The year in retrospect has been a positive one. Despite civil unrest, dangerous regimes, and appalling environmental crimes and neglect, there are good green things afoot for the Middle East. Today we recap some of our green leaders of 2012, the people of the Middle East and for the Middle East who have made 2012, […]
Afghanistan, Iraq, North Korea, Myanmar and Yemen are still using leaded gasoline and many others have lead contaminated plumbing, soil, paint and household products. How can we reduce the world’s crime rate, particularly the rate of violent crime? When the crime rate rises or a horrific crime takes place, people are quick to find blame […]
There may have been a public battle to allow Saudi women to drive but an award-winning film explores the sensitive issue of women’s rights through a young girl and her green bike The battle for Saudi women to drive (and also take part in the Olympics) may have hit the headlines in 2012 but there […]
Miriam introduces a new series on sustainable eating in the Middle-East/North Africa region. What does eating sustainably mean to you? By definition, sustainable food is nutritionally healthy, supports local agriculture and guarantees a fair wage to workers. Sustainable agriculture maintains and enriches the natural resources that our food supply depends on. On a personal level, […]
Saudi Arabia has a lofty goal of storing CO2 by increasing oil recovery and reducing waste. Carbon capture utilization has become one of the most innovative means of recycling and reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the globe, but has largely remained an untouched endeavor in the Middle East. Until now. Saudi Arabia’s Aramco research and […]
Falafel anyone? Saudi Arabia and Indian company will erect a biofuel plant based on used cooking oil. Biofuel is coming to Saudi Arabia. After much success in neighbor Egypt in low income areas, Saudi Arabia hopes that a new joint venture between Jeddah-based Middle East Environment Protection (MEEP) and the India-based Biomax Fuels will help […]
The United States is poised to become the world’s largest oil producer by 2020 thanks to increased output of new exploration technologies such as fracking. But what does this mean for politics? The World Energy Outlook 2012 released by the Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) predicts that America will surpass Russia and Saudi Arabia as […]
A bright and renewable future for Saudi Arabia? A shock announcement from the world’s largest oil producer Following plans to transform Mecca into a solar city, an influential member of the Saudi Royal family has announced even more ambitious renewable energy plans for the country. Prince Turki Al Faisal Al Saud, founder of the King […]
Smoking can cause cancer, emphysema, birth defects, and – in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia – divorce. Saudi Arabian authorities enacted a ban against smoking in government buildings, curbing a habit enjoyed by six million of its people. Smoking’s now banned at all ministries and government facilities in all provinces of the kingdom, according to the […]
A bridge over troubled waters still being planned for Saudi Arabia and Sinai. About 20 dive sites will be lost, activists tell Green Prophet. A grassroots environmental group of activists are continuing to put pressure on the Egyptian government to end its plans to develop and erect a bridge linking the Sinai Peninsula with Saudi Arabia. […]
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) economic capital, Dubai, has reaffirmed its committment to sustainable energy and the environment as it pushes forward on massive growth projects. Dubai’s ruler and UAE’s Vice-President and Prime Minister Mohamed bin Rashid al-Maktoum said that as the city continues to develop, the environment and clean energy prospects remain at the top […]
Saudi Arabia’s government has confirmed that it will develop and build a $640 million solar power plant in the holy city of Mecca. It continues the country’s recent talks of bolstering its clean energy sector and with the holy pilgrimage of Hajj beginning, the government believes this is the best time to announce the massive […]
Saudi Arabia gives Morocco a sunny boost, but Joseph looks at Morocco’s bigger renewable energy picture: an aim to use 42% renewables by 2020. With worries growing that Morocco’s ambitious solar energy plans are on the decline (Morocco has plans to generate 2GW of solar energy by 2020 under the Morocco Solar Plan), Saudi Arabia’s […]
Saudi Arabia is looking to continue to ensure their promises of bolstering the Gulf Kingdom’s alternative energy is maintained. This month, Masdar CEO Sultan Ahmed al-Jaber said publicly that his United Arab Emirates-based company is discussing potential investments in Saudi, and will likely be focusing on solar energy. For Masdar, which has boosted its clean […]
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 […]
According to a 150-page report by Citigroup, Saudi Arabian oil could dry up as early as 2030 which is a lot sooner than previously thought The high consumption of oil in the Gulf nations for air-conditioning and desalination means that oil wells are likely to run dry a lot sooner than expected. That’s the news […]
The patriarchal kingdom of Saudi Arabia creates an all-female city where (the arguably better half) of humanity can work freely, within Islamic guidelines. Saudi Arabia has an increasingly educated female population, but its ultraconservative interpretation of Wahabi sharia law and rigid tribal customs forbid women from interacting with men. The upshot is chronic female unemployment. An […]
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), […]
Going into the London Olympic games, Green Prophet covered issues affecting Arab athletes who planned to compete in the 26th modern Olympiad since the games were revived in Athens in 1896. These are also religious ones, such as whether Muslim athletes could be exempted from fasting on Ramadan, as well as the perennial one over […]
If football could redesign their way around the health and safety issue, why can’t judo? The ruckus over allowing competitive athletes to wear the hijab – a garment representative of cultural modesty – is drawing fever-pitch attention to female Arab athletes. Green Prophet’s reported on successful efforts to allow a sports-specific hijab for female footballers, […]
A silly argument breaks out in the street? Ramadan. A customs control officer falls asleep while processing passports at the airport? Ramadan. A random stranger passes out bottles of juice during Iftar? All of these events are explained by one word in the Middle East and North Africa: Ramadan – the holy month during which Muslims […]
Gas is 15 cents a liter (60 cents a gallon) in Saudi Arabia: the government is fighting to keep both high standard of living and long-term energy security Saudi Arabia has been aggressively looking for anything and everything that can provide energy. Whether it is to maintain its status as the largest exporter of crude […]
Have you received an email saying your car’s air con could kill you? The jury is still out until more scientific evidence comes in. Car and home air conditioning units provide a cooler internal environment, and may also be a possible source of drinking water in emergency situations . But there is another side to […]
This Marine Drone could clean up our dirty work. Can a wealthy Saudi fund this prototype to clean our seas? Fourteen billion pounds of garbage, 90 percent of which is plastic, is dumped into the ocean every year and there is no sign of plastic waste reducing – in fact plastic waste has been increasing […]
ACWA rumored to win the contract to build a 160 MW CSP project in in the south of Morocco. “We are going to opt for the offer made by the consortium of ACWA,” a source close to Morocco’s solar energy agency MASEN told Reuters. The source asked not to be named pending an official announcement […]