I love composting. It is pure satisfaction for anyone remotely interested in growing things, and watching how things can grow, sprout, shoot up, and also decay, die and rot. When you turn the soil, and see the half-eaten tomato, or ear of corn, or artichoke leaves from a recent dinner, and know that they are […]
Andreas Weil, our friend from EcoOcean called us today excited about a new art event happening next Tuesday night in Dizengoff Mall. Apparently an Israeli architect/artist named Gal Gaon is opening an exhibit, complete with student works, called “Green In Me.” The exhibit is going to cover 100 square meters in a pavillion at Dizengoff […]
“You can trace the recent history of Tu B’shevat seders like branches on a tree.” Nigel Savage, originally from Manchester, England, founded Hazon (Hebrew for “vision”) in 2000. Hazon works to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community — as a step towards a healthier and more sustainable world for all. In 2000 Nigel […]
Look at My work, how beautiful and perfect is everything that I created. I created it for you. Be careful not to ruin and destroy My world. If you ruin it, there is nobody to restore it after you…” (Ecclesiastes Rabba 7:28) Those timely words written back somewhere between the sixth and eighth centuries pretty […]
One of my more vivid childhood memories is of the drive across the George Washington Bridge from New York to New Jersey, and zoning out to stare at what seemed like an endless procession of towering billboards displaying images of shiny cars, shiny models, and shiny promises of success. Seriously, is there a kid in […]
Two Architecture lecturers from the Technion Institute in Haifa have designed a high-rise sustainable energy apartment complex that includes greenhouses for all its residents, and are building it in Wuhan Province, China. Tagit Klimor and David Knafo, who also run their own architectural practise Knafo Klimor, with offices in Tel Aviv and Haifa, believe in […]
Israeli designer Shay Alkalay is a man modeled after our own green heart. And with his cheeky invention, you will never have to say ‘out, out, damn spot,’ ever again. aking over your coffee spills (which might have otherwise ruined your best white shirt), is a little iron-on alien, known as a stickystain.
With the panoramic view that I have from my window, I tend to find myself awed by the sunset. Often, I tell myself how incredibly artistically talented God is, the hues, the use of shadow, the definition… it’s beautiful. Oh how many times I wished that I could create such breathtaking scenes, on a […]
When I moved to Israel I started to understand, that not everywhere in the world things are going the same way. I grew up in Germany, where the convenience of a quiet and more or less unworried life, enables politicians to talk and act in terms of environment. Water saving, recycling and other environmental […]
For all of us green writers, here’s a creative & green challenge that came my way this week: a new US journal; Hawk and Handsaw – the Journal of Creativity & Sustainability, is starting up and invites writers and artists of all kinds to get creative on their sense of place. My head is already […]
Uprooting is a common theme in this part of the world: the Jewish Torah is compared to being a Tree of Life, and people who live in these parts are constantly struggling over land rights, and legitimizing why certain people should or shouldn’t settle here.Green Prophet is not going to enter the political debate, but […]
Since the foundation of the first Kibbutz in Israel, nations around the world have looked to the Israeli model for communal living. One of the cornerstones of the kibbutz movement is C.A.L.L. (Communes at Large Letter), a seasonal magazine that reports on intentional communities in Israel and the rest of the world.
Poetry lovers take note: from January 8-9, Tel Aviv University will be hosting a conference on literature and the environment, entitled “Poetic Natures: The Environment, Literature and the Arts. ” Guests include US Poet Laureate Robert Hass, a National Book Award Winner and Una Chaudhuri, Professor of English, Drama and Performance Studies at New York […]
Israelis love playing matkot. Though we are Israeli, we weren’t born here and have yet to learn how to appreciate the national sport, best played in one’s tighty whities on the beaches of Tel Aviv. Thanks to our new friend at Designist Dream, we found links to the creations of Groovy (Danit & Yinnon Simhi). […]
We saw all the signs: the ararchist gatherings at Salon Mazal and the little old ladies picking through the Friday-afternoon veggies at the Carmel Market. Social activists in Israel have joined the international movement in protest of our consumer culture. They are dumpster-divers, and living off of just about everything and anything that you might […]
Munching on a Druze pita with Labneh, olive oil, and some zaatar spice. The Irish call it “the troubles”; over in Israel, they euphemistically call political problems “the situation”. As sad and complicated as the situation may be for every human being involved, a few individuals have risen above the crowd, like oil on water, […]
Hipsters from the Comme Il Faut fashion house in Israel have opened their own mini-mall, an “anti-mall” they say, in Tel Aviv’s port. It is one which encourages creativity over mass-consumption. Tel Aviv is a fast and furious place. Days after Gaultier and Gucci release new collections, knock-offs are already on the streets being peddled […]
While the Christians are busy unwrapping their presents around the world for Christmas, the LA-based clothing company American Apparel, decided to launch a sale just for the Jews who complain that the only thing they get to do on Christmas day is eat Chinese food and go to the movies. Lucky for the Jews, there […]
Haaretz reported today that the tender for building a massive solar power plant in the Negev will not be given preference to Israeli companies. The article explains that, “The decision was made, among other things, to avoid the impression that the tender was written for the benefit of the only two Israeli companies who could […]
“Mending” is the theme of environmental sculptor Dani Karavan, whose massive works can be found from the barren deserts of the Negev all the way to gay Paris. And when he says mending, Karavan implies the mending of animals, plants, society and the near and far environments. Celebrating the artist’s 77th birthday is a Dani […]
(A photo from one of Dani Machlis’s online galleries) In Israel, space is limited, but it doesn’t have to limiting. Take for example Dani Machlis from Be’er Sheva. The photographer recently discovered that owning his own gallery wouldn’t cost a fortune if he built it into his own living room. Repurposing space in the home […]
A few weeks ago, we were driving our “tourist” mom from Canada around the country, when we accidentally took the wrong cut-off and found ourselves somewhere in the middle of east Jerusalem. Excited by seeing the children riding around on donkeys and the general sense of choas, Mom commented on how very different this place […]
I was out walking about a forest around Jerusalem today and kept hearing gunshots firing off from the Arab village across the way. They’re celebrating Hajj now, said my boyfriend. And I thought of all the Muslims who must be aching to make their pilgrammage to Mecca. With so many people converging in one small […]
Israeli designer Elanit Neutra, based in Tel Aviv, is getting into the green spirit. She’s developed a designer bag and wallet series out of old recycled tire inner tubes. Elanit collects the inner tubes from nearby garages, cleans them, cuts them up and fashions them into environmentally-friendly products, which you can use. Find them in Tel […]
Thousands of years before green became hot, the Jewish people were observing the Shmitta, or shmita, a sabbatical year. The Shmitta is documented in the bible as a year where farmers are forbidden to work the land in order to give the land a rest. The Lord said to Moses on Mount Sinai. (2) Speak […]
