The one-day conference was held in the American Jewish Committee’s Jerusalem headquarters in Beit Moses, and included speakers such as Dr. Isaac Berzin, director of  the Herzylia-based Inter Disciplinary Center’s Institute for Renewable Energy. For background reading, Green Prophet has a great story about Berzin’s algae-for-biofuel solution here.

Mr. Hezi Kugler, chairman of the Israel Clean Energy Alliance mentioned in a previous Green Prophet article dealing with the 2009 Eilat Renewable Energy Conference, was also featured in regards to his contributions in the field of renewable energy.

The conference was timed to occur jointly with the Jewish Response to the Energy Challenge conference occurring in San Francisco, California, in which a number of Israeli and American clean tech projects are being displayed.

The keynote address, given by Dr. Berzin entitled “Assuming leadership in the post oil world” dealt with countries whose renewable energy would be advanced enough to make them key players in a world where oil will no longer be considered as a key energy source. He also showed participants his video, which made a showing on Green Prophet. You can see his video here: We call it pollution, they call it gourmet food. Berzin has a $100 million algae biofuel reactor project now in place in Arizona. He is akin to being a rock star in the clean technology sector.

Stressing the meeting as a Jewish event, a heated panel discussion followed, dealing with manners in which Israel and the US will help preserve each other’s national security through cooperation in renewable energy projects, particularly solar energy, now involving companies like BrightSource.

Israel and the US entered into a joint renewable energy agreement at the 2009 Eilat Renewable Energy Conference with the purpose of creating a renewable energy storage initiative to reduce dependence on oil and other fossil fuels. As more renewable energy projects are created, less reliance will be needed on fossil fuels; which may eventually begin to reverse some of the problems caused by global warming.

Photo via Isaac Berzin

::Jpost

Green Prophet is delighted to be teaming up today worldwide with Eco Libris, an environmentally friendly green printing company, and their Green Books campaign. Eco Libris is run by Israeli  Raz Godelnik, and has been featured on Green Prophet here where we interviewed Raz.

The campaign plans 100 reviews of green themed books around the world on blogs and websites. Further information about the campaign and links to other reviews is via this campaign Green Books campaign link.

Now onto our review of Daniel Wildcat’s new book:

“Hopefulness resides with the peoples who continue to find their identities emerge out of what I call a nature-culture nexus, a symbiotic relationship that recognises the fundamental connectedness and relatedness of human communities and societies to the natural environment….This Red Alert expresses a desire for urgent action based on respectful attentiveness. This Red Alert is about hope, not fear.”

Daniel Wildcat is a Native American scholar and activist. he is of the Yuchi and Muscogee tribes, and is currently the director of the American Indian studies programme and the Haskell Environmental Research studies centre at Haskell Indian Nations University in Lawrence, Kansas.

His new book, ‘Red Alert! Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge’ is a powerful call both to action against climate change, but first to listening to and engaging with indigenous peoples.

He powerfully makes the case that indigenous or First Nation communities have suffered many times through appropriation of their land and resources, and it is this physical and cultural colonization that is largely responsible for the environmental crisis humankind has brought upon ourselves. His message is clear: human society needs to move out of the “ecological amnesia” as he calls it, which many of us have become so fascinated by, and listen to those who really have lived on and with the land closely.

Defining Indigenous peoples as “peoples or nations who take their tribal identities as members of the human species from the landscapes and seascapes that gave them their unique tribal cultures”, Wildcat is clear that he is not writing here for archeologists or anthropologists, but for those who genuinely believe that the way that most of us live has caused the change in climate, and yet the solutions to this do lie somewhere within human knowledge and experience.

Within chapters titled ‘The truth is not inconvenient – it is deadly,’ and ‘After progress: a reexamination of traditional technologies,’ Wildcat unveils some of the wisdom or truths that Indigenous peoples have. There is much discussion of the need for a meeting place between cultures to take responsibility, both for resource depletion and for past actions against Indigenous peoples, such as removal of children to ‘off reservation schools’.

