Non-profit groups from 18 developing countries called on Saudi Arabia to “stop playing an obstructionist role” in the current climate change negotiations in Barcelona, claiming the oil kingdom’s delaying tactics will hurt the world’s poor. “Developing countries need all the support they can get,” said Wael Hmaidan of IndyACT Lebanon and founder of the Arab […]
Climate change activists are pooling their resources as we speak in Barcelona at the Barcelona Climate Change Talks. This is an antecedent to the big United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December where countries are expected to draft real solutions to stopping the over-production of greenhouse gases. Part-time Green Prophet Stacy Feldman reports […]
During the week of October 25, 2009, SolarEdge announced it raised $23 million in funding from General Electric (GE) and other investors. The deal was identified by BusinessWeek as one of the signs that Israel can become a leader in renewable energy. Sunday Energy and Ormat are collaborating on a solar energy project in Israel […]
AECOM, a known global provider of technical and management support services, including many environmental projects, has now teamed up with the Ellerbe Beckett architectural firm, known for its environmentally designed building projects all over the world. AECOM is a Fortune 500 country with more than 44,000 employees. It is in involved in more than 100 […]
The waste produced by Arab cities is among the highest in the world. Dubai, United Arab Emirates – “The short version of the story is that we’re not doing a very good job of managing waste,” says John Roosen, Technical Director of AECOM Environment Middle East. “Nowhere in the world does. We are going to […]
The 2010 World Future Energy Summit (WFES) is less than three months away; and plans are already underway to ensure that this conference will be even more successful than WFES 2009, which drew more than 18,200 visitors from 84 countries. Hosted by Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Future Energy Company, the main themes of the 2010 Summit […]
They are on investors’ hit lists and the green tech media is keen to monitor their progress. Key policy makers from the United States urge them on. Israeli solar technology innovators are channelling and shaping the sun’s energy and breaking the world’s dependence on oil. With organizations like the Cleantech Group, an international business development […]
A model of Al Reem Island in Abu Dhabi. A playground for foreigners or ecological nightmare? Looking at this gigantic real estate project, one might wonder if there will ever be an end to all of the monstrosities that being erected on every piece of available land in the United Arab Emirates and other parts […]
“Defenders of the environment,” Shireen Qudosi explores the “green” beliefs of Islam’s Sufis. Sufism is the undiscovered sect within Islam known only through its most famous disciple, the 13th century philosopher poet Rumi whose work reflected strong themes pairing nature and spirituality. Sufis, “heirs of a mystical ancient tradition”, helped propagate the faith to the height of […]
Planting green roots in the Muslim community in America, this video points out the Islam-inspired Green movements in Washington and California. Like the Jewish eco-groups established for years already in the US, we see over here in Israel how the green values from America translates well to Israel. America’s environment culture has a positive knock-on […]
Abu Dhabi to build new green city in Middle East. It sits in the middle of a harsh, barren desert, sweltering in searing heat. It has no clean water, its sea is polluted and there is no topsoil, just a covering of sand. It is also the biggest per capita consumer of fuel, massively reliant […]
The news that Jordan “strikes it rich” by recent discoveries of high-grade uranium ore only five feet below the surface may come as a mixed blessing for this energy-strapped country of 6 million inhabitants. In a recent article by the Jerusalem Post, the amount of uranium deposits said to be available for mining, and of […]
Israeli Bedouin go back to the green roots they’ve always had. Sometimes, when an irresistible force meets an immovable object – like when the government decides to go through with a development plan in a certain area, despite the objections of local residents – you get a “big bang.” But in Israel’s Negev desert, an […]
Ausra’s first solar energy installation in America. The company is now heading to Jordan in the Middle East. Jordan likes the look of nuclear energy: a report this week says the Middle East country has unearthed a large uranium reserve. Some say that nuclear energy is a renewable energy source, but in this Green Prophet’s […]
(Bechtel International, Persian Gulf (Arabian Gulf), Oil Drill-head; about 1950. Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.) They say the world is a global village. If so, and if the environment is a global concern, more emphasis needs to be put on helping countries like Kuwait where their marine life, its atmosphere and soil levels, according to the […]
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may still be considered as one of the most conservative from a religious standpoint. But with the opening of the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, otherwise known as KAUST, a new era in academic learning, combined with new innovations in ecological architecture and design, has begun in which […]
Israeli-run NGO gives solar power to off-grid West Bank Palestinian villagers Comet-ME (Community, Energy, and Technology in the Middle East) is one of those visionary non-profit organizations that recognizes the fact that environmental concerns span the Middle East’s borders, cultures, religions, and histories. At the end of the day, all the residents of the Middle […]
Participation by news and information media in helping the environment was one of the main issues discussed in a conference which opened last Wednesday at the UN ‘s regional UNESCO headquarters in Beirut. The use of various media resources to promote the preservation and protection of the environment in Lebanon and elsewhere was discussed […]
Putting picnic trash in the can or taking it home with you for disposal is a type of education a lot of people in Middle Eastern countries are lacking. I’ve seen families at city parks and in the forests leave behind mountains of trash after their BBQs, shaking out the picnic cloth to leave behind […]
We’ve already written about how Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME) has joined forces with 350.org, an international campaign that hopes to inspire the world to create a sense of urgency among world leaders for changing policies that would effect climate change. They have been organizing a climate change protest to take place at […]
Basil grows like a weed. That’s my conclusion after planting a sprig of it 4 months ago. It’s late summer, early fall now here in Jaffa, Israel, and the basil (or basilicum as locals call it) is ripe for the picking. But how many leaves of basil can you garnish your salad with? Or eat […]
We’ve all seen them – those tall, ugly masts holding any number of cellular transmitter/receivers. Without them we wouldn’t have the modern convenience of the cell, or mobile, phone in Israel or the rest of the Middle East. Are these cell phone towers simply eye-sores, or cause for real concern? Are the NIMBY’S – Not […]
Clean tech investor David Anthony from 21Ventures explains how clean tech entrepreneurs get funding. A plucky little country, is how the late Princess Diana once described Israel to Shimon Peres. About the size of New Jersey, Israel has a disproportionate number of clean tech companies and investment in clean technology compared to its size. And […]
In what was formerly thought to be a three way cooperation between Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority, the Kingdom of Jordan has decided to unilaterally undertake the first stage of construction of a canal between the Gulf of Aqaba in the Red Sea, and the Dead Sea, with which Jordan has the entire eastern […]
World climate change issues are being felt closer to home with recent disastrous flash flooding occurring in parts of Greece and Western Turkey. Some of these floods have been so bad that many are saying that they are the worst in years, with the heaviest rains in more than eight decades falling in and […]