When it comes to your food, are you eying the list of added colours?
Red, blue, yellow and green, there is an absolute rainbow of colours out there that you can find in your food. When you stop to think about it though, most of these colours do not occur with the same vibrancy in nature as they do in your cereal, so why is it that we want to eat them? After all, when was the last time you saw a brilliant blue in naturally grown food?
Galil Software brings high-tech opportunities to Arab engineers in Israel’s geographic peripheries
Earlier we reported that Israel needs to pick up its cleantech pace. And sustainability is business means creating employment options for everybody, not just an elite few. Perhaps an infusion of Israeli-Arab engineering talent will help?
This Israeli high-tech firm – unlike the majority that are located around the Israeli nucleus Tel Aviv – is mostly staffed by members of the country’s Arab minority. With a modest investment, Galil Software set up shop in downtown Nazareth and won its first account in 2008 when it employed a couple dozen engineers. Today, Said says, Galil Software employs about 125 engineers, 90 percent of them Israeli Arabs in an external resource and development firm for large multinational companies based in Israel like HP, Amdocs and General Electric.
Are Israel’s cleantech glory days over? The hype might be over, says leading business analyst group.
While Israel is often portrayed as a global leader in cleantech with an almost endless possibility for growth, a new report from the international consulting firm Ernst & Young published by the Israeli business daily Globes shows that potential is one thing and reality something else.
According to the study, which was conducted on behalf of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the industry is suffering from a lack of funding for the complicated experience necessary because of the unique character of the field. Since the private sector simply can’t provide enough funds, the government needs to step in.
Carved out of volcanic rock, these 700-year-old homes have survived seven centuries. Now that’s what we call sustainable.
Since we wrote about Hassan Fathy’s mud buildings, we’ve been dying to find other examples of such earthy architecture in the Middle East. We later stumbled upon the House of Saud. Turns out that royalty once lived in mud huts.
Certainly modern inventions are worth mentioning, such as Ginger Dosier’s home-grown bricks, as are efforts to preserve existing structures such as Bahrain’s architectural heritage. But nothing we’ve encountered yet deserves the eco, efficient, friendly, green, sustainable award as much as these seven century old cave homes that are for rent or for sale in Iran.
They look like they might have been conceived by Salvador Dali and built by Antoni GaudÃ, but indeed these cave homes are much much older than that.
Carved into the volcanic rock at the foot of Mt. Sahand in Northeast Iran, the homes comprise both under and above ground space.
The underground spaces benefit from lower temperatures, thus reducing the energy requirement for cooling in this arid region. And the rest of the buildings have been updated with modern doors, windows and other fittings.
Inconceivably, these homes are either for rent or for sale, and are surrounded by various hotels, restaurants, and reportedly, special mineral water that has “healing properties.”
Might these buildings suggest that what is of the earth can be cool, too? We think so, though we don’t necessarily recommend that you chisel into your nearest dells without professional help, and perhaps a permit too.
Interview With Entity Green, Jordan’s Sustainable Development Organization
Foster + Partners in Jordan: What’s Sustainable About a Green Airport?
Architectural Design To Memorialize Assault On Free Speech In Turkey
Lebanese writer says the Middle East’s nuclear energy ambitions amount to a status symbol that should be replaced with decisions based on efficiency, safety, and communal good
The United Nations has called on the Middle East to be nuclear-free. Free of destructive power, and free of a volatile source of energy. Why choose nuclear in the Middle East, where the sun has so much burn? Cost may be a limiting factor in Iran, but solar is the most viable alternative resource in other Arab countries. At least, this is how Ghassan Karam writes it in a recent op-ed published in ya Libnan.
Solar Millennium AG is the next in a string of companies to withdraw its bid from the tumultuous Ashelim tender in Israel.
