Sharm el-Sheikh, in the Sinai region of Egypt, has been a thriving tourist location for decades due to its incredible beaches and vast coral reefs.  Its great attraction to tourists has also been its downfall, however.  The reefs are currently under threat due to the dust caused by erosion.

With tourism accounting for a major part of Egypt’s GDP, something had to be done to protect Egypt’s natural (and money-making) resource, and grant it legitimacy in a world that increasingly wants to see environmental conservation efforts.

Egypt therefore recently announced its plan to become completely carbon neutral by 2020.  The $238 million project hopes to accomplish this through the introduction of renewable energy, reduction of water use, improvement of waste management, and, in the future, the use of electric boats and hybrid buses.

The green initiatives are planned to start this month and be completed by the end of 2010.  These early initiatives include new diving restrictions to help preserve already damaged reefs, and the powering of street lights with solar energy.

Hisham Zaazou, a top official at the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, said that “tourists will pick places that are environmentally friendly and taking positive steps to reduce their carbon emissions.”  Zazou also admitted, however, that he didn’t believe absolute carbon neutrality was realistic by 2020.  He said that “we will not reach the zero stage by 2020, but we will be almost there.”

Sharm el-Sheikh’s remote location means that the 3-4 million annual tourists visiting it usually arrive by airplane – an infamously polluting form of transportation.  This will be a unique challenge for the carbon neutral project, and one that will be interesting to watch unfold.

Experts welcome the Egyptian government’s plan, but believe that it should also be enforcing the existing environmental laws.

Read more about eco tourism in Egypt and the Middle East::

Eco Tourism in the Middle East: Egypt

Top 7 Middle Eastern Trips for the Eco-Curious Traveler

Jordan’s Feynan Eco Lodge Named One of the Top 50 Eco Lodges in the World

Can Selçuklu-Evi claim eco-accolades?

It is important to apply eco-friendly labeling carefully.  This is especially true of the tourism industry that is often guilty of green-washing potential patrons to lure them to their site.  We have written about eco-lodges such Feynan in Jordan and Al Karm Ecolodge in Egypt that deserve their “eco-friendly” status given their strident conservation efforts.  Now we’d like to draw your attention to a boutique hotel in Ürgüp, Turkey that has partial claims to eco-friendliness and full claim to a fascinating architectural history.

According to the UK’s Green Business Touring Scheme (GBTS), there are several criteria that must be met before a business should label itself “eco”.  Some of these include: “compliance with environmental legislation”, “good environmental management” – which includes training staff and raising awareness, “social involvement”, energy efficiency, water efficiency, “environmentally friendly goods and services”, waste reduction, minimal transport necessity, “natural and cultural heritage”, and “innovation”.

Selçuklu Evi means the “The Seldjoukie house” in Turkish.  This name refers to an architectural legacy left behind by the Seljuk Empire, a Persian, Sunni Muslim Empire that once conquered Anatolia.  According to MuslimHeritage.com, some recognizable features of Seljuk architecture include tall gateways, ornamental stalactites, Ogival archways, and ceramic tiling.  In Anatolia builders used mostly stone to build their numerous castles, mausoleums and mosques, whereas in Iran they were more prone to brick.  Anatolian Seljuk stonework was said to be so beautiful that it was called “poetry in stone.”

It is this tradition to which Selçuklu Evi hearkens.  The Marketing Director, Sophie Florval, calls Selçuklu Evi a perfect combination of past and present.  Located in the unique geographical region known as Cappadocia – a high altitude plateau festooned with fairy chimneys – the hotel was once a collection of five houses.  The hotel owners employed local craftsmen to restore the buildings to create what is now a hotel with 20 rooms, a process which took three years.  Using local skills and preserving the cultural heritage both contribute to the hotel’s eco-friendliness.

The hotel also relies on locally harvested rock to keep the buildings warm in winter and cool in summer, rather than heating or air-conditioning.  The rooms, some partially underground, are decorated with beds made of wrought iron and regal Turkish rugs, both crafted by local artisans. They even serve locally-produced wine from faucets in the central courtyard:  white on the left, and red on the right.

