Wind turbine power company nixed for biosphere risks in Israel

Energy

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October 15, 2020

Wind turbine power company nixed for biosphere risks in Israel

wind turbines Israel golan heights — *The first wind farm in Israel on the Golan Heights*

Israel is known as a solar energy pioneer, but wind in some locations, is not lacking in the small Middle East nation. But after seeing the research and the environmental impacts of wind energy companies, offshore wind turbines, and on land turbines, the Israeli government has rejected a plan for a local company Energix which works with wind turbine energy suppliers such as Vestas and Siemens.

A government planning committee in the area of the planned site Ramat Menashe said that ultimately the turbines would have a negative impact on the local environment, classed as a UNESCO Biosphere. The wind turbine propellers would also be a risk to migratory birds who pass through Israel from Europe to Africa on an important migratory route. Look to local hero Yossi Leshem for saving the birds. Wind turbines get nixed in Jordan for the same reason as they share the same habitat as Israel.

An Israeli firm has developed an inflatable, collapsible, cost-affordable wind turbine for renewable energy. — *Winflex, was one of the ideas that Israelis pioneered for the wind. The turbines inflate like a SUP surfboard.*

The lesser kestrel is one of the birds in danger of extinction in Israel, despite the wind turbine company assessing that only a few birds would be harmed each year. Other factors such as noise would shut the turbines down for hours during the day, and flickering where overhead turbine shadows can be a nuisance to people. Other wind turbine projects have been abandoned in Israel for environmental reasons: one wind turbine power plant was planned for Ramat Sirin, the Yatir Hills and in the Golan Heights.

Vestas wind turbines Israel, sign to wind farm — *Wind farms, a national sight seeing trip*

Earlier this year the Jerusalem Post reported that Israel’s government had green-lit about $75 million worth of wind turbines in Israel’s north. When faced with endless committees and ministries who rarely agree or communicate with one another –– or worse –– agree on contradictory ideas it is really no wonder Israel can’t increase its adoption of renewable energies.

Wind energy history in Israel

The Golan Heights wind farm was Israel’s first wind farm and the first commercial wind-power project in the Middle East. Installation started after an extensive wind resource assessment carried out in 20 sites in the Golan Heights for about three years. The farm operates 10 Floda 600 wind turbines generating 6 MW in total.

There is no shortage of people trying to make existing technologies better, and certainly no shortage of people idealising working with the wind and the sun. Read below for some of the wind energy stories from Israel we have covered in the past:

Wind energy companies in Israel

Brothers Engineering Group for Peace

Mineral water company builds wind farms

Is Wind Energy a Danger to Migrating Birds?

Coriolis wind farms scale horizontally

Flexible wind turbines from Winflex

CIBC Aventura card awards you for eating local

Business

Bhok Thompson

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October 15, 2020

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CIBC Aventura card awards you for eating local

eco bus entertainment van for CIBC Aventura credit card — *How do credit cards respond to lack of travel benefits? They encourage Canadians to spend for bonus points at local restaurants*

As I graduated to my 40s, I was very excited to get a VIP credit card offer from my bank. While I’d prefer for my mainstream bank in Canada to offer me carbon credits on purchases made, they offered me cashback, and some astounding travel bonuses including free travel insurance, and free lounge service at a long list of international airports.

I was psyched to start drinking free champagne or many a local IPA at the airport and was already strategising increasing my connections to shorten long haul trips with my family. Covid changed everything for anyone banking on travel-backed benefits and credit cards. What are banks to do? They need to quickly start dancing in step with the times. Banks have learned that they aren’t just a service provider but by thinking ahead can help stimulate the consumer economy.

A Canadian bank has offered benefits for buying local. With restrictions on restaurants beginning to ease across Canada, the CIBC bank is launching a new program to support business owners and help them bring back customers. (We covered the green bonds idea last month)

Double the rewards for buying local

Through their Revival Rewards program, people who use their CIBC rewards credit cards called Aventura to dine in, order take-out (including curbside pickup), or order delivery from local restaurants will receive double the rewards on their purchase. Oh yeah.

CIBC aventura rewards for eating at § — *Remembering the good old days dinging out in the city*

Over the last three months, credit card spending at restaurants has declined over 60% and was down more than 70% during the peak of the pandemic, according to CIBC data, highlighting that restaurants were some of the hardest hit businesses during the pandemic. I know that my credit card bill was down to about nothing, except for grocery food bills. I didn’t order anything online either because I wasn’t sure when the post offices would open again.

