Page 117 – Green Prophet

You might not know the name Positive Luxury, the firm, but if you’ve ever bought luxury, sustainable goods, you will know the mark: a small butterfly, with Butterfly Certified Mark written on it clearly. Like an organic trade association that certifies your coffee is grown under fair trade practices, the mark of the Butterfly means your purchase has been produced with care for people and the land.

In furthering consumer accessibility to data you can now tap the “Connected Butterfly” with a phone and access a company’s ESG policy and applications. ESG stands for environmental, social, governance, and innovation.

What if a company says they are going to go net zero by 2027 but actually do nothing now? How do you really know that their workers in a long supply chain of people and countries are offered a fair wage?

Companies like Tom Ford Beauty, Smythson, Anya Hindmarch and Etro don’t want you to believe them or guess about what’s going on behind their claims. They want to show consumers, partners, employees and investors the Connected Butterfly. Once inside you can find answers.

Tom Ford Beauty branding, woman with makeup — *Tom Ford Beauty products boast a Connected Butterfly*

How do manufacturers treat waste products, or deal with greenhouse gases? The answer’s in a tap of the app, unifying data and processes so this information is no longer in a black box or sitting on a report in the boardroom.

Over 200 leading luxury brands have worked with Positive Luxury since its founding in 2011, and many more are in the wing to sign up. It’s a process that also helps your brand innovate, they tell Green Prophet.

Smythson shopfront, connected butterfly — *Smythson builds their brand with “Butterfly” ESG in mind*

Keeping in line with the times, the Connected Butterfly applies blockchain and certification systems that are digitized, secure, agile and transparent.

How does the Butterfly work?

When a luxury brand signs up to apply for the butterfly mark, Positive Luxury independently verifies evidence supplied to them and also advises the clients how they can do better according to global expectations.

The Connected Butterfly integrates websites, social channels, advertising, products, packaging, in-store and window POS, sustainability reports, and employee handbooks – via a widget, QR code, NFC tag, or hyperlink. 

Performance scores, educational content for consumers, other certifications and accreditations, United Nations SDG targets and achievements; and areas of excellence map, a sustainability journey tracker, positive actions, and company information are all included as part of the tool. 

Find your single source of truth

Diana Verde Nieto, from Positive Luxury — *Diana Verde Nieto of Positive Luxury*

Positive Luxury is co-CEOed and co-founded by Diana Verde Nieto an entrepreneur who was a pioneer in ESG, keen on helping companies adapt to the new climate economy. Diana holds a degree in Global Leadership & Public Policy from Harvard Kennedy School, was trained by Former USA Vice President Al Gore at the Alliance of Climate Protection and was subsequently honored by the World Economic Forum as a Young Global Leader.

Not seeing ahead and being part of consumer sensibilities and climate risks can be a liability for your brand, she points out. And research shows that companies who do work with ESG in mind, fare better than companies who do not, Verde Nieto recognizes.

She says, “From a single source of truth, people can easily access an unparalleled depth of verified ESG+ verified performance data, including a brand’s sustainability journey, clearly stating their actions and ambition. This level of disclosure raises the bar for Luxury and beyond.” 

How brands embrace National Recycling Day

November 15 marked National Recycle Day in the world. This is the first one after Greenpeace sent us the somber report that most plastics aren’t recyclable anyway. So if you are building a brand, it’s time to think about the beginning of life, and end of life, to your product. In short, Cradle to Cradle.

Verde Nieto responds to this challenge with a service: “Recycling is important as it minimizes landfill waste; allowing the material to be upcycled offers manufacturers the opportunity to produce using fewer resources.

“Butterfly Mark-certified brands such as IVAR, Aera, Mark Cross, and Ocean+Main lead the luxury industry by implementing positive recycling actions. As consumers, we are responsible for buying recycled products and continuing recycling as part of our day-to-day lives. The impact has never been more important than it is now,”

We’d be happy to hear about your experience on the app as a consumer or employee of the company’s using it.

::Positive Luxury

What’s CBD with Delta-9 and what does it mean for my health?

Lifestyle

November 17, 2022

What’s CBD with Delta-9 and what does it mean for my health?

Charlotte Figi, charlotte's web, in a cannabis grow op — *Charlotte Figi, a child who suffered from catastrophic seizures changed her outcome after using CBD. Her physician says that some amount of THC in a high CBD dose is suggested for therapy*

Medical cannabis products are getting more complicated by the day. That’s because chemists at university labs are getting better at understanding the molecular compounds inside cannabis and hemp plants and what those effects are on the body.

You probably have heard of CBD and THC and that CBD helps make you calm and THC makes you high? These are just two out of potentially more than 100 compounds that can be isolated from the cannabis plant. We’ve spoken with Prof. Raphael Mechoulam from Hebrew University about it over the years and we are really at the tip of the iceberg in understanding the complicated nature of cannabis molecules, what strains to use, and when, and how much to dose.

To play it safe, a lot of adults have been medicating with products that contain CBD only and with no THC, mainly because they are afraid of the psycho-active elements that can affect productivity at work, or maybe they are afraid of state laws, or getting stuck in places like Dubai with no way out of jail.

There are low and legal permissible amounts of THC in any state in the United States and some medical doctors I’ve spoken with believe for any CBD medicine to work, it needs some THC to complement it.

When we were working with Prof. Alan Shackleford on medical cannabis products, he told us that he strongly believes that there is an additive effect of CBD when mixed with some THC. That some THC will amplify and make the CBD a more potent medicine. He became famous about 15 years ago for giving a child, Charlotte Figi, cannabis with high concentrations of CBD. In short he told me he doesn’t think CBD really works without THC. So those CBD-only energy drinks you are drinking? Probably a waste of money.