Although Selçuklu Evi is certainly innovative, it is difficult to know whether it can claim further eco-accolades such as “minimal transport” or “water efficiency” given its remote and semi-arid location.  Nonetheless, we think that this boutique is at least twelve steps ahead of any Four Seasons Hotel.

Link to Selçuklu Evi:  http://www.selcukluevi.com/

You might like:

Go Eco pioneers Eco-Tourism in Israel

WWOOF Your Way to Organic Food in the Middle East

Live Like A Bedouin and Save Water at Chan HaShayarot

If you were an aspiring actor, it would be like getting an invitation to a wine and cheese Hollywood party with the industry’s top directors. Or an aspiring chef, getting some in-person training with Le Cordon Bleu masters in Paris. If you are an Israeli clean technology entrepreneur in focus areas of renewable energy, water, or smart grid technologies, now is your time to shine under the sun of California’s hottest clean tech investors, potential partners and utilities companies.

The California Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC) is making its last call for Israeli companies to apply to its prestigious 3-day event, promising to open doors to some of the best opportunities America has to offer. Will your company open that door on April 26 to 28 this year?

Costing a symbolic $1,500 to participate, Israeli clean tech companies – about 12 to 15 in total – will meet over a period of 3 days with an unparalleled group of VCs, Californian clean tech companies, and high-profile utilities representatives from companies such as PG&E and the California Public Utilities Commission.

The process of selection isn’t easy, but Shuly Galili, the executive director of the California Israel Chamber of Commerce (CICC), tells Green Prophet there is a still a few days for companies to apply. An 8 slide presentation will be ask as part of the application process so the CICC has ascertain how ready your company is to come to market. The CICC is looking for companies that are in advanced stages of development, not just in the lab.

Californian investors and the like are open to a range of ideas from the clean technology spectrum, says Galili, but preferred market areas will be in renewable energy, water and smart grid technologies. These are the solutions that California is looking for.

Due to a similar even last year, the Israeli solar energy company Tigo was able to raise money, reports Galili, who is hoping to help more Israeli clean tech companies do the same.

Here are some of the events on the agenda of the 3-day meeting:

One-on-one meetings with VCs and companies

A seminar on accessing US government stimulus funds (similar to the one that BrightSource just cashed in on in California)

3 hour meetings with public utilities companies to understand their needs and limitations (how to work with and sell to utility companies)

Seminars that allow Israeli companies to see their competitors in California, and their development in the market (will give young Israeli companies a perspective on their market potential)

Seminars on finding funding capital in the US

“The Israeli VC funding landscape is dwindling,” says Galili. It’s becoming a challenge to find funding, and knowing how Californians think and invest will help open doors, she adds. About 30 different VC funds will participate in the event.

The Who’s Who?

Participating organizations in the initiative will include industry giants such as SRI, Chevron, IBM, the California Public Utilities Commission, Electric Power Research Institute, Energy Recovery Inc, Pacific Gas & Electric Company (PG&E), Google, PARC, General Electric (GE), Intel, Sempra Generation, SVB, Perkins Coie, BrightSource Energy, Applied Materials, the Cleantech Group, Israel Cleantech Ventures, US Venture Partners, Greylock Partners, Battery Ventures, Vantage Point Venture Partners and more.

Want to apply? Download the application here – the CICC Cleantech Initiative (links to PDF).

Read more on Israel and California cooperation in cleantech:
The Israel Cleantech Tour Returns to California
California Signs Cleantech Coop Deal with Israel
Top Californian Cleantech Investors Head to Israel

At first glance, sex and the environment don’t make obvious bedfellows.  How can the answer to our environmental problems – global warming, access to fresh water, ecological sustainability, and the use of fossil fuels  – possibly be found between the satin sheets of lovers? According to a growing number of greenies, free love may just save the world. In her newest book, Gaia: The New Politics of Love, author Serena Anderlini-D’Onofrio attempts to lay the groundwork for this premise.

And if you can get past any initial squeamishness, there is value in her message: Specifically, some behaviors typical between lovers in open-relationships, also known as polyamory, may indeed be the secret to protecting Mother Earth from her errant, environmentally challenged children. That would be many of us.

