Burning Tires the Bokja Way – to Protest Against Beirut Pollution
"We are Tyred" by Bokja Studio. Bokja design in Beirut embroiders the tires, in protest
activism
Acre Father Aims to Make His Capital Green
Ilan Suisa, a father of four from Akko (Acre), aspires to make his ancient hometown the environmental activism capital of Israel. According to news reports he has even changed his name to “Ilan Green-Suisa.” Over time, Green-Suisa convinced the Akko municipality to place forty recycling bins throughout the city: “Akko won the first place in Israel for recycling,” […]
Mohammed Kanoo Shows How Arab Culture Is Never Black and White
Mohammed Kanoo’s portraits aim to tease out our biases about the Middle East. Above is US President Barack Obama. In his solo exhibition Fun with Fen (fen is Arabic for “art”) currently on display at Dubai’s Meem Gallery, the Bahraini artist Mohammed Kanoo depicts international celebrities dressed in traditional Arab costume. Kanoo’s digitally enhanced photographs are […]
Women, Rio+20 and the Green Future of the Middle East
On Tuesday thousands of Turkish women and activists sent government ministries a petition protesting the bill proposed by the conservative Justice and Development Party (AKP) that would ban abortions not taking place between the fourth and sixth week of pregnancy. Turkish law currently allows abortion until the tenth week. With dwindling environmental resources and rampant […]
Google Resorts to Going Green With Trash Talk
Gmail offers recycling tips. Apparently, they’ve been doing this for years. What rock have I been under? I was doing some email spring cleaning during an especially snooze-inducing conference call, and there in my Gmail Trash file, up popped a random recycling tip. Newspapers can be reused as wrapping paper for gifts. I’ve been painting the New York […]
Amman School Grows Tomorrow’s Activists
Graduation by Demonstration is a school assignment on steroids. Educators Michael Gohde and Molly Van Cleave dreamed up this novel project over three years ago as a means to exercise all the skills in an 8th grader’s backpack. Middle school lays the foundation for high school. Kids learn to write. Really write. They learn to […]
Lab Monkeys in Israel Get Reprieve – For Now
A recent Israeli Supreme Court decision has temporarily barred the shipment of 90 monkeys to research labs in the United States. Mazor Farm, where the monkeys are being farmed, must now provide documentation proving it operates within Israel’s legal framework for captive animals. Many people imagine the typical Israeli farm as a peaceful, lush, agrarian […]
Can Shared Water Be The Key To Peace?
Green Prophet goes on another water trip with Friends of the Earth and guests from Sri Lanka. “Even sewage has a national flag,” said Gidon Bromberg, co-director and co-founder of Eco-Peace/Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). Israel Director of the organization for 18 years, Bromberg says he’s seen how natural resources, like water, and even […]
The Origin of Earth Day and Greening the Arab Spring
It is worth remembering that a few decades ago, there were no environmentalists in the United States. There were no rules that prohibited polluters from spewing toxic fumes into the atmosphere. Nobody was watching the agriculture industry to ensure that their pesticides weren’t contaminating water ways. Americans were asleep. Then Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring hit […]
Tourism Boycott Heats up as Namibia Prepares to Kill 91,000 Seals
Activists have launched an international campaign to boycott key Namibian industries ahead of its annual slaughter of 91,000 seals. Not long ago we wrote a story about Hatem Yavuz, the “King of Seal Killers,” and our readers were outraged. An Australian man with Turkish heritage, Yavuz is now responsible for 85% of the world’s seal […]
Astronauts to Watch Earth Hour From Above
International Space Station view of Dubai Light Pollution on February 22, 2012. Can we change the world by switching off for an hour? People from all over the world are encouraged to turn off their lights for Earth Hour, which takes place on Saturday March, 31 2012 at 8:30 pm local time (check the Earth […]
Basel Burgan: A Force Behind Jordan’s Anti-Nuke Movement
Our interview with activist Basel Burgan, a leading figure against nuclear proliferation for energy, in Jordan. The Jordan Times reports that energy officials have expanded their search for a nuclear reactor site in Mafraq despite growing resistance from city residents and anti-nuclear supporters throughout the Kingdom. It’s also the final phase of vendor selection for […]
S-x Shop Hoax May Point to New Wave of Social Activism
A story about a Morocco sex shop turns out to be a hoax, but is the idea of expanding sexual freedom finding fertile ground in the region? Sex is natural. We wouldn’t be here were it not for the ability to procreate, and for most people in the world, physical intimacy and pleasure are desired […]
Cairo’s Zabaleen Scavenge for Renewables to make Solar Cities
No better place to do a reality check on our environmental vision than Cairo’s Manshiet Nasr neighborhood. Its local inhabitants, the Zabaleen (Arabic for garbage pickers and recyclers) started closing our material cycles thirty years ago, something we even now barely find necessary. They know that what is without value for most, isn’t useless per sé. […]
Jerusalem Mayor to Join “Bike to Work Day” Next Week
Jerusalem’s light rail may have been up and running for months already, but some residents believe that cycling is still the best way to get around. In the fall of 2011, Jerusalem finally got its much anticipated light rail (after years of construction). The light rail was intended to offer a comfortable and eco-friendly means […]