Will Abu Dhabi’s municipal plan to “beautify” old souqs forever alter its cultural flair?
Not long ago I described my hometown in Virginia, where humble wooden houses were replaced with giant McMansions. In that same town, there was an old woman who sold ice-cream out of a tiny little house on the outskirts of Great Falls. Her name was Thelma. For a few months towards the end of my painful high-school days, Thelma and I smoked cigarettes and drank coffee all day, scooped her famous ice-cream into cones, and prepared dry ham and cheese sandwiches. These days I neither smoke nor eat ham, and Thelma died years ago, but that little shop – like Abu Dhabi’s souqs – was an institution.
The new funding, provided by the US Department of the Treasury, will be invested in a new proposed geothermal power plant located in North Brawley, California. The capital is part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) passed last year and allows for either a 30% cash grant or a federal production tax credit for renewable energy projects.
Piezoelectric crystal generators may one day power electric cars as well.
The infrastructure needed to provide power for Better Place and other types of electric cars may soon get a boost with a unique form of under-roadway generators being developed by the Innowattech Company and the Technion – Israel’s Institute of Technology.
The project being undertaken by these two entities is based on a pilot project involving specially designed crystal “generators” that are placed in strips under a ten km section of roadway of Israel’s Highway No. 4. Covered by the newspaper Haaretz as well as by Green Prophet, these under road generators are currently being used to provide electric power to road lighting and highway signs in Italy.
Salon Mazal’s eco-activists may be a little extreme, but they can still teach you some cool recycled crafts.
Salon Mazal, an information center in Tel Aviv that spreads information about a whole range of issues including social change, human rights, animal rights, consumerism, feminism, and gender issues, is known for bringing together a collective of passionate, dedicated people. Sometimes this passion verges on the extremely idealistic side and leads the folks at Salon Mazal to do odd things like open up vegan bars, but they nevertheless want the right things. And one of the things they want is for people to reuse and recycle, which is why they’re hosting a free DIY recycled craft workshop this Tuesday, September 28th.
The California Energy Commission ruled that climate change and energy needs are more important than plants and tortoises.
Confronting the joint need to protect biodiversity while expanding alternative energy projects, after three years of deliberation, a fourth BrightSource Energy Concentrated Solar Power Plant was approved by California’s Energy Commission. Impeding approval of the Israeli company’s Solar Energy Generating Station (SEGS) in Ivanpah, California, were environmentalists’ concerns over the plant’s potential impact on rare desert plants and the desert tortoise in the Mojave desert. But the commission ruled in favor of diversifying the state’s energy mix and mitigating global warming. If the remaining five are approved, the combined nine plants could provide sufficient energy to run 860,000 homes.
As both a cultural and natural marvel, if Wadi Rum’s candidacy as a UNESCO World Heritage Site is approved, sustainability will be easier to achieve.
Concerned organizations have taken huge leaps towards preserving Jordan’s culture and wild heritage. The Royal Society for the Protection of Nature have set aside an additional nine protected areas in a move that merges conservation with eco-tourism, and are also trying to establish a program to protect their gray wolves. Also, in addition to three existing UNESCO World Heritage Sites, they submitted a bid at the end of 2009 to establish Wadi Rum as both a cultural and natural heritage site.Â
A new “crop” of 70 turbines is slated to be planted in the contested Golan Heights.
Earlier this year, we reported here about a partnership between the Israeli company Multimatrix and the U.S. energy company AES to build a wind farm on the Golan Heights. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave the state’s blessing to this enterprise this week, signing a decree that declares the wind farm a national project, the Globes business newspaper reported.
The timing of this announcement might raise some eyebrows as it comes while the U.S. is conducting intensive efforts to jump start long-dormant Israeli-Syrian peace talks. It is widely assumed that any future peace accord between the two states would entail an Israeli withdrawal from most or all of the Golan Heights, including the site where Multimatrix and AES plan to invest some $400 million in building 70 giant turbines capable of generating a total of 155 megawatts.
Fashion label EcoGir says even polyester can be stylish.
The oh-so-stylish and yet oh-so-eco-friendly Israeli design label, EcoGir brought sustainable fashion to New York Fashion Week this year by holding two runway shows in a prominent midtown Manhattan location. Both men’s and women’s fashions were flaunted with a total of 12 suits shown. The two showcases took place on September 16th at RS POP Shop, a space currently used for performance art and installation exhibitions, observed by approximately 30 VIP guests and countless onlookers on the streets of New York.
The earth’s bounty is endless, even though our species is so intent on altering and destroying it. These organic lemons, limes and oranges provide much needed vitamin C.Â
But have you ever considered using a lemon for something other than culinary purposes?
The power of citrus scent
1. Very often, cooking smells can take over a whole house. While the smells themselves do not offend, a family does not necessarily want to live with a smell as strong as fish for more than a few hours. To create a fresh smell try boiling a pot of water with lemon or orange rind, leaving the lid of the pot off so the fresh smell of citrus can spread.
