Awareness of the environment has become a way of life for members of the Eco-Art Village established by the Vertigo Dance Company in the Ella Valley. Now they are ready to share with others their message of environmentally aware, sustainable living. “There aren’t places where you can learn how to do these things,” says Adi […]
Providing self-sufficient and affordable shelter remains a major challenge for humanity worldwide. Decent and healthy living conditions are still required in many parts of the world especially due to migration to over-populated urban areas, man-made and natural disasters. Many architects and non-government organizations have attempted to provide local communities in these areas with building skills […]
(Thousands of Christian pilgrims get baptized in Israel’s Jordan River every year. Are they risking their lives by immersing in the polluted waters?) It’s the highlight of any Christian’s trip to Israel – a dunk in the Jordan River, the way Jesus did it thousands of years ago. But with increased pollution in Israel’s waterways, […]
(Cousteau interviews students from the Arava Institute in Israel. It’s a unique learning center that offers environment degrees to students from around the world.) We’ve been following Alexandra Cousteau as she documents her travels in Israel and the Middle East. In this video recently uploaded, she interviews students at the Arava Institute in Israel where […]
If you’ve heard about the demise of the kibbutz movement, then you may also know that financially strapped communal farms have recently climbed out of debt by building suburban-style detached housing developments and selling them to upwardly mobile Israelis. Suburbanizing kibbutzim and moshavim (village settlements), along with several new suburban-style towns like Shoham (near Ben […]
At the time of writing this post, there are 6 confirmed cases of swine flu now in Israel. Out of fear that the virus might spread to Egypt, authorities there have ordered the slaughter of the country’s 300,000 pigs, reports the Associated Press. You would assume that Israel being a “kosher” Jewish country wouldn’t be raising […]
Reading has its own geography. I read this book The Nature of the State while I traveled back and forth from the West Highlands of Scotland to London for work . . . while Israeli-Palestinian relations erupted into open conflict in Gaza, while fire in Greece turned to fire Australia, while it snowed hard in […]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ylk1zXMSTs[/youtube] We couldn’t miss this one for the world: last night about 20 professional cyclists put the pedal to the metal and powered the Balkan Beat Box free concert at Rabin Square. Thousands of people (and dogs) of all ages took part in seeing the show. The show to celebrate Earth Day couldn’t run on […]
Okay, so officially… Earth Hour was a few weeks ago and despite the fact that many other Middle Eastern cities participated, Israel was caught with its pants down. And yes, it’s probably true that instead of powering down, they were powering up to watch an important football match between Israel and Greece. But it’s also […]
“The more we leave the non-human world behind, the less human we become: and the more fearful we become. It is not the thrilling fear of the kind I have experienced with horses, it is more a soul-deep, dislocated sense of anxiety. We lose our sense of trust in the wild world: we begin to […]
(Photographer Yuval Chen spent almost two years snapping shots of hedgehogs in Tel Aviv’s urban landscape. For more see ISRAELITY). Celebrated since 1970, Israel is for the first time celebrating Earth Day nationally. They didn’t put their lights out for an hour a few weeks ago to mark Earth Hour (there was a big football […]
What’s a 37 year old single mom, who lives in a three room mobile home in Israel’s Galilee doing to support herself? Why she’s selling portable solar energy units to farmers, that’s what! Shiri Broida, originally from Kibbutz Ein Harod Ihud, isn’t the normal example of an Israeli woman in her mid 30’s. Her lifestyle […]
Writing the Green Prophet story on ecomigration got me thinking about a cheesy made for TV movie The Fire Next Time made 15 years ago. (Plus Earth Day is coming up next week, giving us extra reasons to think about our blue planet.) The movie gives a chilling preview of what the world might be […]
Carbon emissions from the building environment are globally one of the major contributors to climate change. On average up to 50% of all carbon emissions are related to domestic use of energy – our household consumption. How then will our personal conduct have any influence on the global climate? The answer to that is it […]
‘The Age of Stupid’ is an ambitious new Independent British green documentary. As a fellow filmmaker and activist, I salute director Franny Armstrong and her dynamic team for the passion and vision shown in creating this film, pulling together funding from diverse and various sources, creating the ‘Not Stupid’ brand and the big campaign that […]