggs), the vegawarians who eat meat but try to consume it sparingly, the strictly organic crowd, and the locavores who will not eat anything that came from outside a particular geographic radius.  Just when you thought you had all of your eco-friendly culinary terminology down, there’s a new environmental eating trend out there: invasivores.

As described in the New York Times last week, invasivores choose to eat invasive animal and/or plant species in order to protect the local environment (and eat local at the same time).  In the Florida Keys this has meant eating lionfish, and in San Francisco vegetarian invasivore Rachel Kesel has started eating an edible invasive weed – field mustard.  But what would a Middle Eastern invasivore diet look like?

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Will the Saudis Be the Last to Get into the Gas Guzzler Biz?

Susan Kraemer
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Will the Saudis Be the Last to Get into the Gas Guzzler Biz?

saudi gazl suv gas guzzlerA last hurrah for the age of oil as Saudis look to build the Gazl gas guzzler.

History, if there is any, will not look kindly on our 20th Century addiction to oil in the face of the looming danger of 100,000 years or more of a dangerously destabilized climate staring us down with the real possibility of even our own extinction as the known result.

So file this move under truly clueless defiance! The oil rich nation of Saudi Arabia is now belatedly getting into the gas guzzler biz, just as the rest of the world turns its attentions to the 21st century cars that we will need in the carbon constrained world of future centuries. They plan to make their very own gas guzzling SUV, which they named, appropriately enough: the Gazl – 1.

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New Machine Converts Plastics Back To Oil

Tafline Laylin
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3

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGGabrorRS8[/youtube]
This may well be one of the most revolutionary machines to hit the market, although, in a way, it couldn’t be simpler. Plastic chokes everything. Our water ways, including the Mediterranean. Camels and other animals. And given that it is made from petroleum products, it is a drain on our energy sources.

A Japanese man concerned about the environment his children have inherited dreamed up a way to convert plastic back into oil, reducing carbon emissions in the process. With all the plastic in the world still in existence, and peak oil on its way, plastic (and a machine like this) may soon become one of the world’s most prized commodities.

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Dubai’s Conservation Incentive: Higher Energy And Water Bills

Tafline Laylin
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0
Dubai’s Conservation Incentive: Higher Energy And Water Bills

billsWith an extra 15% added to electricity and water bills, Dubai’s residents are bound to cut back their consumption. And that is a good thing!

Unlike many other Gulf countries, Dubai is not blessed (or cursed, according to some) with fountains of fossil fuels. As such, the Emirate must import the power that provides customers with electricity and desalinated water.

Consumers, perhaps disconnected from the source of their energy, consume more than most countries in the world. But that is about to change since Dubai’s Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) has added an additional 15% to electricity and water bills, and will also include a new fuel charge, taking even more from the savings accounts of consumers. Though consumers are likely to feel jilted, DEWA hopes the move will cut down on unnecessary consumption and waste.

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100 Lebanese recipes on an iPhone

Miriam Kresh
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100 Lebanese recipes on an iPhone

-image-lebanese-recipes-ipod
Classic Lebanese recipes for a tiny token price.

Green Prophet has covered at least a dozen recipes from Lebanon. And now the LebGuide site is featuring a culinary opportunity — 100 classic Lebanese recipes you can download to your iPod or iPhone for $1.00.

Very delicious! You must download iTunes in order to download the recipes.

Lebanese cuisine is light and savory, with a big emphasis on vegetables and fresh, local ingredients Learn more about why local eating is important at our interview with  locavore expert Leda Meredith.But if your phone still isn’t i-savvy, you can still view 20 free recipes for traditional Lebanese foods from the LebGuide on this page.

Enjoy!

LebGuide website

More on traditional Lebanese foods:
Recipe: Lebanese lentil soup
Freekah, Ancient Delicious “New Grain”

World Bank to Fund Massive Grid Expansion To Link Desertec Region and the Arab World

Susan Kraemer
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World Bank to Fund Massive Grid Expansion To Link Desertec Region and the Arab World

desertec mapA gigantic electricity network would link electric grids throughout the Middle East and extend them much further in a massive infrastructure investment in a smart grid.

