Climate Change


Energy Politics and Africanfuturism—A Conversation with Nnedi Okorafor

Nnedi Okorafor is an award-winning writer of science fiction and fantasy for adults and youth. Her latest work is Akata Woman (Penguin, 2023), an Africanfuturist novel that follows her previous work, Noor (Penguin, 2022). Noor features the protagonist AO, whose experience of disability, bio-tech and trauma shapes her trajectory in
Karen Rignall, Nnedi Okorafor 11 min read

Extractive Agribusinesses—Guaranteeing Food Security in the Gulf

The 2022 Food and Agriculture Organization report on food security and nutrition in the Arab region makes for bleak reading. Between 2014 and 2021, the total number of Arabs suffering from moderate to severe food insecurity increased from 120 million to 154 million.[1] This insecurity, however, was not distributed
Christian Henderson 9 min read

Fossil Fueled Comfort—The History and Cost of Air Conditioning in Bahrain

How AC has reshaped the urban landscape and labor politics of the Gulf.
Marwa Koheji 9 min read

Desert Solar—A Spectacular Fiction, Not a Spectacular Future

On the visual power, and pitfalls, of solar mega projects.
Natalie Koch 10 min read

The Uneven Politics of Decarbonization in the Middle East and North Africa

According to Europe’s largest generator of renewable energy, Norway’s state-owned Statkraft, “A lesser known positive aspect of the green energy shift is that more renewable energy leads to more peace and democracy!” It is tempting to formulate such grandiose arguments about the possibilities of a transition to renewables
Benjamin Schuetze 8 min read

Speculative Climate Futures in Arab Literature

From beautiful dystopias to experimental graphic novels, how authors in the region are tackling climate change.
Marcia Lynx Qualey 10 min read

COP27, Alaa Abd El-Fattah and the Dreams of the Revolution—A Conversation with Omar Robert Hamilton and Ashish Ghadiali

On November 6, 2022, COP27 will begin in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, with the aim of delivering on the Paris Agreement and the intention to acknowledge the disproportionate effects of climate change on the Global South, through "Loss and Damage." On the same day, British-Egyptian political prisoner and
The Editors 12 min read

Global Aspirations and Local Realities of Solar Energy in Morocco

Morocco's massive Noor solar power installation in Ouarzazate is celebrated as an important step in the transition to renewable energy. But the benefits are not flowing to all citizens. Rural unrest and other demonstrations of discontent in recent years are piercing the government's techno-optimism.