Dr. Gotlieb comments on the disastrous effects of the oil spill in the US Gulf of Mexico and the dangers it portends for Israel’s emerging oil industry. In a New York Times article entitled Our Fix-It Faith and the Oil Spill published this week, Elisabeth Rosenthal writes that “Americans have long had an unswerving belief […]
This Gulf of Mexico oil spill may make Exxon Valdez seem like child’s play. Image via MNN The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, is already being referred to by many as “President Obama’s Katrina.” The ongoing spill, a direct result of an explosion on an offshore oil drilling platform has resulted in […]
Scientists seek to solve the mystery of disappearing coral in Abu Dhabi. Bring in Inspector Clouseau! It doesn’t take a whole lot of common sense to figure this one out: you build monolithic structures and artificial islands on a fragile seashore along the Persian Gulf, have oil tankers pulling petrochemicals from the land which leaks […]
Green Prophet has reported on the research of Dr. Salit Kark a couple of months ago. I went on to interview her, and here’s a story about our conversation and her research that aims to save billions in conservation efforts in the unique Middle East region. An Israeli researcher is playing a leading role in […]
David de Rothschild finally sets sail on his recycled bottle boat, Plastiki. English banking family scion David de Rothschild and his crew are already 8 days out to sea in the much heralded Plastiki sail boat made almost entirely out of recycled plastic material, including 1,200 gas filled plastic bottles. And David is sending followers […]
The end of the line of the bluefin tuna in Japan? A Doha, Qatar conference proposes a ban on fishing. The verdict: defeat for the ban and the tuna. At the recent CITES Agreement conference in Doha Qatar, a proposal to ban commercial fishing for the Atlantic bluefin tuna, a prized delicacy in Japan, was […]
Raw sewage seeping off Beirut coastline, and dump trucks heading straight for the sea, is the “catch of the day” in Lebanon. Marine pollution in Lebanon is becoming so severe these days that local fishermen are catching more garbage in their nets than fish. An article on thenews site Inter Press Service said that Lebanon’s […]
e-GEO satellite monitoring of Dubai’s Palm Island. Can technology protect the endangered Persian Gulf? Saudi Arabia’s fragile desert and coastal environments will now get “help from above,” thanks to an initiative by a group of Saudi Arabian and European partners (GAF AG and e-GEOS) who have completed a project to implement and provide satellite-based environmental information […]
Projects like Dubai’s “The World” will cause untold damage of shoreline erosion and habitat loss. So do modern ports, threatening endangered species. But there are solutions, says US expert. Coastal waters are evolutionary hotspots, says Jerry Berne, a shoreline expert from the NGO Sustainable Shorelines in the US. Based in Charlotte, NC, USA, Berne is […]
Getting close to his subject: marine biologist Prof. Zvy Dubinsky hopes to understand the changes global warming will cause to the world’s delicate coral reefs. A new EU grant will give the corals a chance. Israeli marine biologist Zvy Dubinksy is worried. Coral reefs all over the world – from the Great Barrier Reef in […]
The Templar palace ruins in Akko (Acre), one of the sites where a geo-archaeological study was carried out. New research finds that short-term rising and falling of sea levels may not say much about global warming patterns. Rising sea level, one of many climate change-related phenomena expected to occur in the coming years, is a […]
Dolphins “trawling” behind fishermen’s trawling nets are getting snared at sea. If you love fish, there is nothing like catch from the Mediterranean Sea. But extensive commercial fishing, a new study finds, is endanging the sea’ dolphin populations. This has been shown in a new study carried out at the University of Haifa’s Department of […]
Tevel b’Tzedek, an Israeli-based non-governmental organization, defines itself as being “dedicated to creating a new generation of Israeli and international Jews engaged in social and environmental justice by offering them a direct experience of the developing world through study and service internships.” One of their most recent service internships, in the Dunwa Rai fishermen’s community […]
Everything’s dead at the Dead Sea; even bikes that get left behind. It’s pretty shocking when you are out there to see for yourself how this world’s natural wonder is shrinking year by year. It makes you want to scream. Here are some pictures from my visit to the Dead Sea about 6 weeks ago. […]
New efforts to get smokers to butt out in special ashtrays at the beach in Tel Aviv look all for naught. The City of Tel Aviv has made a stellar offer to help its resident smoking addicts (about 3/4 of the city) to stop butting out at the beach. A recent walk along the North […]