Tag Archives: Environmental Awareness

Tehran’s Niavaran Residential Complex – Keeping trees close to people (Photos)

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Designed by Iranian architect Mohammad Reza Nikbakht, Niavaran Residential Complex is located in Tehrans, Shemiran area. Shemiran, being spread along Alborz Mountains slope, used to be a summer resort of Tehran until 40 years ago due to its numerous gardens. Unfortunately, many gardens with old trees in the area have been destroyed by urbanization projects over the last century.

The parcel of land allocated to this project accommodates a number of these old trees too, whose conservation has been considered as the first priority in designing this complex. Mohammed Reza Nikbahkt took a different approach by building around existing trees in order to preserve them.

The 6 story building in Niavaran, northern Tehran, has been designed in 5 levels, each accommodating 6 residential appartments, and 3 lower floors for common facilities. The ground floor includes the entrance lobby, building managers office, ceremonies and gatherings hall. The first basement is mainly for a parking lot and store rooms, while the second basement, in addition to a parking lot, includes central heating room, swimming pool, Spa and the gym.

Niavaran Residential Complex by Mohammad Reza Nikbakht won the World Architecture Award (WA Award – Cycle 12).

Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo designrulz.com)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photograph: Zandigan)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo worldarchitecture.org)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo credit Mohammadreza Nikhbat)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo designrulz.com)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo designrulz.com)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht
Niavaran Residential Complex by Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo designrulz.com)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo designrulz.com)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo designrulz.com)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo designrulz.com)
Niavaran Residential Complex by Iranian architect Mohammad-Reza Nikbakht (Photo designrulz.com)

Sources: Contemporary Architecture of Iran (more photos), greenprophet.com, worldarchitecture.org

Photos: Earth Hour 2016 across Iran

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Tehran and other major cities like Rasht, Shiraz, Kerman, Ahvaz, Urmia, and Isfahan celebrated Earth Hour 2016. Iran has taken part of this universal movement, switching of the lights of important elements all over the country since 2011.

Earth Hour is a worldwide movement for the planet organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The event is held annually encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. towards the end of March, as a symbol for their commitment to the planet. It was famously started as a lights-off event in Sydney, Australia in 2007. Since then it has grown to engage more than 7000 cities and towns worldwide.

Related article: Photos: Earth Hour 2014 in Iran

Nature Bridge (Pol-e Tabiat) in Tehran, Iran – Earth Hour 2016 – Photo credit: IRNA
Earth Hour 2016 in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: earth-hour.ir
Earth Hour 2016 in Asaluyeh, Bushehr, Iran – Photo credit: earth-hour.ir
Earth Hour 2016 in Asaluyeh, Bushehr, Iran – Photo credit: earth-hour.ir
Earth Hour 2016 in Asaluyeh, Bushehr, Iran – Photo credit: earth-hour.ir
Milad Tower (Borj-e Milad) in Tehran, Iran – Earth Hour 2016 – Photo credit: Alireza Keikha / kojaro.com
Earth Hour 2016 in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: earth-hour.ir
Freedom Tower (Borj-e Azadi) in Tehran, Iran – Earth Hour 2016 – Photo credit: IRNA
Freedom Tower (Borj-e Azadi) in Tehran, Iran – Earth Hour 2016 – Photo credit: IRNA
Earth Hour 2016 in Tehran, Iran – Photo credit: earth-hour.ir
Earth Hour 2016 in Rasht, Iran – Photo credit: Photo credit: Pouya Bazargard / Gilnegah.ir
Earth Hour 2016 in Rasht, Iran – Photo credit: Photo credit: Pouya Bazargard / Gilnegah.ir
Earth Hour 2016 in Rasht, Iran – Photo credit: Photo credit: Pouya Bazargard / Gilnegah.ir
Earth Hour 2016 in Isfahan, Iran – Photo credit: earthhour.org
Naqsh-e Jahan Square (Shah Mosque) in Isfahan, Iran – Earth Hour 2016 – Photo credit: IRNA
Naqsh-e Jahan Square (Ali Qapu) in Isfahan, Iran – Earth Hour 2016 – Photo credit: IRNA
Earth Hour 2016 in Isfahan, Iran – Photo credit: IRNA
Earth Hour 2016 in Shiraz, Iran – Photo credit: IRNA
Earth Hour 2016 in Shiraz, Iran – Photo credit: IRNA

