When marine politics get nasty: Ahmet Aslan recovers in a hospital after being shot in the eye by a gang of illegal fishermen. Fishing is a time-honored Istanbul tradition. But to catch and sell fish, one must have a license nowadays. That doesn’t stop some from illegally trawling for fish in the Bosphorus, or the […]
Nearly 3 billion people lack safe and efficient cooking gear. It’s time to make the problem in the kitchen sexier. Half the world’s households prepare their meals over open fires or with jerry-rigged cookers fueled by scrap wood, coal, combustible waste and dung. Fatal burns are common and foraged fuel dangerously degrades indoor air quality. […]
Kerry Bingham’s off-grid earth bag home in Turkey only cost $3,761 to build. Everybody’s talking about earth bag construction lately, including The National, which reported this weekend that a British woman has built an earthbag home a la Iranian architecture Nader Khalili. Using dirt from her own 6,500 square foot plot of land, the artist and […]
Work will soon begin on the 44-story Renaissance Tower in Istanbul, Turkey. The only thing authentically Turkish here is its zip code. Image via FXFOWLE Located on the Asian side of Istanbul at 606-feet, which is taller than most of its skyline neighbors, this “chiseled obelisk” of an office block is meant to highlight an eastern […]
By being longer, Nanosolar’s solar panels are less costly to install Advances in solar energy panel technology is reaching a stage where it is now possible to purchase DIY home kits to create solar powered electricity on the roofs of your home. And solar array panels are even being installed on the roofs of chicken […]
Internet filters against evolution: Evolutionary biologists find it increasingly harder to work in Turkey
With an estimated 8 trillion cubic meters of natural gas, Turkey wants some of this energy wealth too. The Republic of Cyprus has started surveying for natural gas, and recent estimates are that its undersea reserves are worth billions of dollars. Helped by Israel and America’s Noble Energy, the subterranean Cyprus discoveries could make the […]
The countries that emit the most greenhouse gases only agreed to “vague, fragile” reduction targets at the recent climate change conference in Durban, according to Özgür Gürbüz, who was present at the conference. For MENA countries, there are some bright spots in the outcome of the most recent United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP17) […]
Living in Turkey and curious about where to find your nearest organic market? How to recycle? Where to take yoga classes? Yeşilist offers Turks tips on greener choices in areas ranging from Home & Garden to Ecotourism, Fashion & Textile to Nutrition. Environmentally conscious Turks are a frustrated lot. Their country is developing along the […]
Israelis discuss the problem of getting nuclear neighbors. In a small region like the Middle East, a single country’s decision to build nuclear power can easily spill over borders. At a panel last Monday, Israeli energy experts spoke on the risks and benefits of nuclear power, noting that even if Israel avoided the risks of […]
Axes of power are changing in the Middle East and Israel and Cyprus as an alliance could shift energy focus away from some OPEC oil countries. The decision for Cyprus to explore its undersea natural gas wells has Turkish government officials crying foul. Turkey occupies the northern half of Cyprus and the southern half is […]
With crippling floods every year and regular power outages, a new internationally financed wind project in Pakistan is breezy green news to us. Iran, finding itself increasingly isolated due to US-backed sanctions, has been pressing energy-deficient Pakistan to connect with Iran’s natural gas “peace pipeline“. Natural gas is better than coal (which is killing miners) […]
Navies crowd into once placid waters as Turkey presses Cyprus on gas reserves Turkey has a corvette, frigate and helicopters escorting its exploration vessel, the Piri Reis, as it explores for gas and oil. The US has quietly dispatched an aircraft and Russian naval vessels have been seen patrolling. News reports say US reconnaissance planes […]
“They’re blazing a new path in Turkey” reads the headline over this photo of Akbıyık villagers standing in front of their new wind turbine. The lights in Akbıyık went out one and a half years ago, when the Turkish Electricity Distribution Company cut off the village’s electricity because of outstanding utility bills that amounted to TRY […]
Turkish PM Erdogan at the UN: His way or no way There’s a lot more for southern Cyprus to be alarmed about these days concerning its commitment to explore for natural gas offshore. First of all, there is the environmental factor dealing with undersea drilling off Cyprus, which could be damaging for an island so […]