Green Prophet recently wrote about the rise in environmental activism and awareness amongst Palestinians, including conservation biologist and educator, Sami Backleh. In this guest post, Sami, a resident of east Jerusalem, writes about the flora and fauna of Wadi Qelt in the Jordan Valley near Jericho. (Article originally published in This Week in Palestine.) It […]
Those who have been following the Red-Dead canal proposal, and all its controversies, know that a lot is at stake. The Dead Sea is dying because natural estuaries, such as the Jordan River, Ein Gedi bottled spring water and rainwater are not making it to its shores. Politicians think that by carving a tunnel from […]
The Red Sea is a wonder of the world. Comparing to the Great Barrier Reef in terms of coral diversity and beauty, lack of environmental awareness in the Middle East (in Jordan, Israel and the countries below them), are causing the demise of coral and other marine life. Now, a new global program that recognizes […]
Green Prophet welcomes the first post of our new Palestinian writer Rami Almeghari. A contributor to The Electronic Intifada, IMEMC.org, and Free Speech Radio News, Rami is also a former senior English translator and editor-in-chief of the international press center of the Gaza-based Palestinian Information Service. We first found Rami through a story he’d written […]
“My story gathering has led me all over the world. Each journey took me to a perfect example of one facet of the problem or one hint of a solution. I was near the end before I realised that I had looked for my answers on several of the world’s most forgotten islands, self-contained places […]
Convening at the Ben Gurion University’s Sede Boqer campus on December 14-17, over 350 people from 40 countries are expected to meet and map out ways to combat desertification around the world. The four-day gathering is the largest international conference ever held in Israel focused on an environmental topic, and probably the largest international academic […]
The Kingdom of Jordan may be about to finalize a mega-deal with Shell Oil for the extraction of oil shale on 22,000 square meters of land–almost one quarter of the country. Some 40 billion tons of shale oil are believed to exist in the central and southern regions. Natural Resources Authority (NRA) Director Maher Hijazin […]
As Green Prophet nears its first birthday, we’re are pleased to have brought you hundreds of stories about environmental issues and activism in Israel and the Middle East over the last 12 months. We’re glad to be playing our part in the mushrooming of environmental awareness in the region. According to data from Yifat Media […]
Over the past few weeks, Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip has intensified. Commercial crossings are now closed, preventing the transfer of natural gas and other essential resources for Gaza’s 1.5 million residents. We saw earlier this year, when inventors Waseem Khazendar and Fayaz Anan created an electric car, that necessity is the mother […]
The lush marine habitat by Aqaba Beach in Jordan is among the richest in the world, attracting thousands of visitors per year. But the popularity of the beach is also its downfall: In just 20 minutes, divers recovered more than 150 kilos of garbage from the waters of the reef, including plastic cups, cans, and […]
One of the wonderful customs that the American settlers here in the Middle East has brought over from the old country is Thanksgiving. Here is my green tribute to them! In 1621, the Plymouth colonists, led by William Bradford and Wampanoag Indians shared an autumn harvest feast which is acknowledged today as one of the […]
Since Hamas took control of Gaza in the summer of 2007, Israeli citizens have been battered with rocket attacks in Sderote, and more recently Ashkelon. Some media outlets call Israel’s interference with fuel transfer across to Gaza “a seige” but for Israelis it is just a matter of survival. Looking beyond politics and focusing on […]
The video is a bit slow to start and speaks to a somewhat unsophisticated audience, but it introduces an important concept of charity in Islam (sadaqah jariyah), and why Muslims should support “Waqf” –– for the environment’s sake. Or at the very least political stability. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature Waqf […]
Flash floods are the most common natural disaster in the United States, and a big killer in the Middle East too (see Relief Web’s report on Yemen). And OneWorld blog here on the Yemen flash flood which recently displaced more than 20,000 people. Because of the unpredictability of flash floods, they’re a leading weather-related cause […]
Famous for his Orange Suspendu sculpture in Jaffa, I had the pleasure to interview environmental artist Ran Morin. Rarely granting interviews with the press, Morin spoke with me a little about living and working in Israel, and man’s place in the environment. Earlier this week Ran Morin sent me an invite to the launching of […]
Air pollution from transportation is costing Arab countries $5 billion in damages, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Environment and Water recently announced. The cost is calculated based on the number of deaths, medical care for health problems and chronic diseases that are attributed to air pollution. The minister, Dr. Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, […]
How pirating in the Middle East affects the state of the environment. Pirates are not just in the movies these days –– a group of Somali pirates recently hijacked a large Saudi oil taker, fueled up and passing off the coast of Kenya on its way to the US. The $120-million ship contained up to 2 […]
According to Forbes (2006), she is the richest woman in the Middle East, with assets totaling $5.5 billion. Today she has found a way to merge business and do-gooding for the planet, setting an example for future environmental philanthropists and clean technology experts. Shari Arison, who inherited the Carnival Cruise Line’s fortune and her late […]
No. 3 on Mayor-elect Nir Barkat’s winning list, Naomi Tsur is going to be spearheading any changes the city makes to beautify the city in the near future. Formal head of SPNI’s Jerusalem office and founder of the Sustainable Jerusalem, a coalition of 60 environmental groups is now going to tackle those same issues but […]
Green Prophet interviews Andreas Weil, director of EcoOcean. Tell us a little about who you are and what you do. My name is Andreas Weil and I am the co-founder and acting director of the Israeli marine environmental nonprofit organization EcoOcean. I live for environmental issues and education. The sea is my passion and EcoOcean […]
Green Prophet loves to find potential everywhere – so how about desert seawater greenhouse construction in Qatar? They are also doing this in Abu Dhabi. What exactly is a desert seawater greenhouse, you might ask? According to the Seawater Greenhouse website: “Seawater Greenhouse is a unique concept which combines natural processes, simple construction techniques and […]
With its lavish six-star hotels and glitterati reputation, Dubai has quickly risen to fame as a tourist paradise. But now that fame might be heading towards infamy, as sewage including excrement and the contents of septic tanks has been pouring onto Dubai’s tourist-filled beaches. Doctors are warning bathers that they run the risk of contracting […]
Biotech companies in Israel are announcing layoffs. Global financial woes will no doubt filter through to the clean tech industry as well. Atlantium, when I covered the company for ISRAEL21c last year they seemed so hopeful about the future… has also announced layoffs recently. Fifteen people were let go. CEO Ilan Wilf said in Globes, […]
Besides the wonderful team of people I get to work with, one of the best aspects of working with the newservice ISRAEL21c is that they le” me report on environment news and breakthroughs. Their support of the environment started about 5 years ago, when not a single paper in Israel was covering the beat. One […]
Israel touts some of the world’s best solar technology advances (see our extensive solar energy company guide here), but its Middle East neighbor Dubai, says it is planning to set up the region’s largest solar energy manufacturing plant. They are expected to start producing by the last quarter in 2010, and will manufacture photovoltaic panels […]