CBD products with THC can have an important multiplier effect and while I have not tried them, testimonials provided by the company say that the D9 gummies help with anxiety, promote calm and relaxation and are a great aid for sleep.

Anxiety has been a growing problem since COVID and of course the dangers of pharmaceutical products are well known.

Medical benefits of Tetrahydrocannabinol or Delta 9 THC

Delta 9 THC is the most abundant form of THC in cannabis plants. When you buy products that contain THC, you’re typically getting delta 9 THC. Delta 9 is a fancy word for THC. Like we mentioned above, some leading doctors like Shackleford, in my personal communication with him, believe some THC is important for CBD to do its work.

Historically, studies in labs and universities show using delta-9 THC may have therapeutic benefits for certain conditions, including nausea and vomiting associated with chemotherapy and cancer treatments, seizure disorders, long-lasting and chronic pain, sleep disorders or spasticity associated with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Food waste activism art from Israel

Act
Food

Karin Kloosterman

November 17, 2022

Nitsan Mayost, food waste activism Israel — *An Israeli artist demonstrates against food waste through snail mail and an elaborate feast he created from food bin waste*

Love letters to unrequited loves or appeals to companies may usually seem like a one-way conversation. That’s what Nitsan Mayost, a student at the Bezalel Arts Academy in Jerusalem documents as he uncovers scandalous amounts of food waste near a supermarket called Shufersal, in his neighborhood store in Jerusalem.

He started learning about the problem of food waste during the Covid lockdown, during a Zoom lesson. He then noticed the food bin behind a supermarket nearby was loaded with food. He started picking up food that was thrown out because of a sticker that was damaged, like yoghurts. Soon his fridge was full and he started offering the food to friends.

Every day he went to the bin and documented it in letters to the CEO pf Shufersal, describing in detail what he found that day like “143 happy cucumbers.” Or “14 packages of mozarella fingers.”

He tried offering the food to the workers but they often yelled at him telling him to get out of the bins.

The event culminated on the eve of Passover where Mayost invited the CEO of Shufersal to dine with him on thousands of vegetables he’d found in the bin. That’s the image above. The CEO never showed up.

In one moving letter he wrote:

“Challah bread does not take up the whole bin, but they do take up the whole of my heart. There were 14 of them and they were next to tomatoes and peppers and packaged sausages (that I don’t like) and cottage cheese and some quick-salad vegetables and about twenty cartons of milk. But the Challah?

“I don’t know about you, but as for me – the more the bin is filled with food, the more my soul empties in the same proportion.”

Challah is the bread Jews eat to sanctify the Sabbath.

Through a series of quiet letters, and sent daily, he asked the CEO of the major Israeli supermarket food chain to make some room in his schedule for overloaded food waste in the supermarket’s food bins. Mayost used old-fashioned letters, made from found materials, to prank the store he was documenting. The suit he wore, and the food laid out, were all found in trash bins.

dumpster diving, food waste, art, Israel — *Letters to the CEO, unanswered*

Dumpster diving was a thing already 20 years ago. Now it’s becoming outrageous to a younger generation that this food is ever dumped in the first place. This artist is ultimately seeking revenge and waits until unveiling his final exhibition documenting the problems of food waste in Israel, and also the world.

He said he doesn’t mean to criticise the store specifically but the food waste problem in general.

Lebanon in a time of cholera

Water

Karin Kloosterman

November 17, 2022

Cholera in Lebanon, woman in the north gets IV from a healthcare worker — *Cholera in Lebanon. In Bebnine, Akkar district, northern Lebanon October 28, 2022. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir*

Cholera always sounds like an epidemic of the past, yet we hinted about the rise of cholera and climate change more than 10 years ago. Now, we are seeing the effects of climate change and drought in Syria and Lebanon. Cholera is becoming a public health emergency in Lebanon and Syria as the bacteria spreads.

UNICEF on the ground in Lebanon and Syria estimate about 35,000 cases of cholera there, with Lebanon’s Ministry of Health estimating over 3,000 cases. Poor hygiene and water services in Syria has created the outbreak. Cholera hasn’t been seen in Syria in 14 years and was believed to be eradicated, much like polio which still rears its head in sewage systems in the Middle East.

According to the EU, the outbreak in Syria started from a pile of factors including drought, economic poverty, and a battered water infrastructure. Almost 50% of Syrians now rely on unsafe sources of water for their daily needs.

Cholera is transmitted and then contracted through contaminated food or drinking water. Dehydration can be fatal unless treated quickly. Like Covid, good hygiene is key but also clean water, which may be scarce in some parts of Syria. Cholera outbreaks now threaten the entire Levant region with the bacteria appearing downstream in Israel.

cholera cases in syria, woman nursing child — *A mother sits with her child who was diagnosed with cholera in a hospital in Deir el-Zour, Syria, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2022. (AP Photo/Baderkhan Ahmad)*

It is believed that the cholera bacteria has spread through contamination of the Euphrates River, the Nile of the Levant region, extending to Iraq with sewage water. It continued to spread through irrigating farmland.

Some infected mistakenly think they have Covid. And they might have Covid as well.

Calling about cholera in Lebanon

The Lebanese Ministry of Public Health stated that the Lebanese Red Cross (LRC) has opened a new hotline to ease the cholera outbreak. Locals in Lebanon can call the hotline 1760, 24/7, to get medical advice for confirmed and potential cholera patients. The emergency number 140 is for taking cholera patients to centers and hospitals, and it’s still available for use.