Sources: earthhour.org, Wikipedia | Earth Hour, IRNA 1, IRNA 2, IRNA 3, earth-hour.ir, pgnews.ir, kojaro.com

Plastic-Bag Free Day in Iran: Campaign promotes stopping use of plastic bags

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On July 12, which is Plastic-Bag Free Day in Iran, several organizations once again geared up to raise public awareness about the environmental problems posed by plastic bags. For a week, Tehran and several other provinces implemented a program of using biodegradable bags in stores and markets bearing the logo “less plastic, cleaner earth, better health”.

Plastic-Bag Free Day was launched in Iran following a proposal by the Fruit and Vegetable Markets in 2012, which immediately found the support of Tehran City Development offices and the Department of the Environment. The markets have since completely stopped using plastic bags. All plastic bags have been replaced with paper and cloth bags in 15 fruit and vegetable markets across the capital, eliminating the use of 400 million plastic bags.

Plastic-Bag-Free-Day-in-Hamadan-Iran-1

Statistics indicate that 177,000 tons of plastic bags are produced each year in Iran. Across the world, 3.5 million tons of waste is produced each day, and Iran’s contribution to that is now pegged at 40,000 tons a day.

The international Plastic-Bag Free Day is observed on July 3.

Source: Payvand | News

Mahlagha Mallah: 96 year old Iranian environmental activist

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Mahlagha Mallah, 96, is an environmental activist who has not produced any waste over the past 60 years.

Mahlagha Mallah

Earlier in March, Mehr News Agency ran a report on the founding mother of Iran’s environmental protection and her waste minimization efforts.

Mahlagha Mallah, who holds a Ph.D. from Sorbonne in Sociology, is the founder and managing director of Women’s Society against Environmental Pollution. She was praised as the 2010 personality of the year in the field of “Natural Heritage and Environment” for her decades-old struggle to preserve the environment.

Back from France where she got her Ph.D. and learned library science, she started to work in a Tehran University library.

“I asked all embassies [in Tehran] to provide me with the environmental information of their countries. After studying the issue, I came to the conclusion that collective measures are needed to do something for the environment. I wanted to teach people how to protect the environment.”

Dr. Mallah was not the first in her family who tried not to produce waste. “My mom would not place the waste outside the house. Back then people produced less garbage and each family would recycle –one way or another – their waste at home. They used to give food leftovers to the poultry.

A rural lifestyle helped people to use less paper and plastic and do less damage to the environment in the process. But today new sources of pollution cause new diseases. Something must be done about it.”

For the past 60 years, Mrs. Mallah and her family have not placed any waste in the garbage can to be collected unless it was recyclable. They bury the waste in a pit in their yard to let it turn into fertilizer.

“We still don’t use plastic bottles. In the past I used to take a cloth shopping bag to store to help the environment, and I’d encourage others to follow suit. We need to stop harming the environment so that future generations can use this natural heritage.”

Mrs. Mallah talks with people in different neighborhoods and teachers at schools about the need for waste sorting. […] We can run environmental programs to raise public awareness. We love nature and the environment and we do not work to get money in return.

