Beirut design studio repairs people and culture after the blast
Lebanese designers from the much-loved embroidery collective Bokja in Beirut have offered to suture and repair home furnishings damaged in the Beirut explosion on August 4.
Lebanon
If there is lead in Parisian honey, imagine what’s polluting Beirut?
Years after the Notre Dame fire in Paris Parisians are still feeling the health effects whether they know it or not. According to a recent study reported in the Smithsonian local urban honeybees in Paris were collecting pollen with unhealthy amounts of lead in it. Imagine then how those suffering from the explosion in Beirut might deal with the immediate catastrophe.
Caroline Chaptini sets Guinness World Record in Lebanon with caps
After several months of daily solo work, environmental activist Caroline Chaptini, a Lebanese national set another Guinness World Records title, having put together the largest bottle cap mosaic in a public park in the town of Miziara in north Lebanon. The measurement was solely dependent on the complete space area of 196.94 sqm, breaking […]
Byblos, Lebanon is best Arabian city to visit this year
I remember that when I visited Byblos, in the Jbeil district of Lebanon, in the summer of 2011, I felt like a true beholder of history. Historians agree that it’s the second oldest continuously-inhabited city on earth, runner-up only to the Palestinian city of Jericho. I sat at Feniqia restaurant in the heart of the […]
Lebanon’s Sidon garbage mountain to become city park
Taking a cue from its neighbor city Tel Aviv Lebanon’s regional “landmark”, Sidon’s notorious garbage mountain, will now become a city park. Sidon’s stench was once so bad that locals used to say that “you smell it before you can see it.” This hideous site, the result of garbage trucks dumping straight into the sea […]
Europeans try to save storks, then this happens over Lebanon (warning graphic images)
There is no fighting chance for migratory birds when they fly over Lebanon: Hunting laws may be in place in the Middle East, but who’s enforcing them? From storks and pelicans to hoopoes to eagles to migratory songbirds… see the images of the bloodbath in Lebanon during this year’s hunting season. And these images are […]
Making a little Disco Soup for brunch with leftover food in Lebanon!
On the occasion of World Food Day, Beirut will play host to the funkiest food salvage event in history: Disco Soup! While it’s not the first Disco Soup to hit the Middle East (Tel Aviv had its version Disco Shuk last April where droves came out for free food), this event in Lebanon only goes […]
Green Lebanon braces for summer drought = short showers
Lebanon is bracing for severe summer drought. As in nearby Jordan, longstanding water management problems are stressed to the breaking point following the driest year on record and a winter exacerbated by a massive influx of Syrian refugees.
Say hello to healthier fast food delivery in the Middle East?
We love grandmothers and we love what they do, especially when they know how to cook well using traditional recipes. While we like to support the food and lifestyle of yore, we do not think that not everything fast is bad for you.
Beirut bike messengers deliver groceries and parcels by cycling
I did the best part of my growing up in Toronto, a cold and somewhat bike-crazed city. It’s there where I met a champion bike courier from Berlin and had my first long-distance love affair when he moved back to Germany. Joern, god bless his heart, used to deliver love letters by international courier!
Lebanon’s largest landfill gets blocked by protestors
Lebanon has had its share of pollution and garbage issues laundered out on Green Prophet. There have been stories of garbage trucks dumping their loads straight into the sea, or those on Sidon’s notorious garbage mound, where local residents used to say: “It’s horrible isn’t it? You smell it before you can see it.”
Hawa Akkar Wind Farm to Illuminate 60,000 Lebanese Homes in First for Country
Lebanese renewable energy have fallen short of its ambitious goal of reaching 12 percent of Lebanon’s energy needs by the year 2020. But now it is in the middle of building its first wind farm at about 60 MW in the country’s north.
Lebanon’s Toxic Sea-side Sidon Dump Gets Eco Makeover
Not that long ago, the city of Sidon (or Saida) in Lebanon moved its trash to the local Sidon dump, where the toxic landfill and trash site washed into the sea every winter. Sometimes dump trucks didn’t wait for the rains and dumped directly into the sea.
