Like the Middle East, parts of Peru suffer from a chronic water shortage. Also like parts of this region, such as Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, and other Gulf countries, humidity levels are extraordinarily high. So when students from the University of Engineering & Technology (UTEC) sought a creative solution to water scarcity as part of a campaign […]

The post Billboard Extracts Clean Drinking Water from Air (Photos) appeared first on Green Prophet.

When Spain ditched DESERTEC’s solar interests in Morocco, the blogosphere was quick to pronounce the initiative Dead Before Arrival. Underestimating the German foundation’s tenacity, critics could never have anticipated what happened next. Morocco found its own way to proceed with Ourzazate and Saudi came on board. DESERTEC Power, backed by the original DESERTEC Foundation, recently […]

The post DESERTEC Power Launch in Saudi Arabia Ushers in Clean New Era appeared first on Green Prophet.

Banking on Masdar to lead the Arab world in sustainability in 2013? With over 50 percent of the world’s oil and gas reserves the Middle East is not the likeliest place to be witnessing a green revolution, but with climate change running its course and oil prices rising through the roof, the region, and especially […]

The post Will 2013 Herald The Arab Green Spring? appeared first on Green Prophet.

The award to design Masdar‘s new super-green headquarters in Abu Dhabi has been given to Brookfield Multiplex, the group announced recently. The Australian firm was awarded the contract to design and construct the seven story building in the Gulf nation, which will feature a whopping 344,445 square feet of interior space and a massive rooftop […]

The post Super-green Masdar Headquarters Design Awarded to Brookfield Multiplex appeared first on Green Prophet.

It is illegal to catch sharks from the beginning of January to the end of April in the United Arab Emirates and yet thousands of them are landed during that time. Speaking to a delegation of international conservationists at the four day Shark Conservation Arabia workshop in Dubai, marine biologist Rima Jabado explained that during visits […]

The post Thousands of Gulf Sharks Caught During Annual Fishing Ban appeared first on Green Prophet.

Perhaps floored that a subsidiary of the state-owned Abu Dhabi Media, Image Nation, could be behind such a high-quality production as Promised Land, a new anti-fracking film written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski, western bloggers are drawing conspiratorial connections between the production company and the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company. The theory […]

The post Abu Dhabi Behind Matt Damon Anti-Fracking Film appeared first on Green Prophet.

Even though Qatar is the world’s second fattest nation, it will host four international sporting events in the next decade, including the 2016 World Road Cycling Championship and the 2022 World Cup. With Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman Al Thani at the helm, Qatar’s bid committee spent years fighting to host this prestigious cycling event for two […]

The post Second Fattest Nation to Host 2016 World Road Cycling Championship appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Water Disqus Hotel (WDH) lauded on blogs galore a few months ago is one step closer to reality, and the project’s new investment team has received exclusive rights to build in all Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, they told Green Prophet. Comprised of an above water disc connected to an underwater disc by five […]

The post Luxury Underwater Discus Hotel Close to Anchoring in the Gulf appeared first on Green Prophet.

Africa’s most dangerous animal will make its debut in time for the upcoming Eid holiday at the Al Ain zoo in the United Arab Emirates. The hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius) is a massive herbivore that roams swamps and shallow waters throughout sub-saharan Africa. My stepmother kissed Jessica the Hippo on her rubbery snout last year in […]

The post Africa’s Most Dangerous Animal to Greet Eid Vistors at Gulf Zoo appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Gulf obesity epidemic in has come under increased scrutiny recently. Supersized boys and girls are barely recognizable and four of the world’s fattest countries hail from Gulf nations – a staggering number that has increasingly tragic consequences. Just 19 years old, an Emirati boy who weighed 170 kilograms was flying from Dubai to Bangkok to receive […]

The post Obese Gulf Boy Suffers Fatal Heart Attack Aboard Flight to Bangkok appeared first on Green Prophet.