Dr. Mallah has always offered great ideas about environment protection. “We can do more for a plan which segregates the [dry and wet] waste at households. We can teach women in this regard. […]

“Municipalities can separately collect disposable batteries, which leave a destructive impact on the environment. The used cooking oil – which harms the environment after entering the sewage system – can be collected, refined and reprocessed, exactly like used engine oil.” […]

Mrs. Mallah says the waste produced in Tehran is too much. Everyone can do their share and help reduce waste production. People can turn the waste to compost –a fertilizer for plants in organic farming – or Vermicompost – which is light and odorless. […]

Other great Iranian women: The other Iran | Women

Source: Iran Front Page

Sepideh Jalali: 25 year Iranian woman initiates a campaign in Tabriz, Iran helping both the environment and disabled people

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Sepideh Jalali, a 25-year-old woman, initiated the charitable campaign which called on people to collect crown corks of bottled water and other plastic containers, hand them over to collecting centers and help buy the wheelchairs for those in need.

Charity begins at the environment

Sepideh Jalali, Iranian environmental activist

The plan was set in motion late last year [ended March 21, 2014] and was in full swing in the city by April. Finally it led to the accumulation of a stock of 650,000 corks weighing around one ton.

The charity organizers sold the corks to Tabriz Municipality’s Waste Management Organization and bought wheelchairs for six poor people who were physically challenged.

When the campaign for collecting corks was in high gear intense rivalry grew between people in Tabriz for gathering even more crown corks.

Sepideh Jalali says that the idea of collecting corks first occurred to her last year and that she was joined by her sister and then her classmates in Tabriz University of Art. The idea found its way into social networking sites as well and was welcomed by young people who encouraged their families to come on board. The result was a stack of about one ton of corks in the city. […]

She said people in Tabriz offered a helping hand both for environmental causes – to keep the environment clean – and for humanitarian causes – to help their fellow Iranians. The two causes were overlapping directly and indirectly. Some people answered a call for action only to help clean up nature and contribute to waste sorting efforts, and others got involved to simply help those in need. The result, however, served both purposes. […]

The campaign also drew the attention of people from all cities across the province as well as West Azerbaijan and Tehran. Interestingly, whenever non-local university students who were studying in Tabriz came back from their hometowns they brought in large amounts of corks.

The purchase of wheelchairs was not the end of the story. The campaign is still on and Sepideh hopes to promote the worthwhile idea. In addition to bottle caps, she is seeking to collect other disposable items such as waste paper in the future.

Source: Iran Front Page

Ten-year-old Iranian girl Fatemeh Mahallati honored at Japanese drawing competition

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15th International Environmental Children's Drawing Contest - First Prize - International Section - by 10-year-old Fatemeh Mahallati from Iran

by 10-year-old Fatemeh Mahallati from Iran

Ten-year-old Iranian girl Fatemeh Mahallati has won one of 45 first prizes in the international section of the 14th International Environmental Children’s Drawing Contest in Japan. Her work depicts a number of people working on a farm.

“In my painting, I drew animals, flowers and people who are working on a farm and they are happy as they are living in nature,” Fatemeh told the Persian service of ISNA on Sunday.

“What I drew in my painting were the things I have previously seen in my visits to farms and green areas,” she added. “The environment and nature are important and we should protect the things concerning nature,” she stated.

Fatemeh has been a member of the Institute for the Intellectual Development of Children and Young Adults (IIDCYA) in Raine, a town near the southern Iranian city of Kerman, since 2009.

In a message sent to Fatemeh last week, the director of Iran’s Department of Environment, Masoumeh Ebtekar, congratulated her for achievement at the competition.

Iranian successes in the previous 14 years (click on the pictures to see them in full size with age of the kid and prize that was won):

The contest was organized the Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA), the International Certification Network (IQNet) and the Tokyo branch of UNICEF.

The 6-year-old Japanese child, Kusaka Nana, won the Environmental Best Prize, which is the top honor of the contest.

The best prize of the international section was presented to the 12-year-old Ukrainian boy, Oleksiy Rakoma, and the UNICEF special prize went to the 7-year-old Bangladeshi boy, Raihan Fairooz Tarannum.

