EcoWorldly

Scientists from the University of Haifa have shown that Desert Rhubarb, has evolved to ensure that it makes more of the limited rainfall in the Negev Desert than other competitor plants.

Desert Rhubarb (Rheum palaestinum) grows in Israel and Syria, but was studied in the Negev desert by the University of Haifa. Desert Rhubarb is a perennial hemicryptophyte, that grows during the rainy winter in mountainous desert areas where the average annual rainfall is only 75 mm (just under 3 inches). Read the rest of this entry »

Worldwide there has been a growing solidarity with the people of Iran, and their brave local activism protesting against their increasingly repressive government. Their grassroots movement is gaining support as millions of us across the globe follow their struggles to be heard. This photographic tribute to the Iranian people is accompanied by a partly Farsi cover of the Ben E. King classic “Stand by Me“, which was recorded by Andy Madadian, Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora.

In an exciting effort to protect its natural heritage, the National Environment Protection Agency of Afghanistan has released the country’s first list of protected species, which includes 20 mammals, 7 birds, 4 plants, an amphibian and an insect.

The protections come at a crucial time for many of the species, since a previous Presidential Decree which outlawed hunting of endangered animals expired last March. Among the animals now protected from pelt-traders and poachers are snow leopards, wolves and brown bears.

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In a region known for its deserts, water shortages and tension among neighbours, Jordan announced plans to build an eye-popping $10 billion desalination plant that would provide fresh water for the parched Jordanian population, as well as help replenish the shrinking Dead Sea. Due to up-stream irrigation removal and drinking water consumption from the Jordan River, the Dead Sea has seen its water levels drop by about a metre a year, and at current rates the Dead Sea will have disappeared in the next 50 odd years.

Tourist losses from people not being able to float in the Dead Sea notwithstanding, the Dead Sea forms an important link with humanity’s past, is a significant land form, as well as hosting a unique ecosystem. Saving the Dead Sea has therefore become an important regional initiative. Unfortunately, talks between Israel and Jordan to construct a “Red-Dead” canal linking the Dead Sea with the Red Sea have been fitful. The Red-Dead Canal has also not been without controversy, as environmental groups have raised concern with the dangers inherent to the Dead Sea’s coral life, its unique ecosystem, as well as potentially reducing the buoyancy of its water (to the consternation of multiple nearby resort operators).

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Good news from Afghanistan this week: the country declared its first internationally recognized national park today, called Band-e-Amir, which includes a striking series of six deep blue lakes in one of the country’s best-known natural areas.

The area of Band-e-Amir is near the Bamyan Valley, where 1,500-year-old giant Buddha statues once stood before being destroyed by the Taliban.

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With a history of geopolitical tensions, last week’s announcement by President Gul that Turkey would double the amount of water released to Iraq from the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, was cautiously received in Iraq on the first visit by a Turkish head of state in over 30 years.

A key Iraqi concern, Iraq and Turkey have argued over upstream vs. downstream water rights on the Tigris and Euphrates many times in the past. This announcement and state visit may well strengthen ties between these two nations, recently under strain due to on-going tensions because of Turkish military operations in northern Iraq against Kurdish separatist groups. Read the rest of this entry »

Iraq’s marshlands are the largest wetland habitat in the Middle East, but years of damming, drainage, and pollution have rendered the area inadequate for the survival of the area’s plants, animals, and humans.

Untold numbers of people, many of whom living in extreme poverty, have been displaced by the drying marshlands. After initial improvements after the expulsion of Saddam Husein’s regime, water levels have shrunk down to below 2003 levels due to drought, causing many who returned to the area to leave.

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New research in the South Oman Salt Basin shows evidence of animal life dating back much further than the first appearance of other significant life forms.

Chemical traces of the minute marine sponges, called demosponges were observed by a research team led by the University of California, Riverside geochemist Dr. Gordon D. Love. Desmosponges include the species most consumsers are familiar with: the bath sponge. These over 500 million-year-old sponges however, were probably much smaller due to a lack of oxygen available during their geological period. The fact that they existed 200 million years before plants appeared on land, shows just how very old they are.

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Iran inaugurated its first solar energy power plant this week, adding 250 KW of solar energy to the country’s grid.

The Shiraz solar power plant boasts a modest 250 KW energy production capacity. It’s a solar thermal plant that uses parabolic mirrored troughs to gather sunlight. The mirrors focus the sunlight in an intense ray on a tube that runs the length of the array of mirrors. Inside the tube, a liquid insulated by a vacuum transfers the heat of the mirrors to a traditional generator, where it’s used to produce steam and generate electricity.

Placing an economic value on renewable resources makes sunny Iran rich in solar energy potential. Iran took its first step toward the large scale realization of that potential this week with the inauguration of its first solar energy plant. The plant was constructed with domestic materials and labour in Shiraz, the Fars province.

This solar thermal plant joins some 4,075 small scale solar thermal installations throughout Iran–3,781 residential solar water heaters and 294 public baths heated with solar thermal energy. Iran makes less use of photovoltaic energy, but the Ministry of Energy News Agency mentions a 40 house solar village supplied with photovoltaic energy.

• » See also: Solar panel discount company allows you to apply for Sonoma County’s SCEIP (property tax solar financing) program without a home visit.
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The Iran Daily reports that Iranian energy minister Parviz Fattah sees the Shiraz plant as a first step in Iran’s commitment to solar energy technology, which will increase in Iran along with greater government investment.

“The country backs the use of alternative and renewable energy sources,” said Fattah. “In future alternative energy sources will be greatly developed in the country. The growth of investments in this sphere is expected.”

English information about the Shiraz plant is hard to come by, but more photos of the plant and information in Farsi is available via the Renewable Energy Organization of Iran. Another source, an article in the Tehran Times (no longer available in the paper’s archives, but republished here by a reader) suggests that the completion of the solar plant was several years behind schedule, having been initially slated for the Iranian year 1383 rather than the current year 1387.

Regardless, kudos to Iran on their first solar power plant.

Additional sources: First Solar Power Station built in Iran (Trend News via CleanTechnica); Renewable energy evolution under subsidized fossil fuel prices in Iran
by Niloofar Sharbafian and M. Mazraati of the Technology University of Vienna [PPT Slideshow]

Image Credit: Renewable Energy Organization of Iran

An earth-shattering deal currently being finalized between Shell and Jordan’s Natural Resources Authority will potentially allow Shell to survey and develop nearly one quarter of Jordan in order to access about 40 billion tonnes of oil shale.

“Negotiations with Shell to sign a deal to process oil shale in Jordan are nearing an end,” said Maher Hjazin, head of the state-run Natural Resources Authority.

If our plans succeed, it would be one of the country’s largest projects to help the Jordan become energy self-sufficient, with a possibility to export oil in the future.

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