You have all surely heard of Elon Musk, the billionaire innovator of space travel and the electric vehicles industry. He was the man who made the electric car cool with the launch of the Tesla Roadster (named after Nicolai Tesla), an electric vehicle capable of outperforming many sports cars and have zero emissions at the […]
As an intern at Masdar Institute, I’ve witnessed firsthand how real and possible a drastically improved world is. Masdar serves as a real-life experiment of how our sustainable future might look like. Solar energy generated by a 10-megawatt solar photovoltaic plant as well as panels mounted on the institute’s buildings provide nearly all of the […]
Strong crop yields, higher productivity and slower growth in global demand should contribute to a gradual decline in real prices for agricultural products over the coming decade, but nonetheless, prices will likely remain at levels above those in the early-2000s, according to the latest Agricultural Outlook report produced by the OECD and the United Nation’s Food […]
As spring turns into summer, the Khalifa fund’s investment in Abu Dhabi hydroponic agriculture is beginning to pay off. The Khalifa fund for enterprise development was Launched in 2007 to help local enterprise in Abu Dhabi. At the beginning of 2015, Ahmad Kalfan Al Romaithi revealed that Dh 130 million (approximately 35 million US dollars) […]
A celestial tryst between the CEO of Roman gods and the Roman goddess of love and beauty? This seems hardly a match made in heaven. You might even say this relationship is star-crossed. But watch the western sky just after sunset on Tuesday, June 30th and you’ll see a rare conjunction between a beautiful bright […]
Is humanity as a species threatened with extinction? Is global warming resulting in irreversible climate patterns that are destroying animal and plant species at rapid rates, especially in the Middle East? These questions are causing great concern to scientists now studying the rapid extinction of many species of animals on earth during the past 100 years. A […]
Hey, it says ‘no man’, not ‘no alligator’ says this crocodilian creature caught on film by security at an Iranian gas production facility this month. It climbed onto a gas rig in Southern Iran, in search of food, say local personnel. It was led back to the swamp. Unlike in Canada, where police went crazy over […]
Bust all stereotypes you might have of Iranians: A retired teacher in Kohgiluyeh and the Boyer Ahmad Province has planted over 10,000 oak tree saplings over a two-decade period. Mohammad Hossein Aria has devoted several years of his life to the protection and revival of forests, and believes that there is no room for famine or […]
Two cellphones. Three numbers. Thirty to forty phone calls a day. A road trip-based work life, which, for seven years, has been separated from luxuries like regular hours, weekends and sleep. Needless to say, Dr. Abderrahim Ouarghidi, 40, is a busy man. Officially the High Atlas Foundation’s director of programs in Marrakech, Ouarghidi, who focused […]
Here’s a story about ingenuity and creativity. About a man who uses a solar cooker to prepare meals. If you wish, you can see it as a testament to how the human spirit prevails even under the toughest conditions. If you’re willing, you can see it as an opportunity, a mutual interest, or a proposition […]
In the same space as the American agtech company flux, built on Israeli R&D to help people grow food in cities, another Israeli-founded, American-managed company is taking a stance and big investment dollars in agtech and food production. They call it CropX. The company announced this week that it closed its $9 million Series A financing. This […]
The Pope has come out, some might argue too late, with his treaty for Climate Change. How can faith leaders, or at least the Church position itself in the face of massive species die-offs, and the change in the way of life as we know it? Can the Pope’s Encyclical, the treaty itself, aims to […]
As I strolled through the aisles of a large supermarket chain recently, I was overwhelmed by the quantity of mass-produced, industrialized food products lining the shelves. Stacks and stacks of processed food items, replete with refined, nutrient-devoid, artificially preserved, chemically altered and/or genetically modified ingredients, as well as produce grown using environmentally and biologically hazardous […]
More terrible news from/for the Arabian Peninsula: The Arabian Aquifer System is the most over-stressed groundwater system in the world. Using data gathered by NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment satellites, two new studies by the University of California, Irvine, came to conclude that 21 of the largest 37 aquifers on earth studied have exceeded their sustainability […]
What does Walt Disney World have in common with the ancient Middle Eastern cities of Jerash and Jerusalem? In each of these places we’ve found glaring examples of wasted energy in the form of high wattage outdoor lights switched on during the brightest hours of sunny days. The radio program “This American Life” once aired […]
“My God, it’s full of stars!” Fans of Arthur C. Clarke’s classic science fiction novel 2001 A Space Odyssey might recognize these as the words of astronaut David Bowman, awestruck by revelations of the deep mysteries of space. A team of astronomers from Tel Aviv University and UCLA discovered more than a million newborn stars […]
Pope Francis has penned an official text on the environment, the product of a year’s worth of writing. Yesterday, an Italian news site leaked an early draft and Vatican officials cried foul. One, speaking to Bloomberg News on Monday, called the premature release of the papal encyclical a “heinous act”. The official release is on Thursday. So […]
The region known for one of the healthiest diets on earth is moving away from ancient habits proven ideal for human health and sustainable food systems. A new report by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM) explored the effects of globalization and lifestyle […]
It’s a natural thing for every human being to want: the ability to grow fresh, healthy food anywhere we call home, even if that’s in the concrete jungle of New York City. We may spend our days and nights plunking away at keyboards or talking into little plastic boxes but who doesn’t yearn to eat […]
The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) joined in the only Moroccan festival solely dedicated to celebrating nuts, a three-day festival held last Friday in Asni, a small village at the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains, south of Marrakesh. The weekend of music and markets celebrates the Asni walnut processing plant, located nearby, where about 40 local women process […]
They’re healthy. They’re sweet. They’re pretty. They’re dense and filling, so one bite will satisfy you but never make you feel guilty about eating it. And you shouldn’t hold back from making them, either, since they’re done in a matter of minutes. Alright, enough with the fanfare (cause I’m their #1 fan): what are they? […]
A consortium of leading environmental groups released a Regional NGO Master Plan for Sustainable Development in the Jordan Valley. They announced the action – the first of its kind – earlier today at a conference held on the Jordan side of the Dead Sea. The strategy is akin to a modern Marshall Plan, it aims […]
Researchers at the Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute worked alongside colleagues at Trinity College Dublin to solve solar energy mysteries related to the physical properties of photovoltaic perovskite materials. Their discovery may lead to more efficient solar energy harvesting.
If you've never been to a Gulf-region country - be prepared to scratch your head over the deadly past-time called drifting. The idea is to take your cars out of their carports and then drive your car as fast as possible on the highway, slam on the breaks and then attempt to frighten onlookers and fellow drivers on the road by drifting or sliding your car towards them. People sometimes get killed or badly injured.
World Oceans Day is June 8th – here’s someone who could be it’s Grand Marshall. Two years back, Green Prophet ran a story about a Dutch engineering student who devised a way to siphon off the gargantuan plastic garbage patches (called gyres) growing unchecked in our seas. Then-19-year-old Boyan Slat claimed his floating “Ocean Cleanup Array”, developed with classmate Tan Nguyen, […]