About the contest:
Since 1999, Japan Quality Assurance Organization (JQA) and International Certification Organization Network (IQNet) have been hosting the International Environmental Children’s Drawing Contest for children aged 7 to 15 years old from around the world, supported by UNICEF Tokyo Office.
So far, the contest has been held 15 times with over 21,000 entries that this year we’ve had entries from a record breaking 81 countries. In total, we have received more than 220,000 drawings up to now.
Full of imagination and artistic sensitivity, children drew pictures about nature and animals, their families and the surrounding area. The pictures also contain the message towards global environment, beyond borders and difference in their background cultures and languages.

Sources: Tehran Times , The International Environmental Children’s Drawing Contest

Iranian documentary ‘Banooye Urmia’ awarded in Finland fest

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An Iranian documentary, Banooye Urmia, (Lady Urmia) won jury award of Finland Environmental Film Festival held in Vaasa City. The event is held every two years.

Lady Urmia Awarded in Finland and US Rhode Island Film Festival

Lady Urmia Awarded in Finland and US Rhode Island Film Festival

The film directed by Mohammad Ehsani was shown in the 7th edition of the event on October 1-5 in Vaasa. It is a poetic documentary about Lake Urmia, in the Iranian Azerbaijan, which is drying up completely.

Released in 2012 in Iran and distributed by EhsaniPictures, it has also been awarded in the US Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) and Croatian Environment Film Festival.

Lake Urmia (Orumieh) is a salt lake in northwestern Iran near Turkey. The lake is between the provinces of East Azarbaijan and West Azarbaijan, west of the southern portion of the similarly shaped Caspian Sea. It is the largest lake inside Iran, and the third salt water lake on earth, with a surface area of approximately 5,200 km square (2,000 mile square).

The environmental catastrophe will not only affect Iran, but also Iranian neighbors such as Iraq and Turkey. The film is narrated in the voice of the Lake itself, asking for help and trying to gain international reaction.

Source: http://www.payvand.com/news/14/oct/1041.html

Wildlife ambulance service launched in Sistan and Baluchestan

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Iran wildlife ambulance

The provincial environment department in the southeastern Iranian province of Sistan and Baluchestan has launched a wildlife ambulance service.

On September 17, Iran newspaper quoted Saeed Mahmoudi, the head of the environment department as saying that the move is primarily designed to save protected species such as bears, cheetahs, foxes, etc. that are injured in road accidents.

In parallel, a messaging service has been launched to allow residents to easily report accidents to authorities, he said.

Source Iran Front Page:
http://iranfrontpage.com/news/society/environment/2014/09/wildlife-ambulance-service-in-iran-sistan-and-baluchestan/

Environment week sees 40 Iranian hunters swear off hunting

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Forty hunters in Mazandaran Province took part in Environment Week by taking an oath to give up hunting and guns. IRNA reports that the hunters expressed remorse for hurting nature and they signed a promise and recited an oath never to take up a gun or go hunting.

Nasser Mehrdadi, the head of Mazandaran Environmental Protection, lauded the hunters and said: “Farewell oaths by hunters and asking forgiveness from nature are aimed at promoting the culture of environment and wildlife protection.”

The Sabz Chia Association, an environmental group, received the National Environment Award for its campaign against hunting in Kurdistan.

 

Iran, Japan to expand cooperation in environment protection

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Head of Iranˈs Environment Protection Organization Masoumeh Ebtekar conferred on Thursday with Japanese minister of environment protection on expansion of cooperation between the two countries.

Based on the MoU the two sides are to broaden cooperation in reducing air pollution, dealing with climate change consequences and protecting ponds.

 

Iranians participating in Earth Hour 2014 throughout Iran

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Earth Hour is a worldwide movement for the planet organized by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The event is held worldwide annually encouraging individuals, communities, households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights for one hour, from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. on the last Saturday in March, as a symbol for their commitment to the planet.

Source: Wikipedia