Dangers at your bouldering gym? Your climbing shoes may be harming your lungs

Sherman also points out that the operators of the studied bouldering gyms were very cooperative and showed a high level of interest in improving the air quality in their gyms. “This constructive cooperation should lead to the creation of the healthiest possible climbing hall environment, for example through better ventilation, cleaning, avoiding peak times and designing climbing shoes with fewer additives.”

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The EcoPeace team

The Environmental Peacebuilding Association gave its recent award –– the 2025 Al-Moumin Award and Distinguished Lecture on Environmental Peacebuilding –– to EcoPeace leaders Nada Majdalani, Yana Abu Taleb, Gidon Bromberg, and Tareq Abu Hamed. The award honors their work in addressing complex environmental challenges through trust-building, dialogue, cooperation, and joint action among communities in Palestine, Jordan, and Israel.

Read our latest article on EcoPeace here.

The Al-Moumin Award and Lecture are named after Dr. Mishkat Al-Moumin, Iraq’s first Minister of Environment, a human rights and environmental lawyer, and an advocate for women’s rights. The award recognizes leading thinkers who are shaping the field of environmental peacebuilding.

For decades, the honorees have made remarkable contributions to environmental peacebuilding through their visionary leadership and groundbreaking initiatives. They have demonstrated exceptional commitment to fostering regional cooperation on issues critical to the region in the face of environmental and political challenges, including water security, renewable energy production, biodiversity conservation, and climate resilience.

At EcoPeace, Nada, Yana, and Gidon’s efforts have advanced environmental diplomacy; built bridges between communities in Palestine, Israel, and Jordan; and achieved sustainable cross-border solutions that ensure a better future for the inhabitants of all three countries.

This work, including the Good Water Neighbors program, the Green Blue Deal, Project Prosperity, and their advocacy for improved water and energy security across the region, are complemented by on-the-ground projects that bring these principles into practical local action. All are often rightly cited as prototypical examples of environmental peacebuilding.

EcoPeace’s continued operation during the Hamas-Israel war as the only Palestinian-Israeli-Jordanian organization in any field was thanks to the tireless efforts of the directors

who ensured that EcoPeace’s staff, participants, and constituents stayed focused on the overriding need to maintain cross-border environmental cooperation and a vision for a shared future. Throughout the war, EcoPeace has secured funding and mobilized resources to address urgent water and sanitation needs, with the three directors demonstrating their commitment to environmental resilience, cross-border cooperation, and humanitarian aid, ensuring that human life, health, and environmental wellbeing are seen as interlocked priorities in this region.

Similarly, Tareq has spent a lifetime working to build trust and foster cooperation between neighbors, using science to build relationships across the Middle East, particularly between Israelis, Palestinians, and Jordanians to ensure that they can work together to address mutual environmental concerns. He established Arava Institute’s Center for Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation upon joining the Institute in 2008. He is a member of President Isaac Herzog’s Forum on Climate Change, and as part of this role, Tareq co-chairs the Regional Cooperation and Security Task Force, which promotes regional and international collaboration on climate change. He has also led the Transboundary Renewable Energy Working Group, bringing together experts from Israel, the West Bank, Gaza, and Jordan to work on socially impactful renewable technology projects.

While Tareq has been a leader in the Arava Institute’s growth over the past 17 years, he left briefly to join Israel’s Ministry of Science, becoming the deputy chief scientist, becoming the highest-ranking Palestinian working in the Israeli government, before being named acting Chief Scientist of Israel’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Space in 2015 and 2016.

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