‘Balash Kees’ is a new campaign launched by UNESCO Amman to help reduce the use of plastic bags in Jordan Walk around Jordan and you’ll realise pretty quickly that the country has a huge plastic bag and litter problem. Cheap black plastic bags are literally everywhere and they are a real eyesore. No more so […]
Are you up for a bit of quiet activism? Take our plastic bag challenge This is a call to arms, and to hands: my challenge to you when you shop this week, this month or this year. Tell the clerk you’ll pass on that bag, instead tuck your purchases into your pockets or purse. Bring your own sack and […]
IKEA Israel’s Blue-Yellow buildings also have a green policy IKEA’s blue and yellow store motifs have become familiar to households all over the world, including the Middle East with stores in Israel, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. IKEA’s Israel stores have been serving the public since 2001, and have introduced environmental policies into both […]
These designed cotton bags are way cooler than plastic. Plastic bags are undoubtedly bad for the environment, but sometimes it’s hard to get motivated to carry reusable bags with you for those spur-of-the-moment trips to the store. Serious and devoted DIYers and plastic bag avoiders may make their own reusable cloth shopping bags out of […]
Get one up on Rumpelstiltskin by turning plastic shopping sacks into uber-artsy bookmarks. I really hate giving cash gifts. Gift cards aren’t much higher on the “Hey, I burned lots of calories thinking of you” scale. Even when the card’s end use fits the user, it’s still not very satisfying for me (wow, so it is always about […]
Made from sawdust and plastic bags alone, these adhesive-free lamps take leftover materials and make them shine again. Plastic bags are an (unfortunately) abundant material that have been used in many ways by designers, but sawdust – though abundant as well – has not been used as frequently by sustainable Middle Eastern designers. One other […]
Colorful plastic bags are both the canvas and the paints in Aviva Sawicki’s artworks. Plastic bags are a ubiquitous and un-eco-friendly material that many sustainable and upcycling designers have tried to reuse. One designer has turned plastic bags into shoes, another has made plastic bag wallets, and plastic bags can even be used as crocheting […]
PET bottles hark back to their glass bottle predecessors using traditional glass blowing techniques. Plastic bottles have pretty nasty reputations for being bad for human health and the environment. Very few people are arguing that plastic bottles (and especially bottled water) are a good thing in the long run. Some companies, such as Israeli fashion […]
At the end of her tour, Tafline gushes about her latest presentations at Al Ittihad school for boys in Abu Dhabi. My whirlwind tour through Dubai has come to an end. The Masdar City images posted from my first visit were viewed by 30,000 people around the world, I saw sharks carelessly dumped in the […]
Dr. Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi, known as the Green Sheikh, at the Mina Al Salam hotel in Dubai. It isn’t often that I eat dates, drink coffee, and wax green with a Sheikh from Ajman. But yesterday I did. Known around the world as the Green Sheikh, Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al Nuaimi […]
The plastic bag story isn’t over yet, but it’s definitely on the right track. United Arab Emirates’ residents are awash with excitement over the Ministry of Environment and Water’s moves to ban conventional plastic bags by 2013. And so they should be. Plastic bags are the bane of natural existence. They leach toxic materials into […]
This story makes our hearts sing! Taking the threat of plastic bags seriously, Abu Dhabi is preparing for the 2013 total ban with a plastic-free weekend. Residents of the United Arab Emirates use 11.6 billion plastic bags every year. That’s 11.6 billion camel-killing, toxin-oozing, non-biodegradable bags that choke our water ways and blight beautiful places. […]
The Environmental Protection Ministry’s New Campaign Urges Israelis “To Start Thinking Green.” It is certainly one of our pet peeves in Israel: Friday shoppers buying bag after plastic bag chock full of food. And on the market sidelines food waste piling up, rotting. Most of this then lands up in the landfill, instead of in […]
This may well be one of the most revolutionary machines to hit the market, although, in a way, it couldn’t be simpler. Plastic chokes everything. Our water ways, including the Mediterranean. Camels and other animals. And given that it is made from petroleum products, it is a drain on our energy sources. A Japanese man […]
As the environmental movement in the Middle East blossoms, women are being encouraged to take a more active role in environmental protection We have already profiled the lovely ladies at Naqa’a, an environmental group based in Saudi as well as the Eco-Chicks of Abu Dhabi who are making strides in introducing the climate agenda […]
These clumps of plastic debris killed the camels from whose bellies they were retrieved. I’m not going to beat around the bush: I loathe plastic bags. There are many reasons, chief of which is the impact they have on our domestic and wildlife. Months ago we reported that camels were discovered to have been killed […]
In the battle against plastic bags, the UAE Ministry of Environment and Water has started taking a more fun approach. As part of its mission to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags from the UAE by 2012, the Ministry of Environment and Water will soon release an animated movie that promotes eco-friendly alternatives. The Ministry is hoping […]
Trash like this at Nahal Poleg kills Mediterranean marine life and pollutes the sea. What does the future hold for of our seas and oceans? Following the August 1st arrival in Sydney, Australia of environmentalist David de Rothschild and the crew of the Plastiki sailing vessel, more attention has been given to another giant marine […]
A weekly Green Prophet series that looks at the Arabic “green” blogosphere and online communities. After looking at “The Forum of the Ornithological Society of Kuwait and at the Saudi Green Blog, we are continuing our trip through the Gulf Countries and arrive this week at the Oman Eco Group Blog. This blog has been […]
Syrian celebrities took to the streets of Damascus to promote green living. Releasing balloons, were they drawing attention to the environment or to themselves? A group of Syrian celebrities gathered in Damascus to try to promote environmentally friendly lifestyles recently, personally urging individuals to change their habits. Unfortunately, however, it looks like this was a case […]
Estimates of 15 million bags per day consumed in Damascus alone! Moshe uncovers news in Arabic – that Syrians are launching a campaign to “say no to plastic bags.” Where bags litter highways, byways and in a region where camels choke on plastic bags, Syria is joining other countries in the Middle East, such as Lebanon, […]
There is life after plastic. Ban the bags, and save the camels One hundred years ago, there was no such thing as a plastic bag. They simply didn’t exist. The plastics revolution began slowly in 1868 but really pushed forward in the 1930s when acrylic resins were developed to create housewares, toys, and packaging. The industry […]
Think Again is a series that provides fun ideas for how to reuse items in your home that you would normally throw out or recycle. Reusing is higher on the “green” food chain than recycling, because getting another use out of an object is always more effective than spending the energy to recycle it. Plus, […]
A solution to keeping fruit and veggies fresh longer in your fridge, as well as to reducing the “islands” of plastic wastes now floating in the world’s oceans, may be on its way to becoming reality. The Israel company StePac L.A.has come out with a special plastic packaging material, that they say will not only […]
Plastic bags are evil. They are not biodegradable, pollute our landfills, pollute our waterways, convince fish and ducks that they’re food… it’s pretty well established that they’re just bad news. While activists encourage consumers to try using fewer bags, or sometimes try to ban the use of plastic bags entirely, the truth is that these […]