Labne/Labaneh added to official French dictionary

Food

Karin Kloosterman

November 17, 2022

Labne/Labaneh added to official French dictionary

Labane, labne, cheese, a plate with olive oil and za'atar — *Labane is delicious for breakfast, served with warm pita and olive oil*

Le Petit Robert, the popular single-volume French dictionary, has added the word “labné”, also pronounced as “labneh” or “labaneh” to its latest 2023 edition. A civil war in Lebanon in 1975 drove hundreds of thousands of french-speaking Arab Lebanese to France, and of course they brought their delicious food and cheese traditions with them. Like Indians have great yoghurt, the Arab world has amazing labaneh. Rolled into a Druize pita with za’atar and olive oil. You have yourself a vegetarian meal.

You pronounce labane as LA-BA-NEH and in Hebrew the word “laban” means white.

Le Robert’s:

Fromage frais égoutté préparé traditionnellement avec du lait de chèvre ou de brebis (spécialité moyen-orientale).

Labneh is traditionally made with goat’s milk, but it can easily be made using a 1/2 a gallon of cow’s or sheep’s milk. Maybe even camel milk too. As we mentioned above, we love it on a fresh pita with olive oil and za’atar.

Labaneh is popular in the Middle East. It’s a fresh cheese that doesn’t spoil easily in the heat and you can make at home with yoghurt or with milk and lemon (see our recipe here).

Labane tastes awkwardly sour at first like something is wrong with it. The flavor tingles in your mouth a bit. After the first few tastes, you will grow to love its tangy flavor. We promise.

You might find it sold in a small tub or rolled into balls and stored with olive oil. Either way is delicious.

Vegan version of labne

Notre Dame University-Louaize’s Christelle Bou Mitri, with Christelle Saleme and Christy Raad have developed a plant-based alternative to the Lebanese Labneh. The researchers at the private Catholic university in Zouk Mosbeh, Lebanon, are following the alt-protein, alt-milk craze and have found a way to make the tangy cheese using peas, lupin, and beans in response to the increasing need for vegan food in Lebanon.

According to the university’s press, vegan products in Lebanon are hard to access, especially in terms of affordability, which limits one’s options in adopting a vegan lifestyle, particularly for the sake of health risks.

You can now find Labaneh in major cities around the world like in Toronto, New York, London or Paris but it’s just as easy to make if you can’t find it. If you’re expert level at Arab cheese, we challenge you to make smen.

Dubai’s new Vertical Forest skyscraper

Architecture

Karin Kloosterman

November 16, 2022

Vertical Forest Dubai, Stefano Boeri Architetti — An Italian architecture firm has presented a Vertical Forest skyscraper plan for Dubai. The same firm built the two towers of Bosco Verticale in Milan. Vertical Forest Dubai, rendering by Stefano Boeri Architetti

We love the idea of green walls and vertical gardens. And they always look so amazing on architectural renderings. Green walls and plants and trees give so much comfort to people who can find a smudge of green among the concrete. Italians do city gardens well, Middle Easterners, not so much.

Visit Sicily and you will see flourishing green roofs and micro gardens on patios. Cactuses galore but also green hanging plants and trellising gardens. Somehow all taken care of by loving plant parents and grandparents who dwell in their parts of the old family villa or small patio apartment. Find people tossing water through the day onto scorching land, quenching plant thirst.

*Inspiration for Vertical Forests, Guinigi Tower, Lucca, Italy*

The climate in Southern Italy is hot and dry. Not unlike the Middle East, and places like Sicily even look like Beirut or the West Bank if you squint hard enough. Arabian influences there hundreds of years ago have left their mark in Sicily. And maybe Stefano Boeri and associates are trying to build a bridge between the two worlds in Dubai?

But if you see Middle Eastern attempts at green roofs and patios in the Middle East today you will see hopeful but neglected attempts at greening a dream garden that doesn’t match up to the needs of the plants. Planters full of crispy plants. Withered cactuses. Dead green walls.

Taking care of plants and vertical gardens (and forests!) require teams of people and a budget with resources that will ensure these plants are cared for decades into the future. And trees do need expand, roots systems and all.

Vertical Forest Milan — *Vertical Forest, Milan*

We assume if Dubai goes with the plan they will budget operations accordingly.

The new Vertical Forest tower for Dubai, according to published material, will incorporate a desalination facility and grey water recovery system, alongside photovoltaic solar energy surfaces that will contribute clean energy to the towers. Does this mean that these towers will revert to peeponics and pooponics to recover human waste from the site? We have sent this question to Stefano Boeri Architetti and hope to have more answers soon.

Update, a day later: Maddalena Giambelli from Elettra Zadra, the press office of architect Stefano Boeri and his practice Stefano Boeri Architetti tells Green Prophet that “Dubai Vertical Forest isonly a prototype, consequently many details will be discussed.”

We asked them if the Dubai Vertical Forest would be able to recycle building waste, but it’s too early to know, she said. “We are therefore unable to answer these questions until the project is definitive and the various installations are finalised.”

Consider Burj Dubai still has to ship out their poop by truck daily and lack of sewage infrastructure still plagues the city. Mix in the idea of pee- and pooponics with space colonisation that Dubai dreams about for Mars and they are halfway to figuring out closed -oop solutions for living on different earthships around the world.

Burj poop problem, tallest building in the world — The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest building in the world and cost $130 billion to make but it is not connected to Dubai’s sewage system and so every day a platoon of trucks queue up to remove its poo

Something to think about: When Israeli environmental artist Ran Morin created Oranger Suspendu in Jaffa he was asked by dozens of firms around the world, including hotel lobbies, to recreate the idea of a hanging orange tree. He said no, because of the care needed to look after one hanging plant. That’s what he told me when I ran into him in Jerusalem one afternoon. “Do you know how hard it is to keep one tree alive? One that’s hanging in the air? It’s a responsibility.”