In their recent newsletter, Bloomberg reports that the German solar power plant developer Solar Millennium AG has withdrawn its joint bid for a 240 MW solar thermal project with the Israeli firm Minerva Holdings in Israel’s Negev desert. Valued at $1 billion, the Ashelim project is expected to provide approximately 2% of Israel’s electricity needs, but Solar Millennium is not the first company to drop out.Â
A weekly Green Prophet series that looks at the Arabic “green” blogosphere and online communities.
After looking at a personal Iraqi environmental blog, and at “The Forum of the Ornithological Society of Kuwait, we are arriving at the Gulf countries. This time, we are flying to Saudi Arabia and to a blog called “Green Papers”. Written in Arabic by a young Saudi woman named Faten, who has a Masters Degree in Environmental Management Technology, this blog has been active since April 26, 2010.
According to the post called “Who Am I”, this blog deals specifically with environmental issues in Saudi Arabia and generally with environmental issues throughout the world. Faten hopes to create a unique environmental awareness in the Arab society. This, in order to take even a limited part in the protection of the earth.
Dubai’s government is developing more organic farms, but oil-dependent desalination plants used for water casts a shadow on their carbon footprint
News from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates tended to be dominated by new construction projects being announced or more recently debts levels, but it seems that the government is making a serious push to promote organic farming as well. The National is reporting that the government in Dubai plans to add 23 new organic farms by June 2011 to the 17 that already exist.
Tourists still love the Dead Sea’s mineral rich waters. But for how long?
Despite the fact that the Dead Sea is shrinking by as much as one meter a year, the “lowest dry land point on earth” is becoming more and more popular as a tourist site for people the world over. This fact was noted in an August 5th New York Times article that mentioned beaches on the salt lake’s northern shore being filled with diversified groups of people, including ultra orthodox Jewish men and women from Jerusalem, Palestinians from the West Bank, other Israelis from all over Israel, and Christian Pilgrims who visit places like Kasher el Yehud, the traditional Baptismal place of Jesus.
Green Prophet’s interview with “locavore” author Leda Meredith reveals a wealth of ways that eating locally-grown foods helps to green the planet.
We do what we can to reduce overall energy consumption, dutifully turning the faucet off while we scrub the dishes, turning lights off in empty rooms, hauling bottles and old newspapers to the recycling bin.
Yet we sometimes feel that our efforts are of little avail in the big environmental mess out there. What else can a person do – something we can really feel is helping? Every little bit helps, of course. But by eating less meat, and that locally-raised, and consciously choosing more locally-grown produce, you’ll become vitally aware of helping the planet on many different levels.
Influenced by writers like Michael Pollan, author, foraging teacher, and professional gardener Leda Meredith decided to reduce her impact on the environment by means within the reach of every person: eating foods grown or raised close to home – something green people call a “locavore”. From August 2007 to August 2008, Leda ate with a few defined exceptions, foods grown or raised exclusively inside a 250-mile radius of her Brooklyn apartment.
Here’s our exclusive interview with Leda about the experience:
A fresh sprig of coriander is so versatile and delicious!
I have always found it difficult to differentiate between the various types of green leafy herbs available in the market.
For whatever reason, I can’t seem to see the physical differences between basil, thyme, coriander or mint. The taste, on the other hand, is something I definitely do appreciate. Coriander stands out not just for its taste, but also for its various health benefits.
Egypt is the world’s largest importer of wheat; could Russia’s heat wave (and subsequent ban on grain exports) become Egypt’s hunger?
Bill McKibben shows how one country’s excess emissions impacts the entire earth’s atmosphere, which causes a whole slew of its own unforeseen chain reactions. Industry and tourism cause noise pollution that disrupts hapless reef fish, who then struggle to locate the underwater habitat that best supports them. These are typically slow-moving processes, but our commercial interconnectedness has brought Russia’s recent environmental woes close to home. After crippling heat waves, the Russian government halted its grain exports. Meanwhile, Egypt will need to consider the source of its wheat just a few days in advance of Ramadan.
Billboard in Honor of World Breastfeeding Week, Sydney, Australia.
