This is the fourth time that the Biomimicry 3.8 institute is staging their international design competition and this year they are inviting students to submit water management solutions that take inspiration from nature. Biomimicry is not a well known design strategy in the Middle East, though it is possible to learn what camels and scorpions […]
Tunisian buildings are the most energy intense in the Arab world. Carboun has released a powerful infographic which details how energy is consumed in the Middle East. Using data received from personal contributions, the World Bank and the International Energy Agency, founder Karim Elgendy has mapped out energy use by country in each of the […]
The Masdar Institute (MI) has teamed up with the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI) headed by Denmark’s former Prime Minister, and the Research Institute for Industrial Science and Technology (RIST) from South Korea to develop a 100% renewable energy micro-grid in Abu Dhabi. MI initially proposed the micro-grid idea to GGGI, which is chaired by […]
Chemists bring one of the oldest materials in building history back to its green roots. Cement is one of the oldest building materials cooked up by humans, but it’s so misunderstood. It’s not what paves your cement sidewalk, that’s concrete. And it’s not concrete, although cement is a main ingredient. Modern advances in production and […]
It keeps the blazing heat back, and white is the best car color for holding value, according to the UK Daily Mail In the market for buying a new car? Believe it or not, white colors help hold a car’s value. Although white is usually considered more plain and certainly not as attractive as various […]
When I first took over Green Prophet’s Facebook page, we had just over 1,000 likes. That was about one year ago. Now we have just over 5,500, and communicate with dozens of people on a daily basis. That number may seem small – especially when compared to a handful of “green” blogs in the US […]
Rosé wine is gaining global popularity. Did you know that the Middle East with its long history of wine-making is producing some great rosés of its own? The summer heat is upon us and if you’ve been smart you’re perfecting those non-cook recipes to beat the heat. If you like a glass of wine here […]
Researchers who collected and studied 100 pale grass blue butterflies from the Fukushima prefecture following last year’s nuclear meltdown have discovered serious mutations resulting from exposure to radiation. The butterflies, which were collected two months after the March, 2011 earthquake and tsunami caused the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl, had abnormalities in their legs, antennae and […]
Last Saturday, ten chefs from Jordan cooked up the world’s largest falafel. Jordan joined the Guinness Book of World Records this week for the world’s biggest falafel. The super culinary feat was witnessed by a Guinness official who confirmed the falafel as “the world’s largest”. Fame was fleeting for the phenomenal falafel, weighing in […]
Homey, comforting and light, these crepes of 1000 holes make a delicious start to a Ramadan iftar (break-fast) meal. As Arwa pointed out, what a body wants after a day’s fast is light, nutritious food (see Arwa’s list of links to our favorite Iftar recipes). Carbs and something sweet suit the bill, giving that initial, […]
Have you received an email saying your car’s air con could kill you? The jury is still out until more scientific evidence comes in. Car and home air conditioning units provide a cooler internal environment, and may also be a possible source of drinking water in emergency situations . But there is another side to […]
Rich spices and heavy wintertime comfort food: this is what often springs to mind when people think of recipes from the Middle East and North Africa. But with temperatures in parts of the region rising to 50 degrees Celsius in the shade, who wants to eat rich dishes that end in a food coma? Not […]
Mohammed Kanoo’s portraits aim to tease out our biases about the Middle East. Above is US President Barack Obama. In his solo exhibition Fun with Fen (fen is Arabic for “art”) currently on display at Dubai’s Meem Gallery, the Bahraini artist Mohammed Kanoo depicts international celebrities dressed in traditional Arab costume. Kanoo’s digitally enhanced photographs are […]
Green Prophet’s reports on happenings in the Gulf region have increasingly been using the acronym GCC, which stands for Gulf Cooperation Council. Perhaps a bit of an explanation is in order. GCC is a political and economic alliance between Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Qatar and Saudi Arabia (KSA). It was formed in 1981 following […]
Earth’s dust storms and sand storms are becoming more frequent. How does that affect your health? Here in the Middle East, powerful hot winds sometimes drop fine yellowish sand down from the sky, coating the skin and lips irritatingly and making it hard to see across the street. It’s the lashing tail of giant storms […]