The Jerusalem Post
Aug. 5, 2007
Shmuley Boteach
Every year my family and I take a summer RV trip out into nature. This year we are in Alaska, where I am filming a family TV show. The beauties of this wondrous land are difficult to describe but are perhaps best captured in the words of a secular Jewish lawyer friend of mine who said that seeing Alaska was like seeing the face of God.
Jordan Times
August 3, 2007
By Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN -- The Cabinet last week approved awarding a tender for the sale of carbon
dioxide generated from the Rihab electricity generating plant in Mafraq to a US
company.
Continue reading "Carbon dioxide sale tender awarded to US firm" »
Haaretz
August 1, 2007
By Eli Ashkenazi
Interest in Lake Kinneret goes deeper and wider than its water level or its recreational aspects, as seen by Monday's seminar marking the establishment of the Authority for the Conservation of Lake Kinneret.
Continue reading "New authority seeks to conserve soil in Kinneret basin" »
The Jerusalem Post
Aug. 1, 2007
rory kress
The Kinneret Basin Authority was established this week to protect the soil in the region surrounding Israel's largest freshwater source.
Lake Kinneret has long been an environmental concern due to its receding water level, and most recently, last week's forced closing of its public beaches due to sewage contamination of the water.
Continue reading "Kinneret Basin Authority formed to revive area" »
Haaretz
July 25, 2007
By Mijal Grinberg
Towering over the trees of the Yatir Forest on the southern slopes of Mount Hebron is a green metallic building. Passersby may mistake it for just another weather forecast station, but in fact, the research conducted there could help combat desertification around the world. The research station, operated by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, is the only facility in the Middle East capable of measuring greenhouse gases.
Continue reading "Lacking water, trees turn to carbon dioxide" »
The Jerusalem Post
Jul. 17, 2007
Ron Friedman
A series of "green" motions were passed in the Knesset on Tuesday, as part of a day dedicated to environmental causes.
In their attempt to make Israel a more environmentally-friendly country, "Green" lawmakers and activists decided to start from the top. The leaders of the Knesset Socio-Environmental caucus, together with environmental student organization "The Green Course," submitted a report to the Knesset providing practical proposals for making the country's governing body more environmentally conscientious.
Arab Environmental Monitor
July 15, 2007
Batir Wardham
Sustainable buildings are wittnessing high growth and momentum in many countries around the world. The concept is pioneering and such buildings will include hundreds of eco-friendly innovations. The cost of installation and maintenance will always be high until it becomes economically feasible but the technology is there and that matters.
The Ecogeek blog, the world's leading blog for ecological innovations has published a list of the world's top 10 green skyscrapers based on a study by Jon Schroeder.
Continue reading "Study: The greenest skyscraper in the world is in Bahrain" »
Jordan Times
Agence French Presse
July 5 2007
Laith Abou-Ragheb
Giant islands taking shape off the coast of Dubai are sparking interest not only from celebrities but also from environmental campaigners jittery about the man-made structures so large they can be seen from space.
Continue reading "Green campaigners keep watch on Dubai's man-made isles" »
Haaretz
July 7, 2007
By Zafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
Vehicular emissions count for one-fifth of the total amount of global warming-gas carbon dioxide emitted in Israel each year, according to a report issued last week.
Continue reading "Study: Israeli cars emit more than 14 million tons of CO2 anually" »
Middle East Times
June 29, 2007
UPI
LONDON--A new report says as many as 50 million people could be displaced over the next decade by encroaching deserts, especially in parts of Africa and Asia.
Continue reading "U.N. report warns of encroaching deserts" »
Jordan Times
June 18, 2007
Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN -- Jordan's 1 per cent of green cover is expected to disappear in the coming few years, unless serious measures are taken, the Jordanian Society for Desertification Control and Badia Development (JSDCBD) warned on Sunday.
"The Kingdom's forests are decreasing as a result of illegal logging and random grazing of livestock by ranchers. People are uprooting trees for constructing investment projects and houses, instead of planting trees," JSDCBD President Abdul Latif Arabiyat told The Jordan Times yesterday.