And Canada’s summer suffered hard, while patio nights will be bleak into the cold winter. But the marketing team at CIBC want to reward you when you reward restaurants with your business.

“Our Revival Rewards program is designed to help restaurant owners get back on their feet and underscores our commitment to providing support for small business owners,” said Laura Dottori-Attanasio, Group Head, Personal and Business Banking at CIBC.

I like this response because it meets the needs of people and enables them to support their local communities. That’s something very important to us and our societal circles as we slowly pull our heads out of the plague.

The Cedars of God are dying

Nature

Karin Kloosterman

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October 15, 2020

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Foreign tourists walk in Al-Shouf Cedar Nature Reserve in the Shouf mount — *A forest of cedar trees in Lebanon, also known as the Cedars of God*

Lebanese cedar trees, also known as the Cedars of God, are being decimated by climate change, a new video report released by Greenpeace explores. Climate change is impacting the Middle East in extreme ways – from drought and famine in Syria, to forest fires in Israel and Lebanon, to wars over water in Iraq.

The iconic cedar trees of Lebanon were used in the Holy Temple of Jerusalem and mentioned in the Old Testament, “The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like the cedar in Lebanon” (Psalm 92:12). They are also a symbol of strength and prosperity.

There are a total of less than twenty Lebanon cedar forests remaining. They are the only old-growth forests in the Middle East, with some trees being more than two thousand years years old.

Greenpeace is promoting a new film about the trees, the ‘Cedars of Lebanon’. This is the second film that was produced to document and highlight the devastating impact of global climate change on precious and unique ecosystems in the Middle East.

ancient cedars in the snow, Cedars of God — *Ancient cedars of Lebanon in the snow*

The documentary highlights the increasing dangers and risk factors that the shrinking cedar forests face due to climate change, which include parasitic infestation from insects and fungi, frost and heat stress, the halting of natural forest growth, as well as forest fires of unprecedented ferocity, scale and frequency.

These threats are compounded by issues such as overgrazing, tree cutting, and rampant urbanisation in Lebanon.

“The Lebanese Cedar tree, already unique and iconic species, is really suffering from unprecedented levels of stress and risk factors, the heat waves and forest fires of the past two years only increases their urgency,” warned Julien Jreissati, from Greenpeace.

climate report Cedars of Lebanon — *This new video is a climate report dispatch. The majestic cedars of Lebanon are facing ruin*

“By producing films such as these and working together with environmentalists and conservationists around the world, we document the effects of manmade climate change on our natural environment and work together to mitigate the risks and help develop sustainable solutions for its conservation.”

dead Lebanon cedar, climate report — *A blackened dead cedar tree in Lebanon*

“The immediate and urgent effects of the climate emergency are annually becoming ever more apparent, not just with the destruction of our ecosystems, but with the annual loss of lives and livelihoods as a result,” added Jressati. “It is imperative that climate change is acknowledged and tackled as a serious threat that is already profoundly affecting our lives, and that the necessary policies are urgently implemented to mitigate that impact.”

Cedars of God? The Bible says so

The Cedar Forest of ancient Mesopotamian religion appears in several sections of the Epic of Gilgamesh, according to Wikipedia. And the Lebanon Cedar is mentioned 103 times in the Bible. In the Hebrew text it is named Hebrew: ארז‎ and in the Greek text (LXX) it is named Greek: κέδρου.

“Open thy doors, O Lebanon, that the fire may devour thy cedars. Howl, fir tree; for the cedar is fallen; because the mighty are spoiled: howl, O ye oaks of Bashan; for the forest of the vintage is come down.” (Zechariah 11:1, 2)
“He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.” (Job 40:17)
“The priest shall take cedarwood and hyssop and scarlet stuff, and cast them into the midst of the burning of the heifer” (Numbers 19:6)
“The voice of the Lord breaks the cedars; the Lord breaks in pieces the cedars of Lebanon” (Psalm 29:5)
“Behold, I will liken you to a cedar in Lebanon, with fair branches and forest shade” (Ezekiel 31:3)

A global solution to local problems like the cedars of Lebanon?

