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Where Have All The Iranian Leopards Gone?

Tafline Laylin
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Where Have All The Iranian Leopards Gone?

persian-leopards-conservationPersian Leopards are hurtling towards extinction. While creating promotional mugs and Ts can raise awareness about biodiversity in general, The Iranian Cheetah Society takes on the leopard for measurable results.

High vehicle fatality rates and rubbish in the national parks is not all that threatens Iran. That country stands to lose the remaining populations of majestic Persian leopards if conservation efforts are not put in place to mitigate the various factors that threaten them.

In addition to habitat destruction, and indeed possibly because of habitat destruction, leopards that prey on livestock are killed by farmers. Like Jordan’s Gray Wolves, leopards are also hunted. According to the Persian calendar, 2010 is the Year of the Leopard, and thus as good a year as any to install various programs that will help to protect those that continue to roam Iran’s mountains.

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New Design Approved For Jerusalem’s Giant Glass Museum Of Tolerance

Tafline Laylin
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0
New Design Approved For Jerusalem’s Giant Glass Museum Of Tolerance

museum-of-tolerance jerusalem
The glassy new plans for the Museum of Tolerance reflect badly on the nearby environment.

During the festival of Sukkot, Jews worldwide are camping out in their organic Sukkahs, touching the earth, reconnecting. Karin wrote about sustainable booths all over Jerusalem, while another, snazzier Sukkah is currently being displayed on Manhattan’s Union Square.

Contrasted with these structures steeped in tradition, the new, cheaper plans for the Museum Of Tolerance in Jerusalem seem glaringly unwholesome. The back end of the six-storey will be covered in glass from “top to bottom” according to the LA Times, though some architects suggest glass is among the least efficient building materials to use in the Middle East, and caused controversy in the past since it is being built on the site of a former Muslim cemetery.

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Bicycle Manufacturers Adjust to a Larger and Heavier Client Base with Super Sized Cycles

Karen Chernick
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Bicycle Manufacturers Adjust to a Larger and Heavier Client Base with Super Sized Cycles

plus-size-bikesEveryone should be able to engage in eco-friendly forms of transportation, like cycling, and now with super-sized bikes they can.

Cycling has been gaining popularity in Israel and other areas of the Middle East over recent years, which is great for the environment, great for reducing vehicle congestion in cities, frugal, and healthy.  But unfortunately, this trend is accompanied by another societal change – an increase in child and adult obesity. And therein lies the rub. Because since overweight people could, arguably, benefit the most from healthy forms of exercise such as cycling, they often have a hard time finding bikes that can comfortably support them.

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Researchers Get Potatoes Off The Couch And Powered Up

Green Prophet
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1
Researchers Get Potatoes Off The Couch And Powered Up
potato-power-developing-world
Cheap, and widely available in most countries of the world all year round, potatoes make an ideal source of power.

Potatoes offer more than just a valuable source of nutrition, now they can also power your lights and computers, say Israeli researchers. The scientists from Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HUJ) have discovered that potatoes can be used as organic batteries, providing a cheap, immediate and easy to use source of green power to parts of the world that currently lack electrical infrastructure.

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Some Reasons You Should Make Time for Breakfast

Naomi Ben-David
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Some Reasons You Should Make Time for Breakfast

Israeli-breakfast-choices
The great breakfast spread; it not only looks fantastic, but it is also a healthy way to start your day.

Waking in the morning and rushing out the door to make it to work on time is a daily hassle for many people, therefore breakfast seems to be another thing on the to-do-list for which there is no time. In the Middle East the traditional breakfast involves cheeses, olives, and salads, however many people find themselves skipping all this, reaching for the coffee mug instead, and heading out the door.

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Great Examples Of ‘Hima’ Or Protected Areas In The Middle East

Arwa Aburawa
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Great Examples Of ‘Hima’ Or Protected Areas In The Middle East

hima-middle-east-islamThough the practice of establishing Himas to protect nature had previously declined, the Middle East is currently witnessing a resurgence of this ancient tradition.

Now that Green Prophet has looked into the tradition of ‘Hima’ or environmental preservation in the Middle East, this post will explore some of the most famous examples of Hima and how they helped create sustainable societies.

As the birthplace of the Hima, the Arabian Peninsula is home to some of the most noted examples of Himas. The two most widely recognised examples are those established by the Prophet Muhammed [pbuh] in Mecca and Medina within Saudi Arabia. These were based on the meaning of Hima under Islamic law, which required that they be declared for the good of the wider community and not for the benefit of private individuals.

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Tinkering With Nature: World’s Largest Lagoon Planned For The Red Sea

Tafline Laylin
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Tinkering With Nature: World’s Largest Lagoon Planned For The Red Sea

san-alfonso-artificial-lagoonIs this a mirage, or does Chilean Fernando Fischmann really intend to build the world’s largest artificial lagoon on the already ecologically-sensitive Red Sea?

In Egypt there will be more artificial fun for rich men and women while the poor can’t even trust that their tap water is safe, that their waste will be disposed of safely, or that they will be able to cook their dinner if the power cuts out. While everyone should be able to enjoy a nice dip in the sea, there is folly in tinkering with nature. Especially when we’re talking about the Red Sea, which has already suffered devastating losses to its coral reef as a result of development, tourism, oil spills, and other human activity.

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The Tomato Has 790 Names! Scientists Have Culled A Few

Tafline Laylin
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The Tomato Has 790 Names! Scientists Have Culled A Few

kew-botanical-gardensScientists have discovered 600,000 redundancies in the Dictionary of Life, and have so far scaled flower plants species from one million to just 301,000.