“So the cold and the culture that it made: it gave us the characteristics of ingenuity, adaptability, belief and persistence. My clothing, my shelter, my food, and my technology were all engendered by the cold – and it is a very simple technology, and the technology that is best kept in the mind.”

- Angayuqaq Oscar Kawagley (Yupiaq) from a speech at the ‘Impact of Changing Environments on Indigenous Peoples’ symposium, 2006.

It is an uncovering and tangible acknowledgement of the problems that exist that Wildcat is, I think, striving for here, and though his focus in this book is on Native American tribes and land claims, most readers will have awareness of the existence of Indigenous peoples elsewhere, be they so-called travellers or gypsies in Ireland and England (where I’m writing this from), the Inuit in Canada and the North Western Territories, the Roma throughout Hungary and Europe, or the Bedouin of Israel’s Negev desert and the rest of the Arabian Peninsula.

I’m aware that a group of activists from the Beaver Lake Cree Nation is currently in the UK, touring and speaking where they can against the rapid expansion of tar sand developments that threaten their land in Alberta, Canada.

This is a new development in climate/indigenous activism, though it has been prompted by the threat of expulsion from the land, and witnessing the animals, fish, plants and medicine that share it being polluted and destroyed. A major UK bank has donated £80,000 to support this campaign, which is also a unique development. Lets hope this partnership brings some success.

“Indigenous knowledges, as the ancient traditions of many peoples around the planet remind us, reside in the land, in the life that constitutes the ecologies in which we participate, and dwells within the earth’s environments.”

This is an important, even urgent book. Wildcat communicates some of his message – and that of all Indigenous peoples clearly. Sometimes he nudges the reader toward something more mystical or metaphoric, for we know (and he guides us to know) that some of this knowledge is elusive and bound up within the elements of the landscape, in an ever present exchange between people and planet. Wildcat is an honoured guide to action.

To watch a short video of author Daniel R. Wildcat speaking, click here on Wildcat video (it also includes further information about this book).

His book, ‘Red Alert! Saving the Planet with Indigenous Knowledge’ is published by Fulcrum Publishing, USA (www.fulcrumbooks.com) and it is printed in Canada on recycled paper, hence its being included in Eco libris Green Books Campaign.

Many thanks to Erin Palmiter at Fulcrum for the book, Susan Newman for the Green Books Campaign logo (above), and of course to our friend Raz Godelnik, CEO of Eco Libris. Support the campaign and buy these truly green books! There are 100 books being reviewed today on 100 websites and blogs.

This is truly the future of literacy, reading, and green information technology!

Which is why the future threat of water scarcity in the region is not only an environmental concern, but a scary political scenario as well.  Water scarcity in a geographic area notorious for lack of cooperation could easily develop into a water war.

But not everyone sees this problem as a recipe for violence.  Some see it as an opportunity for peace.

Enter the idea of hydro-diplomacy.

Fadi Comair, the Director General of the Ministry of Energy and Water (MEW) in Lebanon recently wrote a book on the subject titled “Water Management and Hydro-Diplomacy in the Middle East” which suggests that the waters of the Jordan River Basin should be equitably managed by a single, multinational water authority.

Comair concluded his book with optimism, writing that since water is a mutual necessity that can foster greater cooperation, it “will then be the force of understanding for the application of a ‘peace culture’ in the Middle East.”

Professor Hussein Amery from the Colorado School of Mines in the United States and Professor Aaron Wolf from Oregon State University are also hopeful about the possibilities for hydro-diplomacy and jointly published a book titled “Water in the Middle East: A Geography of Peace” (2000).

The dedication in that book summarizes their positive outlook and the authors’ personal hopes as reflected in their joint project: “To our children, Hisham and Yardena, Laila and Eitan, in the hopes that the day will come soon when they can picnic on the banks of the Litani, then spend the afternoon boating on the Sea of Galilee.”

Couldn’t have said it any better.

:: Daily Star

Read more about diplomacy and the environment:

It’s the Water That Binds Us, Alexandra Cousteau Finds

Selling a Vision of Hope to Advance Clean Technology and Peace in the Middle East

Advertising itself as Israel’s first food-focused conference, “Mazon Le-Machshava” or food for thought, opens in the Tel Aviv port next Thursday, November 19.

