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Dozens of Lebanese seeking new opportunities in Australia lost their lives when a boat carrying them from an island in Indonesia capsized. While the Phoenicians were known to be adventuring traders and daring seafarers roaming throughout the world, their descendants are fleeing their sinking homeland in search for stability and better living conditions. ...more |
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"Sustainable Energy" is the sixth annual report of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) on the state of Arab environment. It is released at a time of decisive transformations across the Arab region. So how can a regional organization dedicated to environment adapt to the bitter reality in an area where more than half the population witness revolts and uprisings? It appears almost impossible to implement an environmental agenda in a region whose inhabitants struggle for survival and are totally uncertain about their future. ...more |
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Edgar Choueiri, Princeton University plasma physicist, questioned how the Arabs could become full and equal partners with those who shape the world’s economy, security and future, if they remain just consumers of science and technology rather than producers. ...more |
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As hundreds of tons of radioactive water were leaking from the wrecked Japanese Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant hit by the tsunami in 2011, thousands of people were being killed by chemical weapons on the outskirts of Damascus. ...more |
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Ten weeks after its departure from San Francisco, on the West Coast of the United States, Solar Impulse landed in New York on the East Coast. During many stopovers between the kickoff and final destination, cities were awarded green certificates for supporting eco-friendly technology, and millions visited the plane to have closer look on solar power in action. Earlier in 2012, Solar Impulse initiated its first intercontinental flight, between Spain and Morocco. Although this was not the first long journey for the Swiss explorer Bertrand Piccard in his solar-powered plane, the USA journey was significant in a country deeply divided on energy options. ...more |
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If you think that our Arab societies have bypassed the complex of “the first”, “the tallest” and “the greatest”, then you are wrong. It seems that the illusionary culture of size rather than content and serious work has wide following. ...more |
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The earthquake that struck the Iranian Bushehr province in April 2013 reminded us of the nuclear reactor at Bushehr, and raised concerns about possible radioactive leakages. Such fears were to be expected, just two years after the nuclear disaster caused by the tsunami in Fukushima. ...more |
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My friend, the minister of oil in a rich state, is permanently optimistic. He believes that the warnings about pollution, depletion of resources and climate change are exaggerated; and consequently sees no need for modifying the development trends in his country in response to the depletion of resources and the limitations of the regenerative capacity of ecosystems, in an already fragile setting. '' We have the money to purchase whatever we need and is lacking in our country”, he says. ...more |
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Climate change was one of the most important subjects in President Barack Obama’s second State of the Union address: “We will respond to the threat of climate change, knowing that the failure to do so would betray our children and future generations… the path towards sustainable energy sources will be long and sometimes difficult, but America cannot resist this transition; we must lead it.” ...more |
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The findings of the 2012 Annual Report of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED), Survival Options and Ecological Footprint of Arab Countries, were as stunning and alarming as the footprint image that covered the report’s front page as well as the backdrop of the plenary hall at AFED’s annual conference. ...more |
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