Oil rich Saudi is not the only country getting slack for greenhouse gas emissions. This Canadian writer points the finger at Canada, where tar sands are yet to be an issue at climate change talks. Climate activist groups have been attacking Saudi Arabia, saying the Middle East country is playing an obstructionist role at climate […]
[youtube width=”560″ height=”480″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nUEHgCSE9I0[/youtube] In a pretty radical move, Lebanon’s IndyACT organizes protest against what it calls Saudi obstructionism in climate change talks. Watch this vertigo-inducing video of their silent protest at Barcelona, a pre-Copenhagen climate meeting last month. In the last week of November activists from the Global League of Activists, IndyACT, carried out a […]
A coral reef facing certain destruction was moved from harm’s way. Will it survive? We care about corals, an indicator species to global warming, and an integral part of the marine life ecosystem. That’s why all the construction development in the Gulf (with or without a debt hold) scares us. Some hopeful news: a group […]
Muslims succumb to swine flu during annual Hajj pilgrimage. One of the biggest concerns to Saudi Arabian health authorities has unfortunately become a reality at this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, now underway in Islam’s holiest cities of Mecca and Medina. This year’s pilgrimage, which began on Saturday, November 21, has already claimed at least four lives […]
Dow Chemical Company, a worldwide leader in the global chemical industry, and sponsor of the 2010 Dow Live Earth Run for Water, has entered into agreements with the new Saudi Arabian King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) for developing cleaner, new routes for producing chemical derivatives. The two are also looking into ways […]
Islam’s holy city Medina is about to become green model for Muslim world. On November 4, 2009, UK-based the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), in working with the U.N., hosted 200 representatives from nine major world religions spanning over 60 different religious organizations. For a background, read Green Prophet’s post Interfaith Initiative plans to mobilize […]
Keen on doing business in the Gulf region? This might be your conference. The Gulf Environment Forum – the first comprehensive environmental conference and exhibition to take place in the Persian Gulf region – has been planned and is going to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on March 7-9, 2010. The forum is being […]
A ban on alcohol sanitizer products and a looming swine flu, may keep pilgrims away from Hajj. As the annual Hajj or pilgrimage to the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina draw near, the question once again is whether the Saudi government can adequately deal with more than 3 + million pilgrims that are […]
Non-profit groups from 18 developing countries called on Saudi Arabia to “stop playing an obstructionist role” in the current climate change negotiations in Barcelona, claiming the oil kingdom’s delaying tactics will hurt the world’s poor. “Developing countries need all the support they can get,” said Wael Hmaidan of IndyACT Lebanon and founder of the Arab […]
Climate change activists are pooling their resources as we speak in Barcelona at the Barcelona Climate Change Talks. This is an antecedent to the big United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen in December where countries are expected to draft real solutions to stopping the over-production of greenhouse gases. Part-time Green Prophet Stacy Feldman reports […]
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia may still be considered as one of the most conservative from a religious standpoint. But with the opening of the new King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, otherwise known as KAUST, a new era in academic learning, combined with new innovations in ecological architecture and design, has begun in which […]
Plant pathologist Norman Borlaug, 95, died this Saturday, raising questions about the legacy of industrial food in the Third World. In 1970, Borlaug received a Nobel Peace Prize for averting famine through bringing fertilizers, pesticides and new plant strains to countries like India, Mexico and Pakistan. But environmentalists argue that his plant engineering only delayed […]
Saudi Arabian police forces already protect their citizens. Starting next year, they will also protect the environment. Last week the Saudi Arabian Presidency of Meteorology and Environment (PME) announced that police precints across the country would be receiving green policy guardians who would perform inspections and ensure compliance with environmental standards. According to PME President, […]
There is a lot of debate around the use of ethanol and other plant-based fuels. Many claim that the energy required to produce ethanol (including fertilizers, farm equipment, transformation from plant materials, and transportation) just doesn’t sufficiently counteract all the environmental damage caused by the fossil fuels that is replaces. So as if the discussion […]
Saudi Arabia has always had an acute fresh water shortage problem. The problem has been so severe that a proposal was once considered to literally tow an ice burg from Antarctica all to way to the Kingdom for use as fresh water. The practicality of constructing desalination plants to extract salt and other minerals from […]