Environmental philosopher and designer Pablo Solomon, weighs in:

Pablo Soloman — *Environmental artist and designer Pablo Solomon*

“As you know, I have preached for decades that the simplest solution to absorbing man made CO2 is to plant more trees and other greenery. The catch is, you need fresh water ( of course this is not all true as the oceans absorb most of the CO2 and release most of the oxygen ). But in general, more greenery on the dry earth would solve the problem.

“So I again have preached that every drop of water already available as grey water should be used,” Solomon tells Green Prophet. “And all excess energy should be used to either reservoir water and/or to desalinate sea water. The Cedars of Lebanon — and other trees–would grow again with proper reforestation.

“Nature observation of the week–saw a grey fox jump up and pull pecans off of a low branch. It may surprise you that our part of Texas dry as it is, produces most of the pecans. In fact the guy who developed the modern species of pecans over a hundred years ago lived down our road in San Saba, Texas. The world record pecan tree–1,200 pounds in one year–is also down our road at Bend, Texas. (Colorado Bend State Park ).

“The trick is not irrigation, it is planting in existing river bottoms. My desire is that worldwide agriculture be done as much as possible without irrigation. For example, cotton.

“In an interconnected world, it is more possible than ever to grow crops in natural settings.

“Also, the expansion of urban areas over precious farmland drives me nuts. e.g.–Houston, Texas now has a 100 mile diameter covering some of the best soil in the best growing conditions in the world. However, some of this could be ameliorated with more planting in suburban yards, green strips, vertical greening, etc.,” concludes Solomon.

At the Four Seasons Casablanca? Learn about desert oases at risk

Travel

Karin Kloosterman

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October 15, 2020

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climate report Morocco — *The Bedouin are losing their culture as oases dry up in the Moroccan deserts*

You are at a hotel in Morocco wondering what delights might await you around the corner in Casablanca. Maybe you are going to pass Richard Branson’s eco-hotel in the Atlas mountains and land at a Berber hotel, where a quaint donkey ride will lead you up to your room.

This all makes you feel good because you are in touch with local culture and are having an adventure of a lifetime.

But if you weren’t at 5 Star Four Seasons Casablanca or Marrakech – what would you know about the local people in Morocco? A video produced by Greenpeace helps show some of what happens as a byproduct to climate change. The deserts are getting even drier.

Palm trees at the heart of the oasis

This short video above (3.5 minutes) lets you explore the challenges that nomadic Bedouin Moroccans face from disappearing oases.

The desert may look dry but it is very much alive to these people. Every year these nomadic people starting in 1995 noticed less and less water at their wells. Where once they could dig down a couple of yards to create a well now they need to dig about 10 or 15 or more to reach water. This effect is causing not only hardship but their culture to disappear. Invest a few minutes in learning about their plight.

7 Great Eco-Friendly Dates

Bhok Thompson

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October 14, 2020

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eco friendly dates — *Ideas for dating in simpler times*

It’s 2020 and the world is slowly becoming more environmentally conscious. For most of us, it’s about creating better habits in our day-to-day lives with positive, sustainable changes.

The thing is, when was the last time you considered this when it came to choosing the place for your next date? I know I haven’t and chances are, it’s the same way for most of us.

In this article, I’m about to give you 7 fun date ideas that are also a positive for the environment. After all, the more areas of our lives where we can make this a priority, the smaller our footprints can be.

Heck, if Las Vegas can work on going green, I don’t see why it’d be a struggle for the rest of us!

Go on a picnic

eco friendly date Not just any old picnic but a zero-waste picnic, at that. If you’ve never tried this before, the challenge in itself can be part of the fun.

While being truly zero-waste might not be practical, the closer you can get the better. Rather than disposable plastic cutlery and cling wrap, find better solutions. Reusable containers, regular cutlery and beeswax wraps all make a big difference.

You could even take it a step further and make your own beeswax wraps too! If you’re a little intimidated by sitting face-to-face for a couple of hours you can always look up a great list of flirty questions to ask that will keep the conversation going.

Cook at home together

You can either integrate this into your picnic plans or do it as a standalone activity, but either way it’s a great option. It’s fun to get creative with the food you’re taking and it also helps to keep the costs down.

On a recent date, I invited her over to make vegetarian sushi together. We experimented with different ingredients, packed it all up and went for a walk to a local lookout to enjoy it.

I find it far more interesting than just ordering food at a restaurant and it’s nice to work together as a team, too.

With around ⅓ of the world’s food going to waste each year, even the act of cooking can help reduce our total waste!

