Leigh Cuen

New Toilet Business 2theloo Flourishes in Tel Aviv

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Architecture & Urban »

2TheLoo bathroom, image via 2 The Loo
Will there be less public peeing on the streets now there’s a high tech public toilet in Tel Aviv?

Haaretz reporter Roy Arad recently wrote that in all his career as a journalist he has never seen people so happy as the Israelis that have just used 2 The Loo on King George Street in Tel Aviv, a new pay-per-use bathroom offering a clean toilet and foamy soap for NIS 3 (about $1). According to one elderly customer: “You saved a life in Israel.”

Continue reading: “New Toilet Business 2theloo Flourishes in Tel Aviv” »

Miriam Kresh

Dye Your Hair Naturally With Henna

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Fashion & Design »

image-henna-hairIf you want naturally beautiful hair, turn to henna.

Anyone living in the Middle East has often seen little old ladies with kerchiefs tied under their chins and long, orange-colored braids falling down their backs. They dye their hair with henna, the dried and powdered leaves of Lawsonia lythraceae.

But modern women know methods of applying henna that yield lovely shades of hair color, from strawberry-blond to mahogany and even raven black. All this without any of the 500 synthetic chemicals in commercial hair dyes. (And for another shocker, find out what’s in your lipstick.)

There are some doubts as to long-term health consequences of conventional hair dyes. While science waits for conclusive evidence of links between cancer and hair dyes, here at Green Prophet we always favor the natural way.  Another advantage of henna is that it’s as good for your hair as our natural moisturizer is for your skin. Any woman used to commercial hair dyes either puts up with dry, itchy, flaky scalp, or treats it with specialized shampoos and hair masks. Henna, on the other hand conditions the hair, leaving it silky-soft and strong.

Continue reading: “Dye Your Hair Naturally With Henna” »

Leigh Cuen

Corporate Organic Food Struggles to Compete in Israeli Markets

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Food & Health »

shuk market israelIn Israel the organic food market is still comparatively small and underdeveloped.

According to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz organic food only comprises one and half percent of Israel’s agricultural output. A whopping 90% of it is exported abroad, mainly to European markets.

An annual Agriculture Ministry survey in 2011 discovered that 37.4% of the organic produce sold in Israeli stores was mislabeled. The produce may have contained pesticides or in other ways fallen short of the ministry’s organic regulations. This may be part of the problem.

Continue reading: “Corporate Organic Food Struggles to Compete in Israeli Markets” »

Leigh Cuen

Outlaw Biking with Headphones Say Israeli Lawmakers in World First Ban

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Cars & Transportation »

girl headphones cyclingHeadphones kill pedestrians and cyclists who can’t hear traffic. Israel proposes new legislation to ban the music while cycling. 

Israel is rapidly becoming a nation of bikers, from cycle-tourism to the bike-sharing program that earned Tel Aviv municipality a Green Globe Award this year. But it has proven a risky method of transit on crowded streets. Sunday, May 13 the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation proposed a bill to improve the safety of urban bike routes. That will mean no headphones on MP3 players, iPhones or iPods while riding. 

Continue reading: “Outlaw Biking with Headphones Say Israeli Lawmakers in World First Ban” »

Laurie Balbo

Clean Reusable Totes, Or Risk Going Green

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Food & Health »

bacteria go green reusable bags
Your reusable totes may be full of bacteria and can turn you seriously “green”. Time to practice good bag hygiene. 

Researchers at the University of Arizona tested 84 reusable shopping totes and found over half were contaminated with harmful bacteria, including the dangerous E.coli. Contamination occurs when fluids such as fruit juices and meat blood leak from their packaging and deposit miniscule droplets onto the bag material. Fungus and mold can also thrive among the fibers.  Appetizing, eh? We plop these bags onto supermarket check-out belts, car trunks, driveways, and kitchen counters. None of these surfaces are sparkling clean; the bags up their invisible “ick” factor with each movement.

