Israeli designer Ohad Lustgarten designed Shade and Shelter as part of his final project at Shenkar College of Design, the same center that spawned living lace made from bacteria. The six foot tall prototype constructed out of cardboard looks like a giant centipede when it is unwound but then coils up to provide a lightweight […]
Rock Stadium by Lebanese design firm MZ Architects hasn’t been built yet but it has already won two coveted international design awards, including Best Future Building of the Year at the 2012 LEAF Awards. Marwan Zgheib accepted this year’s award for Al Ain’s sunken Rock Stadium in London on 21 September, sharing a slice of […]
MIT student Otto Ng proposes to solar-power the Arabian peninsula with more than 10,000 square kilometers of Powerscape – a tensile solar-collecting canopy comprised of inflatable mirrors. The problem with solar power, says Ng in a TED presentation, is the great amount of space required to produce the same amount of energy as a conventional […]
Release some inner and outer light at Jordan’s lantern festival in the desert. The Cosmic Love Sky Lantern Festival is sure to be a feast for the eyes this fall in Wadi Rum. As if the dramatic mountain scenery weren’t breathtaking enough, sky lanterns will rise like one thousand moons over the vast expanses of […]
Growing the most crop per drop of water is an Israeli specialty. With little rain and a hot desert sun as unforgiving as the Sahara, Israel’s high-tech researchers and farmers have combined their expertise to grow a cornucopia of salt-tolerant crops in dry desert conditions. People from hungry countries far and wide come to learn […]
Sucked dry by an unforgiving sun, my travel companion and I were badly in need of hydration and nourishment yesterday afternoon. Frankly, I had resigned myself to a day full of headaches and delirium, but then we stumbled across an improbable oasis located miles from nowhere in Israel’s Arava desert. Once no more than a ramshackle […]
Building with earth can be beautiful, especially when viewed through the lens of Sicilian photographer Giusi Cosentino. We featured her work once before in the aftermath of the Egyptian revolution. One of her most renowned images depicts a veiled woman holding a used canister of tear gas – a particularly lethal brand of which was […]
We have often written about the land mines that riddle Egypt’s desert. Originally planted during World War II by both Axis and Allied forces, these insidious weapons of war have since drifted from their original location, posing tremendous risk to local people. Egyptian researchers strive to find safe methods to clear explosive mine fields and […]
Early morning on a Saturday in May I headed out on my routine weekend nature trip into the desert. My visit was to a desert area in Sharjah that is approximately 25 kilometers away from Sharjah City and is an area I have been frequenting now for a few years. My trip goals were two-fold: […]
While humans inch closer to their eventual demise by burning up the resources upon which they so richly depend, the earth’s “lower” species are making moves to ensure their longevity. US and Israeli researchers published a joint study in the journal Current Biology that unveils how a desert shrub called Ochradenus baccatus outwits the spiny mice […]
Finally poised to embrace renewable energy generation, little-known Algeria is accepting tender bids from solar and wind energy producers. Along with Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, which are either in the process of or are planning to build solar plants in their home countries, Algeria supports the Desertec Foundation vision to line the Sahara with solar thermal […]
It takes a certain kind of traveler to use Couchsurfing in the first place. Can you imagine high-flying Emiratis or Saudis rocking up on a stranger’s doorstep with a bag full of groceries? And then, would they be willing to give up the comfort of their elaborate villas for a couch? Stranger things have happened […]
A young child sits in a Haitian tent city – a temporary housing solution for displaced refugees. Thousands of African migrants will soon be moved to similar units in Israel’s Negev Desert to the dismay of local residents. Following a spate of violence against African migrants living in southern Tel Aviv, the Defense Ministry has […]
A hydrogel could make deserts flourish with crops grown on under a fifth of the water.
One of the most exciting exhibits we’ve heard about is currently on display at London’s Royal Geographic Society. What makes it so exciting? Amidst stately buildings made of brick, vernacular desert architecture is enjoying its month of fame, and dozens of websites are talking about the event. Polish designer Sandra Piesik is curating the exhibit […]
The world’s largest solar thermal plant – nearly double the size of the original largest in Denmark – is now online in Saudi Arabia, reinforcing the notion that this Gulf country has the potential to maintain its current oil wealth by exporting solar power for the next twenty centuries. Originally awarded to Jordan’s Millennium Energy […]
Just when thousands of expatriates were fleeing their Gulf homes during the global economic collapse four years ago, Nick Leech was moving in. He was one of the lucky ones, but that has more to do with his diverse talents than good luck. Originally from the UK, Nick first trained as an architectural and design […]
100 eco-minded individuals will gather in Israel next weekend to brainstorm creative technological approaches to environmental challenges. Have you ever dreamed about brainstorming with 99 other eco-minded individuals to find clever solutions to our various environmental challenges? If so, this may be for you. TentTech is an invitation-only gathering of 100 artists, scientists, designers, agriculturalists, […]
Within 50 years, water trapped hundreds of thousands of years ago will be depleted by Saudi desert farms using pivot irrigation. Water is a non-renewable resource in the Saudi desert, which only receives one inch of rain a year, so it makes sense to use existing resources very, very carefully, right? For ancient desert dwellers, […]
Hundreds of Israelis used to spend Passover in Sinai but this year that’s very unlikely to happen and Egypt suffers as a result. Every year the government warns Israelis to avoid Sinai during Passover. Friends and relatives worry that they will become the next Ghalid Shalit, which is silly given there are now zero Israeli captives, […]
This Arabian sand gazelle in the United Arab Emirates is now six days old! While some zoos in the Middle East and North Africa have a terrible track record when it comes to their treatment of animals, Al Ain Zoo in the United Arab Emirates functions as a leading wildlife conservation center that specializes in […]
A team of Iranian students won a prestigious design competition with this cool desert dwelling! If you think this curvy desert dwelling looks a bit like a snail, then you definitely aren’t going crazy! Tasked by the Biomimicry Institute’s Student Design Challenge with finding solutions to every day challenges by looking to nature, Elnaz Amiri, […]
Two fertilizer companies are funding R&D of cutting edge agricultural and energy innovations at a new pilot plant in Qatar. The Sahara Forest Project was borne out of a dire necessity to ensure the long term survival of residents living in the Middle East’s desert regions. 60 People from 12 countries have contributed research to […]
Every year thousands of Europeans head to Morocco for a cheap trip; hopefully more will travel the eco-friendly way. British tour operator Specialist Morocco recently announced that they are opening up their ecologically-friendly tented camp in Morocco’s Southern Draa Valley for another season. And though we are particularly sensitive to greenwashing after witnessing first hand […]
A host of eco-tourism initiatives in Egypt are moving away from the packaged tour to nature-based experiences Nature has been developing solutions to its own challenges for the last 3.8 billion years, so two women in Egypt have set up an eco-tourism venture that tunes into that infinite wisdom. Biologists Sara el-Sayed and Betty Khoury […]