Saudi Spring (Season, not Strike) in My Step

Premise: A year ago I shared my demotivation with the world.
✻ denotes a Twitter link

Spring Began on March 20

A little before that I received a message on Twitter letting me know I got two passes to the third Gulf Environment Forum. I went out of obligation more than anything, having attended since the first one. So I went, tweeted profusely in hopes of encouraging efforts, and left.

Bonus Info

The Gulf Environment Forum (GEF or #GulfEF ✻) is hosted by the Saudi Environmental Society (SENS). SENS is run by Majdah Aburass, an insanely active member of Saudi's environmental efforts. Get this, she's also a professor at King Abdulaziz University (and had a pretty cool impact) and is working with NASA.

FUN FACT: She and I were featured in the same article. That article in Majalla was brutally butchered here by someone who didn't really get the point of quotes or paraphrasing.

Busy Bee Gets a Buzz

Are these headers getting too cheesy with this theme? I was a busy bee with GeekFest Jeddah and speaking at TEDxEffatU. On the side, I get contacted by Nader Al Nakib, but more about him✻ and G Green Living✻ later.

Recycling bins by SENS
at Amira Park

I spoke about Littering in Jeddah expecting eye rolls and disinterest in response. I was touched and blown away by what people said afterwards. It was that same feeling I had when I got feedback regarding Ziad Jarrar's & Abdulhakeem Jomah's talks at Faseelah.

So I was pumped about Earth and Nader tells me he's coming to Jeddah. I do the only logical thing and make it a point to dump as many sustainability fans as I could in one room. Good things are on the way!

A Sign from Green Prophet

I link to them so much that I'm sure you guys know Green Prophet, a source of Middle East eco-news. I was going through my Google Reader and find that they've been covering Saudi quite a bit this past month, my favorite being why the Current Carbon Offset Model Won't Work For Saudi Arabia.

Here are the others I saw:

• Barriers to Solid Waste Recycling in Saudi Arabia
• Saudi's Parrot Fish Festival Undermines Red Sea Conservation ← I didn't even know we had islands.
• Saudis Could Export Solar for the Next Twenty Centuries
• Saudi Arabia's Fast Food Boom is Finger Lickin' Awful
• Saudi's Mecca is Becoming a Holy Sprawl
• Saudi's Waste of Ice Age Water Depicted in 4 NASA Images ← MUST SEE!
• Dangerous Drifting Driving Now a Sin in Saudi Arabia



Precious water saved from the ice age used for agriculture in Saudi. (via NASA)