*Oranger Suspendu, a hanging orange tree in Old City Jaffa by Ran Morin*

Now imagine a skyscraper full of trees? Will we care for the life of each one the way we would if the tree was planted in the ground? How much will these trees need to be pruned before their roots grow out of the box? Tree roots are as big as their foliage. Sometimes I wonder why we can’t have more modest and common sense solutions for the Middle East, ones created by people who live in the areas. Once focused on regenerative agriculture and that move away from skyscraper living.

More about the Vertical Forest Dubai

Italian studio Stefano Boeri Architetti adapted its Vertical Forest concept for a pair of skyscrapers in Dubai, which will be covered in thousands of trees. The firm launched the idea at the COP27 climate change conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt. The project comprises two tapering towers at 190 and 150 metres tall.

Together, these towers will integrate 2,640 trees and 27,600 shrubs along with a system of greenhouses and hydroponic gardens.

Hydroponic gardens are essentially what any soil-less green roof solution uses to keep plants alive. They use water-based, mineral nutrient solutions in place of soil. We suggest the new towers use the residential waste provided by the building. They do mention grey water recycling, so likely this is part of the plan.

“The project, commissioned by Impact One, represents the first Vertical Forest prototype for the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) area with the aim of integrating the benefits of urban forestry such as the absorption of fine dust particles, microclimate regulation and reduction of the greenhouse effect together with innovations as part of the management of the water system in arid climates and the optimization of energy production from renewable sources,” said Stefano Boeri Architetti..

Stefano Boeri Architetti is most known for the Vertical Forest in Milan, the Villa Méditerranée in Marseille, and the House of the Sea of La Maddalena.

Sunglacier collects water from thin air

Lifestyle

Green Prophet

November 16, 2022

The SunGlacier Machine is installed on top of the Dutch Pavilion in Dubai.

During the first test runs the Sunglacier produced 50 liters/hour, which means 1200 liters/day…

Unbelievable that we achieve these results with a 20-foot container, mainly filled with air and water, in extreme desert conditions: super hot and extremely dry.

Mayor offers $6 dead dog bounty in Hebron

Animals

Karin Kloosterman

November 15, 2022

Mayor offers $6 dead dog bounty in Hebron

Pickup of dead dogs, Tulkarm, West Bank. Locals from this town had plans to pile them up and send them to the Hebron mayor who offered $30 for 5 dogs, or about $6 each.

The first Sunday in November the mayor of Hebron in the West Bank, Palestinian Authority, offered 20 shekels, or about $6 USD to any person who kills a stray dog and who hands it over to the authorities in Hebron. His city is overrun with stray dogs, thousands of them. They get into garbage and run after children, scaring them.

The announcement set off a spree of killings. Some from other municipalities loaded recently shot and poisoned dead dogs into a pickup truck to bring to Hebron. The offer wasn’t dead or alive, but was clearly stated “dead”.

Mayor Tayseer Abu Sneineh’s offer seemed like a practical idea at the time –– and an economical solution to the stray dog problem that grows with every litter. Plus elections were coming up and he wanted favor with his electorate.

Tayseer Abu Sneineh, Hebro, dead dogs — *Tayseer Abu Sneineh offers $6 to every dead dog brought to Hebron*

The West Bank is rife with stray dogs that are often shot and killed and thrown in dumpsters anyway, if they aren’t run over by cars first, explains Diana Babish who is the founder of Dogs for Bethlehem –– the West Bank’s only dog shelter. As soon as she heard the report on Radio Free Palestine she got into her car and raced 45 minutes to Hebron from Bethlehem that night to meet with the radio station for broadcasting this atrocity, and the head of the government in charge of the municipalities in the West Bank for damage control.

She condemned the mayor’s actions calling on him to publicly apologize for his actions. This action in itself shows courage and bravery on Babish’s side. A Christian Arab woman standing up to a West Bank bully in a predominantly Muslim region overrun by toxic patriarchy. She is known to throw herself in the line of fire and do what it takes to save the lives of those who can’t speak for themselves.

Abu Sneineh is a former member of the Fatah party, and Mayor of Hebron, in the West Bank. He was convicted by Israel for taking part in planning the 1980 Hebron terrorist attack, who caused death to 6 unarmed civilians, one a Canadian. He was elected Mayor of Hebron on 14 May 2017.

Palestinians rising up to bullying and cruelty

This rising up to power in the West Bank is a new movement for Palestinians who have typically been bullied into silence by regime leaders. But with new tools on social media calls for action against leaders in the Arab world are becoming more common. Babish tells Green Prophet that the people in Hebron felt it was safe to criticize the mayor in protest to protect the animals, calling him “a criminal and emotionless mayor”; another wrote: “If the residents of Hebron had mercy and humanity they would fire him.”

The mayor in return denied that any dogs had been shot in response to his call, saying that the images circulating on social media, were old. Babish tells Green Prophet that she had witnesses who had seen the killings just after his bounty was offered, so it’s not true and he was backtracking: “The mayor said I didn’t mean it. Nothing, there were no bodies delivered to us,” Babish recounts.

She said that a majority of the images on social media, including the pickup truck of dead dogs were from the city of Tulkarm. Babish said the locals there were loading them up as a joke to send to Hebron for money after they heard the mayor’s offer.

Diana Babish, dogs bethlehem shelter, — *Diana Babish is the patron saint of puppies. She forced the Hebron mayor to retract his bounty offer and apologize globally*

Later the mayor told Babish that he offered the bounty in order to enlist the help of animal organizations, like hers.

