Planted in Israel’s Negev Desert is an academic oasis of scientists and their students. They are studying a natural resource that may be more valuable than oil in the not-so-distant future. That resource is water. Dr. Ofer Dahan from the Department of Environmental Hydrology and Microbiology at Ben Gurion University is one of the 26 […]
The significant role of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in developing the study of movement ecology has achieved international recognition through extensive coverage in the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a leading American scientific journal. Movement ecology is a developing academic pursuit, combining expertise in a variety of fields, including […]
Though Green Prophet is skeptical about Shai Agassi‘s Project Better Place, we are watching the developments of the project with interest. This week, the prototype of the electric car recharging station was unveiled in Israel. The prototype was designed in San Francisco and developed in Israel with the cooperation of Nekuda DM. The station features […]
The chemical pesticides used in modern agriculture and in the home are poisoning our planets’ animal life, waterways and ecosystems. They enter our bodies, and can even affect unborn children. Helping humanity break from this nasty cycle of destruction is an Israeli company, BotanoCap. The company envisions a future where organic produce will be the […]
Those who have been following the Red-Dead canal proposal, and all its controversies, know that a lot is at stake. The Dead Sea is dying because natural estuaries, such as the Jordan River, Ein Gedi bottled spring water and rainwater are not making it to its shores. Politicians think that by carving a tunnel from […]
Convening at the Ben Gurion University’s Sede Boqer campus on December 14-17, over 350 people from 40 countries are expected to meet and map out ways to combat desertification around the world. The four-day gathering is the largest international conference ever held in Israel focused on an environmental topic, and probably the largest international academic […]
Flash floods are the most common natural disaster in the United States, and a big killer in the Middle East too (see Relief Web’s report on Yemen). And OneWorld blog here on the Yemen flash flood which recently displaced more than 20,000 people. Because of the unpredictability of flash floods, they’re a leading weather-related cause […]
Green Prophet loves to find potential everywhere – so how about desert seawater greenhouse construction in Qatar? They are also doing this in Abu Dhabi. What exactly is a desert seawater greenhouse, you might ask? According to the Seawater Greenhouse website: “Seawater Greenhouse is a unique concept which combines natural processes, simple construction techniques and […]
Besides the wonderful team of people I get to work with, one of the best aspects of working with the newservice ISRAEL21c is that they le” me report on environment news and breakthroughs. Their support of the environment started about 5 years ago, when not a single paper in Israel was covering the beat. One […]
A solar clothes dryer works with the power of the sun.
Israel touts some of the world’s best solar technology advances (see our extensive solar energy company guide here), but its Middle East neighbor Dubai, says it is planning to set up the region’s largest solar energy manufacturing plant. They are expected to start producing by the last quarter in 2010, and will manufacture photovoltaic panels […]
Businesses play a huge role in our everyday impact on the environment. The way that businesses conduct themselves – ranging from what services or products they provide, to what means they use to provide them, and what kind of energy consumption habits they have – all effect their carbon footprint. And since we live in […]
Industrial and municipal waste doesn’t go away when we flush it down the drain. It takes an enormous amount of energy for treatment plants to process it, while massive environmental and financial costs go into disposing of the leftover sludge. Now, two Israelis are about to change the way we look at wastewater, by turning […]
Israelis are notorious for their love of gadgets. Well, at least Israeli men are. And Israeli kids. It’s a pretty true stereotype that Israeli elementary schoolers had their own cell phones way before cellphones were widespread in the US. Hand an Israeli kid pretty much any electronic gadget and they’ll figure it out in less […]
Any place that has wastewater treatment plants, must deal with the issue of sludge – all of the solids left over after the sewage is treated. Sewage treatment consists of a number of stages. Stage I, where the solids are flocculated (encouraged to glom together) and settled out of the stream. Stage II, where the […]