In addition to a Top Chef-style cookdown to produce the tastiest meal with the lowest carbon footprint, the conference also promises conversations about farming, energy and water.

It taps into a growing trend – organic farming has a following not only in Israel, but also in the West Bank and Jordan.

The featured speaker is Ruth Ozeki, author of “My Year of Meats” (1998), about two women living in Japan and America and connecting over a TV cooking show.

Sponsors include the Heschel Center, the Arava Institute, the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Tel Aviv University.

The conference costs a recommended 80 shekels for Thursday, and extra for tours and workshops held on Friday, November 20th.

You can register and pay online, and it seems if you can’t pay the full freight, you can choose how much to contribute. For more info, go to foodforthought.org.il, or email kenes.mazon@gmail.com.

If the cost of human life isn’t enough for our species to understand, the UN has issued a report on enforcing the laws in place to protect the environment during conflict.

Precious desert lilies plowed over by tanks, chemicals whose potency lingers on land and in aquifers for generations after killing wildlife in one fell swoop, and marine devastation by oil spills are just some of the negative environmental effects of conflict we can expect today in the Middle East — where the old saying still applies: all’s fair in love and war.

But should it be so? Launched on November 6, what the United Nations calls the “International Day for Preventing the Exploitation of the Environment in War and Armed Conflict,” the UN says that strengthening, enforcing and clarifying existing laws protecting environment in times of conflict could go a long way towards protecting a country’s natural assets during wars.

While laws in place such as “Additional Protocol I” to the Geneva Conventions do address environmental protection, their wording remains too “stringent and imprecise” it says.

The experts from the UN recommend that greater precision could be adopted, so that the threshold for environmental damage would be defined as severe environmental impacts over several hundred square kilometers and damage that persists for a period of several months or over a season.

Other recommendations include a new legal instrument that will ‘demilitarize’ and protect important locations and economically central ecosystems such as groundwater aquifers, agricultural and grazing lands, parks, national forests and habitats of endangered species.

“At the outset of any conflict, critical natural resources and areas of ecological importance would be delineated and designated as ‘demilitarized zones” says the report, Protecting the Environment during Armed Conflict: An Inventory and Analysis of International Law. You can download the UN environment report here PDF.

The report, based on the expertise of 20 leading legal specialists, also underlines pressing new legal challenges.

International law regulating warfare was developed in an era of state-to-state conflicts.

Today the overwhelming majority of conflicts are internal, meaning that many environmental provisions – weak or otherwise – are not applicable, they write.

In a message released last week, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon says: “I call on Member States to clarify and expand law on environmental protection in times of war. Existing legal instruments should be adapted to reflect the predominantly internal nature of today’s armed conflicts”.

Achim Steiner the UN Environment Programme Executive Director (who reads Green Prophet) said: “Destroying and damaging the natural assets and ecological infrastructure of a country or community should be an issue of highest humanitarian concern. The loss of freshwaters and grazing lands to croplands and forests not only leads to direct suffering, but also undermines the survival, the livelihoods and the opportunities for people to recover during and after a conflict.

“I therefore welcome this report, which is among the most comprehensive legal assessment of its kind, as well as its recommendations. I hope it will spur the international community to bring a modern perspective to bear on enforcing, clarifying and enhancing existing laws while focusing on the outstanding and emerging legal gaps linked with armed conflict,” he added.

The report calls on the UN General Assembly to request the International Law Commission to carry out a review of the existing laws relating to the environment and conflict.

A permanent UN body, perhaps under the UN General Assembly or the Security Council, to monitor violations and process compensation for environmental damage may be necessary.

The report also calls for the international community to consider strengthening the Permanent Court of Arbitration to address disputes related to environmental damage during armed conflict.

It suggests that the coming year offers an opportunity to progress these legal issues, for example during the First Review Conference of the International Criminal Court State, which will be held in Kampala, Uganda in June 2010.

“Environmental protection should be considered during the First Review Conference of the International Criminal Court Statute in 2010,” adds the report.