But eventually after pressure from international animal organizations and one funding body from the German government who said they would cut funds, did Abu Sneineh agree to apologize publicly. He posted it in English as well.

The patron saint of puppies

Babish runs an animal shelter in Beit Sahour south of Jerusalem and she also keeps an overrun house with pets. She took 3 dogs right away with her from Hebron that night and has since adopted them out in Israel, one in Haifa and two in the North of Israel. She has 20 cats at home, and 7 dogs, 4 of which are her own. Her parents, especially her dad, don’t love the situation.

Adopting the Hebron dogs out in Israel, where locals are happy to adopt Palestinian dogs is part of the solution, but only a part, says Babish. Israel has its own problem with stray animals, cats and dogs, and some of the dozens of animal organizations in Israel are kill shelters, she says. Babish is appalled by the idea. “If they don’t get adopted they are euthanised.”

That’s not what she envisions for the shelter she wants to build in Bethlehem. The no-kill facility could service the entire West Bank but funds are needed to keep it going. She needs the land, she needs a building and a full time vet. A yearly donation of $100,000 could go far and make it operable and spare Hebron and other Palestinians cities from the stray problem that is a public nuisance. Not everyone, after all, is a dog lover. Meanwhile Jordan, nearby, has a similar problem with stray dogs.

Locals in Hebron are already thinking about what’s next, after the bounty offer was made. Announcements through the city were circulated: “We demand that the killing of the dogs be stopped and that solutions be considered in accordance with human and Islamic values. Enough of killing dogs in Hebron.”

Some locals offered $15 for each resident who would feed and care for a street dog.

Meanwhile Babish, who we featured here, continues her holy work of caring for the stray dogs and cats of the West Bank. She is currently raising funds to build a shelter in the West Bank. With a debt of about $12,000 USD in vet bills, she could certainly use a benefactor who could help her build a no-kill shelter so the dogs of Hebron and the West Bank can be treated with dignity.

If you want to help Babish, all her contacts and more about her organization, and our “Diana dogs” are posted here.

What is digital sustainability?

Lifestyle

Green Prophet

November 14, 2022

*Farmed Here builds high-tech hydroponic farms run by software. Digital sustainability helps make food, fuel and the home more sustainable*

Digital sustainability refers to the use of digital technologies that can have a positive impact on the environment. While most startup founders just want to cut a fast back, like those in advertising, the trend has just started with the success rate for digital sustainability initiatives sitting at only 4%.

The number is expected to grow to 35% in the next few years. This is because millennials and a global interest in digital sustainability is growing: environmental concerns and impact now drive many consumers’ buying decisions.

One study in the US found that 70% of US consumers consider sustainability when making a purchasing decision. And about 88% would be more loyal to a brand that implements sustainable practices.

The GreenTech Meta Trend

Digital sustainability is part of the GreenTech meta trend IoT, driven by AI, machine learning and cloud computing driving this growth. GreenTech can include smart agriculture such as hydroponic farms, fleet monitoring apps to cut down on corporate fuel or new advances in hydrogen. Greentech can also be solutions that consumers can buy like solar panels to programmable smart thermostats like Nest. Software and a digital interface is typically needed for all new devices and advances.

nest labs google — *The Nest smart thermostat, owned by Google*

The primary goal of greentech is to reduce the negative impacts humans impose upon the planet, like plastic pollution in the ocean, fossil fuel use (greenhouse gas emissions) and deforestation.

This market is wide and encompasses many industries and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 27.2% through 2028. According to the research firm McKinsey, AI is “green” and can be used to reduce food waste globally, saving organizations $123B a year by 2030.

Some links in this article may point to affiliate links to earn revenue to run this site. These are products we have chosen and endorse.

How aerobic exercise eats cancer tumors

Lifestyle

Karin Kloosterman

November 14, 2022

Jane Fonda, Richard Simmons — Aerobics can shrink cancer tumors. Lets get physical?

Running, jogging, fast walking. Tennis. Aikido, Judo or basketball: A new study found that aerobic exercise can reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by 72%. According to the researchers at Tel Aviv University, intensity aerobic exercise increases the sugar consumption of internal organs, thereby reducing the availability of energy to the tumor.

Juice and fasting offer similar strategies to this approach:

The study was led by two researchers from TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine: Prof. Carmit Levy from the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry and Dr. Yftach Gepner from the School of Public Health and the Sylvan Adams Sports Institute. Prof. Levy emphasizes that by combining scientific knowhow from different schools at TAU, the new study has led to a very important discovery which may help prevent metastatic cancer – the leading cause of death in Israel. The paper was published in the prestigious journal Cancer Research and chosen for the cover of the November 2022 issue.

“Studies have demonstrated that physical exercise reduces the risk for some types of cancer by up to 35%. This positive effect is similar to the impact of exercise on other conditions, such as heart disease and diabetes. In this study we added new insight, showing that high-intensity aerobic exercise, which derives its energy from sugar, can reduce the risk of metastatic cancer by as much as 72%. If so far the general message to the public has been ‘be active, be healthy’, now we can explain how aerobic activity can maximize the prevention of the most aggressive and metastatic types of cancer,” the researchers report.

The study combined an animal model in which mice were trained under a strict exercise regimen, with data from healthy human volunteers examined before and after running. The human data, obtained from an epidemiological study that monitored 3,000 individuals for about 20 years, indicated 72% less metastatic cancer in participants who reported regular aerobic activity at high intensity, compared to those who did not engage in physical exercise.