Beirut overtakes Abu Dhabi and Dubai, becoming the most expensive city for expatriates in the Middle East region, after Tel Aviv According to Mercer’s latest Cost of Living survey Tokyo has become the world’s most expensive city for expatriates, pushing Luanda, Angola to second place while Karachi, Pakistan is ranked as the world least expensive […]

The post Tel Aviv and Beirut Are Most Expensive City for Expatriates appeared first on Green Prophet.

Egyptian brothers Mostafa and Mohamed Nassar have designed a clever two-meter tall waste separator that aims to make recycling in Abu Dhabi and the other Emirates “as easy as pressing a button,” The National reports.Providers of steel solutions for construction, oil and gas industries and manufacturing plants, the Abu-Dhabi-raised pair believe that collecting recyclables can be […]

The post Egyptian Brothers Design a Clever Separator for Gulf Recyclables appeared first on Green Prophet.

Democracy used to be at the forefront of Arab Youth’s minds, but in 2012 that has changed. Now youth from 12 Arab countries in the Gulf, the Levant and North Africa claim they are more concerned about receiving fair wages for their work and being able to own their homes, though lack of democracy remains […]

The post What Arab Youth Want (A List of 10 Things) appeared first on Green Prophet.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could tell parents living in Gulf countries that their kids are getting fat because they’re being fed too many McDonald’s burgers, and have them respond by adding some greens to their diet? But this isn’t what happens. Even though a 2010 national school health survey in the United Arab Emirates […]

The post Junk Food for Kids Against the Law in the United Arab Emirates appeared first on Green Prophet.

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 post Earth-Friendly Vernacular Date Palm Leaf Architecture Revisited in London appeared first on Green Prophet.

Recent images of a dead, bloody wolf and broken flamingos that young Kuwaiti men killed for sport gave the oil-rich state a dark reputation. But a new video narrated so eloquently by Dalal Al-Abdulrazzak, a Kuwaiti Phd candidate studying Gulf marine ecology at the University of British Columbia, provides a glimpse into a less-celebrated segment […]

The post Gentle Kuwaiti Marine Activism (VIDEO) appeared first on Green Prophet.

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 […]

The post World’s Largest (Gargantuan) Solar Thermal Plant Opens in Saudi Arabia appeared first on Green Prophet.

 We keep harping on about making the most out of solar energy, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa where we have more than our fair share of sun, but have any of us really thought about what such a future might look like? As much as we Green Prophets would love to see […]

The post Dubai’s Vertical Village Has a Skirt of Photovoltaics appeared first on Green Prophet.

The last international climate change negotiation (COP17) took place in Durban in 2011 and the outcomes were pretty disappointing given the urgency of the matter in hand. Unsatisfactory outcomes aside, climate change negotiations have been providing momentous opportunities for NGOs, individuals and the private sector to engage and exchange ideas on solutions to climate change mitigation. […]

The post How can the Arab World Benefit from Climate Change Negotiations in Qatar? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Gold and Co. London encases electronics in 24 carat gold-plating; their best market? The Gulf, naturally. It’s impossible and rude to speak for the dead, but we find it hard to believe that Steve Jobs would have wanted anything he designed covered in gold. But this is the Gulf and we’ve seen stranger things, including […]

The post Absurd 24 Carat Gold-Plated iPads to Sell for $5,500 appeared first on Green Prophet.

Plastic is pervasive and so are the carcinogenic chemicals that leach from them. The rapid growth and urbanization of the United Arab Emirates is associated with increased uses of plastic in every aspect of modern life. In 2008, the World Health Organization voiced concerns that rapid urbanization may be negatively impacting people’s lives. Rapid growth […]

The post Toxic Chemicals in Everyday Items appeared first on Green Prophet.

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 […]

The post These Pictures of Baby Arabian Sand Gazelles Will Make Your Day appeared first on Green Prophet.

If you need another reason to support the Barcelona soccer team, this might help: in order to expand their fan base in the Middle East and Asia, Real Madrid is joining forces with the United Arab Emirates to build a giant soccer resort complete with a stadium, fancy villas, two high rise hotels, and a […]

The post Is Real Madrid’s $1 Billion Artificial Island Another Reason to Support Barcelona? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Overfishing has led to a massive depletion of Gulf fish stock, so Dubai has announced plans to crack down on illegal sales of immature fish. Last year Green Prophet traveled to the United Arab Emirates to talk to locals about fish. After seeing reports of sharks being caught and sold openly, and watching The End […]

The post Dubai Finally Gets Serious About Overfishing appeared first on Green Prophet.

