In memory of the murdered Nigerian environmental activist who campaigned against Shell, we look at the importance of environmental action in the Middle East On the 10th of November 1995, Ken Saro-Wiwa who had campaigned against the environmental devastation caused to the Niger Delta by oil companies such as Shell, was hanged by the Nigerian […]
While most experts say it is hard to know what is really going on with Saudi oil supplies, “What we do know is that, for whatever reason, Saudi Arabia produced 600,000 fewer barrels each day in 2010 than it did in 2005, and with growing Saudi consumption of their own oil, the drop in exports from […]
Desalination’s negative environmental risks can outweigh the benefits, argues our environmental lawyer blogger Josh. Israel will quadruple its output of desalinated water by 2050, according to a report released by the country’s Water Authority Council. The government will also encourage construction of new desalination facilities on manmade islands. These measures will ensure a continuous stream […]
When Steve Jobs died, the world mourned. But the Arab World is throwing a party at news of Gaddafi’s violent end. How are these two men different and how can we prevent the rise of future Gaddafis? Tafline explores these questions in the following opinion piece. After Steve Jobs died, the world poured out their […]
When an oil-rich Sheikdom crowns an official building with grid-connected solar panels, it’s time for the U.S. to wake up! After Obama’s failure to return Jimmy Carter’s solar panels to the White House roof, the court of HH Mohammed bin Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan – the ruler of one of the world’s most oil-rich […]
Saudi King Abdullah announced on Sunday that he was giving women the right to vote and run in municipal elections. What a coincidence. One week after it seemed that Canadian oil was going to beat the Saudis to the gigantic American market by making an inane comparison between the relative ethicality of the two fossil fuel purveyors, since Saudi women can't vote, King Abdullah has given Saudi women the right to vote. Suddenly now, dirty energy lobbying group EthicalOil doesn't have a marketing leg to stand on.
Israeli researchers say they can provide a more integrated way for surveying for natural gas. As the race is on to find natural gas in the Middle East Med region, could this tech help the region switch from oil? Prospecting — the search for valuable reserves such as gold, diamond and natural gas — isn’t […]
Bill McKibben isn’t the kind of guy who takes getting arrested lightly. He’s doing it to save humanity from one of the most catastrophic dangers we have ever faced. The right wing has long maintained that America should reduce its oil dependency on the Middle East. Considered the root of the last war in Iraq […]
This man is paddling trash out of a polluted water body in the Jordanian city Azraq, which is believed to have one million barrels of oil. All signs show that Jordan is firmly caught in the clutches of a resource curse. Since it takes a whopping 80% of its energy from Egypt, which has not […]
An oil shale trial plant in Colorado. Does Israel want its Negev and Galilee regions torn up for “black gold”? Until recently, Israel has been an energy poor country, with nearly all its energy needs having to be supplied by importing both petroleum – bought mainly on the international Spot Market – and coal. Previous […]
Jet fuel spurts into pristine nature zone in Israel. Who will pay for this unthinkable mistake? A month ago, Israeli airlines suffered from a jet fuel contamination, grounding flights, and causing chaos as officials tried to figure out if planes loaded with the contaminated fuel would be damaged. This past Wednesday, there is another chapter […]
Algae based bio-fuel may someday be an important fuel source Los Angeles based Origin Oil has recently announced its intention to up-list its stock exchange shares as a result of the development of a new large scale oil extraction from algae process that could result in the process of up to 1100 liters (300 gallons) […]
An update on the latest climate negotiations in Bonn as well as Middle Eastern countries which made the headlines during the talks Believe it or not, the latest climate negotiations at Bonn – which discussed the future of the Kyoto Protocol which ends in 2012 as well financing adaptation – have come and gone without […]
BrightSource solar thermal illustration: Better than using the sun to soften oil BrightSource Energy, the California based solar thermal energy company whose technology as innovated in Israel, and whose solar “star” was even touted by US President Barack Obama, is now in financial hot water again as its joint oil recovery project with giant energy […]
NATO’s “steel fish” may not be works of art like this, but they have a very important goal: to catch oil spills. Pollution issues in the Mediterranean Sea have reached a point where the future of this historic body of water will be in serious doubt without environmental protection. A new project called “steel fish” […]