Green Options

Once the largest importer of illegal rhino horn for use in ceremonial dagger handles, Yemen is no longer considered a driving force in the current rhino poaching crisis.

While demand for illegal rhino horn in Asia surges and threatens to undermine decades of conservation efforts, the market for illegal rhino horn in Yemen has decreased sharply.

A London-based green investment firm, Earth Capital Partners (ECP), aiming to create a €750 million ($1 billion) renewable energy fund, announced this last week that it had reached its first round fund-raising target. By November 2010, it hopes to reach its total goal of €750 million.

The company is happy with this progress and believes there is demonstrated investor interest in this topic now. Even without an international, legally binding agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote clean energy, investors are moving forward on this.

With the amount of capital ECP is raising, what types of energy this investment firm is specifically interested in is important. They seem to be aiming at specific sectors of the market.

About two kilometers from the Dead Sea and two from where Jesus was christened, in the country of Jordan, Geoff Lawton of the Permaculture Research Institute and his crew created a near miracle turning desert into a lush permaculture garden.

In August in this location, Lawton says that temperatures could rise above 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit). People farming there were farming under plastic strips and using tons of synthetic chemicals and fertilizers. The idea to grow a lush forest or garden of edible plants would probably make people laugh or roll their eyes. Nonetheless, the permaculture crew had exactly this vision in mind and a little funding to help them to do it.

The huge project to build a $555 billion renewable energy “belt” in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, funded largely by German companies, moved another step forward a few days ago.

The articles of association for the DESERTEC Industrial Initiative (DII) were signed by the joint venture group of 12 companies and the DESERTEC Foundation in Munich on October 30.

Additionally, a CEO for DII was appointed — Paul van Son.

Hyenas are not as numerous as you might think: Poison, guns, snares, sport hunting, and habitat loss due to human expansion are taking their toll on the misunderstood hyena.

Hyenas are the subject of perhaps more myths than any other African animal, which has unfortunately led to decades of persecution against these unusual creatures. The rapid expansion of human population into remaining hyena habitat - and the intentional killing of hyenas by humans - will eventually prove to be more than this resilient species can tolerate.

To help raise awareness of hyena conservation, here are 12 surprising things you didn’t know - plus a compilation of beautiful photos. Enjoy!

Water scarcity resulting from climate change is the number one issue the world will have to grapple with in the future, according to chief climate scientist and Nobel Peace Prize-winner Dr. Rajendra K. Pachauri.

On the one hand, we will have more water around us with sea level rising. On the other hand, though, drought caused by climate change will leave possibly billions of people without clean water.

This will cause great health and global security issues. Most of these problems will be caused by water imbalances.

If you think your electricity bill is bad, you should see the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan’s. Having to import 95% of your energy makes for a fairly expensive monthly bill. In response to this ongoing electricity and energy challenge, Jordan has signed a 10 year agreement with Russia for the provision of four new nuclear power plants, desalination stations and related research facilities.

The sun is coming out. And Europe isn’t waiting any longer. Some of the biggest businesses in Europe are ready to invest in the largest solar energy project in the world. They are looking to create a “solar energy belt” in the Middle East and North Africa.

How will the energy get to Europe? It will go through huge “super grids” under the Mediterranean Sea. Has this kind of thing happened before? Siemens CEO, Peter Löscher, says: “A few years ago we connected Tasmania with the Australian continent. And from 2011 there will be a 250-kilometer undersea cable supplying Majorca with electricity from the Spanish mainland. For us, this kind of thing is now part of our core business.”

Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) have sponsored the NAT GAS Act. This bill is aimed at giving natural gas the push it needs to become part of the cure for America’s oil addiction. Senator Reid (D-Nevada) is also an original co-sponsor.

“Each day, our nation consumes about 21 million barrels of oil- more than 25 percent of the world’s oil supply,” Reid said. And most of that oil comes from foreign soil. “With only 3 percent of the world’s oil reserves, we cannot produce our way to a safe and secure energy future,” Reid continued.

The new legislation would promote the use of natural gas over traditional oil by using tax credits. This legislation would, in effect, be an extension of the CLEAR Act - encouraging the growth of natural-gas infrastructures to go along with the current boom in hybrid-electric vehicles.

The World Bank recently released a report criticizing the water sharing regime between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Will water become a new flashpoint in the region?

The US Department of Defense is the largest consumer of energy in the United States spending $18 billion a year. Coupled with economics, dwindling natural resources, and the dangers of transporting fuel in war zones, the military is looking towards alternative fuels.