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A Miserable Walk Through Amman

Cities

Daniella Cheslow

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September 6, 2009

A Miserable Walk Through Amman

According to the blog 360East, Amman is about to adopt a Bus Rapit Transit system and make plans for installing light rail, two important steps to break Amman’s 30-year love affair with the private car.

Having lived in Amman in summer 2006, I can attest that buses are a mess. They are very cheap but often have no doors. Sometimes that can be a plus because the buses are filled with cigarette-puffing passengers jammed cheek by jowl in seats with miniscule leg room. But taxis are expensive, and walking on the street can be intimidating because of the combination of speeding, honking cars and unwalkable sidewalks.

The Jordan Times published a funny if disheartening essay this week about just how bad the pedestrian experience is in Amman. It’s part of a series written by urban planner Mohammad al-Asad, who founded the Center for the Study of the Built Environment. Check out his Web site for more fascinating articles on urban planning in cities like Riyadh, Aleppo and Beirut.

Al-Asad ventured out of his home sans car and headed to the Sweifiyeh neighborhood ten minutes away:

Think Again: Strike Up a Matchbox Inspired Recycled Notebook

Design

Karen Chernick

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September 6, 2009

Think Again: Strike Up a Matchbox Inspired Recycled Notebook

Think Again is a series that provides fun ideas for how to reuse items in your home that you would normally throw out or recycle. Reusing is higher on the “green” food chain than recycling, because getting another use out of an object is always more effective than spending the energy to recycle it. Plus, trying to reuse can force us to be creative!

Even though there’s paper all around us, somehow when we need to jot down a quick note it’s nowhere to be found. This project will help you dig into your paper recycling bin, pull out a few items, and with very little effort make a stylish and 100% reused notebook to keep by your phone, at your desk, in your back pocket, or wherever it is that you usually need note paper. And when you’re done with it – it’s completely recyclable!

To make your matchbox inspired recycled notebook you will need:

1 cardboard package (for example from a cereal box, box of pasta)

2 pieces of regular paper with one side already used (for example printer paper, mail solicitations)

1 pair of scissors

1 stapler (and 2 staples)

Lebanon Working on Smokey the Bear to Combat Forest Fires

Travel

Daniella Cheslow

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September 5, 2009

Lebanon Working on Smokey the Bear to Combat Forest Fires

Summer is always hot in the Middle East, but this season has gotten really fiery in Lebanon, where blazes have damaged over 15 million square meters of forest since June. The Lebanese Daily Star reports that farmers who burn their land after clearing it don’t take note of wind and dry conditions that quickly spiral out of control. Left, firefighters work in 2008.

To fight the fires, the Association for Forests, Development and Conservation is teaming up with the U.S. Embassy in Beirut to produce a cartoon campaign similar to Smokey the Bear. The project is still in brainstorming phase. The top contenders are the bee, the jackal, the falcon or the squirrel.

Iraq Begs Dry Neighbors For Water

Business

Daniella Cheslow

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September 4, 2009

Iraq Begs Dry Neighbors For Water

With the regional drought carrying on for its third year, Iraq is in a water bind as its rivers dry up. Turkey’s Hurriyet Daily News reports that Baghdad has urged Istanbul and Damascus to release water so that residents of southern Iraq don’t flee of thirst. The problem is that they are suffering from water problems of their own. Left, the three countries’ ministers meet in Ankara.

Iraq, once a food exporter, has to import 80 percent of its supply this year. The country has turned off the hydroelectric power plants over the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers to release dammed waters, but it hasn’t been enough. Now Iraq wants Syria and Turkey, both upstream, to release their own dams. In response, Turkey said they are trying, but global warming is decreasing the water supply there too:

“We even abnegated our electricity production in order to provide Iraq and Syria with more water,” said Environment and Forest Minister Veysel Eroğlu, who hosted the Ankara summit along with Energy and Natural Resources Minister Taner Yıldız.

Eroğlu said climate change was the main cause of the dried-up riverbeds.

“Turkey’s biggest dam, the Atatürk Dam, has been almost emptied. The water level decreased by 10 percent,” he said, confirming that his country had provided a flow of 500 cubic meters per second in line with its legal responsibilities.

