Young Arabs in Doha are telling the Arab world it’s time to take a lead on climate change during the first climate change talks to be held in the Middle East. With more than a billion Muslims in the world, Arab activists claim that Muslim leaders are pretty much silent about global warming and environmental […]
With the world’s fourth largest number of planned coal-fired power plants, Turkey is flouting international concern about climate change. As the United Nation’s climate change talks in Doha enter their second day, Turkey has been called out on its irresponsible climate policies with the “Fossil of the Day” award. Although Turkey has kept a low […]
Who’s got the wind in the Middle East? Morocco and Egypt have the biggest wind power plants, but don’t discount Iraq, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Wind power has taken a backseat to solar power across the Middle East and North Africa, but there are still some ambitious projects in wind power […]
Every year it’s the same thing. Hundreds of delegates from around the world fly somewhere to agree to climate change solutions. Journalists bemoan the lack of progress, environmentalists criticize the amount of carbon emissions spewed into the atmosphere as a result and the public at large completely loses faith in the process. The UN Convention of […]
This month’s United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP18) will be hosted by Qatar, the tiny peninsula nation in the Persian Gulf that holds the world record for per capita CO2 emissions. According to a report entitled Indicators of Sustainable Development 2011 released by Qatar’s statistics’ authority, the state has experienced a 27% annual increase in […]
A new SARS-like mystery illness has health authorities alert ahead of the millions-strong Haj pilgrammage to Mecca. There have been two recent cases of a mysterious SARS-like virus linked to Saudi Arabia. It killed one of its victims from Saudi Arabia. The second who is still alive travelled through the country. The unknown mystery virus […]
Tunisian buildings are the most energy intense in the Arab world. Carboun has released a powerful infographic which details how energy is consumed in the Middle East. Using data received from personal contributions, the World Bank and the International Energy Agency, founder Karim Elgendy has mapped out energy use by country in each of the […]
Silver, gold, oil, stocks, bonds, real estate! I won’t pretend to know more than the investment experts, but many people lost a lot of money following their advice. Why have these experts overlooked a resource that is guaranteed to rise– even if only within the confines of a lost balloon? Yes I’m talking about helium! […]
Despite having to invite and welcome all members of the United Nations at the Qatar Climate Summit, Qatar is not being so friendly to welcoming Israel at the upcoming climate change event this fall. So goes speculation. Qatar says Israel’s environment minister Gilad Erdan can come with his security detail. But Israel doesn’t believe Qatar. For […]
If we all lived like the citizens of the UAE, we would need 5.4 planet earths to sustain us… Sometimes the best way to say something is not with words but images. And there is truly no better wake up call to the UAE than this amazing infographic designed by Tim De Chant. It shows […]
Olympians Wojdan Shaherkani and Sarah Attar landed world records before the Games even began. But online they battle a new war where social media is calling them the “Prostitutes of the Olympics” You know the story: two teens arrived in London as the first women athletes to ever represent the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), […]
Hey’Ya: Arab Women in Sport: Sisters Brigitte and Marian Lacombe celebrate Arab female athletes at London’s Sotheby’s Gallery. Last December, Qatar Museums Authority commissioned Brigitte Lacombe, a French photographer known mainly for her work with the film industry, to snap over 70 sportswomen from 20 Arab countries – some with Olympic potential. The project was […]
8th annual Health, Safety and Environment Forum in Energy happens in Doha from October 8 -10 Accidents associated with oil and gas operations endanger human life, damage adjacent communities and threaten the environment. The shockwaves of these accidents affect the business involved and its workers, and extend far beyond. Millions of dollars are spent annually […]
After six years of failing to negotiate with them, a Catalan designer is going public with a story that could cause Qatar tremendous embarrassment in the lead up to the 2022 World Cup. A member of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the World Trade Organization (WTO) and bound by the Paris Convention and the TRIPS […]
“In Qatar, the birds have built their own hidden city. They live in the towers and stairwells of an abandoned palace…” Over at Guernica Magazine, I stumbled across a beautiful short story by Autumn Watts who is a lecturer of writing at Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar. Evoking the hidden and unseen aspects of […]