How many names do you have? Three, four, five? Scientists have discovered that not only do tomatoes have 790 names – what name do we give to Israel’s shriveled tomatoes? – but Oak trees and their relatives have 600. In fact, of the nearly one million flowering plants on record, at least 600,000 are duplicates. From an organizational point of view, this is an absolute nightmare. Like the cook who needs order in the kitchen, scientists need their names to be orderly too. A new study conducted in West London (with cooperation from throughout the world) will ensure more accurate access to information about species that are important economic sources as food.

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Nano ‘Stars of David’ Offer Promise of Using Sunlight to Make ‘Green’ Fuel

Ira Moskowitz
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Nano ‘Stars of David’ Offer Promise of Using Sunlight to Make ‘Green’ Fuel

Nanoparticle developed at Hebrew University

This nanoparticle, 10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair, could star in clean energy applications.

Researchers at Hebrew University of Jerusalem have created an artificial nanoparticle that looks like a six-pointed Star of David and offers potential for environmental applications, including use as photocatalysts for separating hydrogen from water to create clean fuel.

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No More Gas Exploration in Israel?

Matt Khoury
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No More Gas Exploration in Israel?

Gas-Oil-ExplorationWill the sea outside Israel be calm again?

Hopes and dreams of a gas bonanza in Israel came to a sudden halt as shares came tumbling down after the Israeli Ministry of National Infrastructure under Minster Uzi Landau decided to cancel any further sale of oil and gas exploration rights, the Israeli business daily Globes reported.

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Beauty Increases Sustainability, According to Designer Gadi Amit

Karen Chernick
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Beauty Increases Sustainability, According to Designer Gadi Amit

beauty-sustainability-gadi-amitSustainable design is about more than energy efficiency and recyclable parts, says Gadi Amit.  Beauty is no less important.

When we think about sustainable design, there are some key concepts that come to mind: cradle-to-cradle (or the idea that all materials put into a product can be recycled for use in another), the use of sustainable, recycled, or upcycled materials, and energy efficiency. But among all these new green ideas and buzz words floating around, one of the most fundamental design concepts has been pushed aside: beauty. And that, according to Israeli-born industrial designer Gadi Amit (the person responsible for the design of the Better Place charge spots), is a really big mistake.

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Are Bedouins Cutting Down Trees As A Form of Political Protest?

Tafline Laylin
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7
Are Bedouins Cutting Down Trees As A Form of Political Protest?

chopped trees bedouin beduin
The Mayor of Omer insists that Bedouins are behind the felling of thousands of trees on disputed lands.

Every so often we are put in the unfortunate position of having to weigh our environmental concerns against socio-political issues. A while ago, we wrote about Palestinian architect Omar Yousef whose philosophy and style are based on necessity borne out of injustice. And frequently, innocent bystanders suffer most from war, such as these innovators who eventually lost their creative designs as a result of  oppressive decisions from their leaders.

This recent story from the Jerusalem Post similarly creates conflict for us; we at Green Prophet are the ultimate tree-lovers: trees are carbon sinks, they provide shade, nutrition, and spiritual sustenance. It’s hard to quantify the many benefits of trees. As such, the loss of thousands of Mesquite, Acacia, and Eucalyptus trees in Israel’s Negev Desert is a serious blow for everyone. But it is also an interesting tool of protest for the Bedouins who are suspected of killing them.

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Saudi Aramco’s 80-Year Reserves vs. German “Peak Oil”

Tafline Laylin
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0
Saudi Aramco’s 80-Year Reserves vs. German “Peak Oil”

Saudi Aramco peak oil
Saudi Aramco claims to have an 80-yr steady supply of oil or more, while a German thinktank predicts that “peak oil” is imminent.

Despite Bill McKibben’s pleas to reduce the amount of carbon in our atmosphere to 350 parts per million, or face serious consequences, and despite the myriad innovations worldwide aimed at shrinking our dependence on fossil fuels, Saudi Aramco’s President and CEO insists that not only are fossil-fuels here to stay, but he intends to increase production. Khalid A. Al Falih claims lifestyle changes coupled with population surges will ensure an increase of the world’s energy needs of nearly 40% by 2030. However, a separate report leaked from one of their military thinktanks reveals that the Germans are preparing themselves for “peak oil,” and a resulting cascade of dramatic world changes.

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Making Love with the Five Percent Rule

Tinamarie Bernard
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0
Making Love with the Five Percent Rule

eco-sexuality-sustainable-loveTreating love with patience and with small, 5% changes is the same approach that will save our planet

“Bad things happen fast, good things take time,” writes Wendy Strgar, founder and chairman of GoodCleanLove.com, and the author of the newly published book, Love That Works: A Guide to Enduring Intimacy (Love Words Press, September 2010). Committed to creating a green philosophy of relationships that teaches the importance of valuing the renewable resources of loving relationships and family, her message resonates with readers in the Middle East and beyond who recognize that our relationships are intimately intertwined with the planet.

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Do You Eat In Front Of The Computer?

Miriam Kresh
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Do You Eat In Front Of The Computer?

Watching TV and sitting at the computer is fattening, if you eat in front of the screen. It’s time to examine our eating habits and consider how best to repair them.

Most people agree that eating in front of the computer or TV leads to overeating. We unconsciously reach for another handful of that salty snack, another cookie, or another heaping forkful from an overloaded plate. We sit for long minutes or even hours afterward, instead of getting up and moving around to burn off some of the calories we just took in. Eventually, the mirror reflects a version of ourselves that we don’t recognize.

We might look up from a novel describing an old-fashioned family dinner, where parents and children meet over familiar dishes to catch up, argue, laugh, just observe each other. Each meal in the novel adds another brush stroke to a timeless family portrait. It makes us think – how long has it been since we’ve eaten a stress-free family meal, with no interruptions from cellphones and without the burble of the TV in the background?

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