Jennifer Hattam

When you think of bike-friendly cities, Abu Dhabi doesn't come readily to mind. Neither, frankly, does Istanbul. But the Abu Dhabi-based newspaper  The National is trying to give cycling culture a bit of a kickstart in the United Arab Emirates, promoting a ‪#‎ CycleToWorkUAE‬ day on 13 January 2015. As part of the paper's coverage ahead of the event, one of its opinion editors asked me to write a piece about efforts to develop a cycling culture in Turkey -- which, despite appearances, have come a long way in the past decade, though there is still much work to be done to make the streets safe for cyclists, not to mention pedestrians and runners like myself. I tip my hat to the intrepid cyclists in both countries, especially those in Turkey who generously shared their experiences and opinions with me. Read my article, " Istanbul Is Slowly But Surely Getting On Its Bike ," on The National 's website.

I spent the past week at the 5th World Water Forum, held here in Istanbul this year, attending sessions on traditional cultural uses of water, migration and conflict, and women's issues, among other topics that jumped out from the thick catalog of panels and presentations. It was a productive week, as I filed daily dispatches from the conference for TreeHugger.com and wrote my first piece for The National , an excellent English-language newspaper based in Abu Dhabi. My complete conference coverage for TreeHugger: Day 1: What is this 'Big Water Meeting'? Day 2: Linking Water, Conflict, Gender, and Migration Day 3: Accounting for Every Drop Day 4: Images of Inundation Day 5: Understanding the Sacred Value of Water Day 6: 'Another Water Management is Possible' Day 7: Is Water a 'Right' or a 'Need'? UPDATE: The article I wrote for The National is no longer available on their website, but you can read it after the jump.