The animal model exhibited a similar outcome, also enabling the researchers to identify its underlying mechanism. Sampling the internal organs of the physically fit animals, before and after physical exercise, and also following the injection of cancer, they found that aerobic activity significantly reduced the development of metastatic tumors in the lymph nodes, lungs, and liver. The researchers hypothesized that in both humans and model animals, this favorable outcome is related to the enhanced rate of glucose consumption induced by exercise.

Prof. Levy: “Our study is the first to investigate the impact of exercise on the internal organs in which metastases usually develop, like the lungs, liver, and lymph nodes. Examining the cells of these organs we found a rise in the number of glucose receptors during high-intensity aerobic activity – increasing glucose intake and turning the organs into effective energy-consumption machines, very much like the muscles. We assume that this happens because the organs must compete for sugar resources with the muscles, known to burn large quantities of glucose during physical exercise.

Include intensive exercises for health

“Consequently, if cancer develops, the fierce competition over glucose reduces the availability of energy that is critical to metastasis. Moreover, when a person exercises regularly, this condition becomes permanent: the tissues of internal organs change and become similar to muscle tissue. We all know that sports and physical exercise are good for our health. Our study, examining the internal organs, discovered that exercise changes the whole body, so that the cancer cannot spread, and the primary tumor also shrinks in size.”

Dr. Gepner adds: “Our results indicate that unlike fat-burning exercise, which is relatively moderate, it is a high-intensity aerobic activity that helps in cancer prevention. If the optimal intensity range for burning fat is 65-70% of the maximum pulse rate, sugar burning requires 80-85% – even if only for brief intervals. For example: a one-minute sprint followed by walking, then another sprint. In the past, such intervals were mostly typical of athletes’ training regimens, but today we also see them in other exercise routines, such as heart and lung rehabilitation.

“Our results suggest that healthy individuals should also include high-intensity components in their fitness programs. We believe that future studies will enable personalized medicine for preventing specific cancers, with physicians reviewing family histories to recommend the right kind of physical activity. It must be emphasized that physical exercise, with its unique metabolic and physiological effects, exhibits a higher level of cancer prevention than any medication or medical intervention to date.”

Ancient comb bears some advice about lice

Archeology

Green Prophet

November 13, 2022

lice comb Israel — *“May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”*

Visit the Holy Land today be warned: you might come home with a case of the lice. Warm weather and large families, sometimes 4 kids to a room, make for the perfect conditions for head lice. The problems of today aren’t much different from the past it seems. An ancient comb, bearing the oldest Canaanite sentence, was found in an ancient archeological site in Israel in 2017 and now we know what the inscription means: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”

The letters of the inscription were engraved in a very shallow manner on ivory. In 2022 Madeleine Mumcuoglu noticed that there was an inscription on the comb. And it was Canaanite.

The alphabet, we known today, was invented around 1800 BCE and was used by the Canaanites in what is modern day Israel, and later by most other languages in the world. Until recently, no meaningful Canaanite inscriptions had been discovered in the Land of Israel, save only two or three words here and there. Now an amazing discovery presents an entire sentence in Canaanite, dating to about 1700 BCE.

The comb was unearthed at Tel Lachish in Israel by a team from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Southern Adventist University in the United States, under the direction of Professors Yosef Garfinkel, Michael Hasel and Martin Klingbeil.

Their findings were published in Jerusalem Journal of Archaeology.

The ivory comb is small, measuring roughly 3.5 by 2.5 cm. The comb has teeth on both sides. Although their bases are still visible, the comb teeth themselves were broken in antiquity. The central part of the comb is somewhat eroded, possibly by the pressure of fingers holding the comb during haircare or removal of lice from the head or beard.

The side of the comb with six thick teeth was used to untangle knots in the hair, while the other side, with 14 fine teeth, was used to remove lice and their eggs, much like the current-day two-sided lice combs sold in stores.

Lice loved the affluent too

There are 17 Canaanite letters on the comb. They are archaic in form—from the first stage of the invention of the alphabet script. They form seven words in Canaanite, reading: “May this tusk root out the lice of the hair and the beard.”

Ancient combs were made from wood, bone, or ivory. Ivory was a very expensive material and likely an imported luxury object. As there were no elephants in Canaan during that time period, the comb likely came from nearby Egypt—factors indicating that even people of high social status suffered from lice.

Remains of ancient lice

The research team analyzed the comb itself for the presence of lice under a microscope and photographs were taken of both sides. Remains of head lice, 0.5 to 0.6 mm in size, were found on the second tooth. The climatic conditions of Lachish, however, did not allow preservation of whole head lice but only those of the outer chitin membrane of the nymph stage head louse.

Despite its small size, the inscription on the comb from Lachish has very special features, some of which are unique and fill in gaps and lacunas in our knowledge of many aspects of the culture of Canaan in the Bronze Age. For the first time, we have an entire verbal sentence written in the dialect spoken by the Canaanite inhabitants of Lachish, enabling us to compare this language in all its aspects with the other sources for it. Second, the inscription on the comb sheds light on some aspects of the everyday life of the time, haircare and dealing with lice.

Third, this is the first discovery in the region of an inscription referring to the purpose of the object on which it was written, as opposed to dedicatory or ownership inscriptions on objects. Further, the engraver’s skill in successfully executing such tiny letters (1 to 3 mm wide) is a fact that from now on should be taken into account in any attempt to summarize and draw conclusions on literacy in Canaan in the Bronze Age.

Tel Lachshish, lice comb, Israel — *Tel Lachish, Israel*

Lachish was a major Canaanite city state in the second millennium BCE and the second most important city in the Biblical Kingdom of Judah. To date, 10 Canaanite inscriptions have been found in Lachish, more than at any other site in Israel.

The city was the major center for the use and preservation of the alphabet during some 600 years, from 1800-1150 BCE. The site of Tel Lachish is under the protection of the Israel Nature and Parks Authority.

