The verdant valleys in the Toubkal National Park stand in stark contrast to the dry, red mountain sides. After my last visit to Toubkal National Park in Morocco’s high Atlas Mountains, where I ungracefully scrambled to the summit of its namesake in order to prove to myself and the world that I am cool enough […]
The EU has banned 10% of Egyptian agricultural products after linking that country to the devastating E. coli outbreak that killed 49 people earlier this year. The European Union has linked the May/June E. coli outbreak that killed 49 people to produce grown in Egypt. Following a dedicated probe, officials concluded that a shipment of […]
The Abu Dhabi Farmers Services Center is promoting technology that can potentially set Abu Dhabi farmers free from water constraints. Abu Dhabi farmers may be able to grow food with water pulled out of dense air. With just four days back up supply of water, and desalination projects usurping considerable energy, Abu Dhabi is facing […]
Israeli idealists plan to develop a land trust in the northern Galilee to encourage rural homesteading. Despite its emergence as a developed, industrial country, Israel has a bevy of close-to-the-earth learning experiences to choose from. Several kibbutzim throughout the country offer a variety of useful workshops in permaculture, off-grid living, sustainable building, and organic farming. […]
Qatar will secure 70% food security in the country by exploiting the latest technology to make its barren land arable. Roughly as large as Connecticut, Qatar relies almost exclusively on imports for food with only 10% of the country’s edibles produced within its own borders. Unlike other Gulf countries that are usurping African land to […]
Does that box of luscious chocolates bear the taint of slavery? I eat an ounce of dark chocolate daily, for its antioxidant properties. And frankly, because I love chocolate. These chilly winter nights, my family asks me for hot chocolate milk, and I’m happy to simmer some up for them. But I go to a […]
How green is your fodder? Turns out, in the UAE, not so green. A new program aims to change that. In order to combat the dual challenge of desertification and regional water shortages, the United Arab Emirates are experimenting with myriad innovations. The latest encourages local farmers to switch to a different variety of fodder. […]
As the reality of its dire water straits settles in, Abu Dhabi must prioritize what is grown and where. The planet is heating up, creating change. And with those changes we have new choices. Hard choices. In addition to numerous other functions, trees are necessary to absorb the deadly carbon emissions behind so many climatic […]
Israel’s main wine event showed a welcome growing trend towards more natural wines. “Natural wines” are taking off in Israel. At the Sommelier wine event, held in Tel Aviv last night November 8th and continuing through today, we found that some wineries already have organic vineyards, while others are greening their production facilities through recycling […]
A solution to colony collapse disorder? Miriam meets the Black Bear apiary in Israel where they are breeding bees back to their ancestral size. Stephen and Alison Epstein, from Canada and the US, walked up and down, inspecting the tiny apiary. They slid frames laden with honey, wax, pollen, and bees – plenty of bees […]
Skyscrapers (even rotating!) and dreams of vertical farms, but not a greenhouse to be seen. The Gulf is growing more and more dependent on imported food. Many Gulf countries are investing heavily in foreign farmlands that are more fertile, chiefly in Africa, but also India and Pakistan, in a bid to secure a steady food […]
If it works as claimed, the Earthmister will go a long way toward greening the deserts. In the water scarce Middle East, a new type of crop irrigation device may prove to be a boon to growing crops. Called the “Earthmister” this system is said to use up to 80% less water than conventional irrigation […]
In an interview with Green Prophet, Yael Mejia describes the benefits of buying fresh food locally. It was largely because of Yael Mejia’s efforts to provide the good people of Dubai a fresh, no-frill food experience that the region’s first Farmers Market took place. Their Brand Consultant, Yael has been wooing local farms in the […]
Though hunger is a compelling reason to consider GMOs, we are introducing too many genetic unknowns and defying nature’s superior wisdom. Turkey’s organic industry is picking up speed despite the continued use of chemicals for some farms, and various other Middle Eastern countries have demonstrated that local, natural farming practices can be sustainable. Even Dubai’s […]
New York City will host “The People’s Sukkah Choice” on Union Square during the Festival of Sukkot. In Great Falls, Virginia, where my parents have lived for the last umpteen years, the beautiful wooden homes shrouded by giant leafy trees have been carelessly discarded in favor of cleared properties and attendant “McMansions.” Washington D.C.’s wealthy […]
It’s worthwhile to heed the “eco-washers” and other insincere marketers, but to completely overlook the harm in certain chemicals is to do a disservice to the community. We are as quick to take eco-washing to task as any rabid consumer. Earlier this year, we called out Foster & Partners for their “sustainable” architecture, which is […]
Yemen’s capital city is expected to be the world’s first waterless one by 2017. A skyrocketing population, lack of government planning, and the bad-habit of gat, are to blame. Despite record rainfall in the Yemeni capital Sanaa and other areas this summer, very little is being done to harvest this water to mitigate water shortages, […]
A heat wave in Russia topples its wheat supply, leaving Egypt in the lurch. And threats of shortages, have international media in a panic. Due to the weather in Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan’s wheat production will drop by as much as 27 per cent in 2010/2011. And recently, a wheat fungus in Iraq due to […]
Reporters Without Borders is providing Mohammed Attaoui legal assistance for trumped up charges received for exposing government corruption over illegal logging. In March 2010, as Morocco hit the headlines with plans for an environmental charter and a $9 billion solar project, an environmental activist was arrested for exposing the illegal logging of protected cedar. Just […]
Based on the ancient “emmer” a new strain of pest-resistant super-wheat emerges from Israel. Perhaps harking back to biblical times, or resonating with Israel’s interest in growing crops in the desert, Israeli scientists have cultivated what they believe to be the world’s best pasta wheat. It’s touted as having the best nutritional quality, yield, pest-protection […]
A search for a cure to his own health problems led to a whole new profession for Dr. Shaul Eger – including a recipe for olive oil chocolate. Thirty years ago Dr. Shaul Eger, an Israeli physiologist specializing in animal husbandry, was told by specialists that his heart arrhythmia was incurable and that he might die. […]
The Honey Council, Hive Thievery and Bee Ecology education in Arabic: In Israel and Lebanon, honey is both a problem and a solution. Image via orinrobertjohn Archeologists have uncovered beehives in northern Israel that date back 3 000 years. A courtyard in the ancient city of Rehov was home to bees producing honey in at least […]
A new super-sex protein jock shake “A Breakfast of Champions” for fruit flies and mosquitoes to make them better lovers, and mercenaries of their own race? Writing from the beach in Panama City, Florida during Spring Break this new research from Hebrew U seems to ring true: that “males with the muscle,” get the chicks […]
Support the organic cotton business in Egypt by buying Under the Nile brand toys and baby clothes. While Israel’s Katanchic is making groovy cotton baby clothes, and Turkey is brandishing their organic cotton in the steamy markets of Istanbul, Egypt has long been lauded as the Middle East’s king of cotton. Under the Nile, founded […]