Hemp solar house highlights vernacular building potential in Morocco
The Sunimplant team developed a concept for the preservation of the environment and cultural heritage in the rural region of the High Rif in north of Morocco.
Morocco
Meet the Mountain People of the Middle East
A joint study found that mountain ecosystems are becoming increasingly fragile, under pressure from changes to land use and climate, overexploitation, pollution, demographic shifts and other factors which threaten livelihoods and food security.
Clunker cars are choking Africa
Re-using and finding new homes for second hand bikes is one thing, but when it comes to old cars, it's another. America, Japan and Europe are shipping non-road worthy cars to Africa where they are creating an enormous amount of air pollution, greenhouse gases and dangers for those driving them.
At the Four Seasons Casablanca? Learn about desert oases at risk
You are having an adventure of a lifetime. But if you weren't at 5 Star Four Seasons Casablanca or Marrakech - what would you know about the local people in Morocco? A video produced by Greenpeace helps show some of what happens as a byproduct to climate change. The deserts are getting even drier.
Moroccans protest: break free from fossil fuels and go solar!
Hundreds of people in Casablanca joined today Greenpeace sun-shaped human banner reading: “Break Free – Go Solar” with the landmark mosque Hassan II in the background in Casablanca-Morocco. Participants delivered a message in English, Arabic and Amazigh calling on world leaders notably from the Middle East and North Africa to accelerate the transition to renewable […]
Invest in ancient fig cultivars in Morocco, invest in the future
Moroccan fig trees are a part of Ahmed Hakam. Until he was nine years old, Ahmed never ventured outside of his birth village near the northern city of Ouezzane. He vividly remembers the local fig harvest, when, every year, he, his mother and scores of women and their children from nearby villages would gather to […]
Meet the High Atlas botanical superhero
Two cellphones. Three numbers. Thirty to forty phone calls a day. A road trip-based work life, which, for seven years, has been separated from luxuries like regular hours, weekends and sleep. Needless to say, Dr. Abderrahim Ouarghidi, 40, is a busy man. Officially the High Atlas Foundation’s director of programs in Marrakech, Ouarghidi, who focused […]
Morocco heats up with 16 new solar energy plants worth 25 gigawatts
You might meet snake charmers in the square of Marrakech and also storytellers who tell a good tale. But there is one thing always true about Morocco: the sun always shines. Foreign firms are eager to bank on Morocco’s attractive feed-in tariffs and catch some healthy profits from our sun. Solar energy companies like Martifer […]
How vegan demand for agar is killing Morocco’s red seaweed
The quinoa craze turned what was once a cheap, nourishing staple diet for Bolivians and Peruvians into an unaffordable grain for many of the poor locally. Read here about the dirty secret of quinoa. The appetite of western culture, and fanatic vegetarianism has increased demand for quinoa stratospherically: in 2013 the price of quinoa tripled […]
Learn from Morocco at sunny solar MENASOL conference in Dubai
The companies Acciona and TSK will be meeting in Dubai to discuss the challenges and opportunities of constructing the Noor I CSP plant in Morocco. Meet the Acciona and TSK delegation as they attend the May 6 to 7 solar Menasol event in Dubai.
Amtrak is a dinosaur next to Kénitra’s high speed railway station in Morocco
The train system runs like clockwork in Morocco. It’s fast, easy and safe. So we’re excited to see a new project that makes them sped up to the 21st century in design: Silvio d’Ascia Architecture teamed up with Omar Kobité Architecture & Eric Giudice Architects to design a modern high speed railway station for Kénitra.
Msemmen the Berber pancake recipe
It’s still chilly in the Middle East – still the season for comfort food. Try driving the cold away with msemmen, a flexible, square-shaped skillet cake (the best of Middle East and North African pancakes!), easily pulled apart into layers so you can stuff it. Msemmen is similar to the Emirati Khameer bread (recipe here), […]
Menasol Dubai answers key financing questions for Middle East CSP solar projects
Key investors in renewable energy for the Middle East and North Africa regions will be on hand to discuss the criteria for securing project financing. They will present the case studies of the Shams 1, a 100MW plant in Abu Dhabi and the Noor 1, a 160MW (being constructed in Morocco).