Go for a bike ride

Bikes are one of my favorite eco-friendly ways to get around downtown and explore new things. Get out in the sunshine, exercise and enjoy the sights and sounds around you.

This makes it a fun date idea too. You can explore so much of the city together and stop at anything that takes your fancy.

Visit the local farmers market

Farmers markets are a great way to support local and buy plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables. They’re about so much more than local produce though, often packed with local artwork and performances too.

This makes for a fun date with so much to see and do. No matter what you’re both into, you’re bound to find something of interest.

Since farmers markets tend to have a strong focus on sustainability, you can also do it with a clear conscience. You might even come across some helpful products or ideas you hadn’t thought about before.

Walk to your favorite vegan or vegetarian restaurant

Whatever your stance on the topic, reducing meat consumption does have a positive impact on the environment.

You don’t have to “be a vegetarian” to eat at one of these restaurants and they’re a very simple substitution to make. Believe it or not, both of these diets are about more than just eating salads.

Walking to and from the restaurant is a great opportunity to work off some of your meal and chat too. I find it to be a relaxing end to a date and the perfect time to escalate if things are going well. Far better than driving two cars there and finding parking spots.

Explore new parts of your city together on foot

Just like cycling around downtown, doing it on foot can be a great option as well. Unlike in a car where you’re so insulated from your surroundings, you have the opportunity to slow down and take it all in.

Enjoy the sights and sounds around you, appreciate each other’s company and make it up as you go. In fact, my favorite way to do this is to start with a single plan and let the day unfold on its own.

Since you’re both making it up on the fly, the possibilities are endless and nobody feels pressured for time. Depending on the weather and fitness levels, you can really cover some ground this way.

I did this last year and a casual Saturday stroll turned into lunch, healthy snacks, dinner and over 20 km of walking! Things were going so well, we were enjoying our time in the sun and neither of us were in a hurry to leave. Personally, I’d consider that a successful (and eco-friendly) date.

Pick an outdoor sport you can both enjoy

If physical activity is something you’re both down for, outdoor sports are ideal. You’re getting some fresh air and exercise and don’t have a need for gas or electricity.

For some added fun you can both find something you haven’t done before and figure it out together. There’s something very disarming and humbling about being bad at a new activity which I find to be helpful to dating.

So long as you keep a positive attitude and remember that it doesn’t actually matter if you’re any good, things go well. The idea here isn’t to show off your skills at a sport, it’s about spending time with your date and doing something unique.

You just never know, today might be the day you find your new favorite activity and you get to do it with someone else.

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There’s seven simple, fun date ideas to get you started. Once you start to build these eco-friendly habits into your dating life as well, it’ll slowly become second nature.

We all have a responsibility to do our part and it’s really not that hard to do it in this context either.

Israel plans for medical cannabis stock index

Health

Karin Kloosterman

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October 13, 2020

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Israel plans for medical cannabis stock index

icharlotte figu — *Cannabis treatments that include low THC and high CBC can treat children. The first notable case in the US was with the late Charlotte Figi.*

Since the 60s Israel became known for its scientific look at cannabis. It was never illegally federally for cannabis to be studied so decades of progress have been in Israel thanks to those early pioneers, most notably chemist Raphael Mechoulam who I got to interview more than a decade ago, before the cowboys rushed in.

While the industry is still rife with a lot of smokescreens and penny stock companies there are veritable potential breakthroughs waiting for business. Some 11 companies now with products from healthcare to pharmacology will take on their own sub-index on the TASE, the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. The new index will start trading on November 1, according to the TASE.

Stock market investors are betting that Israel will be a medical cannabis powerhouse and have invested about $205 million USD in shares so far. Those that only sell medical cannabis will not be part of the new index TA-Biomed that will focus on research and healthcare.

The exchange said that investors were looking for this kind of index, and it will now also help mutual fund investors invest in cannabis.

About 71,000 Israelis use medical cannabis in Israel, an almost 40% increase from last year. I’d argue the numbers are in the millions as Israelis self-medicate regularly with street cannabis, most of them medicating the effects of PTSD.

Medical cannabis index companies on the TASE

Dr. Alan Shackelford is a well-known Israeli-American physician who is developing products to treat various indications. I met him in 2015 when I was running my own startup in the space. He was treating a young American girl named Charlotte Figi with a high CBD strain of cannabis to quell seizures. She had Dravet syndrome and the cannabidiol oil prevented daily seizures, giving her respite until she succumbed from Covid in April this year. The name of the medical cannabis strain made for her then is now called Charlotte’s Web.