Strategic Foresight Group Reports on the Environmental Cost of Middle East Conflicts
Environmental Impacts of War With Gaza
Israel Defense Force Bases Pollute Land and Water

Image via theresnowayhome

The Gulf Environment Forum – the first comprehensive environmental conference and exhibition to take place in the Persian Gulf region – has been planned and is going to take place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on March 7-9, 2010.  The forum is being held under the patronage of HRH Prince Turki bin Nasser bin Abdulazziz, the Chairman of the Presidency of Meteorology and Environment.  It is also being supported by the United Nations Environment Programme and the GCC union of chambers of commerce and industries.

The forum will focus on a variety of environmental issues, including: sustainable development, water, clean energy, recycling, e-waste, carbon trading, industrial wastes treatment, air pollution, coastal protection, bio-system and nature preservation, climate change, studies and consulting, and legal framework and policies.

The program for the conference aspect of the forum has not yet been published, but according to the forum’s website it will invite delegates to participate in dynamic, interactive discussion panels.  The website also notes the economic benefits of attending the conference – delegates will have the opportunity to network with top executives, better understand important issues within the market, learn about new movement in the sector from industry experts, and develop new contacts.

The industry exhibition will be another one of the economic benefits of attending the forum (which may be the best incentive yet to get regional companies to pay attention to the environment).  Companies and professionals that are involved in a variety of environmental areas (such as air and climate, energy and renewables, environmental management, soil and groundwater, monitoring and testing, sustainable development, waste and recycling, and waste and wastewater) will be able to exhibit their products and concepts at the Jeddah Hilton hotel as part of the forum.

Interested in participating in the forum?  You can register online to participate in the conference or email alain (at) bme-global (dot) com to book your stand for the industry exhibition.  Check out the forum’s website for more information if you’d like to be a sponsor.

:: Gulf Environment Forum

Read more green news about Saudi Arabia::
Swine Flu and Other Challenges of Hajj Pilgrimage to Saudi Arabia in 2009
The World’s Poorest Protest Saudi Arabia’s Obstructionist Role in Climate Change Negotiations
Saudi Arabia’s KAUST University is Eco-friendly Environment for Fueling Academic Progress

As the annual Hajj or pilgrimage to the Muslim holy sites of Mecca and Medina draw near, the question once again is whether the Saudi government can adequately deal with more than 3 + million pilgrims that are expected to make the pilgrimage and festival of Eid el-Adha (Festival of the Sacrifice) this year. Especially in light of diseases such as the global H1N1 influenza pandemic which is now a world-wide concern to UN and other international health officials.

The problem of how to cope with the strain that this mass of humanity puts on the Saudi health and sanitation authorities is bad enough in a normal season; but this year may be especially trying to cope with the H1N1 virus, otherwise known as swine flu, that returning pilgrims who may be infected could take back with them to their home countries.

After all, this situation is a bit more worrisome than when the virus originally broke out in Mexico last winter when tourists returning from holidays there infected others after arriving home.

In this case, the environmental implications of this annual pilgrimage is a challenging one indeed, especially for health officials and encironmentalists; and this year will be even more so.  The Saudi Authorities have been preparing for the event by beefing up the health care facilities that will be in place once the pilgrims arrive.

Arriving pilgrims will be given face masks, sanitizing hand gel, and  will be checked for fevers and other symptoms of the disease.

The Saudi Health Ministry, with help from the American Center for  Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia,  is setting up an emergency operations  command center at the Hajj site in Mecca to be able to monitor various diseases, including H1N1. “It’s an advance warning system,” said the CDC’s Dr. Shahul Ebrahim, who will be working along with Dr. Ziad Memish, the Saudi Deputy Health Minister , to monitor the on-site situation during the week-long pilgrimage.

The Saudi Health Ministry has seven hospitals and 75 field health care centers, staffed with around 10,000 health service employees, in the areas where the pilgrimage rituals will conducted.  But due to the concerns over N1H1 and other contagious diseases these facilities are to be increased.

