4 Hidden Sources Of Environmental Damage
The gold dust bought at Walmart may make your graduation photo pretty. But one blow and it's forever cycling as microplastics that will get into our lungs.
water conservation
Empowering consumers: Rio Tinto’s aluminum becomes accountable upstream and down, on the blockchain
What if you want to buy items like smart phones, cars and even your favorite can of drink, knowing that they’re made from ethically and sustainable sourced materials? It’s about to become a reality with a radical new idea in the raw materials manufacturing space, started by a leading mining and metals company that deals in diamonds, copper, iron ore and aluminum.
Ethiopian Nile dam to destroy about half of Egypt’s agriculture
Ethiopia has been building Africa's largest hydro-electric dam since 2011. $4 billion later and it is about to go online. It could drain Egypt's Nile so that life in Egypt as they know it (at least since the 70s) will never be the same again.
5 Ways To Use Air-Conditioner Water
Air conditioners pull water from the air, literally. It's distilled so not great to drink, but useful in other ways.
Get wise to 20 facts on World Water Day
It’s World Water Day, celebrated annually on March 22. The day is about focusing world attention on the importance of clean water and how we can collectively protect and preserve water quality, and as importantly, quantity.
Students make AMENDS for a better Middle East
The American Middle Eastern Network for Dialogue at California’s Stanford University (AMENDS) is a student-led initiative that enables young change agents from across the Middle East, North Africa, and United States to share ideas, collaborate on projects, and, through Ted-style talks, broadcast their experiences and learn from each other. This is a story about a platform for […]
Middle East’s first rainforest coming to Dubai
Dubai developers reach a new zenith in outrageous investment with just-announced plans to build a tropical rainforest on the desert outskirts of the city. The forest will exist within a climate-controlled dome as a key feature of a new luxury housing development. But the real news within this news is that local environmentalists are complaining, finally.
Bamboo Warka Water towers pull drinking water out of thin air
Italian architect Arturo Vittori and his colleague Andreas Vogler designed a low-tech machine, based on passive design, that can produce between 50 and 100 liters of clean drinking water daily, without electrical equipment and independent of land-based water sources. This inexpensive, easily assembled tower was designed specifically for rural communities in Ethiopia that lack access to safe […]
“Drop-a-brick” in your toilet to defer regional drought
Drop-A-Brick is a clever PR campaign to cut water waste in severely parched California, a state with dwindling aquifers that is experiencing its worst drought in 500 years. It’s a project that can be implemented everywhere there is indoor plumbing, and the concept is sound – displace some tank water and over time, save buckets of the […]
Pee in the shower, save the environment
A new student campaign at a British university is urging people everywhere to “take the piss out of water shortages” by peeing in the shower. You heard right. The practice is pitched as a time-saving tool with a significant environmental payoff – each time you indulge in this guilty pleasure you stand to save up […]
Dishwashers: the greener solution for clean plates
Is it better to plunk dirty dinner plates into the automatic washer, or go retro and wash them by hand? The spouse thinks it wiser (and greener) to clean messes as they occur. I like how the dishwasher lets me defer. He says his way saves water. I know mine saves time. We’ve argued this for […]
Ditch your razor or sugar wax instead?
Personal grooming can be murderous! That’s the takeaway message of a two-century-old crime and modern women are taking note, inciting others to join their cause on Instagram, Facebook and Tumblr.
Golfing at the Egyptian Pyramids. What would Pharaoh think?
A new golf course is being built in the shadow of the Egyptian pyramids, the plans for its fairways and greens were recently unveiled by Thomson Perrett & Lobb, an architectural firm specializing in course design. It’s not the first links in Cairo, nor the first course near the Cheops, but Insha’allah that Egyptian environmentalists […]
Mysterious Sinkholes Threaten to Sink the Dead Sea
Watch your step, kibbutzniks and spa-mavens! Diminishing water levels in the Dead Sea are causing changes to surrounding groundwater flows. Freshwater moves through the aquifer, dissolving subterranean salt deposits and creating underground voids, which cause surface collapse. Dramatic and unpredictable, sinkholes appear at the alarming rate of nearly one a day. First observed around the […]
Tigris River Flotilla Puts Iraq Back in the News
On Sunday, September 15, a fleet of traditional and modern Mesopotamian boats will sail down the Tigris River on an historic voyage of celebration and learning.
Powdered Water Hydrates Drought-Stricken Farms
Mexican farmers have been fighting drought with Solid Rain for more than a decade, but the powdered water designed by chemical engineer Sergio Jésus Rico Velasco only hit the American market last year. A highly absorbent substance with a potassium base, Solid Rain stores one liter of water in just 10 grams!
Reed Beds: Cleaning Waste Water in the Desert
Earlier this year I decided to visit a strange looking waste management site in Um Al Quwain – one of seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates. From satellite imagery it looked like raw sewage was being dumped in the desert, just a couple of kilometres from Um Al Quwain’s precious mangrove estuary.
Q-Fog’s Low-tech Misting Air Con to “Cool” Green Cyclists
It gets hot in Israel, so two local entrepreneurs have invented a water-saving device called the Q-Fog to keeps cyclists cool. Pump a lever on the handlebars and presto – instant air con!
New Clean Tech Map Reveals Israel’s Global Green Influence
Israel NewTech has launched a interactive map of green Israeli innovations as part of a new Industry, Trade & Labor Ministry campaign that aims to showcase the country’s international influence in the clean tech and energy sectors. We have been frustrated with the slow pace at which Israel has incorporated some of its own homegrown […]
1 Kilogram of Spongy Fabric Traps 3.4 Liters of Fog Water
Researchers from Eindhoven University of Technology (EUT) and Hong Kong Polytechnic University have developed a fabric that traps water molecules present in fog. This clever new technology could have applications in dry coastal zones throughout Africa and the Middle East, where lack of water is increasingly both a humanitarian and security concern. To make the […]
Byproduct of Natural Gas Made Potable by US and Saudi Scientists
Water produced as a byproduct of natural gas extraction is one of the oil and gas industry’s biggest waste streams, according to the Environment News Service (ENS), and Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) researchers are collaborating with scientists from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals to do something about it. A process called Humidification […]
50 Gulf Companies Voluntarily Cut Energy and Water Use
A host of private companies in Dubai and other emirates that have joined a voluntary initiative to reduce their energy and water consumption have experienced enormous success, demonstrating that it’s not impossible to do so. Last week the Emirates Wildlife Society – World Wide Fund for Nature (EWS-WWF) recognized five firms in particular for exceeding energy […]
Gulf Greywater Recycling Could Cut Water Use by 30%
The United Arab Emirates could save approximately 30 per cent of its daily water use if multi-residential buildings implement greywater recycling programs, according to a recent report compiled by researchers from the University of Sharjah. Currently the average Emirati consumes roughly 550 liters of clean water every day, 30% of which is flushed down the […]
Water Portraits – Making A Splash For Water Conservation (PHOTOS)
In a bid to highlight our water use and waste, photographer Peter Holmes has created a series of memorable portraits of water use in different countries. “Statistics about water consumption are difficult to comprehend and are un-relatable to everyday life – this project attempts to make water consumption visible in a meaningful way.” Well, that’s […]
Israeli Innovator Dr. Daniel Hillel wins UN World Food Prize
October 16, 2012 is World Food Day as designated by the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). This years theme is agricultural cooperatives, and the winner of the World Food Prize for 2012 is Dr. Daniel Hillel of Israel. He was honored for his work in micro-irrigation and innovative irrigation methods for […]