There are also loads of antics locally, as more people want cannabis to be legal recreationally as well like in Canada. Drones have been dropping cannabis packs into crowds in various Israeli cities.

The companies to be listed on the new index include: Tikkun Olam, Cannbit, Intelicanna, Intercure, Univo Pharmaceuticals, Pharmocann, Cannomed and Seah Medical Group.

Some companies already trading include Evogene. They are dual-listed on the TASE and the NASDAQ, which is common for Israeli stocks.

A $100 million USD fund unites Arab Gulf and Israel

Business

Karin Kloosterman

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October 8, 2020

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Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah, JOn Medved on a Zoom meeting — *Investors Abdullah Saeed Al Naboodah from the UAE and Jon Medved from Israel are the first to start sharing tech and investment deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates*

Israel’s most active investor along with his counterpart in the United Arab Emirates are banding together to create a new tech investment partnership. The announcement has come hot on the heels of a peace deal between Israel and the United Arab Emirates last month. If you read some of the commentary between the two men you’d imagine it’s the biggest new love story on the planet: but I see it as a chance for individual investors to help grease the wheels of peace and an “in” for cleantech companies from Israel eyeing the Gulf region to explore new business opportunities.

OurCrowd, the world’s largest global venture investing platform, signed a memorandum of understanding this week with UAE businessman Abdullah S Al Naboodah to create Phoenix as part of a 100m investment fund. Veteran investor Sabah Al-Binali will head OurCrowd’s Gulf operations.

This is the first announced partnership between an established UAE corporation and a major Israeli venture investment firm at this level of commitment. Until now bilateral trade and investments have been rare and almost always under the radar with Luxembourg somewhere in the story as a middle man.

Investing for peace

Times have changed for good, I hope: founded by Jonathan Medved, OurCrowd is a global leader in equity crowdfunding and is Israel’s most active venture investor with $1.5B of committed funding.

OurCrowd plans on identifying and supporting UAE-based startups seeking growth and development in Israel, as well as leveraging its diverse portfolio of 220 companies in the UAE.

The model of crowdfunding for equity means that individuals can invest in “peace” with real money, with as little as $50,000 USD. Regular venture firms won’t accept less than $1 million USD to enter a deal.

While individual investors may not have a lot to say about how the investments are used, they can voice their interest in a portfolio that is well balanced and suggest businesses meet sustainability goals, which are mostly absent in Israeli companies.

Phoenix in Dubai, led by Al Naboodah, will serve as an investment platform for individuals and family offices located in the Gulf seeking opportunities to invest in Israeli tech. Phoenix will enable investors to access OurCrowd’s tech investment opportunities in Agriculture, Medtech, AI and robotics.

Al Naboodah told the Financial Times: “The commodity-fuelled excess financial capital of the UAE fits well with Israel’s surplus technology and innovation. This will accelerate investing in opportunities both in Israel and the UAE.”

Medved said: “The signing of OurCrowd’s first MOU in the UAE less than a month after formal normalization between the UAE and Israel shows our deep commitment to building relationships, and growing business in the UAE and beyond.”

The better known portfolio companies taken on by OurCrowd include the data-protection company BioCatch, the smart irrigation company CropX, and the cyber intelligence company Sixgill.

OurCrowd cleantech companies suited for business in Dubai?

We reached out to Medved and Leah Stern from his team and they suggested these OurCrowd portfolio companies as potential businesses suited for expansion in the UAE:

Enverid cleans a building’s indoor air at the molecular level, enabling the building to use far less outside air ventilation while improving indoor air quality.

Ripple: the reduction of greenhouse gases by replacement of dairy with plant based milk, made from peas. Israel is going wild with food startups right now. This vegan cheesemaker is eyeing an IPO.

Skytran: Urban mobility solution via green flying pods on elevated rails. A little too modern for Israel right now, but perhaps Dubai is a better fit?

Juganu installs proprietary street lights maximizing energy efficiency and lighting stability.

ClimaCell is a hyper-local weather intelligence platform, which uses the Weather-Of-Things to predict the weather. This is combined with air quality data that they collect as well in order to help companies decide if it is better to introduce outside air into the office at a certain time, or circulate the indoor air instead, on a hyper-local level.

