You wouldn’t generally think of Tel Aviv as a green oasis. A nightlife oasis, yes. A beachy oasis, 
yes. A trendy oasis, yeah, you could call it that too. But when you’re walking on busy Allenby Street or Dizengoff – the natural environment is probably the furthest thing from your urban experience.
But tucked away in Bialik Square, in the center of Tel Aviv, a green oasis exists.
City Tree is a green housing project that, like the Eco-Housing Pilot Project of Jerusalem, has adopted an older building and made it suitable for sustainable living habits. City Tree may have it a little tougher than the Eco-Housing project, though, since their building is over 80 years old and is constructed in the historical Tel Aviv architecture style of the 1920s.
City Tree has many projects, including:
Restoring their apartment with ecological renovation methods such as painting the kitchen with a homemade flour based paint, constructing with paper, restoring furniture, and constructing storage and shelving units out of furniture thrown away elsewhere in Tel Aviv. They’re looking for volunteers, so if you’re interested in learning more about these techniques please contact them! A short tour of the apartment can be seen in the clip below, at the beginning of the video (it’s in Hebrew, but the images speak for themselves):
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=FkiE6TljSy4[/youtube]
Teaching urbanites how to compost with their many compost workshops.
Cooperating with the Good Energy Initiative to promote energy efficient lighting.
Hosting workshops, lectures, and events that promote sustainable living practices and solid advice about how to live with a greener conscience. This month alone their events include a workshop about how to make your own soy or almond milk, a compost workshop, and a discussion about the environment and the economy.
City Tree truly is a green oasis in the heart of urban Tel Aviv and offers help, advice, and ideas to those that want to live a cleaner and greener city lifestyle.
See also:: Open Green Houses: Eco-Architecture Tours in Tel Aviv and Bialik Square Loses Famous Centerpiece
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
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