The Middle East, North Africa and Environment

MENA - EPI rankings 2010

Unbelievably: the earliest known writings on environmental pollution and degradation are in Arabic. Before the rest of the world, the Middle East and the Islamic world were at the forefront of environmentalism. Arab and Muslim scholars and thinkers, were concerned with air contamination, water contamination, soil contamination, solid waste mishandling and many other environmental issues. And yet today, most countries in the Middle East and North Africa are some of the worst performers when it comes to environmental rankings.

How Does Your Website Score II?

Sitebeam Score

Blogger Buzz in a recent post, asked: Why do you blog? I keep this blog to pass time and mainly because, next to reading, I love writing and playing about with words; and, as there is very little information in English on Hadhramaut, why not write on whatever little I have on it? It is very encouraging knowing that, now, many visit this site. Being a self-learned computer user, I read much on Internet and Web resources; always trying to find out more on this most interesting and powerful of technologies. Once in a while, I have fun testing this site on the few testing tools available; considering my very limited resources on 'Web' and computer tech, I am very surprised, at times, when this blog does well; or better, on these tools, than some of the sites managed by those whom I believe are tech savvy. Try using these tools and testing your site; compare the scores with those of other sites, you too might have fun. And might be surprised.

Sights from Rainbow Street, Amman

Smile

Two years ago, one afternoon in Amman, wanting to go to Rainbow Street, I and my wife waved a taxi. Once we were in the taxi - the driver, a middle aged portly man, asked us why we wanted to go to that street; I told him that I had heard much about it and we would like to see it. He looked at me in a sort of concerned way and said that: as we looked 'dignified' he would advice us 'never' to go to 'that street'. I asked him the reason for his advice. His answer was that the street was 'full of misbehaving young people and scantily dressed girls and women' and was not a place for 'respectable people'. He proposed taking us to several other places which he considered 'respectable'. He looked so concerned and was so determined that we accepted going to another place he had suggested. The taxi driver didn't know that we would not heed his 'advice' and that we very much wanted to see the famous street. Months later, late in the afternoon, we took a taxi and went to visit Rainbow Street. It was an unforgettable visit; not because of the extraordinary street, but mainly due to an incident.

Book of Note: 'Alone Together.......'

Almost all of us who use the Internet are using some form of a social networking service; the most basic being email. Most too, use other forms of Internet communication like: instant messaging and 'chatting'. But, in today's world, millions of people, especially the young, are using other platforms of socializing through the Internet; these are time consuming and can be addictive. Addictive so much that they can be very time wasting and harmful. These are services like: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and now, Google+; and the many others out there. No other writer has written such excellent well researched books on the phenomenon of computers and the Internet and their effects as Sherry Turkle. Of all her books, non is as sobering to read and pessimistic on the role that computers and especially the Internet, play in our modern lives as her: Alone Together: Why We Expect More from Technology and Less from Each Other.

SOS Somalia

For the last few days, I haven't taken time to watch or read the news much. Last evening I did. I watched the news on several channels. What I saw on the unfolding disaster in Somalia and other parts of the Horn of Africa, left me so shocked and distressed that I took long to fall asleep. From Somalia, thousands of people are trekking to refugee camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. Small, very emaciated, very malnourished children, their parents too weak to carry them, are forced to walk, too, arduously, for days. Many of these very unfortunate people, especially the children are dying before receiving assistance. Those in the very over-populated refugee camps or centers are no better off; many are very malnourished and sick. For almost two decades now, the people of Somalia have been suffering and in such misery like no other people on Earth. This is not the time for blames or looking at what should have happened to or been done for Somalia. This is a time to assist. To assist the people of Somalia and the Horn of Africa.

The Google Plus Ripple

Google Plus

Though I am an avid Google admirer and user, being averse to 'Facebook' like social networking, I haven't had that much enthusiasm for Google's latest and, most probably, their hottest offering in years: Google Plus. Google+ has become so craved for and so popular, that all other social networking organizations are immensely disturbed and worried. Facebook, the largest and most used social networking platform, totally taken by surprise by its very unexpected rival's ingenuity and Google Plus's initial incredible success, has been so jolted, shaken and wobbling on the ropes, that they are taking very drastic measures against their new competitor. As for Twitter, like MySpace, apparently the game is over for them; unless they come up with big changes for their product.

The Hadhrami Influence in Kerala and Beyond.......

It is reported that Arabs traded with the Indian sub-continent, Southern Asia and the Indian Ocean islands long before the emergence of Islam. Whenever we think of the State of Kerala, in south-west India, we associate it with tropical greenery and tourism; anyone who has moved around the Middle East, especially the Gulf countries, will have met the very many guest workers from Kerala, mainly Malayali. In India, Kerala is unique in many ways: it is not only very rainy, green, has many varieties of animals and fauna and with a very captivating topography and scenery; Kerala too, in India: has the highest literacy rate, has one of the highest Human Development Index, is one of the least corrupt, has one of the best health care services in the developing world, has the highest life expectancy rates in the country and has the lowest population growth rate in the country. Very few people, especially outside Kerala, know of the very close ties and history between the people of Kerala and Arabs; Arabs from Hadhramout in particular.

The King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque, Amman

West of Amman, in one of the most beautiful and most scenic places of the city, is the: King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque. Commissioned by King Abdullah II, in memory of his father, the late King Hussein, it was designed by the Egyptian architect - Dr. Khaled Azzam and built in 2003-2006; and was inaugurated on April, 11th, 2006. The mosque might look small from a distance and might look simple at first glance, but go near it and enter: it is very large and spacious; a masterpiece and one of the finest modern mosques in the Middle East.

The Green Renaissance Initiative

Hadhramaut

Few people here on Earth, have been as careless and destructive to their wildlife and environment as here in the Middle East. In very few other places, are animals and wildlife - on land and in the seas - being driven to extinction faster and in larger numbers, as here. In very few other places have their been as many destructive wars; and been such massive spending on weapons, as here. And here, too, exists some of the greatest and most awesome natural wonders on Earth: Socotra, the Dead Sea, the Bu Tinah Island Archipelago, the River Nile, the Jeita Cave Grotto and  the Cedars of Lebanon are all here; all are incomparable to no other. With one of the fastest growing populations in the world, water shortage most pressing here than any where else and an economy, in most parts, that cannot keep up with the fast population growth; the Middle East needs a reawakening; needs more intensive/extensive attention on environmental and ecological issues - probably more than anywhere else.