Green Prophet

Islam’s ban on alcohol and how it’s applied

World Cup fans in Qatar are bummed about the alcohol ban. We explore my alcohol and Islam don’t mix. Those attending the World Cup 2022 in Qatar may be culture-shocked into learning that alcohol is banned in Muslim countries. Of course some exceptions do exist for foreigners and for Muslims who can find their own speak-easies.  Why don’t Muslims drink alcohol is an old question we’ve had on Green…

Make a conscious click through a Connected Butterfly

A new app helps consumers and stakeholders trace ESG policies and practices of luxury goods You might not know the name Positive Luxury, the firm, but if you’ve ever bought luxury, sustainable goods, you will know the mark: a small butterfly, with Butterfly Certified Mark written on it clearly. Like an organic trade association that certifies your coffee is grown under fair trade practices, the…

Food waste activism art from Israel

An Israeli artist demonstrates against food waste through snail mail and an elaborate feast he created from food bin waste Love letters to unrequited loves or appeals to companies may usually seem like a one-way conversation. That’s what Nitsan Mayost, a student at the Bezalel Arts Academy in Jerusalem documents as he uncovers scandalous amounts of food waste near a supermarket called Shufersal,…

Lebanon and the time of cholera

Cholera in Lebanon. In Bebnine, Akkar district, northern Lebanon October 28, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir Cholera always sounds like an epidemic of the past, yet we hinted about the rise of cholera and climate change more than 10 years ago. Now, we are seeing the effects of climate change and drought in Syria and Lebanon. Cholera is becoming a public health emergency in Lebanon and Syria as the…

Labne/Labaneh added to official French dictionary

Labane is delicious for breakfast, served with warm pita and olive oil Le Petit Robert, the popular single-volume French dictionary, has added the word “labné”, also pronounced as “labneh” or “labaneh” to its latest 2023 edition. A civil war in Lebanon in 1975 drove hundreds of thousands of french-speaking Arab Lebanese to France, and of course they brought their delicious food traditions with…

An Italian architecture firm has presented a Vertical Forest skyscraper plan for Dubai. The same firm built the two towers of Bosco Verticale in Milan. Vertical Forest Dubai, rendering by Stefano Boeri Architetti We love the idea of green walls and vertical gardens. And they always look so amazing on architectural renderings. Green walls and plants and trees give so much comfort to people who can…

Mayor offers $6 dead dog bounty in Hebron

Pickup of dead dogs, Tulkarm, West Bank. Locals from this town had plans to pile them up and send them to the Hebron mayor who offered $30 for 5 dogs, or about $6 each.   The first Sunday in November the mayor of Hebron in the West Bank, Palestinian Authority, offered 20 shekels, or about $6 USD to any person who kills a stray dog and who hands it over to the authorities in Hebron. His city is…

Aerobic exercise bother prevents and "eats" cancer, starving it from much needed glucose

Aerobic exercise bother prevents and “eats” cancer, starving it from much needed glucose Running, jogging, fast walking. Tennis. Aikido, Judo or basketball: A new study found that aerobic exercise can reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by 72%. According to the researchers at Tel Aviv University, intensity aerobic exercise increases the sugar consumption of internal organs, thereby reducing the…

Ancient comb bears some advice about lice

“May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.” Visit the Holy Land today be warned: you might come home with a case of the lice. Warm weather and large families, sometimes 4 kids to a room, make for the perfect conditions for head lice. The problems of today aren’t much different from the past it seems. An ancient comb, bearing the oldest Canaanite sentence, was found in an ancient…

Mushrooms unite! Israeli Mush unites Quorn and more

Quorn and companies around the world united by mushrooms, and Mush Mush Foods, an Israeli foodtech startup which pioneered a way to cultivate mycelium mushrooms, a sustainable protein for food, has teamed up with several fungi fermentation companies from abroad to form a new international trade association: The Fungi Protein Association (FPA).   The FPA will represent the interests of its member…

Historical tourism begins in AlUla, Saudi Arabia

       Since Saudi Arabia’s prince and prime minister decided to expand Saudi Arabia’s tourism to include westerners, desert and historical tourism was top of the list. One of the main attractions of Saudi Arabia, to rival Jordan’s Petra, will be Alula, Al-Ula, or confusingly spelt in English as AlUla. The Saudi ruler, crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman wants Saudi Arabia to…

All electric passenger plane from Israel sees over $2B USD in pre-orders

  Electric airplane stocks should be going up with this news: Eviation Aircraft, an Israeli-American venture of for an all-electric aircraft, announced this week that it has surpassed $2 billion USD in orders for its 9-seater all-electric Alice airplane.  The all-electric airplane is intended for commuter distances of no more than 3 hours of flight. But you have to start somewhere. Safer than a…

Desert kites are mega hunting traps of the ancients

Ancient man built elaborate hunting traps, and worked collaboratively. These are desert kites found in Jordan, in the Middle East. Hunting season is in November in Canada and those looking to trap or entice a deer onto their property might get a kick out of knowing how the ancients did it. They used desert kites, or a sort of mega-trap to catch their prey. The structures seen from up high in the…