Prior to the installation of an asphalt highway connecting the once peaceful region of Bahariya to Cairo, the oasis was mostly hidden from the greater world. Then archaeologists re-discovered the Valley of the Golden Mummies and tourism in Egypt soared, generating valuable income for the local community. However, the influx also comes with a considerable environmental cost.
A Maridive rescue boat. It’s as though oil drilling has reached a holding pattern off the Red Sea coast of Egypt as the media, investors, drilling companies, governments and NGOs work to establish or even decide on the cause of the oil spill off the coast of Egypt’s Red Sea last week. Some say the […]
The plot thickens: The Egypt Government says Red Sea oil spill is not a rig spill. The warmer weather has just released old oil, now surfacing. Or it’s come from passing tanker. Image via wikipedia BP’s oil spill is a disaster with no end in sight. It only illuminates the alleged Red Sea oil spill, […]
It’s hard to think green, when you’re thinking about your next dinner. A UN story documents the lack of protein in Egyptian children, and that a whopping 16% of all kids living there are malnourished. For seven-year-old Ahmed Yasser, it is normal to have just a crust of bread to munch on throughout the afternoon […]
Green Prophet is in touch with HEPCA, the eco group in Egypt, working on cleaning up and containing the oil spill in the Red Sea that started last week. We hope to bring you more updates by the end of the day. Meanwhile, the eco group in the region of the spill – the Hurghada […]
Like the BP oil spill disaster that’s gripping the world, the delicate eco-system of the Red Sea, home to some of the most important coral reefs of the world, may be in peril. Off the coast of Egypt late last week in the Red Sea, an oil spill was reported – one which the government […]
The Red Sea oil spill off Hurghada Coast is said to be contained, but it’s still leaking off the coast of Egypt, environmental activists say. Tourists are cancelling Red Sea holidays. With all the attention focused on the still spewing oil platform leak in the Gulf of Mexico, who would be paying attention to another oil […]
With an abundant Nile flowing through it, people in Cairo wonder about industrial pollution dumping affecting their health, and future. A common question asked by visitors to Cairo is “can I drink the tap water?” Many Cairenes have no problems with drinking the water. The Nile River is Cairo’s main source of water and begins […]
Not yet into the organic food craze of America, the thin craze is taking over the Middle East as sedentary women pop pills to make them thin. Image via hamed Obesity is on the rise in the Middle East. Many Arabs in the Gulf are now overweight after oil wealth has fueled a sedentary lifestyle […]
This light-hearted clip bears a serious warning of what Egypt might look like in 2150. Climate change threatens to drastically reduce Egypt’s agricultural production and water supplies, the head of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency’s climate change unit warned in an interview with Reuters. El Sayed Sabry also noted that key tourist destinations are at risk.
A solar hot water heater is a cheap way to collect endless hot water, from the sun. What are you waiting for? Image via Beluga. They are relatively cheap units to install and can provide almost endless supplies of free hot water. Like Israel discovered decades ago, people in Cairo are now onto using energy […]
It can get windy over there in Egypt. Now, Egypt plans on making renewable energy 20% of its national energy goals. The Egyptian government has announced plans to generate 1,000 megawatts of wind power this year. Speaking at the energy forum for the Middle East and North Africa 2010, Egypt’s Electricity Minister Hassan Younis said […]
African nations fight over who lays claim to the Nile. Egypt is fighting back. Image via Michael JG It is water. Water for all. At least this is the argument that upstream countries along the Nile River have been saying for years, but Egypt continues to refuse to renegotiate a colonial-era treaty that would allocate […]
Ancient Egyptians built temples to the Sun God Ra. Time for this African nation to reclaim its glory and time in the sun, with solar energy deal? Image via mrs_logic Maybe it’s the product of the recent MENASOL solar conference in Cairo that Green Prophet attended. Now, Bloomberg news is reporting that Spain’s largest solar-thermal […]
The tragedy of it all- why should they have to suffer? A Russian oil dump in Egypt raises more red flags in Middle East about oil spills and drilling practices. The giant Gulf of Mexco oil spill is now more than two weeks old and although intensive efforts are being made to “cap” the well, […]
Dr. Antoine Bittar, one of the solar experts who spoke at MENASOL. (Photo by author.) While the previous MENASOL speaker profiled here (Nasser Majali) is a relative newcomer to the field of solar energy, Dr. Antoine Bittar, the Engineering Director for Solar Power at RES Mediterranean, is a leading expert in this field. For the […]
Some 250 people participated in the MENASOL conference in Cairo this week. Courtesy image. The 2nd annual MENASOL solar energy conference on the development and finance of utility-scale solar projects in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) opened Tuesday in Cairo. Approximately 250 people from around the world gathered for the two-day conference. This […]
From garbage dump to municipal park. The impressions of Alexandria I shared in a recent post were largely negative, so here I’ll present a happier picture: a green oasis in Cairo built upon a former garbage dump. The photos are mine; the background information comes mainly from touregypt.net.
Despite its impressive shoreline, Alexandria – the self-proclaimed “Capital of Arab Tourism” – seems to be a city in decline. (Hint: watch out pedestrians). When the Green Prophet’s editor heard I’d be stopping in Alexandria en route to the MENASOL solar energy conference in Cairo next week, she asked (implored) me to write a post from […]
From leaps in the bronze age to massive droughts that wiped out cities, civilizations we learn from history, depend on water. We need to protect our life sustaining resources now. An Akkad sculpture from Iraq. Over the course of history, numerous civilizations have peaked and then gradually fettered out or even disappeared abruptly. In many […]
Solar field at Kuraymat, Egypt is now fully assembled. Image via changents.com Ra, the sun god of the ancient Egyptians, would be proud: Egypt’s first large-scale solar thermal facility is nearing completion. A parabolic trough solar field, incorporating nearly 2,000 collector units and covering 130,000 square meters, has been installed at the Kuraymat project site, […]
Israel holds Earth Hour a little later than the rest of the world, but just in time for Earth Day. Stubborn as always, Israel insists on doing things a little differently. The official international date for Earth Day, the worldwide energy saving campaign, was on March 27th and many other Middle Eastern countries – such […]
Drugs can cause environmental devastation. Some smokers say it connects them to life, and nature. On the streets of Cairo, a hash shortage is generating some conspiracy theories. Photo via torbenh It may be an attempt to maintain stability while the ailing president was abroad, or a pre-election clampdown on crime. But whatever the conspirators […]
The Siwa Oasis is becoming a hot eco-tourism spot in Egypt, away from the glam of 5 star hotels. Alexander the Great loved the spot. Image via Trip Adviser While high-end, luxury travel continues to suffer somewhat, not all segments of Egypt’s tourism sector are declining. Eco-friendly destinations are continuing to burgeon. On the Red […]
The Sphinx and the Great Pyramids of Giza shut off their lights for one hour on Saturday evening in Egypt to mark Earth Hour, a global protest for climate change initiatives. The whole world sat in darkness for one hour as an attempt to bring awareness to the growing concerns facing the planet in terms […]