It’s not only concern about diseases that creates an annual problem for this event which, along with the world Muslim population in general, seems to be growing in numbers of participants each year. Just getting there can be an even more challenging experience than “stoning the devil” or drinking from the Holy Waters of Zam-Zam,  which by Islamic tradition are the waters that Hagar and Ishmail were given by God  (Allah) to drink from.

In a previous Green Prophet article, it was noted that a new fast train between Riyadh and Meccah is being planned which should ease the congestion of the thousands of busses and other vehicles which crowd the already congested roads leading to the Hajj sites, as well as the sites themselves.

Bids for the construction of the railway are being  solicited now, and five major transportation logistics companies, including France’s Alstom, Germany’s Siemens, and South Korea’s Samsung C & T are expected to bid on the project that will be begin to be constructed in 2012. When completed, the rail line will link up the holy sites of Mecca and Medina, which will be great help to ease the traffic congestion, as well as the pollution caused by so many vehicles.

But this is at least 6 years down the line, and in the meantime, only road vehicles can ferry the millions of pilgrims in and out of the Hajj holy sites.

With so many people coming to this location, the sanitation aspects, including mountains of trash, human wastes and garbage that will have to be dealt with and removed, these annual events are a health care worker’s and environmentalist’s nightmare. But this does not discourage the faithful from performing a rite that is part of the Five Pillars of Islam and is required to be done at least once during a person’s lifetime. We can only hope that in light of this year’s concerns, the Hajj ritual will be carried out with the least problems as possible, especially in light of the H1N1 pandemic.

A safe holiday to all.

Al Gore, who barely lost (or won) the US Presidential election in November 2000, and vowed never to return to US political life, appears to have come out a winner for not doing so. The former Vice President for 8 years under the Clinton Administration decided to devote his time afterwards to teaching as well as making the world aware of the dangers of global warming, a warning that has been noted several times on Green Prophet, including a more recent article tying global warming and climate change with what is happening in the Middle East.

Gore’s efforts to make the inhabitants of our planet more aware of what fossil fuels and other man-made polluters are causing must have rubbed off on some people, as it has resulted in Gore being honored and awarded a number of acclaims and prizes, including an Academy Award in February, 2007, from the Hollywood film industry for his documentary film: An Inconvenient Truth, that paints a sobering a graphic picture of what is happening to this planet thanks to its human inhabitants. 

This honor was followed a few months later with Gore and the UN sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change , jointly winning the 2007  Nobel Peace Prize. Gore was also honored in Israel less than a year later, in July 2008, with an award from the Dan David Foundation  for alerting the world to the dangers of overuse of fossil fuels.

So as it has worked out, it appears that the best thing that has happened to the former Vice President was actually losing the Presidency; for had he become the 43^rd US President, it’s most likely that Gore would not have become so involved with his environmental crusades as he simply would have been too busy dealing with the aftermath of the “9-11 terror attacks” which would have taken place during his “watch”.

Since the filming and release of his documentary movie, and being awarded the Nobel Prize, a lot of money has come Al Gore’s way, with a great deal of it going to a foundation he set up, known as the Alliance for Climate Protection , founded in 2006, and today has more than 5 million members worldwide. The New York Times says that his green stocks are up and Gore’s made a killing from clean tech investments.

Beyond investment interests, his foundation works with a number of affiliate organizations to find solutions to the problems of climate change and global warming in ways that “diversifies and strengthens the global network of concerned individuals who want to take action now on climate issues”.

Just who is against Mr. Gore and what he is trying to do to save the planet? A lot of  business interests and organizations, for one, who are connected to the fossil fuel industries (oil companies in particular), and who have hired a large group to research scientists to try to disprove Gore’s theories that it is petroleum, coal, and other fossil fuels (including natural gas, by the way) that many say are greatly responsible for the present state of the world’s environment.

For Gore’s part, these allegations of his profiteering from his environmental crusades haven’t affected him that much, since he considers the matter of global warming “not as a political issue but as a moral, ethical, and spiritual one”.

Gore himself is a religious man, belonging to the Southern Baptist Church. He was presented with the Baptist of the Year Award in January 2008, for his efforts on behalf of the environment.