Iraq’s water shortage is having disastrous effects. An area that used to be known as the Garden of Eden – 9,00 km. sq. of lush marshes – has shriveled into a parched pach of 760 km. sq. The depopulated wasteland is becoming a haven for drug smugglers. In April Turkey announced it would release more water to revive the marshes, but apparently that effort hasn’t gotten too far.

But Syria and Turkey have their issues, as well. Climate change has emptied out 160 villages in the northern reaches of Syria, while lakes in Turkey have been drying up or turning into polluted salt water marshes thanks to warming and river diversion.

Friends of the Earth Middle East Joining Forces with 350.org to Organize Climate Change Protest

Business

Karen Chernick

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September 4, 2009

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5kg1oOq9tY&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.350.org%2Fmission&feature=player_embedded#t=97[/youtube]

Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) is an Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian environmental organization that has been doing a lot of good since 1994. The organization focuses on promoting cooperative efforts in order to solve communal environmental problems in the Middle East and improve relations between the people in the region.

Now they are joining forces with 350.org, an international campaign that hopes to inspire the world to create a sense of urgency among world leaders for changing policies that would effect climate change. The campaign is focused on the number 350 – the level of parts per million that scientists have determined to be the safe maximum for CO2 levels in our atmosphere.

The collaboration will lead to FoEME’s organization of a regional protest at the Dead Sea on October 24, 2009 – the day that 350.org has designated as “Day 350”.

How to clean your body with raw, organic food the Ann Wigmore way

Health

Karen Chernick

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September 3, 2009

How to clean your body with raw, organic food the Ann Wigmore way

Mitzpe Alummot (literally, “Sheaf Observatory”) is a health farm in the lower Galilee of Israel that focuses on restoring the wellbeing of its visitors during their stays. But it also focuses on the health and wellbeing of the environment, one blade of wheatgrass at a time.

A large component of any stay at Mitzpe Alummot is the gourmet vegetarian, organic raw food. Besides not insisting on a strictly vegan menu, the food offerings at Mitzpe Alummot are the extreme environmentalist’s dream.

Vegetarian food is more environmentally conscious because it conserves all of the energy associated with raising livestock to be eaten as meat, and organic food keeps harmful pesticides out of our soil, air and waterways.

The health farm claims that cooking food in temperatures under 48 degrees Celsius (or 105 degrees Fahrenheit) preserves the nutritional values of the food, since food cooked above that temperature loses 50% of its protein and 70% of its vitamins and minerals. Cooking food in temperatures under 48 degrees also means saving a lot of energy.

Mitzpe Alummot believes in the Ann Wigmore philosophy, which “regards the body, the mind and the spirit as one whole.

This method offers a natural way of living, which helps prevent different ailments, while providing the tools to conquer disease.”

We would like to add that their holistic approach to food encompasses a healthier environment as well.

If the health benefits and energy savings are of interest to you, make sunburgers and Jerusalem artichoke salad and a basic fruit pie and carob fudge brownies for dessert.

As of 2025 the website was down, and presumably the center is out of business.

Read more about other food issues:

Solar Cooking Ovens: Another Eco-Solution from the Gaza Strip

Carlo Petrini’s Slow Food, A Review

Lebanese Farmers Market Makes Food Not War

Jordanian and Israeli Scientists Collaborate to Study and Protect the Gulf of Aqaba

Tech

Karen Chernick

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September 2, 2009

Jordanian and Israeli Scientists Collaborate to Study and Protect the Gulf of Aqaba

The Gulf of Aqaba (also known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat) is an important Middle Eastern body of water. The 99 mile long extension of the Red Sea is surrounded by four countries – Jordan, Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia – and houses coral reefs and hundreds of fish and invertebrate species.

Since the marine ecosystem is especially vital to both Jordan and Israel, scientists from both of these countries will be collaborating with scientists from Stanford University to provide detailed oceanographic information that would help Jordanian and Israeli environmental agencies minimize pollution.

Participants in the project say that they are collaborating for the sake of science, peace, and environmental conservation.

