Roads have become rivers throughout Amman, Jordan after three days of torrential rainfall. Strong winds and falling temperatures have literally put this city on ice. Severe weather is pummeling the Middle East. Latest reports puts the death toll at dozens. I’m fresh back from a trip to my family’s two homesteads: the USA, where we […]
It seems silly to perpetuate apocalyptic hype that NASA debunked eons ago, but as 2013 approaches, we are sensitive to a shift in global consciousness – something that spiritual leaders have long advocated as the necessary means to our survival. As the conversation about climate change and other environmental issues gains traction, it’s a good […]
Two young Omani men are literally freezing themselves in order to prepare for the next 2041 Antarctic Youth Ambassador Programme. Founded by Gemma Borgo-Caratti and Swati Hingorani, AYAP is a two week Antarctic expedition that transforms passionate environmentalists into informed advocates of renewable energy generation in their home countries. Trouble is, these boys aren’t used to subzero […]
Students from the American University of Beirut have worked with the Forum for Environment and Development to create a documentary on the environmental challenges facing the Arab world The youth of the Arab world have had a particularly inspiring – if turbulent – last couple of years. Protests, revolutions and taste of real empowerment has […]
Saudi Arabia has a lofty goal for capture capture by increasing oil recovery and reducing waste.
A quiet little technology blog called Upworthy just posted a pie chart that, despite the solid pedigree of its source data, is likely to provoke debate so heated it may accelerate climate change. Kudos to Luigi Montanez, the site’s founding engineer, for recycling that ancient truism “a picture’s worth a thousand words”. Let the arguments […]
Although just about everybody at the COP18 climate talks in Doha, Qatar, understood the importance of arresting climate change following a slew of recent reports that show temperatures and sea levels rising faster than we imagined, the conference closes today without a commitment to cut a single pound of CO2 emissions. The reasons for that […]
Consequences of climate change especially acute in the Arab world, and traditional methods for coping with climate are severely stressed finds new World Bank assessment. All eyes are on Qatar now as the country hosts the UN-sponsored climate change event COP18. We’ve been reporting on COP18 before it began and during, and recently posted about […]
Trade unionists have used the COP18 discussions in Qatar to bring the silent but disturbing plight of migrant workers to light. While the emirate boasts about its plans to build a bevy of solar-powered stadiums in advance of the 2022 World Cup in addition to a host of other eco-boosting projects, very little has been […]
Activists have gathered at the global COP18 climate event in Doha, Qatar to press negotiators to put aside money from a ‘Robin Hood tax” to boost the climate change fund. Evoking the legend of England’s Robin Hood, who either stole from or persuaded the rich to help the poor depending on which story one believes, a […]
Like Abu Dhabi and Saudi Arabia, Qatar uses up a lot of its own fossil fuels – either to power energy-intensive desalination plants or complicated subsidies. The emirate is the world’s largest per capita consumer of energy, a topic that has come up time and again at the ongoing COP18 climate talks in Doha, and […]
Counteracting overwhelming criticism leveled at Gulf nations for their lack of environmental accountability, the Gulf Organisation for Research and Development (GORD) unveiled a low-emission, lower fuel consumption hybrid car-concept that can be applied to any vehicle. “The engine captures thermal waste energy that is utilized to generate electric energy to run hydrogen fuel cells using the potable […]
Young Arabs in Doha are telling the Arab world it’s time to take a lead on climate change during the first climate change talks to be held in the Middle East. With more than a billion Muslims in the world, Arab activists claim that Muslim leaders are pretty much silent about global warming and environmental […]
With the world’s fourth largest number of planned coal-fired power plants, Turkey is flouting international concern about climate change. As the United Nation’s climate change talks in Doha enter their second day, Turkey has been called out on its irresponsible climate policies with the “Fossil of the Day” award. Although Turkey has kept a low […]
Negotiators working on a successor to the Kyoto Protocol in Qatar ought to know that 1,700 gigatonnes of carbon lie buried in the permafrost, which is double the amount that currently wreaks so much havoc here on earth, reports UNEP. Then, as arctic temperatures rise as a result of global warming and the permafrost melts, […]