A Dead Sea Valley family home with their typical front ‘lawn’ (Photo © Craig Mackintosh) Looking at the state of the Islamic World these days, it seems like Muslims don’t really care much about the environment. Canals which carry Nile water to irrigate farmlands in Egypt are so full of rubbish they frequently get blocked up, stagnate and spread disease. The once-mighty river Jordan has been so diminished in these dark days it is down to a muddy trickle you could probably jump over if you … [Read more...]
Letters from Jordan: ‘Greening the Desert – the Sequel’ Site Contrasts Against Jordan Insanities
Staring into the eyes of the future of Jordan, one wonders how things could be.... All Photographs © Craig Mackintosh https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYk21PLKGgg Al Jazeera's very recent feature of the new 'Greening the Desert' site Introduction Why did the photojournalist cross the road? It sounds like the beginning of a joke, and, in a way, it was. I was standing at a busy road in Amman, Jordan, contemplating crossing. I say 'contemplating' as there were three lanes in each … [Read more...]
Water Shortages Threaten Food Future in the Arab Middle East
by Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute Captured from a bus window, while crossing the no-man’s land between Jordan and Israel/Palestine, the once-mighty Jordan river is today just a murky trickle (see bottom centre of image) that wouldn’t flow at all today if it wasn’t for the pollution poured into it…. It is estimated that the Jordan River will dry up completely by the end of 2011. Photo © Craig Mackintosh Long after the political uprisings in the Middle East have subsided, many … [Read more...]