According to Stephen Monismith, one of the scientists from Stanford (and the person responsible for the beautiful underwater photo above), “the people involved are interested in international collaboration in science and protecting the place they live. Nothing in the ocean understands political borders.”

2009 World Water Week Honors Young Turkish and Israeli Innovators

Tech

Karen Chernick

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August 31, 2009

2009 World Water Week Honors Young Turkish and Israeli Innovators

World Water Week, an annual meeting in Stockholm about the world’s most urgent water-related issues, took place this year between August 16-22. Organized by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI), it brought together water experts, practitioners, decision makers, and global leaders in order to come up with solutions to international water crises.

It also recognized the achievements of innovators in the field of water conservation. Including those of two young women – Ceren Burçak Dag of Nisantasi, Turkey and Emily Elhacham of Israel.

Both young women were recognized as part of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, which is open to young scientists between the ages of 15-20. The prize is intended to encourage these scientists’ continued interest in water conservation and often draws thousands of international participants.

Think Again: What to Do With That Old Pair of Jeans

Design

Karen Chernick

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August 30, 2009

Think Again: What to Do With That Old Pair of Jeans

Think Again is a new series that provides fun ideas for how to reuse items in your home that you would normally throw out or recycle. Reusing is higher on the “green” food chain than recycling, because getting another use out of an object is always more effective than spending the energy to recycle it. Plus, trying to reuse can force us to be creative!

The three R‘s – reduce, reuse, and recycle – are listed in that order for a reason. Reducing the amount of products, or materials, or energy that you use is the most environmentally conscious. After that comes reuse – which means giving the materials that you did use a second life without going through any type of intensive recycling process. And the third is recycling, which does require energy but is still more effective than using completely new materials.

But the three R‘s don’t have to be so boring! Reusing can be a lot of fun since it forces us to think of ways to use an item that differ from its original purpose. It’s a way to bring a little bit of whimsy into your life, to surprise yourself with creativity, and to enjoy a product in a new way.

For our first installment in the Think Again series, we will be working with an old pair of jeans – an item that almost everyone has lying around. Jeans are the staple of many wardrobes… which means that at some point or another, they wear out. And even if you try to repair them, after one or two repairs or patches it is time to give up wearing them.

But that doesn’t meant that you have to throw them out! What else can be done with an old pair of jeans?

Tel Aviv’s Junktion inspires us to upcycle our junk

Design

Karen Chernick

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August 28, 2009

Tel Aviv’s Junktion inspires us to upcycle our junk

juntion barrel seat drum seat — Green Prophet’s Karin Kloosterman finds a seat in Jaffa with her baby

The last time we covered Junktion Studio – a Tel Aviv based design studio that creates whimsical designs out of reused and repurposed “junk” – they were making medicine cabinets out of old suitcases and foosbal soccer player hangers. Their designs took the material of the original items completely out of context in a manner that was both comical and surprisingly functional.

Their designs also kept the original items out of the landfill, proving to us that we should always think twice before throwing things away. Because who knows? That chipped mug may have a second or third life still in it, and those outdated t-shirts could still surprise you.

Seats made out of wooden window shades — Seats made out of wooden window shades

So just when we thought that the folks at Junktion couldn’t get any more creative or hilarious, their latest set of designs proved us wrong. Check out the telephone desk lamp above, or the seats made out of old wooden window shades to the right.

Shower head hangers — Shower head hangers

As Junktion has described itself, “Junktion people take everyday objects out of context, sometimes attaching them to others, unrelated, and at other times just turn them upside down on the table, take a step back and say: hmmmm…. Junktion people love seeing objects in new ways, stuff that makes us think, stuff that makes us act, stuff that makes us laugh.”

Junktion's Telephone Desk Lamp (comes in blue and pink) — Junktion’s Telephone Desk Lamp

All of Junktion’s products are handmade and one-of-a-kind, bringing a warm human touch to discarded, industrially mass-produced items.

More upcycled design:

“Waste Lb” Design Company Encourages Lebanese to Waste Fewer Plastic Bags

Merav Feiglin Doesn’t Make Light of Trash, She Makes TRASHLIGHTS

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