This beautifully-restored adobe granary in Tunisia keeps food cool without any kind of mechanical intervention. The benefits of earth architecture have been well-documented on Green Prophet, so we were very excited to discover these wonderful adobe granaries called Ksar (Ksour is plural) on our Tunisian journey. Possibly built as early as the 12th century by […]
Plastic is pervasive and so are the carcinogenic chemicals that leach from them. The rapid growth and urbanization of the United Arab Emirates is associated with increased uses of plastic in every aspect of modern life. In 2008, the World Health Organization voiced concerns that rapid urbanization may be negatively impacting people’s lives. Rapid growth […]
Tafline’s reporting trip to Tunisia has evolved into a personal odyssey that has revealed a side of the country Wikipedia can’t convey. I’ve been in Tunisia since Tuesday afternoon and almost every day has been fraught with challenges. This is typical of travel, of course. Few things ever go smoothly, belongings are lost or broken, […]
Swifts return to nest at Judaism most sacred site When the swifts came back to Jerusalem’s Western Wall last week there was rejoicing as bird watchers and the religious welcomed them home to Judaism’s most sacred site. The common swift, which spends is entire life flying or sitting its nest, returns from wintering in South […]
Green Prophet will be scouting out stories in Tunisia so give us a shout if you want your project featured on our site. Heads up to our green-minded readers in Tunisia: Green Prophet is coming into town and we want to meet you! We’re heading to Tunis on Tuesday and will be on the look […]
The donkey’s ancestor, African Wild Asses once lived all over North Africa, but now they are critically endangered. Donkeys aplenty can be found roaming fields and mountains all over Africa, but their ancestor the African Wild Ass is critically endangered. Equus africanus used to be found as far north as Morocco’s Atlas Mountains and as […]
Yesterday a solar flare that slammed into earth did not create any of the disruptions forecasted by scientists. Earthlings waited with bated breath yesterday as a solar flare hurled by a coronal mass ejection on the sun slammed into our planet. NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association (NOAA) both cautioned that this would […]
This white tip shark is found in the Red Sea, where a Polish kite surfer who for two days used a knife to fight off sharks up to 6m long. A professional kite surfer and instructor from Poland recently survived two days of drifting in the Red Sea by fighting off sharks with a knife. […]
Two Masdar students on the 2012 “Leadership on the Edge” expedition in Antarctica share their reflections so far. For Masdar Institute of Science and Technology students Reem Al Junaibi and Maitha Al Kaabi, traveling half way across the globe to Antarctica has provided an opportunity to reflect on the future of our planet.With respective interests in renewable […]
A host of eco-tourism initiatives in Egypt are moving away from the packaged tour to nature-based experiences Nature has been developing solutions to its own challenges for the last 3.8 billion years, so two women in Egypt have set up an eco-tourism venture that tunes into that infinite wisdom. Biologists Sara el-Sayed and Betty Khoury […]
While snorkeling in the Red Sea just before Valentine’s Day, a Swiss scientist came across a 3-legged turtle. Ivo Blöchliger was snorkeling in the increasingly vulnerable Red Sea just two days before Valentine’s Day when he came across a 3-legged turtle. The turtle was swimming in front of the Swisscare Reef in Nuweiba in South Sinai. […]
This new eco-resort in the Fayoum Oasis offers tourists and locals respite from Egypt’s ongoing chaos. Without the steady influx of tourists and constant political trouble, Egyptians are wondering when their lives will ever return to normal. But the folks at El Mandara eco-resort in Fayoum promise that visitors to their new facility will experience […]
Omar Samra is an adventurer whose incredible pursuits highlight the importance of environmental awareness. When Omar Samra isn’t running one of the few genuinely eco-friendly and socially responsible tourism outfits in Egypt called Wild Guanabana, he climbs mountains. Big ones. He was the first Egyptian to summit Mt. Everest in 2007 and by the end […]
Can mega well bring peace to Sudan? At least 300,000 people died and almost three million were displaced by the Darfur conflict in Sudan. Egyptian-American geologist Farouk El-Baz believes that limited access to water is one of the root causes of this conflict. Doctor El-Baz is director of Boston University’s center for remote sensing. He […]
10 King and 10 Gentoo Penguins imported from Texas are now living at Ski Dubai – an indoor ski slope in the desert! Picture : © Samuel Blanc / www.sblanc.com It’s bizarre enough that Dubai has an indoor ski slope despite outdoor summer temperatures averaging at over 40 degrees Celsius, but now a colony of penguins has […]