Mr. Gore may never have gotten to occupy the Oval Office (except during a skit he was involved in for an episode of Saturday Night Live); but it now appears that he wound up being a bigger winner by losing the Presidency. And taking everything that has happened to him into account since the events of November/December 2000, he has come out much better than that “other guy”  who did sit there for 8 years, critics et al.

What do you think? Should Gore profit from the environment?

Photo via the Baptist Press

A severe water shortage in Syria is forcing farmers to look for alternative means of livelihood but the drought’s impact doesn’t end with the crops.

Around a quarter of a million Syrian farmers have been forced to abandon their land over the last two years following three years of drought and failed crops. It’s one of the worst water crises in recent years with residents in Damascus and other major cities putting up with periodical water cuts during off-peak hours.

The crisis is not only the result of several years of below average rainfall but also the rising needs of a growing population, in a country with more than 20 million people and an estimated growth rate of 2.1%.

Syria’s main sources of water are the Euphrates River, the Tigris River, the Orontes River and ground water. Syria’s economy relies heavily on agricultural export, a strategy which is being called into question by experts.

“Syria has previously, and is still, subsidizing wheat production to quite an extent,” said Dr. Anders Jagerskog, project director at the Stockholm International Water Institute. “But this is getting increasingly impossible to uphold, because more people need to be fed by agricultural produce and water is needed in other sectors as well.”

Almost a fifth of the country’s GDP is made up of agricultural output and the declining yield is having a knock on effect on the rest of the economy. Syrian officials estimate that up until a few years ago, almost 90% of Syria’s water supply was being invested in agriculture.

Jagerskog said agricultural policies were being reexamined throughout the Middle East to make water conservation more effective, but were encountering obstacles.

“The agricultural lobby in Syria, as in most countries in the Middle East, is forceful, and there is a historic reason at play, in that these countries have traditionally produced most of the foodstuff they need themselves,” he told The Media Line.

“On top of that, there is a security reason. One would not like to rely too much on imported food, especially in this region. You’d like to have food secured by your own supplies.”

It should be noted that Syria is not the only drought victim in the region. Turkey and Iraq are also facing a water crisis, with Iraq blaming the reduced water flows on Turkey and Syria, which has heavily dammed some areas.

In early September, irrigation ministers from the three countries met in Ankara to discuss water shortages and the management of the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers, which run through all three countries.

The discussions came on the backdrop of a diplomatic row between Syria and Iraq over allegations that Syria is harboring terrorists, after suicide truck bombings in Iraq last month killed more than 100 people.

Both Iraq and Syria want Turkey, the upstream country, to increase the flow through its network of dams, but the meeting was said to have ended without any significant results and without a pledge from Turkey to increase water flows.

Walid Saleh, a water expert and regional coordinator for the MENA (Middle East and North African) countries at the United Nations University, said that talks of a major water crisis may be exaggerated and this could be no more than a routine dry cycle.

“In the past few years we’ve noticed the rainy season shifting,” Saleh told The Media Line. “In previous years the rains started in early November and continued until April or May, but recently we’ve seen only a few sporadic rainfalls until December and then in February and March there will be more rainfall. For farmers this is not good news, because if you don’t have the rainfall early in the year, in November and December, then you will have a bad season because wheat and barley need the rain early on.”

In the past, Syria exported wheat to Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, but in 2006 and 2007 Damascus was forced to import wheat.

In order to reverse this, Saleh said, measures should be adapted based on an in-depth analysis of the weather pattern.

“If the rainy system is shifting the way it has in recent years, then maybe [farmers] also have to shift the way they cultivate their land. Instead of sowing seeds in November and waiting till February without rain, the pattern could be shifted to sow the seeds in February just before the rainy season starts.”

But a change in cultivation patterns also has wider security and socio-economic implications.

“The number of people affected in 2007-8 was about one million, this represents people who depend on agriculture, and for whom this is their livelihood. But in addition, the socio-economic dimension has to be taken into consideration. If there is a shift, like importing virtual water by importing wheat, at the end of the day you’re talking about one million people who have lost dependence, this is the only income they have,” he said.