Tips for Cutting Your Companies Vehicle Fuel Expenses

Transportation

Bhok Thompson

November 13, 2022

Tips for Cutting Your Companies Vehicle Fuel Expenses

luci cars, all electric luxury sedan, Saudi Arabia — *Before your corporate fleet turns electric, turn to these tips to help your team get better efficiency and cut costs*

What are your options if you run a business and want to be a better corporate environmental steward? Yes, you can do business with companies that share your commitment to environmental best practices. And you can, among other things, use LED bulbs for greater energy efficiency in your office space. Every little bit helps, after all.

But what can you do if you own a fleet of vehicles? Check out these five ways your business can reduce fuel expenses when prices are still sky-high.

Buy Fuel Efficient Cars

One way to reduce your vehicle expenses is by carefully choosing your cars. Do you really need a truck or an SUV? If you do go that route, you’ll pay more for gas than if you go with a smaller vehicle. Once you figure out what you need, try to buy cars that sip rather than drink fuel. Purchasing fuel-efficient vehicles will help you lower your business’ carbon footprint.

Ensure Tires Are Properly Inflated

Another way you can save money and use less fuel is by properly inflating the tires on your fleet vehicles. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, you can enhance fuel efficiency by an average of 0.6% if the tires are appropriately inflated.

That might not sound like much. But it will add up over time. When checking tire pressure, do so when the tires are cold. That means first thing in the morning or a couple hours after driving the vehicle.

Use Fleet Management Software

Yet another way to cut down on fuel costs is by investing in fleet management software. It’ll give you a real-time view of how the vehicles are being used. If workers are driving too fast, braking too harshly, idling too much, or taking longer-than-required routes, one of the end results will be higher fuel consumption. Depending on how many cars you have and how often your vehicles are out on the road, fuel expenses could add up to a small fortune.

Fleet management software will allow your company to gain insights into driver behavior. You’ll then be able to print reports, speak with drivers who need to adopt better habits behind the wheel, and take proactive measures to ensure fuel is being used more responsibly.

Stay on Top of Maintenance and Repairs

Regular maintenance and timely repairs will ensure your vehicles function more efficiently. If your cars are not in good shape, and you aren’t using fleet management software, they could use more fuel than they would otherwise. It’s bad enough if you have a personal vehicle that is not cared for properly. But the costs will be even higher if you have a fleet of cars and aren’t keeping up with regular care.

Use Smooth Roads Wherever Possible

Tell your staff to choose smooth roads: It’s also a good idea to choose smooth roads wherever possible. You may not have thought of it before, but you’ll consume less fuel driving on smooth roads than on bumpy roads. While there will be times when the only options will be bumpy roads, try to plan routes to avoid such road conditions as much as possible.

And while you’re at it, do your best to avoid congested roadways since heavy stop-and-go traffic will affect your vehicles’ fuel economy. In fact, it can slash fuel economy by up to 40%. Sometimes it’s better to pay for tolls rather having your staff burning fuel and time on the freeway.

If your goal is to be a better corporate environmental steward, the five tips mentioned above will help. Many businesses require vehicles to deliver products and pick up materials. But that doesn’t mean there aren’t things you can do to do so in a more environmentally responsible way.

Mushroom trade group unites Quorn and fungi protein companies

Food
Lifestyle

Karin Kloosterman

November 10, 2022

Mushroom trade group unites Quorn and fungi protein companies

quorn, alternative protein — *Quorn and companies around the world united by mushrooms, and Mush*

Mush Foods, an Israeli foodtech startup which pioneered a way to cultivate mycelium mushrooms, a sustainable protein for food, has teamed up with several fungi fermentation companies from abroad to form a new international trade association: The Fungi Protein Association (FPA).

The FPA will represent the interests of its member companies, including advocating for fungi protein in public policy in the US, Israel and the world, conducting consumer research, and more.

forest mushrooms hunting variety — *Mushroom cravings might mean your body wants Vitamin D.*

While mushrooms have been used for centuries as meat replacements and natural medicine, various methods of fungi fermentation are creating a new crop of high-protein, high-fiber, meat alternatives. As such, fermented fungi are taking the alternative protein market by storm. Alongside plant and cell-based protein, it now represents one of the three mainstays of the burgeoning meat alternative sector.

Founded in 2021, the Israeli startup joins this brand-new collaboration alongside major British, American, and European companies including ENOUGH, Quorn, Nature’s Fynd, Bosque Foods, The Better Meat Co., The Protein Brewery, Prime Roots, Mycotechnology, Aqua Cultured Foods, and Mycorena, plus NGOs ProVeg and The Good Food Institute.

A 2022 study in Nature found that replacing just 20 percent of beef with microbial protein – the products FPA members are pioneering – could cut global deforestation by a whopping 50 percent.

“Israel is on the cutting edge, innovating foodtech solutions addressing major global challenges including the climate crisis, food security, and nutrition.The ‘Startup Nation’ is also situated in a region considered particularly vulnerable to climate change, with the Middle East heating up twice as fast as the global average,” noted Shalom Daniel, co-founder and CEO of Mush Foods.

Co-founded by Professors Dan Levanon and Dr. Idan Pereman of the Migal Galilee Research Institute, Mush Foods grows mycelium, the delicate and highly nutritious underground network of threads which constitutes more than 90 percent of the fungi’s biomass.

Fungi for protein!