Najila El Zein’s Beautiful Wind Portal is Made with 5,000 Paper Windmills
The London Design Festival is well underway with some exciting new projects on display – including an intriguing new installation from Beirut’s Najila El Zein: The Wind Portal.
Tapping Middle East Biogas Potential in Lebanon and Pakistan
Lebanon and Pakistan have each announced new biogas projects, tapping into a sustainable energy source that, unlike other renewable energy streams, solves two municipal problems – energy creation and waste processing. Biogas, primarily a mixture of carbon dioxide, methane, and hydrogen, is produced by decomposing organic matter. Add oxygen and create a high-efficiency fuel for […]
Mediterranean Surveillance Crew Eyes Oil Spills from the Sky
It’s hard to monitor vessels that pollute out at sea, so five aircrafts from Algeria, France, Italy, Morocco and Spain got together to keep an eye on the Mediterranean Sea in a recent coordinated aerial surveillance program organized by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Center for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC).
Beirut Terraces Make Sustainable Vertical Villages for Lebanon City
As part of a larger master plan to rejuvenate the downtown Beirut area, Swiss Architects Herzog & De Meuron have designed “The Terraces,” a green waterfront apartment tower in Beirut lush with vegetation and hanging gardens.
Venomous Lionfish Set to Invade the Mediterranean – Are You Ready?
A new “invasive species” of marine life may be on its way to the Mediterranean – one that is both attractive as well as unpleasant – and even poisonous. Known as the Lionfish or Pterois Miles, this colorful and exotic looking fish has already invaded both the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean.
Taksim Redux? Lebanese Protest Over Loss of Beirut’s Ancient Jesuit Garden Park
In a Middle Eastern city with paltry green space, residents gather to object to new development that will destroy one of their few public parks. Sound familiar? Spin the globe, but this time stop at Beirut in Lebanon.
Conjugal Sex Rooms, Unplanned Pregancies, and STDs in Syrian Refugee Camps
When aid workers with the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) speak to women inside Syria – many of them displaced from their homes and living in cramped collective shelters – they say they would rather do anything than get pregnant.
Watch Out for Falling Palm Trees Near You
The date palm is an important part of the religious, cultural, and economic heritage of the Arabian Peninsula and the rest of the Middle East. But now it is being decimated by a tiny invasive beetle.
Sign to Save Lebanon’s Turtles! Ancient Naqura Coast on Mediterranean Sea At Risk
Campaigners in Lebanon are asking for support to protect an ancient Phoenician coastline which is under threat due to a port project Lebanese environment campaigners are calling on nature lovers far and wide to help them protect an important piece of their natural heritage along the Mediterranean Sea. It seems that a beautiful part of the […]
Shark Visits Red Sea Bathers in Eilat
Is the Red Sea shark spotted at Eilat beach, Israel escaping illegal hunters in Egypt? While it’s rare to find sharks in the Mediterranean Sea (they are almost extinct), they are not so uncommon in the Red Sea. Its warm waters and ample food source bait sharks who sometimes get personal with bathers and divers. […]
Zakaria Café Returns to Sustainable Lebanese Roots
At the heart of Beirut, Zakaria counters corporate cafe culture with art and heritage As larger coffee and restaurant chains take over the streets of Beirut and other Lebanese cities, smaller, local cafes are abandoning their businesses as they are faced with too much competition. Walking away from the scene is not only a coffee shop […]
Native to the Middle East, The Fig Has Endless Varieties (PHOTOS)
The fig: over 750 varieties and native to the Middle East The strong grey trunk, the wide velvety leaves, the sticky itchy white milk resin that leaks from the cracked leaves, its round crimson fruits with their bellies filled with honeyed goodness. In my opinion, nothing beats a fig tree. The fig (which tastes great […]