Green Prophet

All of us are aware of the high cost of energy these days, as well as the adverse ecological effects of using fossil fuels like petroleum and coal to run the coastal power plants that supply our electricity in Israel.

Since our power plants are located on or near our 200 km coastline, it would be great if someone could come up with an alternative fuel source that is not only economical but environmentally friendly as well. Sitting on the beach near my home in Israel’s central region, and seeing the tides come in, I have often wondered if something might be done to use the power of the ocean waves to make electricity. After all, many countries have been using water power to make electricity for years.

The idea of electricity being generated from the power of ocean tides and waves may be closer to being reality than previously believed up to now. Although harnessing the power of ocean waves has been thought about for years, no practical type of device has been made that is strong enough to withstand the battering received by the power of even normal sea surf as we have along our coastline. Continue Reading »

Tags: alternative energy, Israel, Medit, renewable energy, wave energy

Lycored has been in the natural food coloring business for some time and realized the amazing anti-oxidant properties found in tomatoes could be used in the cosmetics business. The company has recently developed an alternative sunscreen that you ingest. This is good news for bleaching corals, transexualizing fish, and for our health — it is known that sunscreens contain chemicals that are not so healthy for us and the environment. Lycored’s new invention will allow us to use much less.

Based on a tomato extract, Lycored’s neutraceutical (ingested as a capsule) Lycomato can be used to help your skin fight off the sun’s harmful UV rays. Although Lycomato’s based on a tomato, don’t worry, you won’t turn red the company says. The product is currently available in Europe, and Lycored supplements can already be found in Israel in the You drink by Tara.

Heading to the beach?
See Eco-Mum on Green Summer Vacations

::Israel21c

Tags: cosmetic, healthy living, Israel, natural cosmetics, product review, vegetables

Last week, God took care of the waste in the camp. This week Moses hits the rock. The Israelites had been traveling in the desert for roughly forty years, and Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, dies. After Miriam dies suddenly the People of Israel lack water. Commentaries explain that in Miriam’s merit a spring followed the Israelites around, miraculously, during their travels. Now that she had passed on, the spring has dried up.

God commands Moses to gather the people in order to show them a miracle. Moses is supposed to speak to a rock and water will flow out of it. When Moses stands up before the people he loses his temper and hits the rock instead, water still flows from the rock but God is angry.

The previous time that the people of Israel did not have water God commanded Moses to hit the rock. But this time God commanded Moses to speak to the rock. God tells Moses that is as a result of his not bringing water in the manner in which he was commanded, he would not be allowed to bring the Israelites into Israel.

We can learn much from this story. Several commentaries extrapolate various educational models from this story, being forceful vs. being pleasant with your students. I believe that we can learn about not just how we should treat students, but how we should treat our land. Continue Reading »

Tags: environment, moses, Torah, water

Leaders from Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority concluding talks in Tokyo yesterday with the announcement that they plan to start building an agro-industrial park in the Palestinian Territories by next year.

The agro-industrial park could provide jobs for up to 6,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. According to Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, the park’s “success would provide local people with new jobs, promote the economic development of Palestine and hope for the future (full story from AFP).”

While we applaud the efforts of all four sides to work cooperatively towards achieving a viable Palestinian state with a successful economy, we wonder if this is  another example of improper consideration of environmental concerns… Continue Reading »

Tags: agriculture, Palestinians, sustainable development, water

The summer is here and the kids are at home, if they are not at summer camp then you are probably hearing the words “I’m bored!” alot, if not too much. So how to keep your kids happy and green at the same time. In the next few weeks I hope to bring you some fun ideas to wile away the summer without putting a hole in your pocket!

First of all turn the TV off and let’s go out, whether you live in the city or the country, a little bit of imagination and old fashioned fun can keep you all busy and tired at the end of the day. Build your own kite and go fly, bike rides, nature trails, star-gazing and even bug collecting, all for no extra cost.

