A charitable man who wishes to remain anonymous recently installed a refrigerator outside of his home in Hail, Saudi Arabia. His neighbors can leave their excess food inside the refrigerator where it is kept fresh and clean. Needy people can then anonymously use this excess food without the shame of begging.

This man, who wishes to remain anonymous, has invented a brilliantly simple solution to the problems of food wastage and hunger.

Food makes up the largest proportion of the waste entering Saudi Arabia’s landfills.

A study conducted by King Saud University (KSU)’s College of Food and Agricultural Sciences estimated that 4,500 tons of food are wasted each day in Saudi Arabia. Even more food is wasted during Eid Al Adha, Ashoora, Ramadan, weddings and other celebrations.

The KSU study found that during each day of Ramadan, 30 percent of the 4 million prepared dishes are wasted. The excess food prepared for these feasts usually goes directly to the landfill, bypassing and insulting the hungry and poor people who might live in the same neighborhoods.

The Saudi man’s charity refrigerator solves two difficult problems with simplicity and compassion. It is far better to avoid buying and cooking more food than you can eat but for occasions where the excess is unpredictable and unavoidable, a donation to the charity refrigerator solves the practical problem of food spoilage and allows Muslims to follow Islamic teachings that charitable donations should be anonymous.

Though the man who came up with this idea remains anonymous, thanks to Twitter messages from religious scholar, Shaikh Mohammad Al Araifi, the idea itself is not anonymous and hopefully will spread to other parts of the Middle East and other parts of the world.

Photo from Shaikh Mohammad Al Araifi via Twitter

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Liquid algae may taste like sushi which is unknown in poor parts of Africa, but it is easy to grow with basic equipment like old plastic bottles, and it is packed full of protein – a veritable superfood. Just ask the Japanese who consume algae and algae derivatives as a way of life. Now, kids from an Israeli highschool are perfecting an algae growing system started in Kibbutz Ein Shemer (and which we reported on here) so that algae farms can made in communities in Africa to wipe out malnutrition in areas where desertification claims land and livestock. The local Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports that the project will be multiplied by ten and replicated at Jewish and Arab highschools in the region.

According to Haaretz pupils at the Herzliya Hebrew Gymnasium are working on a growth system for Spirulina, an algae that’s been dubbed the “superfood” because it contains 70% protein.

Algae isn’t filling the stomach, but at least it’s nutritious, say the students growing the algae medium in old plastic soda bottles (see more on the original algae project here). Aerating the mixture with a bubbler, it prevents the need for them to take the bottles home and shake them by hand – as algae needs ample sunlight, and carbon dioxide to grow.

The kids’ project is so promising that UNESCO, Rotary International, and international education organizations and dozens of African schools are interested to know more about how it’s done.

The pupils are working on a system so that it can be done in areas in Africa where food is scarce. The algae, which is a plant-based micro-organism, and the slime you find on the inside of your swimming pool, could potentially feed millions of people. (This article here suggests that eating algae is what has made Homo sapiens human).

To grow the project the kids have set up an NGO called Algeed. Soon they will replicate the project in other schools and within a year hope to take their bottles and bubblers to the world market.

Image from the Kibbutz Ein Shemer algae project

Overseers include Boris Zlotnikov who has a Spirulina farm in the Negev and Yaron Yehoshua, who is the founder of the Algae Biotechnology Center at Bar-Ilan University. Both volunteer to help out the kids.

“We still have a series of experiments in front of us: Temperature differences, different concentrations of the food that’s the basis for the algae, [amounts of] light and different growing methods − in plastic bags, for instance,” Yehoshua says.

At the end of the process, he says, “We’ll reach the optimal growing conditions and build a model that will increase the protein concentration in the algae.”

Israel has a pile of algae companies that are trying to grow the green stuff as a biofuel stock and for the nutraceutical and fish farming market. I’ve personally interviewed most of them (like Isaac Berzin), including leaders at research universities. If a little more professional guidance and investment is put into this project it could very well change the face of hunger.