Mush Foods piloted in Manhattan last week, reflecting consumer demand for this kind of protein alternative. Twenty percent of 6000 employees at major financial institutions in New York chose to purchase Mush Foods’ 50CUT hybrid beef and mycelium burger over some 10 other main dish options.

mush foods burger — *Mush foods makes meat for mushroom burgers*

The Global Alternative Protein Market is expected to reach $36.61 billion by 2029, growing at a CAGR of 12.4 percent during the forecast period of 2022 to 2029, according to Research & Markets. A recent Good Food Institute Israel report found that by the end of June, Israeli alternative protein startups and companies this year raised $320 million, placing the tiny Middle Eastern state second only to the United States ($857 million) terms of alternative protein investments.

mush foods, mushroom burger — *A Mush Foods mushroom based burger served to New Yorkers, to their delight*

“The world needs more protein, and fungi fermentation offers a delicious, sustainable way to do just that,” said Marco Bertacca of Quorn Foods, the British company which took the lead on the new international initiative. “We’re excited to partner with our fellow fungi enthusiasts to raise awareness and appreciation of the wonderful ways fungi can improve human health and the health of our planet.”

In May 2022, Dutch mycoprotein company ENOUGH also announced its partnership with Peace of Meat, the Belgian subsidiary of Israeli cultured meat start-up MeaTech, to combine cultivated fat biomass and fermented fungi mycoprotein to add a meaty mouthfeel to ENOUGH’s mushroom-based products. That’s a lot of mushroom business going around.

Iran denounces women skater for losing her head covering

Lifestyle
Religion

Karin Kloosterman

November 10, 2022

The Islamic regime in Iran has lost its head and control over women who refuse to wear the Islamic state’s stringent dress codes, and the hijab. The latest casualty is a young woman who faces persecution from her country. Her crime? Not wearing a head covering when competing at an international skating event.

Niloufar Mardani, a member of the national Iranian speed skating team for years, stepped on a podium in Turkey this month to receive her first-place award. She was not wearing a headscarf, which is compulsory if representing Iran outside the country. But she also said she was competing as an individual not as a member of the Iran team.

There was a picture of Mardani on social media on the same podium in Istanbul wearing a black T-shirt with the word Iran on it.

Iran’s sports ministry issued a short statement emphasizing that athletes require “maintaining Islamic values in sports competitions” and added that Mardani, pictured below, had not competed in clothing approved by the state.

*Niloufar Mardani, a world leading athlete and veterinarian. Images from her social media feed.*

“This athlete has not been a member of the Iranian national team since last month and attended this competition as part of a personal trip without obtaining necessary permits,” the statement said. The Iranian team had not participated in the tournament.

Last month rock climber Elnaz Rekabi represented the Iranian national team in South Korea while not wearing a headscarf. This drew headlines around the world.

A crowd had gathered around Rekabi to welcome her when her flight arrived in Tehran because some supporters believed she did it as an act against the regime. Later Rekabi apologised and said that she didn’t have time to put on her hijab before the competition.

Ongoing protests consume the Iranian public. New energy against the regime has been stirred up since a young women died while in custody of the modesty police in Iran.

Historical tourism begins in AlUla, Saudi Arabia

Lifestyle

Karin Kloosterman

November 10, 2022

Since Saudi Arabia’s prince and prime minister decided to expand Saudi Arabia’s tourism to include westerners, desert and historical tourism was top of the list. One of the main attractions of Saudi Arabia, to rival Jordan’s Petra, will be Alula, Al-Ula, or confusingly spelt in English as AlUla. The Saudi ruler, crown prince and prime minister Mohammed bin Salman wants Saudi Arabia to diversify and to be liked by the West. Part of the plan for this Vision 2030 is to increase heritage tourism.

AlUla is the place and a special commission has been set up to make that happen. Some new research includes findings on desert kites and pendant shaped funerary highways. For archeologists, getting a gig in Saudi Arabia could be the hottest ticket in town.

Archeologists are being flown in, hotels are being built, and historical tourism sites are being promoted and made accessible to westerners. Historically the only tourism that came to Saudi Arabia were business travellers or people coming in to offer English as a second language ESL classes. The times have changed. Although we like what’s happening at AlUla and would like to visit one day, we are less impressed by Neom projects that radically change the landscape (ski on fake snow?) and expel people already living there, like at The Line.

Where is Alula?

Located 1,100km from Riyadh in north-west Saudi Arabia, AlUla is a place of extraordinary natural and human heritage. The vast area, covering 22,561km², includes a lush oasis valley, towering sandstone mountains and ancient cultural heritage sites dating back thousands of years.

AlUla, Saudi Arabia, desert heritage destination — *Hegra, an Ancient City in Saudi Arabia Untouched for Millennia, Makes Its Public Debut*

The most well-known and recognised site in AlUla is Hegra, Saudi Arabia’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site. A 52-hectare ancient city, Hegra (Mada’in Salih) was the principal southern city of the Nabataean Kingdom and is comprised of nearly 100 well-preserved tombs with elaborate facades cut into sandstone outcrops. The people of Petra were also Nabateans, teaching the world many a useful thing like desert irrigation for crops.

Current research suggests Hegra was the most southern outpost of the Romans after conquering the Nabataeans in 106 CE.

In addition to Hegra, AlUla is home to a series of fascinating historical and archaeological sites such as: an Old Town surrounded by an ancient oasis, Dadan, the capital of the Dadan and Lihyan Kingdoms, which is considered one of the most developed 1st-millennium BCE cities of the Arabian Peninsula; thousands of ancient rock art sites and inscriptions in Jabal Ikmah; and Hijaz Railway stations.

Al-Ula oasis, Hegra, Old Town, tour — *Al-Ula, Old Town*

The region is home to vernacular architecture as well, with mud buildings in disrepair. And Maraya, a mirrored music hall is a stand out feature to this ancient desert setting.

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