The World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action (WABA) sponsored the 2010 celebration of World Breastfeeding Week on August 1-7. The theme, “Toward a Baby-Friendly World,” highlights ten steps to ensure success in breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding reduces the rate of infant illness and mortality and protects mothers from post-partum hemorrhage, breast cancer and more. Much infant mortality in third-world countries is connected to tainted water supplies and lack of resources to buy formula. Breastfeeding is free, and doesn’t use precious water supplies.
The ten steps cost little and can be implemented even in remote areas.
Despite best intentions, Saudi’s Mahazat as-Sayd reserve fence led to the deaths of hundreds of animals between 1991 and 2008
After realizing the damage that plundering humans have had on wildlife habitat, conservationists have developed schemes aimed at reversing some of that damage. Recent programs include tagging turtles in Qatar to better understand their habitat, or in Saudi, researchers are cordoning off new territory to allow new insect species to proliferate.
In Iraq, conservationists expose themselves to combat zones to care for their wild. Unfortunately, even the best intentions result in disaster. Designed to protect them, a fence surrounding the Mahazat as-Sayd reserve in Saudi Arabia has instead resulted in the widespread deaths of rare Arabian Oryx and Sand gazelles.
Bleached bones and disembodied horns
Unprecedented ungulate deaths took place in Saudi Arabia’s Mahazat as-Sayd reserve between 1991 and 2008, leaving behind a devastating trail of bleached bones and disembodied horns.
“Researchers found that most deaths occurred during the summer, when rainfall was negligible. The animals starved to death because of the reduced availability, accessibility and quality of food plants in the area,” according to Wildlife Extra.
Protective measures failed
Saudi Arabia’s National Commission for Wildlife Conservation and Development claimed that the 220k fence surrounding the 2,650km2 “was established for the initial reintroduction of captive bred Arabian Oryx into their natural habitat.”
The Oryx went instinct in 1972 after the last one was shot by hunters, says Animal Info, but by 2003, 886 Oryx were counted in Saudi. That success is trounced by the subsequent starvation of hundreds of oryx and other wildlife.
Freedom to roam
“Grazing of Arabian oryx habitat depends on rainfall and animals move over great distance in response to rain. However, the fence around the protected area at Mahazat as-Sayd prevents the natural movement of animals and artificially concentrates animals into what may be an unfavourable habitat,” writes Wildlife Extra.
The sand gazelle in Asia is reported to travel hundreds of kilometers to pursue its food.
“Researchers believe that it is, therefore, likely that fences such as the one around Mahazat as-Sayd protected area are exacerbating the effects of drought,” according to Wildlife Extra.
Following the realization that the fence is causing such havoc, reserve officials are initiating an urgent plan to establish camps with food and water for animals at risk.
Driving fauna to drought
In 1952, Foster-Vesey-Fitzgerald wrote that the Arabian desert species were remarkably resilient, even against rifles. But they predicted that hunting would “sweep Arabia’s fauna into uttermost corners, where a subsequent drought will whiten its bones.”
They could not have predicted that the very efforts to protect the fauna from human sport would actually result in their demise.
Park Inn Muscat receives the Middle East’s first internationally recognized Green Globe standard certification
Creating quality tourism options in the environmental context has only been popular since the early 1990s. Now there are all kinds of opportunities to enjoy a relaxing holiday without causing harm to the surrounding environment: from bio tours in Israel, to Jordan’s green oasis, eco-tourism is booming in the Middle East. We don’t receive much eco-tourism news from Oman, that obscure nexus saddling the UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Yemen, flanked also by the Gulf of Oman and the Arabian Sea. So it comes as a pleasant surprise that the Green Globe certification was awarded to a hotel there.
Have news to share? Renewable energy news, architectural, artificial intelligence, biotech, sustainable design ideas, eco-architecture, green travel?
Email us: [email protected]
Get important news delivered directly to your inbox and stay connected!
© 2007 to 2026 Green Prophet, All Rights Reserved