Daniella Dimitrova Russo from the Plastic Pollution Coalition warns that bioplastics will not solve plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is one of the major issues facing our planet today. Plastic bags festoon trees in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, and along the streets of New York, USA. Plastic washes up on the beaches […]

The post OP ED: Bioplastics Will not Solve the Plastic Pollution Problem appeared first on Green Prophet.

This machine cleans waste water and generates energy at the same time. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have developed technology that treats waste water and generates energy at the same time – two priorities for Middle Eastern municipalities. Combining Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) technology developed in the Netherlands and Norway, which harvests energy where fresh water […]

The post US Researchers Clean Waste Water & Create Energy in One Generator appeared first on Green Prophet.

Join the debate: is the world’s first all-women falconry association in Qatar a bad idea?  Falconry is a time-honored tradition in the Gulf, but like more recent sports such as race-car driving and rugby, it is a male-dominated sport. So when the Katara cultural village in Qatar recently announced the launch of the world’s first female […]

The post Gulf people ridicule female falconry association appeared first on Green Prophet.

Crystal Lagoons has developed an alternative cooling and energy harvesting system for power plants that doesn’t require the use of seawater. Gulf countries that lack freshwater resources rely deeply on seawater desalination to meet their daily needs and cool down thermal generation plants. According to Gulf News, the United Arab Emirates alone uses four trillion litres […]

The post New Cooling Lagoons Could Save the Gulf’s Marine Enviornment appeared first on Green Prophet.

Because cheetahs don’t belong on leashes, Dubai’s neighbor, Ajman, has passed a law that makes it illegal for anyone to have wild animals or reptiles in their homes. Remember the Porsche driver in Dubai who thought it was cool to walk his pet cheetah on a leash in the middle of a busy urban center? […]

The post Gulf Country Completely Bans Ownership of Wild Animals appeared first on Green Prophet.

Gulf experts say that shark meat contains extremely high levels of mercury. The picture above depicts a deformed Japanese boy whose mother had mercury poisoning. If shark conservation isn’t your thing, and you are one of the people creating a worldwide demand for shark fin soup, think about this next time you slurp: filmmaker and […]

The post Shark Fin Soup Can Give You Brain Damage appeared first on Green Prophet.

An ingenious technology installed in 20 countries around the world has enormous potential not only to regenerate ailing coral reefs but improve their resilience as well! Coral reefs throughout the world are in dire straits, which bodes badly for the world’s marine ecosystems. But a proven technology that has been floating around for two decades […]

The post Electrified Cages Revive Dead Coral Reefs appeared first on Green Prophet.

Gulf carriers are ready for the new EU carbon regulations, with 70 orders pending for the 20% more energy-efficient Boeing Dreamliner. From January next year, all airlines wishing to land and take off in Europe will have to buy permits under the EU’s Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to help cover the carbon cost of all […]

The post Gulf Orders Piling Up For Fuel-Efficient 787 Dreamliners appeared first on Green Prophet.

These sick baby turtles covered in barnacles are two of many turtles received for treatment in Dubai. Scientists are puzzled over the record number of mostly endangered Hawksbill turtles being admitted to the Dubai Turtle Rehabilitation Project. The 210 turtles that have been brought in for treatment significantly exceeds the numbers received in previous years. […]

The post Record Number Of Starving Turtles Received At Dubai Rehab Center appeared first on Green Prophet.

Qatar has chosen a building that is both shaped and acts like a cactus as their latest superstar project. With an area of less than 12,000 km2, Qatar bounced onto the world scene when FIFA announced its decision to award the 2022 World Cup to that country. Because it is exceptionally hot during the summer […]

The post Qatar Ministry To Get A Desert-Loving Cactus Building appeared first on Green Prophet.