Living where we do, in the rugged climate that is the Middle East, many are personally invested in finding ways to better understand, reach and communicate with our neighbors who worship and celebrate differently.

Some even suggest that the answer to the Middle East peace process won’t come from obvious, political efforts, but through grass roots activities and outreach from environmentalists. Every time environmentalists talk about common concerns – because let’s face it, nature knows no boundaries – opportunities open up for dialogue on other challenges.

Until we heard about this book, however, it never occurred to us that peace might come from shifting our views on sexuality as well, from lying in green pastures together, if you will.

Don’t believe that we didn’t protested at the idea, our skeptical brains presuming that some sex conspiracy was at play by those in favor of open-relationships who were on a mission to convert as many ‘happily married, committed for life, no sex with any others till death do us part’ to their freer pastures. It’s easy to scoff at shocking ideas, and just as important to consider them before passing judgement.

Here’s what we learned from a brief exploration into the concepts of this book: sharing is caring. If we approach life with an attitude of fear – for example, there’s a lack of resources, amorous or otherwise – then we engage in hoarding behaviors. That’s my wife! That’s my water! That’s my land, my pastures and clean air! In other words, the concept of scarcity takes precedence over negotiation and trust, and power struggles ensue between partners.

Whether those partners are man and woman, husband and wife, Jew vs. non-Jew, Muslim vs non-Muslim, conservative vs. progressive, the end result is the same. Conflict.

Polyamory, on the other hand, advocates that partners relax their anxieties about not getting the love they deserve (which in turns causes all sorts of harmful behaviors such as adultery, infidelity, husband stealing, etc). The unexpected result, according to the author of this book, is that lovers are then free to embrace the love they have without feeling compelled to horde it all for themselves.

Are you with us on this? Love is not the crime: criminalizing the many manifestations of love is the crime.  As long as we believe the myth of scarcity, we hoard. As soon as we recognize there is actually abundance, we share. Apply this paradigm – inherent to open-relationships – to the earth (which she refers to as Gaia, implying that our planet is actually a living biota, a whole being made up of interconnected ecosystems of which humans play a part) and you can see the dots the author attempts to connect.

Free love = sharing = less hoarding = more for everyone to go around. In other words, making love is actually good for Mother Earth. Our planet, by the way, doesn’t really need us to save it, it will continue its orbit, lifeless or not, regardless of how successfully humans steward our resources and relationships, regardless of the outcome of the current attempts to make peace, not war, in the Middle East.

That is why the ultimate beneficiary of all that sex and sharing really is humankind. And for those of us living on the frontlines in the Middle East, with our various experiences – sexual and otherwise – informing our beliefs about the solutions to the crises we all face – environmental and otherwise – the idea that sex may hold the answer to many questions is both the oldest, and newest, idea of them all.

Read more on greening your sex life:
Sister’s Sell Environmentally-Friendly Sex Toys
The Dinah Project Helps Create Environmental Sex Awareness
Green Prophet’s Guide to Greening Your Bedroom

Above photo: Rene Magritte’s Lovers.

But all might not be lost if the United Arab Emirate’s “Green Sheikh” gets his way: Sheikh Abdul Aziz bin Ali Al-Nuaimi, a member of the ruling Ajman Royal Family is now being known not just for his wealth. Locals are calling him the “Green Sheikh” and “Down to Earth Sheikh” as a result of his concern for his local and the world’s environment as a result of pollution and climate change. His concern started young, says his family.

According to the National, Sheikh Al Nuaimi has embarked on a journey to Antarctica as part of a 70 member team to study the effects of global warming and climate change on what was once considered to be the world’s coldest place on earth.

“If I wasn’t [down to earth] you wouldn’t see me here (preparing for such a trip).You have to find something where you can make an impact, far away from your daily and routine life, far away from your family and country,” he said.

Even before deciding to undertake such an adventure, Al Nuaimi was already being referred to as “the Green Sheikh” due to his passion and concern for the environment which began when he age 6, when he  accompanied his father on hunting trips using only trained falcons instead of guns.

“My father was an excellent falconer and learned the ways of nature from these magnificent birds which take what they need and not what they desire in order to live,” he said.