The study also showed that most bags are never washed.

Continue reading: “Clean Reusable Totes, Or Risk Going Green” »

Tafline Laylin

Qatar Fire: Expatriates Furious Over Officials’ Lackadaisical Attitude

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Architecture & Urban »

urban, architecture, planning, development, Ten minutes after a fire broke out in Doha’s Villaggio Mall yesterday, an expatriate and Doha News reader Paula Rodrigues Duarte claimed that officials failed to discourage her from entering the mall. “Not security or police. I was actually walking towards it unknowingly till I saw people running back and turned around and left. No alarms, no sprinklers, nothing,” she wrote on the paper’s Facebook page. 19 People died in the fire, including triplets from New Zealand.

Continue reading: “Qatar Fire: Expatriates Furious Over Officials’ Lackadaisical Attitude” »

Tafline Laylin

Saudi Prince Sues the City of Los Angeles Over Palatial Building

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Architecture & Urban »

Saudi, architecture, environmental impact assessments, Los Angeles, Save Benedict Canyon

Saudi Prince Abdul Aziz bin Abdullah – the son of King Abdullah and deputy Foreign Minister – has sued the city of Los Angeles. In 2009 the King’s third son purchased a 5 1/4 acre plot of land in a wealthy Beverly Hills neighborhood for $12 million through his firm Tower Lane Properties.

But once the surrounding community caught wind of Abdullah’s 85,000 square foot plans (akin to constructing a giant Walmart in their neighborhood, they said), 1,000 residents signed a petition urging the city to ensure that appropriate environmental impact assessments are conducted prior to allowing the project to proceed.

Continue reading: “Saudi Prince Sues the City of Los Angeles Over Palatial Building” »

Tafline Laylin

Morocco’s Atlas Kasbah Eco-Lodge is 80% Solar-Powered

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Architecture & Urban »

eco-tourism, sustainable development, vernacular architecture, eco-lodge, water conservation, energy conservation, Atlas Kasbah

It may look like a castle, but this beautiful red-earth building is actually an 11-roomed hotel that receives 80% of its energy from the sun. And like the eco-lodge, Hassan and his wife Hélène of the Atlas Kasbah are no run-of-the-mill owners. He is Berber, she is French, and they both possess Masters Degrees in Sustainable Development.

Their facility in Morocco’s UNESCO-protected Argan Biosphere Reserve – just a skip from Agadir’s popular beaches – has won a bevy of green accolades that distinguishes it as one of the most sustainable eco-tourism establishments in the entire country (if not the Magreb!)

Continue reading: “Morocco’s Atlas Kasbah Eco-Lodge is 80% Solar-Powered” »

Arwa Aburawa

London Mosques Start Beekeeping Trend – INTERVIEW

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Travel & Nature »

Two mosques in London have taken up beekeeping – and there are plans to encourage more to join the quest to save dwindling bee populations

When Kingston mosque in London introduced between 10,000 and 15,000 bees onto its premises last summer, the congregation was naturally quite concerned. Would it be safe? Would bee swarms gather at the mosque? Would it be dangerous for children? However, once local beekeeper Munir Ravalia explained that the beehive wouldn’t be a health and safety risk on the roof, they were pretty eager to find out more. “Once we dealt with worries about safety, lots of people were just curious about how it would all work and when they would be able to get some honey!” explains Munir Ravalia.

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Linda Pappagallo

Blatt Chaya Revives Traditional Floor Tile Making in Lebanon

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Fashion & Design »

Edgard-Chaya tile making lebanonEdgard Chaya and his family bring back ancient tile making practices and Lebanese “neo-traditional” architecture

After being handed over a case filled with 12 brass molds and stumbling upon a jumble of colored tile fragments and exposed patterns in his family’s wrecked cement tile factory, retiree Edgard Chaya was destined towards a new chapter in his life: reviving Blatt Chaya, his family’s disused artisanal cement tile production in Lebanon.

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