My first offering is good for inner-city and country kids alike. The Nature Trail can be at your local park or along your street, by foot or by bike. Just don’t forget plenty of water, a hat and suntan lotion.

Continue Reading »

Tags: ecomum, Israel, nature trails, summer vacation

This is the first book I’ve read in a long time that I have felt so conflicted about.

I bought it after having seen it prominently displayed in UK bookshops, and having read some of the author’s incisive political writings in The New Yorker.

I anticipated that it would be illuminating and instructive, and expected it to fit into a recent run of similar non-fiction books about the environment that equally inform with hard facts; frighten the reader at the scale of the problem humanity faces, and also provide some sense of optimism about human ingenuity and ecological salvation.

After reading ‘Field Notes from a Catastrophe’ I found that it did none of these, and that its style oddly jarred with me – not compulsive writing, nor reflective and so insightful as to leave me wanting more.

Indeed Kolbert’s closing lines leave a bleaker taste than other writers on this subject:

It may seem impossible to imagine that that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing.

Continue Reading »

Tags: 'Field Notes from a Catastrophe', book review, Elizabeth Kolbert

In the spirit of using every possible material available and avoiding waste, Israeli designer Zohar Yarom has found a creative and functional purpose for furniture fabric samples. She makes handbags out of them.

After receiving degrees in design from the Bezalel school in Jerusalem and Parson’s in New York, Zohar founded her own ZY design company in 2003 with the objective of creating environmentally and socially sensitive design pieces. Her diverse line of products includes handbags, storage solutions, furniture (such as the saddle chair on the right), light fixtures, and ceramics. And she prides herself on finding an aesthetic solution to reusing materials in a way that is both stylish and conscious of the environment. Continue Reading »

Tags: Design, recycle, reuse, Zohar Yarom

Environmental and social change don’t always go together in green organizations, but the truth is that you can’t really make green changes without effecting society. Alternatively, some socio-economic groups just don’t have the resources to make costly (yet positive) environmental changes. As Jeff recently pointed out in his reaction to Tel Aviv’s farmers market, it would be great if everyone could eat organic veggies - but the sad truth is that only a slice of the population can afford to make this positive change.

That’s why it’s so cool that Green Action, a non-profit organization based in Tel Aviv, focuses on eco-social change. They don’t distinguish between the needs of the planet and the needs of the people who call it home, and work to protect both natural resources and disadvantaged communities.

Green Action tackles lots of issues, including: Continue Reading »

Tags: alternative energy, Bio-Diesel, fair trade, non-profit organization, organic, social change, Tel Aviv

My parents are not your typical candidates for owning a hybrid car. They’ve been loyal owners of gas-guzzling Volvos for at least 20 years, replacing one trusty, sensible Volvo with another about once a decade. So it was quite a pleasant surprise when they announced 8 months ago that they were going to turn in their 14 year old Volvo station wagon for a Prius.

And 8 months later they’re considering replacing their other Volvo for a Prius, too.

Continue Reading »

Tags: hybrid, prius, transportation

(Illustration of how the solar-powered air-con might look)

Solar energy has long been considered as a source of power. And more recently, a number of projects have been created in Israel to do more than simply heat water as the conventional sun boilers have been doing for years. Solar energy is now being developed to work in powering air conditioning systems in both home and commercial enterprises.

A Beer Sheva based company, EWA Technologies Group (EWA: for Earth, Water, Air), is developing a solar powered air conditioning system that converts solar energy to a low cost energy system that harnesses the sun’s power and uses it to create cooling.

EWA’s solar cooling process is basically simple: A special solar collector collects and stores solar energy, and then transforms the accumulated energy into effective cooling. A special granular material, placed within the solar collector, reacts with a special liquid cooling fluid that send cool air into a room or office in a process similar to an inter cooling radiator system in an automobile. Continue Reading »

Tags: clean technologies, Energy, green technology, Israel, solar energy, solar technology