Natalie Portman has taken up design… big deal! Another hot actress designing clothes… This actually is a big deal. Sizzling its way through all the hottest fashion blogs is the actress’s Vegan footwear! In previous posts we talked about a skirt that can save your life (Yael Mer’s evacuation skirt), a patch that can save your […]
We bumped into Neta’s blog “bobilina” by accident and have been so charmed by her unique hand-made creations, often done with the help of recycled materials and socks (like the creature pictured above).When we lived in Tel Aviv there was always such a bounty of neat fabrics – both at the pedestrian mall on Nachalat […]
Although Israel has grown into a modern post-industrial economy, the country still has strong agrarian roots, most famously, the agricultural socialist community of the kibbutz. But earlier than that, the Bible proscribes things to do to mark the passing seasons. There are rights and rituals for nature in Judaism and it all started thousands of years ago.
Throughout history when a great event happened people would reset their calendar. When a new king became ruler the year would start again with one. Similarly, that is why we are in the year 2008 Anno Domini, Latin for: in the year of our Lord, referring to the birth of Jesus. In the Jewish calendar, […]
“There are four heads of the year… on the fifteenth of Shvat for the trees…” Mishna, Tractate Rosh Hashana, 1:1 As our home revolves around the Sun, the Jewish calendar is circular as well. How does one year have four beginnings? A circle does not have any beginning, nor does it have an end. Wherever […]
Micheal Reynolds is a true visionary of a sustainable way forward for humanity, housed in buildings that use throwaway materials and don’t need external power or sewage systems. ‘Food, Energy, and Sewage’ is his mantra, and getting them or getting rid of them without reliance on the National Grid system is his pre-occupation. Thankfully, Reynolds, […]
I recently had the opportunity to interview poet laureate and known environmental activist Robert Hass (full interview is here).Hass was in Israel for the “Poetic Natures” conference in Tel Aviv last week, and while he was here he explored some of Israel’s unique environmental features.Among many topics, Hass spoke about the environmental parallels between Israel […]
In Judaism it is traditional to make blessings. In fact sometimes it can feel, for the initiated, that one makes blessings for everything! It can be inconvenient, however, I believe that what lies behind, is the true nature of what it means to be green.
From the same gal that brought us the inflatable kayak skirt (the Evacuation Skirt), which is great for flash floods when global warming sets in, comes the 2-in-1 slipper rocker chair. This is our first season in Jerusalem and can we tell you – it is freeezing here. We think if we had one of […]
Israel offers such an incredible potpourri of cultures. They all seem to melt together through Rachel Oren’s Ethnicware.There you can find one-of-a-kind cushions handcrafted by Bukarians, Ethiopian embroidery, a Bedouin bag… so many treasures and delights.We love the driftwood bowl, but imagine that it’s been imported from India.No matter, Green Prophet thinks it’s a good […]
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.
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 or there. Green Prophet is not going to enter the […]
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 […]