::Haaretz (subscription may be required to access article)

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The recent riots that have rocked North Africa are not just about unemployment and political corruption but also the rising cost of basic food

As violence spirals out of control in Tunisia and the death toll continues to rise, it’s clear that the concerns that are bringing people to the street are ones of basic need. It’s not just about political corruption which seems to riddle various Arab governments- it about the the increasing difficulty people face trying to put food on the table.

Violent clashes in Tunisia between protesters and security forces broke out over the weekend and have killed a reported 21 people so far. The protesters say they are unhappy with rising food and fuel prices, unemployment and corruption as well as the excessive violence they have faced during the unrest. A curfew has been enforced in Tunis in Tunisia to help quell the riots but as climate change disrupts food supplies, will the region see more food riots?

The recent protests in Tunisia follow hot on the heels of unrest in the region since mid-December 2010 over rising food prices and youth unemployment. In Algeria, protests also broke out this month over price hikes in sugar, milk and flour and resulted in the death of 5 people. Al Jazeera reported that youths were heard chanting ‘bring us sugar’ and demonstrators broke into warehouses to steal sacks of flour in protest against food prices, which had risen between 20 and 30 percent in the first week of January. In a bid to calm the protesters, the Algerian government imposed urgent cuts on import duties and taxes to help bring down food costs and states that it has now “turned the page” on the nationwide food riots.

Is Global Warming Causing The Hike In Food Prices?

There is no denying that the common thread between Tunisia and Algeria is the fact that they have both recently seen dramatic price hikes. Experts such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FOA) warned that a global food crisis, on the scale of the food crisis of 2007-8 which saw huge rises in the price of food, was on the way. In fact, a recent report by FOA found that the global average price of food were at their highest since 2008, when sky rocketing food prices toppled at least one government and pushed more than one billion people into hunger.

Clearly, high food prices can affect the stability of governments and the price of food is closely linked to climate change. Recent droughts, heatwaves and floods have disrupted food supplies due to poor harvests and limited supplies mean that the price of basic food goes up. As Gwynne Dyer writing for Arab News states: “The rule of thumb is that we lose about 10 percent of world food production for every rise of one degree C in average global temperature. So the shortages will grow and the price of food will rise inexorably over the years. The riots will return again and again.”

:: Arab News, Al Jazeera and BBC

:: Image via kimi- on Flickr.

For more on food shortages see:

Jordan Tries To ‘Ketchup’ After Heat and Pests Wilt Tomatoes

UAE Plans To Improve Food Security

Egypt To Grab Sudanese Land To Meet Its Wheat Needs

The post Rising Food Prices Behind Riots in Algeria and Tunisia appeared first on Green Prophet.

Ormat’s Waste Heat Recovery solution, hunger in Africa, fighting desertification and more headlines related to Israeli cleantech and the environment.

As part of Israel’s plan to reduce energy use by 20%, new televisions and computer monitors that aren’t energy efficient may be outlawed. General Atlantic is in talks to acquire a stake in irrigation systems maker Netafim Ltd. and France’s Alstom is looking to invest in Israeli cleantech startups. For these stories and the rest of this week’s headlines, see below.

Investment
France’s Alstom Enters Joint Venture to Invest in Israeli Cleantech Technology

General Atlantic in talks to buy Netafim stake

Geothermal
Successful Ormat Waste Heat Recovery Test Could Green Dying Oil Fields

Irrigation
Israeli know-how helping to combat hunger in Africa

In Israel
Oleh to drastically reduce nation’s water usage

Amiad provides filtration system for Mei Gat irrigation system

Israel Has Plans To Outlaw Dinosaur TVs

Desertification
Fight desertification – feed the world

Missed last week’s headlines edition? Catch up on Phoebus Energy, Better Place, wind farms and more.

Image via roy.luck.

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