My Scottish mother, in her finest Glaswegian accent, used to call my room a “pig sty” when I was a kid. Now an Israeli farm is getting fined for creating a pig sty. Unbeknownst to many outsiders –– and insiders –– Israel operates farms that raise pigs for selling to the pork market. New immigrants […]
With people losing their jobs in America left, right and center, effects of the global economic crisis are being felt in the Middle East too. Israelis, whose Gross Domestic Produce relies so much on exports has to scale back dramatically when America loses spending power. Yet people are asking here, why isn’t there more recycling. […]
The Green Building in Manchester’s Macintosh Village. An Israeli version, coming soon? Last month, the Tel Aviv municipality implemented some creative solutions to help solve Israel’s ongoing water crisis. It appears they are not stopping there in their efforts to green the City That Never Stops. Soon, construction will begin on Tel Aviv’s first ecological […]
Disputes over natural resources are not a new part of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Water, for instance, is a famous bone of contention between the two parties. Recently, however, a newer twist developed in this ongoing battle between nations. On Monday, Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights, an Israeli rights group, petitioned the High Court […]
Rachel interviews Elad Orian, co-founder of COMET – Community, Energy, and Technology in the Middle East. He’s creating solar power for Palestinian villages. Through sustainable energy development for off-grid villages, the project aims to socially and economically empower Palestinian communities of the South Mount Hebron region, one of the poorest and most marginalized areas within […]
If you’re a regular reader of Green Prophet, you’ll already know that the US and Israel have forged ties to co-develop renewable energy products. And that top US energy leaders were in Israel a few weeks ago. Now Globes reports, that the $800 billion US stimulus package launched by President Barack Obama will affect both […]
Last week, Israeli company Netafim, a pioneer in drip irrigation technology, signed a $22 million deal to supply irrigation for a large-scale sugar cane project in Peru. In conjunction with Maple Energy, a Peruvian company that produces energy for industrial clients, the project will cultivate 20,000 acres of sugar cane for the creation of ethanol, […]
An aquaduct in Petra – A Jordanian water conveyance system that is much less controversial! A major study published last week found levels of radioactive isotopes in Jordan’s Disi aquifer that far exceed international drinking water standards. The study, which was conducted by a team of Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian scientists and led by Duke […]
The health of Tel Aviv and Herzliya residents should not be ignored: For over two weeks the beaches of Tel Aviv and Herzliya have been polluted by sewage from Or-Yehuda. For over a week Zalul Environmental Association has been waiting for an answer from the Ministry of the Environment about their failure to enforce the […]
Snow is a serious matter for Lebanon. So serious, in fact, that the white part of the Lebanese flag represents the country’s snowy mountains. Snow also plays an important economic role, since Lebanon’s six ski resorts draw tourists from nearby countries. Most significant of all, however, is the fact that the mountain soil absorbs the […]
(In 1922 Jerusalem gets its first sewage system. YNet) Jerusalem is a holy city which houses the country’s holiest people. Now their excrement will continue doing good work: In the first deal of its kind for the country, the Israel Electric Company (IEC) signed an agreement on Sunday with Gihon, Jerusalem’s water and sewage firm, […]
Other announcements made at the conference include the Timna Renewable Energy Park, which will be a center for R&D, and the AORA Solar Thermal Module at Kibbutz Samar, the world's first commercial hybrid solar gas-turbine power plant that is already nearing completion. Solel Solar Systems announced it was beginning construction of a 50 MW solar field in Lebrija, Spain, and Brightsource Energy made a pre-conference announcement that it had inked the world's largest solar deal to date with Southern California Edison (SCE).
(Yuli Ziv, founder of MyItThings, cofounder of the Style Coalition) I first talked to Yuli Ziv when she was in the middle of a paparazzi storm. It was Fashion Week in New York and she was just about to enter the Justin Timberlake show. Walking over to her website MyItThings, the Tel Aviv native, now […]
Israel has officially pulled out all the stops for water conservation: Last month, Israeli officials led by Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon sought to combat the country’s urgent water crisis by changing all the mezuzot in the Water Authority offices (Jews traditionally affix a mezuzah, a piece of parchment inscribed with verses from the Torah, to […]
The Middle East is pretty thirsty right now. Headlines from all over the region chronicle the increasingly serious drought conditions affecting agriculture, industry, and health. Unfortunately, new research from the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology adds reason for even more concern. In their study, “High Naturally Occurring Radioactivity in Fossil Groundwater from the Middle […]