Locals learn to restore mosaics from Bible times
Locals learn to preserve mosaics in the Middle East.
Lebanon
Lebanese install solar panels to survive energy crisis
Lebanon is facing a severe energy crisis forcing people to run private generators for switching on light bulbs and refrigerators. But people have started to turn to the sun.
Lebanon’s water problems explained in 15 minute video
Lebanon is a country naturally endowed with plenty of clean water. But unregulated industry, farming, garbage disposal along other activity has rendered the water undrinkable and in some areas, dangerous to people’s health, making Lebanon among the most water vulnerable countries in the world.
Adrian Pepe’s Lebanese culture, craft and identity through local sheep
A textile artist from Beirut explores the local sheep as culture and identity that he weaves into his creations
Mediterranean oil spill cleaned by EU ambassadors
EU Ambassador to Israel Emanuele Giaufret was joined Friday morning by more than two dozen envoys from EU member states, including 10 ambassadors, at a large-scale beach clean-up operation at the Beit Yanai National Park near Netanya, Israel. A suspicious and deadly bitumen oil spill appeared washing up on the Israeli and Lebanese coast a […]
Lebanese eco-activists tell Iraq to keep their stinky oil
Greenpeace has released a global report that the estimated average number of premature deaths in Lebanon as a result of fossil fuel induced air pollution.
November’s Seasonal Produce
November in the Middle East offers a colorful spread of fruit and veg, including some heritage varieties.
The Cedars of God are dying
Greenpeace is promoting a new film about the trees, the ‘Cedars of Lebanon’. This is the second film that was produced to document and highlight the devastating impact of global climate change on precious and unique ecosystems in the Middle East.
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.
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 […]
Lebanon’s water problems
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.