World Usability Day was founded in 2005 as an initiative of the Usability Professionals’ Association to ensure that services and products important to human life are easier to access and simpler to use. Each year, on the second Thursday of November, over 225 events are organized in over 40 countries around the world to raise […]
Kids on bikes cruise past Azrieli towers. A couple of years ago I read a book called Carfree Cities, which put forward a very convincing case for reducing the use of private cars in the city, and set out a whole series of design alternatives which, according to author J.H. Crawford, would obviate the need […]
Although there are Israelis who hop between Eilat and Tel Aviv on a plane rather than brave the four-and-a-half hour Egged bus ride, for the most part Israel’s postage stamp size makes the country easy to tackle without taking to the skies. Not so for the USA. I decided last week that I will visit […]
Who ever said that there’s no nightlife in Jerusalem? When it comes to pubs and clubs, Tel Aviv surely has the edge by a long way. Israel’s Sin City is also more bike-friendly with its tree-lined cycle paths and flat topography, but anyone bold enough to take to Jerusalem’s streets at night on two wheels […]
Tuesday, September 23 was Public Transportation Day in Israel, the local answer to European Mobility Week and World Carfree Day, an attempt to “remind the world that we don’t have to accept our car-dominated society.” In Europe, they managed to keep the cars off the streets for a few hours. In Israel, we will have […]
It was bound to happen, sooner or later. After the kibbutz – the classic Israeli collective community where members shared everything – urban car sharing services were only a hop, skip, and a car engine purr away. Thanks to new Israeli company, Car2go, the concept of car sharing (which has already enjoyed great success all over […]
If you choose to live in the heart of the Negev desert – or any desert for that matter – chances are, you’re pretty in touch with nature. Because you’re surrounded by it. There just aren’t any of the modern distractions that many of us know and love, like movies, frozen yogurt stands, etc. But […]
Israel’s tourism industry has made some serious changes recently. The Ministry of Tourism announced a few months ago that it was going ‘green’ for 2009, stating that it had a plan that included “environment-sensitive planning and development; preservation of the cultural and social heritage; developing tourism and new jobs in agricultural areas and the periphery […]
The Gaza Strip seems like the last place in the world where we would hear good news on the environmental – or any – front. Since Hamas took control of the Gaza Strip last summer, Israel has imposed a nearly total blockade, resulting in shortages of everything from fuel to water to food and medical […]
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 […]
Israel. Another week, another delegation of foreign politicians. This time it’s the French President Nicolas Sarkozy gracing our shores and as I write this he is dining with his Israeli counterpart, Shimon Peres, at his official residence ten minutes from my flat. Apart from the usual topics that concern foreign dignitaries in the Holy Land […]
For two days this week, at Jerusalem’s Conference Centre, the first Jerusalem Environment and Nature Conference took place. You can read a preview post here. For this Green Prophet correspondent and greenie, it wasn’t the dull political speeches and pontificating that mattered (all of the politicians who showed up, spoke and left immediately, kindly donated […]
Previously famous for harboring a fledgling prophet in her guest bedroom for a weekend (and for cooking amazing, veggie-licious meals), our friend Debby is putting the pedal where her mouth is, and will be biking 300 miles from Jerusalem to Eilat to raise money for worthy green causes–the Arava Environmental Institute in southern Israel and […]
Things are really hotting up this week in the great debate about air transport being the big nasty in terms of pollution and climate change, as well as the social impact of airport expansion. Firstly, Virgin Airways, of the entrepreneurial Richard Branson type, unleashed its first test flight of a plane using bio-fuel from Heathrow. […]
Issa Zananiri (left) and his supervisor from the Technion. It might be a bit of a head-scratcher for those who see nothing but the violent clashes on TV, but a Palestinian is now part of a Tel Aviv design and planning team, working on the city’s new light rail train project, to be completed by […]
In a bid to cut down on pollution (and greenhouse gases we hope), the Tel Aviv Municipality is conducting a feasibility study on the use of hybrid taxi cabs in the overly congested and polluted city. We say go one step further – turn Tel Aviv into a car-free zone. The approval is expected to […]
We’ve been a little skeptical about the electric car project proposed by Shai Agassi. Israel relies still on heavily-polluting coal power plants; and a great deal of infrastructure will need to be put in place for this scheme to work. Not to mention the fact that Israelis barely recycle. That’s quite a jump from throwing […]
Last week, we set off in search of time out from hectic, sometime frazzled lives in the Holy City. Some 2 hours later, we arrived at the gate of The Castle in Kerem Maharal, an 11th Century Crusader castle, nestling within a moshav of the same name, deep within the Hof Harcarmel forest, between Haifa […]
Hot on the heels (or should that be, ‘wheels’) of the news that bicycle use is on the rise in Tel Aviv, the municipality in Israel’s second city has just announced that it is launching a ‘pay and ride’ bike rental system.Last week, Green Prophet reported that bike use in the city shot up by […]
Traveling anywhere in Israel from the Holy City isn’t going to be easy on the day President Bush arrives, but it is a perfect day for experiencing the low carbon pleasure of train travel. For a start, Malcha station at 9 a.m is empty – it seems many commuters, tourists or day-trippers have left earlier, […]
Being such a small place, you’d think Israel would be a simple place to get around on less than four wheels. But, alas, this is not the case since it’s cities and roads continuously choked with traffic. So it’s reassuring to hear that more Israelis are swapping their polluting automobiles for the most eco-friendly, not […]
Afraid that this planet is doomed? Before global warming sets in, how about shooting a sample of your DNA into outer space? For a mere $87 you have the chance of being immortalized. Maybe your genes will drift back down to earth in a couple of billion years when the earth has calmed down. Or […]
There is a lot of talk these days about carbon footprints. And there is much debate over how people can reduce theirs. A carbon footprint is essentially the amount of CO2 a person leaves behind as a result of personal transportation (cars and plane), heating their homes and even putting food on their tables. That’s […]
We can’t help linking to this most recent story on Amirim, a vegetarian village founded in the 50s by Moroccan immigrants, at the top of the Sea of Galilee. The village offers guesthouses and lodging for out-of-towners and extols the virtues of vegetarianism and veganism. The village (moshav in Hebrew) is belonging to the Merom […]
(Parking at Rabin Square and pool of water in the parking lot.) People who live in Israel and who have to negotiate its roads might not feel that they have arrived in Gan Eden (“Eden”). As the standard of living increases on a yearly basis, so does the number of cars and parking lots. Any […]