The Sheikh also became aware from Man’s destruction of the environment during his stint in the petroleum industry as a young man, when he began to see the effects of  extracting oil from the ground and what it became after being refined into gasoline and other products.

“I knew I wanted to convert from a chemical engineer, from a polluter to a protector, to an environmental engineer. So I converted. It’s the same knowledge, just flip the chart, flip the paradigm,” he continued.

Taking that in mind, he left the petroleum industry and went back to university to earn a masters degree in environmental science. Since then, he has devoted his life to finding ways to protect and preserve the environment. This was followed by a PHD in Industrial Ecosystems, a field that is very much needed in the fast developing Persian Gulf region where he lives.

His official role is as the environmental adviser to the Ajman Government, where he is also chairman of Green Base Environmental Services and the founder of the Majlis for Holistic Knowledge and Holistic Health, according to another National article on him.

During his stay in Antarctica, Sheikh Al Nuaimi hopes to study how the melting of ice shelves and glaciers in the worlds’ most southern continent will have an eventual effect on the region he hails from.

Actions by concern environmentalists like Sheikh Al-Nuaimi is a far cry from those of other less concerned individuals in the UAE who construct grandiose development projects such as  Dubai’s “The World” which is threatening marine and coastal eco-structures; as well as Abu Dhabi’s Al Reem Island project, considered by many to be nothing more than “a playground for the wealthy.”

The Sheikh’s concern for the future of our environment has also bound to be much more than that of the Abu Dhabi oil billionaire who is the “proud” owner of a white gold Mercedes sport’s car, said to be worth more than $2.5 million, that was the subject of a recent Green Prophet article.

Environmentalists like Sheikh Al Nuaimi are a courageous breed; and can be compared to other heirs like David de Rothschild who has been involved in a number of environmental projects including a planned voyage in a boat made from recycled plastic materials to a large floating plastic “island” in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

It would be ideal if both De Rothschild and Sheikh Al Nuaimi will one day pool their efforts to work together on projects to help preserve what is left of our world environment. Maybe they could sail away together on the Plastiki sailboat made from plastic bottles, and after accounting the destruction of garbage island, sail over to the Gulf where they can take count of soil erosion and other man-made problems. Think of the movie they could make!

:: The National

More green news on the UAE:
Is Abu Dhabi’s Al Reem Island Considering the Environmental Implications?
UAE’s SAG Group Tell’s Middle East to “Take Environment Seriously or Suffer”
The World and other Developmental Projects Causing Serious Gulf Erosion

Shimon Peres from Israel and Lee Myung-bak from South Korea at Davos. (Image via Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.)

A high-ranking delegation from South Korea is currently visiting Israel to explore possibilities for collaboration between the two countries on renewable energy. The 37-member delegation represents 22 companies, as well as local authorities and R&D centers, according to a report published in the Globes newspaper.

During the extensive 10-day visit, the delegation will visit 13 Israel companies: Zenith Solar, Heliofocus, GreenSun Energy, BrightSource, Better Place, Seambiotic, IQWind, Arrow Ecology, ETV Motors, Ormat Industries, EnStorage, CellEra and Aqwise. The delegation will also meet with officials at Israel’s National Infrastructure Ministry, Industry Trade and Labor Ministry, and Foreign Ministry, and will visit Tel Aviv University and the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.

Korean ambassador to Israel Ma Young-Sam told Globes: “The renewable energy field is seen as the future growth engine for Korea, and Israel is ranked fourth in the world in terms of companies operating in the sector. There is definitely business potential, and not just academic. The idea is to merge Israeli technology with Korean equipment and operational ability.”

Earlier this year, Israeli President Shimon Peres and South Korean president Lee Myung-bak discussed potential collaboration in the field of renewable energy during their meeting at the Davos World Economic Forum.

On Tuesday, members of the delegation test-drove electric-powered cars at Better Place’s visitors’ center and discussed a number of options for collaboration, including automobile manufacturing, production of the car’s batteries, and battery charging and replacement stations. South Korea is the world’s fifth-largest car manufacturing country.