2. Cooking can also leave you with your hands smelling of the last item you handled. When it comes to onion or garlic, this smell is unwelcome as well as difficult to remove. If you cut a slice of lemon and rub it over your hands, the citrus will overcome the garlic leaving your hands smelling fresh.
3. This same trick works for any plate, cutting board or utensil which was used to prepare garlic, onion and other strong smelling foods such as fish.
Stain removal with lemons
4. Lemons can also be used as a stain remover to get rid of various stains on clothing instead of using detergents, which are laden with chemicals. For rust stains, put a mixture of equal parts lemon juice and water on the area, and let it stand for half an hour prior to washing.
5. If you have a mildew issue, you need to first squeeze lemon juice on the afflicted area, and then sprinkle salt. Let the clothing dry in the sun, but be prepared, you might have to repeat this process, especially with old stains.
6. Lemon juice can act as a mild form of bleach, which will also leave your clothes smelling fresh. Soak white clothing in lemon juice mixed with baking soda for approximately half and hour before you wash regularly.
7. In summer clothing often gets stained with marks of perspiration, which can stubbornly resist ordinary wash cycles. Try scrubbing these stains with a mixture of lemon juice and water before drying the clothes in the sun.
Lemons, oranges and other citrus fruit have a wide variety of uses, therefore it is a shame to limit these fruit to the realm of cooking. While their taste definitely adds flavour, try using them in other areas of the house and see how their freshness can compliment your home.
Next week leaders of various sects will discussmodern interpretations of climate change within the Islamic tradition.
Next week, Jordan will be hosting a three day event on the ‘Environment in Islam’ which is the theme for the 15th General Conference of the Royal Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought.
The event, held on the 27-29 of September, is significant as it brings together a wide range of scholars from different sects of Islam who will contribute to the diversity of Islamic interpretation of the modern issue of climate change.
Atop the Poas Volcano situated in one of Costa Rican’s renown national parks there are two lagoons, one in the central crater of the now-active volcano, the other, the Botos, filled to the brim with rainwater. Surrounding the area is a rare form of woodlands — a cloud forest — a natural aviary with 79 species of birds.
It’s like finding an oasis in the middle of the desert: Haifa University explorers discover coral reefs 700m beneath the Mediterranean Sea’s surface; will they be able to protect the reef from oil and gas exploration?
The scene of bickering between Israel and Lebanon over gas fields, and potentially harboring a giant garbage patch, the Mediterranean Sea, stunned researchers have found, has a coral reef that spans several kilometers 700 meters below the surface of the sea. Elsewhere in the Mediterranean, energy-hungry countries like Egypt are eager to exploit the sea’s oil reserves. Will scientists be able to use this new discovery as collateral against destructive fossil-fuel exploration?
Mark Boyle, otherwise known as the “moneyless man,” says that the Middle East’s emphasis on caring and sharing should make adopting a “freeconomic” lifestyle easier than in the West.
Frustrated and worried about the state of our environment, we chomp at the bits and engage in frothy conversations about irresponsible citizens and politicians, but few of us have enough nerve to let it all go: to let go of the cash, let go of the car, and all of the associated conveniences that defines modern life. But Mark Boyle did. For over a year he has lived in a caravan on an organic farm between Bristol and Bath, where he works in exchange for parking there.
He either grows or forages for food, gets around on a bicycle, presses mushrooms into a pulp for paper, and overall demonstrates that it is possible to live without money. Though penniless, Mark is a very rich man who has become an international inspiration. After James reviewed his book ‘The Moneyless Man – A Year of Freeconomic Living,’ we approached Mark with a few questions. Though he scarcely has enough time to make his nettle tea these days, he was kind enough to share his insights about the Middle East.
Which way is the Dead Sea heading? Will the tourism industry survive rising waters in the south?
Although the Dead Sea is suffering a severe lack of water in its northern portion, the southern basin, where lucrative mineral extraction industries and most of the lake’s hotels and health spas are located, is suffering from a different kind of water problem altogether. According to a recent article published in the health and environment section of the Jerusalem Post , the Dead Sea’s southern portion is now in danger due to too much water being “pushed up” by layers of salt accumulations underneath that is forming at a rate of nearly 20 cm per year.
The first Arab country to create one, Morocco’s new charter provides a blueprint for environmental protection and sustainable energy production.
In a first for the Arab world, the Moroccan government announced a National Charter for Environment and Sustainable Development, becoming the first African country to launch any such ambitions. It is part of the country’s push to lead the Arab and African nations in their effort to become more energy independent via alternative energy sources, including wind, solar and biogas.
King Mohamed VI announced the charter during the country’s celebrations of Earth Day last April 22 – it was the first such celebrations on the African continent – and hopes that the country will continue to move forward on its promises to garner nearly half of its energy from alternative sources by 2020.
Will Abu Dhabi’s municipal plan to “beautify” old souqs forever alter its cultural flair?
A new “crop” of 70 turbines is slated to be planted in the contested Golan Heights. 