Continue reading "Jordan's forest areas threatened by desertification, logging" »
Haaretz
June 14, 2007
By Yoram Gavison
Aggressive buying by a foreign investment firm that operates in Israel spurred shares in Ormat Industries (TASE: ORMT) to a 12% gain on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange, on enormous turnover of NIS 358 million. That's ten times its average daily volume of trade in the last three months. No less than 6.3% of the company's stock changed hands yesterday alone, and TheMarker has learned that the buyer is none other than Gazit Inc., which belongs to real estate developer Chaim Katzman.
Jordan Times
June 8, 2007
Hana Namrouqa
ZARQA -- The Jordan Biogas Company in Ruseifa is currently conducting negotiations with the government of Finland to sell biogas generated from the Ruseifa landfill, the company's director, Hatem Ababneh, said on Thursday.
"Selling the biogas to Finland is an outcome of Jordan signing the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in 1992 and the Kyoto Protocol, which allow industrialised countries with a greenhouse gas reduction commitment to invest in emission-reducing projects in developing countries," Ababneh told reporters, during a tour of the company's headquarters yesterday organised by the Ministry of Environment.
Continue reading " Negotiations under way to sell biogas to Finland" »
The Jerusalem Post
Jun. 6, 2007
Talia Dekel
The European Union is working to promote more efficient usage of energy in the Middle East, which will in turn strengthen ties between Israel, Jordan and the EU, Ambassador Ramiro Cibrian said Tuesday.
The ambassador, who heads a permanent delegation of the European Commission in Israel, spoke at a conference aimed at turning sustainable energy into "a catalyst for regional economic development."
Continue reading "EU urges regional cooperation on energy use" »
Jordan Times
June 6, 2007
Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN -- Jordan will continue implementing programmes and projects seeking to address environmental hotspots in the country, Minister of Environment Khalid Irani said on Tuesday in a statement marking World Environment Day (WED).
Celebrated annually on June 5, WED is one of the principal vehicles through which the United Nations stimulates worldwide awareness of the environment and enhances political attention and action.
Continue reading " Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions a top priority -- Irani" »
The Jerusalem Post
Jun. 6, 2007
SAUL ELBEIN
Outsourcing, global warming and terrorism are very different problems, but "green power" could wean the West and the developing world off cheap oil and its accompanying problems, New York Times Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas L. Friedman said Wednesday.
Continue reading "'Green power' could help solve many problems" »
YNET
March 30, 2007
Joint venture could help save the environment while forging stronger collaborative ties in Middle East
IEICI
Published: 05.30.07, 18:07 / Israel Money
An Israeli-Jordanian automotive project is taking a big leap forward. Executives from Renault and Toyota have been speaking to officials from both sides, in an attempt to launch a joint venture for a factory specializing in
environmentally-friendly electric cars. According to the plan, the location of this factory would be near the border between Israel and Jordan, in an area called Peace Valley.
Al Jazeera
February 18, 2007
The plant could be operational by 2009 [EPA]
Abu Dhabi is to build a $350m solar power plant, the first of its kind in the Gulf, according to an investor in the project.
Abu Dhabi holds more than 90 per cent of the oil reserves of the United Arab Emirates, the seven-member federation.
Arab Environment Monitor
February 20, 2007
Derek Sands
UPI
CAIRO -- Egypt may soon harness the same physics that a child uses to burn an ant with a magnifying glass, to generate electricity from the sun, a move that reflects the growth of Concentrating Solar Power technology worldwide.
Haaretz / Jordan Times
February 15, 2007
By Margaret Beckett
[listserve note: published in both Jordan Times and Haaretz, unusual for the region]
All too often the news is dominated by conflict and disagreement. Then a threat of such magnitude comes along that it forcefully reminds us of our common humanity - in other words just how much all of us, whatever our background, creed or colour hold in common. For our generation that threat is climate change.