At a press conference in the Cairo office on Saturday, Mohie Eddin said the World Bank is considering a smart grid plan that would link the eastern Arab states, Oman, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, the UAE and Saudi Arabia with Egypt, down through the Sudan into Ethiopia, and along the top of the Desertec region linking the western outposts of the Arab World. This would connect up nations as far away as the Maghreb region of Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia, Mauritania and the Western Sahara.

Is the World Bank indirectly getting involved with Desertec? A glance at this planned grid is almost like an overlay of the Desertec plan, but extended – not up into Europe, as the Desertec plan – but across, to the increasingly hot and energy hungry nations of the rapidly growing Arab world.

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Luxury Architecture in Mecca: Has Hajj Lost Its Egalitarian Spirit?

Arwa Aburawa
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Luxury Architecture in Mecca: Has Hajj Lost Its Egalitarian Spirit?

hajj-mecca-architecture-clocktower

As the most iconic structure of Islam, the cuboid Ka’bah in Mecca is one of striking simplicity. Covered in black material it’s a bold yet uncomplicated structure, with bare walls and a simple interior consisting of lamps and three supporting arches. Over time, however, this simplicity has been undermined by the proliferation of luxury hotels, malls and towering skyscrapers which surround the holy site. You can even start your day with the usual Starbucks coffee if you like or pick up a Macdonalds after prayers.

Now nearing completion, the ‘Royal Mecca Clock Tower’ which is one of the tallest buildings in the world and resembles London’s Big Ben, appears to have delivered the final blow to Mecca’s architectural dignity and the egalitarian spirit of hajj.

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“Lease Mobiles” Take Over Israel’s Crowded Roads

Maurice Picow
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“Lease Mobiles” Take Over Israel’s Crowded Roads

How much recyclable material will this new Mazda have when it goes to the shredder in 2030?

Lat year 2010 was a record year for new car sales Israel, according to an article just published in Globes. The article reports that 216,430 vehicles were bought during the year, a whopping 25.3 % more than in 2009. Of these 181,526 were private cars, which surpassed the amount sold in 2009 by 25%. What this means is that since environmentally friendly cars like electric cars are still in the testing stage, only a few of these nearly 1/4  million units will be converted to burn more environmentally friendly fuels like liquid petroleum gas.

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Sturdy Chamber Pot Doubles As Watering Can

Tafline Laylin
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1
Sturdy Chamber Pot Doubles As Watering Can

chamber-pot-water-canThis nifty device made in Sweden allows avid farmers to create their own fertilizer!

Urine has been getting a lot of attention recently. Though most city dwellers are opposed to a quick public wee,  urine is so powerful it can be used to energize fuel cells and as fertilizer.

Small scale farmers or gardeners who want to eschew expensive fertilizers have a more natural option. And thanks to a Swedish company called Guldkannan (Gold Can), a neat technology that makes their own urine easy to capture.

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Most of the world’s marine protected areas are polluted by sewage

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Research from the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and the University of Queensland, published in Ocean & Coastal Management, found that nearly three out of four marine protected areas (MPAs) worldwide are exposed to sewage pollution.

Adamah in Los Angeles wants to make Jewish climate action local, practical and spiritual

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At a time when climate anxiety can feel abstract and overwhelming, and being Jewish something people may need to hide in big cities, Adamah Los Angeles is trying something different: turning Jewish values into local climate action with dirt-under-the-fingernails practicality.

How to safely remove astroturf and plastics from your backyard

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For families with kids, pets, or anyone trying to build a cleaner outdoor space, removing old astroturf is one of the simplest ways to reduce unnecessary exposure to plastics and heat. Some past studies suggest that if kids have played on these surfaces you need to wash their hands. 

Is artificial turf bad for your health?

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Artificial turf, the green plastic stuff that is supposed to look like grass, was sold to many home-owners as a clever compromise: a green-looking surface that makes you feel homey, but which needs no mowing. It survives heavy use, and in dry places like Middle East deserts, and in California or Texas, it can replace thirsty lawns. But it is toxic.

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