Ever wonder what to do with eggplants? Read on for some Middle Eastern eggplant ideas. At the start of the month, markets didn’t have much new. Everything in February’s post still applied. Newcomers like strawberries were still expensive and not sweet yet. Now, seasonal produce is on the upward swing towards summer’s abundance and those […]
Daniella Dimitrova Russo from the Plastic Pollution Coalition warns that bioplastics will not solve plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is one of the major issues facing our planet today. Plastic bags festoon trees in Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, and along the streets of New York, USA. Plastic washes up on the beaches […]
Avatar Architettura decks out a working space for fashion designers with chic recycled wooden pallets. Avatar Architettura has decked out a working space for fashion designers in Beirut with recycled wooden pallets otherwise destined for one of the city’s notorious landfills. Known for strategies that “privilege ecology, flexible systems, biodiversity, and recycled materials in an […]
This machine cleans waste water and generates energy at the same time. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University have developed technology that treats waste water and generates energy at the same time – two priorities for Middle Eastern municipalities. Combining Reverse Electrodialysis (RED) technology developed in the Netherlands and Norway, which harvests energy where fresh water […]
Few vegetables are so well-loved in the Middle East as cucumbers. This spicy cucumber pickle is delicious as an appetizer or to top your next falafel. “Cool as a cucumber” still applies when the cukes are pickled. Even when spiced and brined, cucumbers add a welcome, refreshingly piquant note to meals featuring fish, meat, and […]
Cold weather is still calling for soup. Try this light, vegan one based on Jerusalem artichokes. Vegeware or do you identify as a climatarian? This might mean you might not be committed to vegetarianism, but are committed to doing your part by being vege “aware”. Here’s a great vegetarian recipe with in season Jerusalem artichoke […]
Sweat and Sahara sand had forced my eyes closed so that, even as I stood in front of one of the seven wonders of the ancient world, I saw nothing. My eyelids were a back-lit sandy-orange in the sun’s glare. I pried them open and squinted up at the shapes the pharaohs and their slaves had […]
Cook stinging nettles and wild mallows that you forage.
Kuwait used to have a strong agricultural movement, which this new school will hopefully help to revive. When we think of Kuwait, not only do we have a hard time getting past the young hunter who killed a wolf and then posed for a series of family shots, but we also envision an unforgivable industrial […]
Over the next few weeks, President Obama has a fateful personnel decision to make, and one that will influence the world’s climate, in a way that he has been unable to do through the recalcitrant billionaire-funded opposition congress in the US. World Bank President Robert Zoellick, a Bush-appointee, will step down in June, and President […]
Artichokes are in the markets and coming down in price, but still not in full season. Red and green cabbages are excellent and inexpensive. All the nightshade family vegetables are looking handsome, with fair prices: eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, red and white potatoes.
When professional photographer Alex Tricani sent this image, I couldn’t get past the giant red craters on my face. I’ve always been incredibly lazy about beauty. This isn’t because I don’t dream of being an illustrious goddess who rides into the sunset with an equally exotic suitor, but because tending to my mind and soul […]
The Stars of Science reality TV show would be so much more exciting if it spurred sustainable ideas. Perhaps we shouldn’t begrudge the Arab World’s first serious reality TV show, particularly since Stars of Science was designed to encourage more youth in the region to pursue science and technology. But it’s hard to turn a […]
Brian argues that skyscrapers are not only “un-green,” but they could be a precursor to economic turmoil. The Empire State Building was completed in 1931, the same year E.Y. “Yip” Harburg wrote these lyrics: “Once I built a tower up to the sun, brick and rivet and lime. Once I built a tower, now its […]
Islamic architects piped sunlight into homes using star-shaped skylights but Brian and his wife installed Solotubes. One of the first changes my wife and I made to our house was to install a Solotube in the kitchen. This device consists of a translucent dome on the roof which is connected to a highly silvered six […]