::Globes (link closed to payment after 1 week)

More on Israel and Far East collaboration:
Israel’s Heliofocus Gets Sunny Investment from China
Knafo Klimor Architects from Israel Build Agro-Housing in China
Israel Establishes Consulate in Chinese Powerhouse Province For Clean Technology

Starting tomorrow, Facebook protesters will be changing their profiles to icons such as the one below in order to urge the social networking site to go green.

Why now?  Because Facebook recently announced that it will be building a massive data center in Oregon in order to serve the millions of people currently using the site.  Facebook proudly noted that the center will be full of energy efficient computers… but the company plans to run the site on coal-generated electricity.  (So what’s the point, right?)

Since Facebook is one of the largest (and therefore one of the most energy guzzling) social networking sites in the world, having them go sustainable would make a big impact.

The campaign is calling for Facebook to:

Commit to stop using polluting coal power.

Use its purchasing power to choose only clean, renewable sources of electricity.

Advocate for strong climate and energy policy changes at the local, national and international level to ensure that as the IT industry’s energy demand increases, so does the supply of renewable energy.

Share this information publicly on its website so its millions of users know the company is a climate leader.

Want to get involved?  First of all, you can join the official protest group on Facebook (and join over 140,000 current members).  Then, get a whole bunch of friends to join the group as well.  Want to take it even further?  Change your profile picture for a week (to an image such as the one on the right) starting tomorrow – March 12th.

Read more about other forms of green activism::

Environment Journalists, Bloggers and Activists From Israel, Jordan and the PA Unite: Let’s Meet Jordan

Green Prophet’s Jesse Fox is Gleaning Feeding on Fugee Fridays

Palestinian Eco-Activism is on the Rise

“But you have to understand why!” exclaimed Shirly Askary, the store’s proprietor.  Shirly explained that the boots are made of 100% organic cotton and natural rubber soles.  Furthermore, they are hand-sewn by a Palestinian man in Hebron, who receives a fair wage for his labor.

The boots, as well as the organic, hand-loomed cotton clothing, hand-crafted gemstone jewelry, and natural bath and body products reflect Shirly’s ambitious vision for her store.

Shirly eschews the mass-marketing logic of consumerism.  She believes people should invest a little more in a few high quality, long-lasting goods, instead of continously buying more and more to meet consumerism-driven needs.  “You change into living a life where you don’t need much, and instead just enjoy using what you do have,” she explains.

Zendegi, which means “life” in Farsi, aims to express this belief.  The store carries a variety of organic cotton clothes – pants, skirts, dresses, camisoles, etc. – that exceed common industry standards for “organic-ness.”  Although organic cotton avoids the heavy pesticides of conventionally grown cotton (a plus for both the ecosystem and our health!), even “organic” products can contain up to five percent non-organic content.  Dyes, for instance, are not organic, even if they are natural, vegetable-based colors.  Zendegi’s clothes are all a natural white (at least for the meantime.  Shirly plans to experiment this summer with an Indian dying method that uses special bacteria to set colors from flowers and vegetables).

“I think in a country like Israel it’s very important because of the heat, and the sun, and the summer – we sweat so much!” Shirly emphasizes.  “We need clothes that absorb our sweat without the chemicals.”

Sustainability and health concerns aside, Shirly also points out the high quality of Zendegi’s wares.  Hand loomed cotton is a bit open, so when it is washed the fibers cling together, making the garment softer and fluffier every time.  And although other stores in Tel Aviv like Cotton and Katanchic are beginning to hop on the organic bandwagon, Zendegi is still the only store to offer a hand-loomed selection.

According to Shirly, Zendegi, which opened in 2008, is still a work in progress.  She hopes that, “one day Zendegi will be a center where people can come and either buy what they need – clothes, cosmetics, shoes, all the elementary stuff – all natural, all fair trade, and they will know it’s good quality, it’s been made under fair trade.  That everything that’s been promised to them is true.”

:: Zendegi

More on organic cotton in Israel and the Middle East:
Abdulla Carries Natural, Organic Textiles in the Heart of Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar
Cotton’s Organic Clothes are Soft on the Environment
No Sweat Apparel’s Organic Ts Help Bring Peace to the Middle East

Habitat ’67 was a model for sustainable village living, in the city. Based on the model city Haifa, does it translate to the Middle East today?