Morocco’s Berbers take on Africa’s richest silver mine – and the king
Africa’s largest silver mine has been operating in the Atlas mountains since 1969, but the Berber people living in the surrounding villages remain among the most poverty-stricken people in Morocco. Now Movement on the Road ’96 are living in an “occupation” camp to protest a silver mine’s water use and pollution.
$9 billion in 2,000 MW solar investment streams into Morocco
The bone-dry plains of the Western Sahara may be no place to plant a garden, but their extreme solar irradiance values render them ideal for solar farming. Morocco has persuaded foreign investors to underwrite a $9 billion solar power project.
Amazing “Atlas” tracks Arab world habitat destruction over time [video]
Commercial and private real estate development in the United Arab Emirates threaten whales, dugongs, coral reefs and all marine life in the Arabian Gulf. Now some 80 regions in the Arab world are being tracked by satellite to show us how much environmental destruction happening is man-made.
Kuwaiti Gaydar Test to Ban Gays Entry to Arab Countries?
Circling around the news is something that may violate human rights in the Middle East, pointing out just how bad it might be for gays living in these countries: some Arab states are looking to develop a “gay” test to bar gay travellers from entry.
iLAND’s Solar Packs for Peace-keepers, Festivals, Eco-jocks and Alpha Wolves Who Travel with the Sun
Whether you travel alone or in packs, there is a new range of portable solar solutions by the Swiss company iLAND (said island) that will put crummy little solar panels on your backpack to shame: iLand has developed and now manufactures portable solar power packs for events with thousands and those small enough for one.
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).
Export Oil, Import Water = Risky Economics for Middle East
Water scarcity has already become a fact of daily life for Egyptians The world’s driest region, the Middle East* and North Africa (MENA), is getting drier at an alarming rate. And yet, despite massive population growth (the Middle East’s population grew 61 percent from 1990 to 2010 to 205 million people) predictions of so-called “water […]
Download Moroccan Recipes Based on Argan Oil
33 exotic Moroccan recipes from the women who make and cook with argan oil. The argan tree is a Berber identity icon, and production of its oil is traditionally a woman’s job. But as with many folkways, interest in argan began to dwindle. It’s a finicky process with low yield. Unless marketed wisely, it’s hardly […]
Eat Like A Sustainable Moroccan – Chickpea and Spinach Soup RECIPE
Moroccan flavors blend deliciously in a hearty chickpea soup. Our previous posts on sustainable eating in the Middle East/North Africa region featured rice and chicken kabsa from Saudi Arabia, Jordan’s traditional mansaf, and wheat berry pudding from Iran. All very delicious – but what about North Africa? Regional, seasonal, fresh and harvested under fair conditions. […]
Would You Fly By Sun and a Solar Impulse?
They took their pilot run from Europe to Morocco, now the Swiss solar plane will fly across America. Sometime next summer, an airplane with the wingspan of an Airbus A340 but weighing not much more than a Toyota will fly from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., and on to New York. The history-making cross-country trip […]
Eco Travel Morocco at Holistic Meditation Retreat in the Sahara
The Sahara. It’s the world’s hottest desert and almost as large as China or the United States, so travelers have good reason to be wary of wandering into it alone. But adventurer Tom Thumb has organized another retreat in 2013 for those who want to experience the Sahara. The Road Junky Sahara Retreat will be held […]
Egypt and Morocco’s Equator Prize Winners Preserve Environment through Tradition
The Medicinal Plants Association in Egypt helps preserve biodiversity and is one of the 25 winners of the Equator Prize 2012. Policy making within the realm of “development” is often burdened by an excessively westernized design resulting in unintended consequences on the welfare of local populations. For example, a previous Green Prophet article “Morocco’s Berbers […]