Amidst all its struggles to develop clean and cleaner technologies (and a war with Gaza), it seem that Israelis got a huge gift this week: Israelis were celebrating this week over the discovery of a massive 3 trillion cubic feet natural gas pocket found buried 1.5 km below the sea floor, some 90 km off […]
I went to see Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s documentary film, “The Garden,” at Tribeca Cinemas in Manhattan, part of docs on the shortlist for the Gucci Tribeca Documentary Fund. I went with a group of farmers living in New York, some of whom work on urban farming projects in and around the City. The film tells […]
Each week Orthodox Jews read one segment of the Five Books of Moses so that they can complete the entire Five Books within the course of a year. In last week’s Eco-Rabbi post we discussed Jacob’s passing on and blessing his children, this week begins several generations later. Jacob’s children have been living in Egypt […]
We’ve oohed and awed over the green building projects in Dubai: A recent survey has consigned that old saying ‘Location is everything,’ to the scrapheap when it comes to property investors looking to flash their cash in the Middle East. Instead, eco is where it’s at, according to a new United Arab Emirates report. A […]
This isn’t the forum for politics, but unfortunately so much of what decisions are made in the Middle East (ie funds allocated, prayers made) are determined by the conflict. Above, see a video of the consequences of the Israel-Lebanon war 2.5 years ago. As an Israeli, I know that untold environmental damage happened south of […]
(A map of Jordan and the surrounding region highlighting the Disi Aquifer and the proposed Red-Dead project.) With worrying frost alerts in Jordan getting farmers anxious, Jordanians are also seeing a rainless season this year, increasing their fears that crops will collapse. Last week, officials had been calling on its citizens to pray for rain, […]
(Rapidly depleting water resources has forced residents of Sana’a to buy water from private sources. Water levels are dropping by 6 metres a year in the Yemeni capital. © David Swanson/IRIN) If you think things seem pretty dicey in the Middle East right now with Israel and Hamas fighting, according to IRIN, expect tensions to […]
In this week’s segment from the Torah, Parshat Vayigash, Jacob and his family go down to Egypt to Joseph, who is now second, only to Pharaoh, in Egypt. On his way down the Bible explains that Jacob went via Beersheba. The Midrash Bereshit Rabbah, a sixth century commentary on the bible, notices extra language used […]
Miya president and CEO Baruch Oren and B. Gaon Holdings Ltd. Chairman Moshe Gaon have presented a new forum: The U.S.-Israel Binational Cleantech Forum, which they announced at the Israel America Chamber of Commerce Conference in Washington. The goal of the forum is to create a cohesive network that connects environmental organizations to businesses and […]
Bad news about low water levels in Israel, are so frequent, the details stark, that I am starting to avoid reading such stories. Some good water news, for a change: Technology incubators from Israel and California plan on working together to build water technologies of the future. Israel’s Kinarot-Jordan Valley Technology Incubator has signed a […]
Before the economic crisis made the question of investments something of a joke, venture capital investments in green technology worldwide saw a huge increase in 2008. Compared to the same investment period in 2007, venture capital investments increased by 82%, totaling $4.6 billion. While America still leads the pack in investments in green technology, there […]
This past Friday we saw the conclusion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland. This two-week long conference brought together representatives from 189 countries for talks to lay the groundwork for Copenhagen in 2009, where the convention signatories have agreed to finalize a global treaty for the post-2012 period (2012 is when […]
This week, Israel’s biggest solar power station was inaugurated in Katsrin, a place otherwise known for its archaeological sites. Generating 85,000 KWH per year, the power station represents a milestone in Israel’s adoption of alternative energy, which until now had hardly been a soaring success. But it also represents something else: A partnership between Israel […]
The army unit I served in (way back when) was featured in tonight’s news broadcast for having cancer levels more than twice as high as other infantry units. Channel 2 TV (Arutz 2) reported this evening (video, in Hebrew) that IDF’s Nachal infantry had 2.5 as many Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cases than either Paratroopers or Golani, […]
Hot off the press –– According to the AP, Hawaii has unveiled plans to be first in the nation to roll out electric car stations statewide — a move the governor hailed as a major step toward weaning the islands off oil. This news follows a recent declaration that California cities will be entering into […]