Your sandblasted Armani jeans could be killing people. “Distressed” jeans are commonly made by blasting the denim with silica (pictured above) after it has been pressurized into miniscule dust particles. But this fashion trend has been lethal for workers in denim sandblasting factories around the world. In Turkey, İdris Oral has become the 50th factory worker […]
Time to scale down on Diamond Class sleeping suits? Image via Etihad United Arab Emirates-based airlines, Emirates and Etihad Airways warn of higher ticket prices as they seek to pass on costs of a European Union (EU) aviation carbon trading scheme to passengers. Dubai’s Emirates will spend almost $52 million US this year to purchase […]
Joshua interviews Israel’s most influential and accomplished environmentalist, Dr. Alon Tal. Where is Israel at in terms of environmental protection? Get the scoop here. Israel has introduced several environmental protections in the last few years, but many problems remain. Although massive social protests swept Israel over the summer, environmental issues were not at the fore. […]
Cars, pollution, and the uniqueness of Lebanon can’t be forgotten, according to ironic statements by designers, business people, actors and writers in this documentary that intends to open the eyes of the Lebanese youth to the real problems in their society. See sewage flowing into the sea, the garbage mountain at sea, the pillage of […]
5000 MW by 2015? Iran wants to launch the largest solar power plant in the Middle East. A solar plant is in the works is in Shiraz, Fars. Image via SUNA About 27 people die every day in Tehran, from its shocking levels of air pollution according to our Iranian blogger Mehrdad. Some anti-regime environmentalists, […]
German-Palestinian society NIJMAH is working on renovating a kid’s playground using natural materials and setting up a permaculture garden Permaculture may be new to the Middle East but with Jordan hosting the recent permaculture world conference and various organic farms sprouting up, the region is slowly catching up. In Palestine, there is already a permaculture […]
Shop till you “drop” at the Jerusalem bus station. Working in a congested bus station, especially one like Jerusalem’s Central Bus Station is not conducive to one’s health. The toxic fumes created by the hundreds of buses that go in and out of this station, and all the free radicals in this air pollution is […]
According to a report by the World Health Organisation, Iranian cities are the world’s most polluted with some cities registering air pollution 20 times over the recommended upper limit Iran is certainly not scoring a lot of ‘greenie’ points this month. First it hits international headlines for its brutal treatment of environmental activists campaigning to […]
New rush hour anti-pollution measures may reduce this kind of “morning haze” in major Israeli cities Following plans to ban transport trucks in major cites like Tel Aviv during early morning rush hours, and after the opening of the special toll-run “fast lane” into the country’s largest and most populated city, Israel’s Transport Ministry is […]
We pay for barbecued meat with our health Every year the air pollution rises steeply during Israel’s Independence Day, where even people with vegetarian (or vegaware) leanings have a sudden urge to fry ground beef “kebabs” on the mini BBQ grill sold at minimarkets and basically tossed out after use. But the effects of man’s […]
A leading Muslim group denies the Cairo municipality’s request to relocate graves in the crowded city. Following the success of Al-Azhar park in Cairo, also known as the city’s lungs, the municipality looked to cemeteries as possible venues to develop more community parks in Egypt’s crowded capital. But Dar Al-Ifta, the research institute tasked with […]
The biggest environmental concerns of the residents of Tehran are air pollution and water quality. The public awareness of environmental problems is of great importance in today’s societies. It is somehow more important than the governmental privileges. In Iranian society, this awareness is in shadow of political, economic and social issues, which look more substantial […]
Bahrain is set to become a smoker’s haven; no matter where they go, smokers will have their own little cabin. When I used to smoke, a long long time ago, every so often I’d find myself jonesing in an airport. I’d look over at the glass-encased smoking cabins with dread. Was it really worth subjecting […]
Two Israeli researchers have discovered a link between air pollution and stock returns. Days with poor air quality may be hurting more than merely your asthmatic nieces and your uncles and aunts with emphysema and your descendants. Now its even hurting your Wall Street stock traders, by affecting their ability to deal with risks.
One unexpected consequence of the riots is cleaner air, because fewer factories are running. Amid the turmoil and disappointment of Egyptian President Mubarak’s refusal to leave Egypt despite ongoing and increasingly desperate protests, an unexpected consequence has emerged. Infamous for its stultifying smog, Cairo is packed with factories and cars that create an unhealthy breathing […]
Polluting factories will be relocated out of Cairo at their own expense. Will they simply trash their new home? Or will the government encourage them to clean up their act? Widely criticized for its smog and congestion, despite its central, green “lung” – the Al-Azhar park – Cairo is desperate to clean up its city. […]
Commuters will ride for free. But will the toll-run “fast lane” help solve Tel Aviv’s increasing traffic nightmare? Looking for a faster way to get to Tel Aviv from Jerusalem every day? Instead of being stuck in the daily traffic jam, a daily routine for drivers coming from both Israel’s capital and the bedroom communities […]
Passed in the summer of 2008, Israel’s Clean Air Act went into effect this month. As with its neighboring Middle Eastern countries, things can be slow moving in Israel sometimes. Maybe its a regional thing. But better later than never. While it would have been great if Israel’s Clean Air Act went into effect back […]
With so many flat roofs across the Middle East, surely the region is ripe for a bit of rooftop gardening? Recent reports that people in the Gaza Strip are embracing rooftop gardening has got us thinking about the urban gardening phenomena and it’s relevance to the Middle East. Whilst growing your own maybe something greenies […]
Yay, I used to say as a kid when we’d get snowed in for school. A surprise overnight “dump” could paralyze our small town as they called in ploughs from less icy regions in our Canadian province to salt the roads. But in Tehran, it’s an environmental problem keeping the kids from school, and their […]
Middle East cities started “compact” and dense but now suffer from the same problems as the west. Tehran’s recent Smog Holidays show’s us something is wrong in Middle East cities. “Is compact urban growth good for air quality?” The research conducted by Brian Stone, Adam C. Mednick, Tracey Holloway, and Scott N. Spak in 2007 […]
In the West, leaves are falling from the trees. In the Middle East, Fall means the return of the throat-burning smog which settles over Cairo, Egypt once again. Rice fields are to blame. Every year a noxious black smog hangs over Egypt as the seasonal burning of rice straw by farmers begins, and with it […]
A look at the air pollution in Esfahan, Iran. Cars and the clay brick industry are some of the biggest problems. The solution? Take the bus. In 2005 it was announced for the first time that the air pollution of Esfahan, the third big city of Iran, was in an emergency situation. Since then Esfahan […]
Trapped air and burning rice waste turns Cairo’s already sullied skies black during “Black Cloud Season” Not long ago I took a trip to the Mediterranean Sea and was appalled that from Cairo’s city center, in the Nile river, to well beyond the pyramids of Giza lie mounting heaps of trash: litter on the side […]
Lack of urban planning around its natural landscape keeps air pollution locked into the city of Tehran, Iran – one of the most polluted cities in the world. Tehran is one of the most polluted cities of the world –– with higher levels of sulfur dioxide than India and Bangladesh. Air pollution in the Iranian city […]