New UN tool can track illegal fishing
It was made to track pirates, but a new UN navigation system can catch illegal fishing boats.
Nature
Norway: 2019 the highest Amazon deforestation rates in over ten years
We heard the news, now here are some facts to bring to the dinner table this weekend. Oh, and don't buy wood from Brazil.
Vertical Forests, A Practical Design For Humanizing Cities Again
What on earth is a vertical forest? It’s a forest that doesn’t grow on the earth. It grows in troughs placed on the balconies of residential buildings, hotels, and parks, making huge urban green spaces that don’t take up ground space, but rise skyward. Today’s overcrowded, denatured, polluted cities are only waiting for them. They […]
Why Reusable Menstrual Products are Good for the Environment
Do you use homemade pads or moon cups? There are so many alternatives to wasteful products that choke our bodies and our natural environment.
Recipes with lemons and limes to get your dirt out!
Lemon juice, white vinegar and essential oils – that’s all you need in order to avoid the negative health and environmental effects of cleaning Did you ever notice how many cleaning products you use when you clean your house? Did you read the labels and the safety recommendations of any of them? Are you aware […]
Tons of trash left at picnic sites by Israelis after Passover
Israel’s recent Passover holiday period, which also included opening season visits to beaches and various picnic sites, is still being dealt with by national park and forestry employees long after holiday goers returned home. Whether it be national forests, rivers and beaches, or city public parks, the amount of trash and food waste left behind is staggering, […]
Golan wolves make local farmers howl with rage
Wolves are largely a protected species in Israel and are not creatures that one would expect to find in this part of the world. However, a sub-species of the northern grey wolf, originating in India is actually thriving on the Golan Heights, causing local farmers and cattle herders to literally be at war with these furry cousins […]
Increased Rain Gives the Golan Heights Sea of Galilee new life
Israel’s Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) was still at critical water levels as recently as January, when a previous article depicted the then dire condition of the biblical lake. So critical in fact was the crisis that the lake’s water level had decreased so low that it nearly reached the dreaded “black line” of 214.7 meters below sea level […]
Time to eat trees? Change the planet with Agroforestry
The global community faces unprecedented challenges due to climate change and unsustainable farming and land use practices. Land degradation, social disruption, inequality, depletion of natural capital . . . these are just some of the issues that need to be addressed, now. Agroforestry, the practice of trees on farms, offers one of the most effective […]
Sedom Mountain hides the longest salt cave in the world
Following the biblical recounting of Lot’s Wife who was turned into a pillar of salt, Israel’s Dead Sea region is now famous for another salt phenomenon: Malham Cave, the world’s longest salt cave. Get spelunking! For thirteen years, this title was held by Iran’s Cave of the Three Nudes (3N) on Qeshm Island. Now, an international expedition led by the Hebrew University of […]
Butterflies “invade” Israel in a rare migratory swarm
Unusual winter rains in Israel give fuel to plants which feed millions of new “painted lady” butterflies They keep coming, thousands of them, in what appears to be a south-north migration flight. Coming coincidentally on the first day of Spring, this “invasion” of ‘Painted Ladies’ butterflies caught our eyes in southern Netanya, Israel as a […]
United Nations director proposes hydroponics to solve date palm oil problem
The mention of palm oil is enough to make a serious environmentalist wince in shame of what this oil harvesting has been doing to local ecosystems. In a bid to make the industry more sustainable the United Nations Food and Agriculture (FAO) director José Graziano da Silva is calling on innovators, including hydroponics specialists, to […]
Peter Steel “Grampa Gnome” protector of Canada’s Living Water – in time and on time
Peter Steel (April 1941 to Feb 22, 2019) aged 77 was one of the world’s foremost champions for Living or raw water. He died in his off-grid forest home this week. The solar-powered home is located deep inside a forest in Powassan, Nipissing –– an area of Canada remote enough to be very uncomfortable to most […]
Water crises at the Sea of Galilee. What would Jesus say?
Nearly nine years have passed since since Green Prophet joined a media tour sponsored by Eco Peace head Gideon Bromberg to see what has happened to the lower Jordan River. At that time, Bromberg showed us the current situation of a once free-flowing stream that had now become nothing more than a trickle of brackish and diverted sewage […]
In a New Census, Trees Rule the Planet
What are the most abundant animals on Earth? How do plants stack up against fungi, animals or bacteria? How does the mass of life in the oceans compare to that on land? A new type of global census based on the total biomass of different life forms on Earth suggests that much of what we think we […]
Guess what? Plants blink, maybe even wink
Arabidopsis thaliana. Like eye’s adjustment to sudden changes in light, plants have sensitive mechanisms to protect their leaves from rapid changes in radiation Plants have control mechanisms that resemble those in human senses. According to a new Weizmann Institute of Science study, plants adjust photosynthesis to rapid light changes using a sophisticated sensing system, much in […]
Iran’s capital city being swallowed by sinkholes
Thanks to drought and over-pumping underground water reserves in the western region of Tehran, Iran’s capital city, fissures also known as sinkholes are opening up, causing Iran’s major city and capital city to sink. The sinkholes threaten people’s homes and the local infrastructure. While some Middle Eastern countries like Israel are seeing record rain, Tehran […]
Rain as a blessing in Israel breaks 20-year drought
Ask any rabbi or an ordinary Israeli and many will tell you that rain is directly connected to the spiritual realm. When in some countries you curse when it rains, in Israel and the Middle East heavy rains indicate that the heavens are opening up and prayers are being answered. Rains started again today further […]
My Dad, the Water Witch
Not all witches get the opportunity of going to Hogwart School of Witchcraft and Wizardry to polish their skills. Take my dad for example – a water witch from Newmarket, Canada. Maybe it is because he never made it past grade 8 or because he was never confident enough in his witching powers. Known as a […]
Sea of Galilee still critical water levels, despite winter rain
Israel’s fresh water problems have been such an on-going issue that most of the country’s drinking water supplies are now coming from several desalination plants along its Mediterranean coast line. The technology used in these plants has become so advanced that Israel is now sharing it with other countries, including neighboring Cyprus. After experiencing one of the […]
Get suing for your environment
A landmark law was just passed in Israel this year. The Israeli Parliament, known as the Knesset just passed a new law on January 1, that allows both public and non-profit organizations to file a civil suit against any person or organization that damages the environment in general. The law was put into effect after […]
The state of fishing for the Mediterranean and Black Sea
Although the main commercial fish species in the Mediterranean and Black Sea are still over-fished, pressure has reduced over the past years, raising hopes – for the first time – for the recovery of fish stocks, according to new FAO-GFCM report launched today. The percentage of overexploited fish stocks decreased by 10 percent – from 88 percent […]
NASA and FAO launch Collect Earth Online to track land-use and landscape changes anywhere
Seeing both forests and trees is about to get easier, thanks to a new open-access tool developed by US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), with support from the Google Earth Engine Team and the US Government’s SilvaCarbon Program – allowing anyone to track land-use and landscape […]
World Soil Day today, it’s not looking great
Urgent action is needed to address soil pollution and contain the multiple threats it poses to global food safety and food security, said FAO today marking World Soil Day. Thousands of chemicals, which are commercially produced on a large scale, plastic and electronic waste, non-treated wastewater can all become a source of soil pollution, paving […]
7 days Israel itinerary for the Hiking Family
The most striking feature of Israel’s landscape is its variety. This tiny area has a dramatic desert in the South and the green Galilee mountains in the North. Two areas that are so different, but you can drive from one to the other in less than 3 hours. Israelis love their country and love to […]
