6 Practical Tips That Will Make An Office Space More Eco-Friendly
Some ideas of helping your business and office go green.
shopping
Abu Dhabi shoppers planting and painting at the mall
In the large atrium of Al Wahda Mall in Abu Dhabi, parents, children, staff and tourists are just some of the shoppers that can be found. Only they aren’t shopping – they’re planting small trees. Close by, other visitors stand armed with paint brushes a paint pots, coloring in a large globe. The activities all […]
ARTE for Artisans of the Emirates – A Middle East Craftsperson’s Extravaganza
Not like Istanbul’s historic Grand Bazaar, the famous Emirati souk hosted by the Artisans of the Emirates, or ARTE, is a baby – only seven years old. But it has quickly grown from its humble beginnings of about 30 “artisans” or craft exhibitors from the United Arab Emirates in the network to over 3,000. ARTE “markets” […]
Istanbul’s Top 10 Secondhand Clothing Shops
Istanbul’s top ten secondhand clothing shops are easily accessible from the city’s main pedestrian drag, Istiklal Avenue, highlighted in blue on the map. Until recently, Istanbul’s secondhand clothing culture had been minimal, confined to costume shops, small racks in antique stores, and “eskicis” — old men wheeling carts of used items around the streets of […]
Clean Reusable Totes, Or Risk Going Green
Your reusable totes may be full of bacteria and can turn you seriously “green”. Time to practice good bag hygiene. Researchers at the University of Arizona tested 84 reusable shopping totes and found over half were contaminated with harmful bacteria, including the dangerous E.coli. Contamination occurs when fluids such as fruit juices and meat blood leak […]
How Data Mining Turns You Into A Super Consumer
Visual clues about you are just the tip of the information iceberg. Your shopping habits can be made malleable by others through data mining. New York Times writer Charles Duigg wrote how Target predicted a teen’s pregnancy before her own father knew. He described a man demanding to speak to a superstore manager: “My daughter got this […]
Yiuco Marketplace for Handmade Upcycled, Recycled, or Reused Products
Yiuco may be the Middle East’s greener Etsy. Etsy, the global online store, has enjoyed great success due to the fact that it enables individuals to buy handmade, unique items from other individuals around the world with the click of a mouse. It has even spurred what some people are calling the “Handmade Revolution” by […]
Omani Handicrafts Facing Extinction Versus Machine Made Imitations
At stake for Oman is the extinction of traditional handicrafts in the face of cheaper, machine made imitations. Man making khanjars (traditional Omani daggers). [image via: v.williams46] Omani handicrafts – such as silver items, woven cloths, and pottery – may have been passed down from generation to generation and faced difficulties such as material shortages […]
Beer Sheva's Old City Battles Shopping Malls
One of the most pressing needs in countries with little open space is to make urban life desirable enough that city folk won’t want to flee to the suburbs. But in Beer Sheva, a strange phenomenon is underfoot – suburbanization inside the city that drags commerce away from the historic district. A story I wrote […]
East Jerusalem Getting First Mall
You heard it here when Jenin got a mall-ish furniture superstore. Now East Jerusalem is also joining the trend. According to Danny Rubinstein at YnetNews, the Nusseibeh family has started work on the A-Dar Mall on Salah-a-Din Street, right outside the Old City in the Sheikh Jarrakh neighborhood (Photo of Salah-a-Din Street from Wiki Images) […]
Lebanese Expats Build Suburbia in Bint Jbeil
According to Lebanon’s Daily Star, the war-ravaged southern town of Bint Jbeil is remaking itself as a suburban summer getaway for expatriates who left over the last three decades of strife. Suburban living has made deep imprints across the Middle East, particularly in the shopping malls that have sprouted up in the West Bank and […]
Beer Sheva Getting 100,000 Sq. Meters of Greenwash
Beer Sheva, the long-suffering capital of Israel’s Negev desert, just broke ground on the biggest shopping mall in Israel. Like the other seven malls of Beer Sheva, this $180.5 million complex will continue to suck business out of the dilapidated but walkable Old City. Unlike the others, this one claims to be green. Architect rendering, […]
Shop for Social and Environmental Meaning in the Old City of Acco
This coming Tuesday, July 7th a new store will be opening up in the Old City of Acco in northern Israel. A store that invites its customers to “Shop For Meaning.” Stocked with products carrying both social and environmental messages, the Shop for Meaning will also function as a center for professional apprenticeship for young […]
Palestinian Mall Chain Could Bring Suburban Living to West Bank
One of America’s most enduring gifts to the Middle East is the suburban indoor shopping mall. Israel’s first was the Ayalon Center outside of Tel Aviv (1986). Istanbul saw the Atakoy Mall go up in 1987. Jordan’s pioneer was Amman’s Abdoun Mall in 2001 (Picture from virtualtourist.com), and Beirut‘s ABC Mall opened its doors in […]
Tal Ater Gives "GAS" To Help the World GreenAnySite
Consumption is, in general, not very green. It often involves the wasteful use of resources, fossil fuels for transportation, and non environmentally friendly materials. While a general reduction in consumption would be ideal, though, there will always be certain purchases that are necessary and there will always be people who are not willing to cut […]
Buy Nothing Day can save someone’s life or soul
A day before Buy Nothing Day in 2008 an American salesman lost his life, as bargain hunters in a Wal-Mart shop in Long Island trampled him to death.
EcoMum keeps it Green and Sexy!
Well the kids are back at school, time to pamper ourselves a little. Being an EcoMum is not all about being knee deep in cloth nappies, eating organic and recycling. Okay, I admit, I do not spend hours shopping for the new trendy look and yes second hand shops and organic clothing are my buzz […]
Smart Shopping
For some there is nothing more rewarding than a new item of clothing. Nothing wrong with that. Right?! You’re thinking: “those greenies won’t let me have any fun!” It’s true, being green can seem oppresive. But it’s really about attitude. Nothing wrong with a nice shiny new article of clothing, but if it sits forever […]
Sustainable Reading: Offset Your Books With Eco-Libris
With September rolling around and the back to school shopping in full swing, books are more prominent than ever. It’s officially book season. And whether you’re an elementary schooler, a senior in high school, a university student, a parent, or a loving aunt/uncle/grandparent… books will probably be on your radar in the coming weeks. So […]
Eco-Mum on Greening Your Back to School Shopping
So it’s the last week of the holidays and everybody is out shopping for the new school year. But do you really know what you are buying for your kids? Cheap and cheerful may be your number one priority but what about green and healthy? Do you understand the hidden problems with those bright shiny, […]
Supersol Just Got Greener
Living in Jerusalem’s city center is an occasionally harrowing, occasionally exhilirating experience. Towards the middle of the spectrum (with “harrowing” being defined, roughly, as beer bottles shattering against the side of the building at 3am) is the state of grocery shopping in the center of town, or rather, the lack thereof.
Plastic For Free
When I moved to Israel I started to understand, that not everywhere in the world things are going the same way. I grew up in Germany, where the convenience of a quiet and more or less unworried life, enables politicians to talk and act in terms of environment. Water saving, recycling and other environmental […]