We recently profiled Moshe Safdie’s LEED certified Peace Building as a call to bring more sustainable building to the Middle East. In it, we briefly mentioned Habitat, Safdie’s debut project, which was also his Master Thesis for McGill University.  Built for the 1967 World Fair in Montreal, we wondered whether this controversial cube complex, conceived long before today’s flurry of climate concerns, could enhance other Middle Eastern development projects such as REAL Housing in the Negev Desert in Israel.

The scaled-down village

Habitat ’67 is a thirteen level housing complex comprised of 354 modular construction units making up 158 houses.  Each of these, molded with precast concrete, is 38’6” x 17’6” x 10’ high and can be put together in 20 different combinations ranging from 600sq ft single roomed units to 1700sq ft four bedroom homes.

The top eleven floors consist of housing, the second floor shelters a pedestrian plaza complete with walkways and bridges, while parking facilities and a road system connecting the service areas are on the ground level.  One family’s roof is another family’s garden.

Creating a garden was an extension of the greater plan to make apartment habitation more like life outside the city.  The young graduate modeled Habitat as an affordable, egalitarian housing unit reminiscent of Arab villages and the hills of Haifa, where he was born and raised. He hoped that his design would give families a sense of belonging, identity, and individuality often lacking in crude block apartments sprouting elsewhere.

Habitat should have been a village for 5,000 residents, but the World Fair treasury balked at the idea and the original design was scaled down to 1/6^th of its planned size.  Safdie’s village would have included shops, services, a school, and a clinic, and the high population density would have kept rents affordable.  Instead, according to Pierre Berton, because the treasury minimized Safdie’s project, residents feel isolated from amenities and only the wealthy can afford the high rent prices.

Is concrete sustainable?

Sustainable Cities considers pre-fabricated housing to be one of five feasible approaches to city building, which puts Habitat in good standing.  However, though concrete is more sustainable than steel, according to tests conducted by the University of Illinois, mining, heating, and breaking down concrete can be energy intensive.

Concrete is also a mediocre insulator and heat conductor, even though its large thermal mass enables it to store energy efficiently.  So, while we think that Safdie’s original plan could be re-visited as a decent model for urban housing in the Middle East, the actual complex, which is neither affordable nor necessarily sustainable, is less than ideal.

::Habitat 67 website

Read more on green building::
AECOM Teams Up with Ellerbe Beckett to Create More Sustainable Building In The Middle East
Can “Green Cities” Like Masdar Translate in Abu Dhabi?
Bring Moshe Safdie’s Green Building to the Middle East

We never thought to use tehina in baking, but this recipe produces the most meltingly delicious cookies you can imagine. If you’re looking for ways to use up your flour before the Jewish Passover holiday coming up, try them. It takes only 25 minutes and six steps from raw ingredients to placing them in the cookie jar. Advice: hide a few for yourself before they disappear.

Tehina Cookies Recipe
Yield: about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

200 grams soft margarine
1 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup tehina. If there’s a layer of oil floating on top of the jar, stir in back in.
2 cups plus 4 Tblsp. flour
1 tsp. baking powder
Optional: 2 Tblsp. pine nuts and powdered sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 160 C – 325 F.

1. Cream the margarine and the sugar together.

2. Add the vanilla and the tehina and blend again.

3. Combine the flour and the baking powder; add to the tehina mixture.

4. Form balls the size of walnuts and place them on a greased baking sheet. The dough is dry and crumbly, so squeeze it together to make the balls.

If adding the optional pine nuts, do it like this: form one cookie ball; take 2 or 3 pine nuts into your left palm, and with your right hand, press the ball onto them. Reverse it onto the baking sheet. If the ball crumbles slightly, just squeeze it back into shape with your fingertips.

Bake for 13-15 minutes. Do not bake longer. The cookies need a little moisture to retain their shape and not crumble. Cool the baking tray on a rack, and don’t touch the cookies for at least 5 minutes. If they’re handled while hot, they will fall apart.

Dust with powdered sugar when they’re cool.

Enjoy!

Other green-inspired recipes you’ll enjoy:

Photo of Tehina Cookies by Miriam Kresh