Let’s get meta. A “force of nature” is defined as a natural phenomenon that is beyond human control. When three Academy Award®-winning celebrities come together on a film, their combined energies could colloquially be called “a force of nature”. Now imagine that their film is about…the forces of nature. This week an astonishing film premiered – […]
He’s coming back! In 2011, artist Spencer Tunick incited hundreds of people to shed their inhibitions (and their clothes) to raise awareness to the environmental threats facing the Dead Sea. This September, five years after that mass naked photo shoot, at the request of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, he will return to check […]
Not so long ago, forests of majestic mangrove trees fringed the eastern shores of Saudi Arabia. Official stats now estimate that only 10% of the forest remains. Decades of landfill operations in support of growing urbanization destroyed the rest. Now a group of female environmental activists are battling to protect what remains.
Is there anything that communicates more effectively than music? It transcends language, with a power unmatched among the Fine Arts to cross boundaries, express and evoke emotion, and unite disparate people.
A man who belongs to Ethiopia’s chapter of the Global Power Shift youth environmental activism network biked nearly 500 miles in just two months in order to draw attention to the nation’s shrinking forests.
The barbershop tradition in Turkey is far more vibrant than the Hair Cutteries of America. In Turkey, men gather for their weekly shave and catch up on the politics du jour while drinking strong muddy coffee often laced with cardamom. The barber is naturally a key figure in this street culture, so when he takes […]
Greenpeace tapped into some serious people power with their recent “Detox” campaign and the world’s largest fast fashion retailer had no choice but to give in. After nine days of intense public pressure led by the environmental activist group, fashion giant Zara has agreed to phase out the use of toxic chemicals in its supply […]
Spanish fast fashion company Zara has come under intense fire recently for failing to address a Greenpeace report released last year outlining the textile industry’s deleterious impact on China’s waterways. Called Dirty Laundry, the report unveiled that persistent and bio-accumulative hazardous chemicals with hormone-disrupting properties are released into the same water that residents rely on […]
Image via Tunisia Live Having met strict regulations in the United States and other developed countries that have slowed down their ambitions, Shell has sought to use less developed nations as guinea pigs […]
False advertising. It’ll take a minute and thirty-seven seconds to watch this tapestry of images tracing the cosmic origins of mankind. Not enough time to get fidgety, barely enough time to dent your cup of coffee, but maybe just long enough to remind you why you check in to Green Prophet. Come on, admit it. […]
A study mapping the environmental actors in Palestine shows a desperate lack of co-operation between organisations and donors keen to play it safe with ‘practical projects’ The lovely people at Heinrich Böll Stiftung had done something that I have been procrastinating about for almost lifetime (well, not quite a lifetime but a good couple of […]
Renowned nude photographer Spencer Tunick and Daphne Leef, the leader of last year’s tent protests in Tel Aviv, are teaming up to promote creative social activism in Israel. In support of Save our Sea, a grassroots organization that strives to raise awareness of the Dead Sea’s declining ecological health, the pair have organized an overnight […]
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,” […]
A growing but still small cadre of environmentalists are taking on the final frontier: nature and intimacy. Julie McIntyre, an ‘Earth ceremonialist’ and director for the Center for Earth Relations is an ecological visionary. Trained in plant medicine, Ayurveda, Reiki, medical herbalism, wilderness survival and holistic health, she’s the lastest to write a book about […]
Next Wednesday activists will hold a public forum to democratically demand access to the Horsh Beirut urban park. In 1696, the Horsh Beirut Pine forest used to be as large as 1,250,000 square meters but the Crusaders, Mamluks, Ottomans, and World War II allies each took their turn plundering its timber in order to build ships and weapons. Further damage […]
Our VIP list of 11 environment heroes for the Middle East 2011. If you don’t know these people already, now is the time to start. Top heroes are from Israel, Turkey and Iraq. The year 2011 has been a year like no other in the Middle East. We’ve seen protests against corruption, people have taken […]
Half of the wild camels near Abu Dhabi are choking on plastic and dying When the grownups give up on protecting the earth and its numerous creatures, the youth are left to pick up the baton. Cameron Oliver was just 11 years old when he first learned about the plight of camels living in the […]
In an attempt to maintain Israel’s forests and prevent forest fires in the future, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and the Jewish National Fund enlist tourists to become “Foresters for a Day.” About a year ago, the Carmel forest in northern Israel suffered the worst fire in the nation’s modern history and 5,000 hectares of forest land […]
“Let our lovely Gerze stay lovely,” reads the banner. “We don’t want a thermal power plant to come to our Gerze…” On Saturday, the Turkish Black Sea town of Gerze — population 11,260 — was host to a 10,000-strong protest against a coal-fired power plant. Protesters arrived from all over the country to march and […]
Pauline Masurel reviews a collection of literary and science fiction stories by world renowned authors that imagine the affects of climate change. Bill McKibben was arrested in August this year while protesting against TransCanada’s proposed plans to build a pipeline that would carry oil from the Alberta tar sands to Texas. McKibben has written: “This […]
Members of the often persecuted Bahai faith are inherently green. The terrace of the Baha’i Shrine and Gardens in Haifa is the most stunning destination in Israel’s third largest city. From the eastern side of the city, along the popular route 4, you first catch glimpse of it rising up towards the sky on your […]
Bill McKibben isn’t the kind of guy who takes getting arrested lightly. He’s doing it to save humanity from one of the most catastrophic dangers we have ever faced. The right wing has long maintained that America should reduce its oil dependency on the Middle East. Considered the root of the last war in Iraq […]
From a small office on Bliss Street in Beirut, overlooking the Mediterranean sea, a small team of young Lebanese activists are busy trying to expose environmental injustices, change attitudes, recruit volunteers, lobby and fundraise, in a country where every day politics often comes in the way of any environmental reform. Fresh out of college, Campaigner […]
Batroun is an outpost of beauty in Lebanon. The next generation of environmental activists want to make sure it stays that way. Georges “Junior” Daou belongs to the next generation of Lebanese. A long time nature-lover, he has devoted himself full time to rejecting toxic waste in Beirut, consistent oil spills that degrade the Mediterranean […]
Rachel Jacobson shares the story behind protecting this beautiful view from “Big Oil.” Last year a small group of people accidentally discovered that Israel Energy Initiatives (IEI), backed by Rupert Murdoch, Dick Cheney and a powerful American oil conglomerate, intended to explore their land for oil shale – potentially a very destructive project. David de […]