“When a country is forced to meet the demands of its people for wheat and barley, they have no choice but to import, but this is a short-term solution. You meet the demand, yes, but what will you do about employing those people? How will you compensate them? How will you train them to do something else? This takes a huge amount of effort and money and some policies and regulations have to be put in place.”

A Syrian water engineer with extensive experience in the public sector said there have been major changes in the past two years to meet the water demands in the country and change irrigation habits among farmers.

One of the changes is to introduce modern irrigation methods such as drip irrigation, which is more pinpointed and is less wasteful than flooding.

The government is already witnessing a decrease by almost 10% in water used in Syria for agriculture, and the produce yield is higher. The government is giving farmers interest-free loans and offering other financial incentives to use more modern and more economical irrigation methods.

“At present it is not compulsory but we will make it a law,” the engineer said. “We are changing the kinds of crops we grow to ones that don’t consume a lot of water. We’re lessening the amount of cotton irrigated areas and we are only applying our interests to strategic crops like wheat and sugar beet.”

As to desalination, Syria is currently experimenting with desalination on a small scale, though at present, the technology makes a cubic meter of desalinated water too expensive to be worthwhile.

But Saleh says desalination is the only viable alternative for the water industry in the future.

“The whole region is moving in that direction,” he said, “and in a few years we will see more desalination plants in Jordan and the lower parts of Syria. I don’t see any other option. I think that because water is a trans-border resource, regional cooperation is needed to solve the problem of meeting the demands for water, whether for agriculture or for drinking water.”

This article by Rachelle Kliger was republished with permission of The Media Line, the Mideast News Source.

More on drought in Syria:
Syria Suffers Severe Water Shortage
Has Climate Change Killed 160 Syrian Villages? Mass Evacuation
Syria and Jordan’s Dam Will Cut Off Israel’s Supply

Image of Syrian beehive villages by upyernoz

Some people think they’re primitive, but I love them. The hole-in-the-floor Middle East squat toilets can be found in Turkey, Syria, Jordan and Egypt –– and likely in other Middle East countries I’ve yet to visit. They’re used in China too.

Not common in Israel where the standard flush toilet is in use, I recently re-encountered the Middle East toilet in Sinai, Egypt, when staying at a bare bones sort of desert retreat run by Bedouin. (We stayed in huts with no electricity, no running water. No TV, no iPods…)

Contrary to what spoiled westerners might believe, squat toilets are extremely clean, are the answer to the toilet-paper-saving bidet, and in the natural squat position, our bodies are best aligned to the right position when we relieve ourselves. In short, they are environmentally-friendly.

Over in Israel, water-saving buttons on western toilets mean that about half the water is flushed down the drain than what’s used in the US; but when you use a squat toilet (I’ve seen them in peoples’ homes in Syria, not just in public locations), much water is spared from going down the drain.

And you never use toilet paper. You just turn on the spigot to help you wash your private parts, and make sure the area is clean for the next person.

The toilet looks discolored or unclean. What you see is mainly sand and soil residue brought from the outside in.

What’s essential, after the fact, is making sure you clean your hands well with soap and water in a sink; you’ll find that at rest facilities you’ll be handed paper after you leave the lavatory. That’s for drying them.

The view from the toilets looking out to the Red Sea and Saudi Arabia.

At this particular place we were in at Sinai (Kum Kum 3), water runoff from the sinks and showers went to watering plants outside the bathroom areas. A great idea for recycling water at one of the driest places on Earth.

Our bare bones, low-impact desert hut. No running water. No electricity. No air con with nights so hot you feel like you are in a tumble dryer.

To get yourself ready for the squat toilet experience, see a tutorial on YouTube which also suggest ways to strengthen your thighs for maneuvering:

Click here to view the embedded video.

More on green toilet talk:
Your Toilet May Be Overflowing
Green Prophets Start At Home… In The Bathroom
Jordanian Water Campaign Going To The Home

All photos: Karin Kloosterman. Free to use with link back to Green Prophet.