What’s the big deal about crowd funding for angels?

A group of people investing increments in as little as $50 to $100K in a new company was always for the realm of angels, but risk-averse investors in the US wanted to get involved in Israeli startups. They didn’t want to buy Israeli bonds from the time of their grandparents.

I saw it starting in the mid-2000s when there was a frantic urge to invest in Israeli cleantech companies, solar and water specifically, with virtually no mechanism to help investors access deals without significant in pocket funds and savvy.

Investors were rushing into Israel coming to Tel Aviv looking for ways to get intel before the next exit. They knew something was brewing in Israel since M Systems and Mirabilis (ICQ) exited and made millionaires from engineering geeks, many with ties to the army.

The world sensed that Israel was brewing something big and they were right: since Israel has had exits in multiples of billions including Mobileye: $15.3 billion (2017), Frutarom (with a terrible environmental track record) $7 billion (2018), NDS $5 billion (2012) and Chromatis $4.7 billion (2000).

Back to the early 2010s and crowdfunding was just starting to make sense. People were sharing office spaces (though local hubs) and then living quarters (Couchsurfing) and the whole idea of social investments was starting to catch on.

We heard about bands turning to the crowd to produce a music video or Kickstarter for a product and not long after, along with passing regulatory hurdles, crowdfunding for investors became a thing. This was a desirable model for American Jews to be able to support Israel without just pouring philanthropic aid into the country carte blanche.

By 2013 the Israeli-American investor Jonathan Medved stepped up to the plate and started a fund called OurCrowd that would allow almost any sized investor to own a piece of the Israeli startup pie. This excited Jews in America and it it gave new wind of support for young entrepreneurs in Israel that they they could go beyond the expensive government-funded incubator model and get funding without giving away more than half of their business in equity.

Medved is a marketing genius who probably knew all this. He is also known as a business ambassador – one who has collected some of the best to join his tribe from the media, tech and investment world.

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Have something to say? A cleantech company you want to pitch or an idea for improving sustainability goals in the Middle East? Email me: [email protected]

Getting cadmium out of my chocolate through the roots

Food

Karin Kloosterman

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October 8, 2020

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Simran Sethi cacao book — *Simran Sethi is a writer and activist who protects food we love, like chocolate and wine. Scientists too are working to protect the food we love safer through more sustainable agricultural practices.*

I am an addict. They say it’s good for me if I eat the 90% cacao, fair trade and organic. Chocolate is universally adored. But few know that farming for cacao is complicated business, mostly done by small-scale low-income farmers in Latin America, specifically Ecuador. New evidence suggests that eating too much chocolate might be dangerous because it grows in soils with high amounts of cadmium, which can build up in the body and cause cancer (see ceramic coated cooking pans).

The good news is that there are scientists working to help the farmers lower cadmium from their cacao trees. David Argüello from Belgium along with a team from Ecuador have found ways to reduce cadmium in chocolate trees, using lime. They report about it in the science Journal of Environmental Quality.

cadmium cacao — *Scientists find that applying lime to the soil and that below the surface into the roots can help reduce cadmium buildup in cacao, or its end-product chocolate*

Argüello says: “The cadmium issue threatens the livelihood of farmers because their products may not be suitable for trade and some buyers would prefer not to buy polluted cacao beans. We have to understand how cacao plants takes up the element.”

Traditionally in science, researchers would look at studies of other crops to see what works to prevent cadmium uptake. Something commonly added to the soil to help with this issue is lime, or calcium carbonate, a compound derived from limestone which is cheap and widespread and easy to obtain. This changes the cadmium chemically so that it’s not as likely to be absorbed by the crops, Argüello explains.

However, most crops like corn or sunflowers are replanted each year. This allows the lime to be mixed deep into the soil between crop seasons which is good. Cacao plants for chocolate, on the other hand, are trees that live for many years. It’s not possible to put lime into much of the soil without disturbing the roots of cacao. Farmers can only apply lime to the surface.

“This crop is very different than other conventional plants. The information available for its management is scarce and outdated. Many farmers get the advice that adding lime will solve the issue. But we wanted to investigate this,” Argüello explains.

The research team used an experiment where they planted cacao seedlings in pots in a greenhouse. This allowed them to add lime to the topsoil and subsoil and then test the cacao leaves for cadmium levels.

The solution needs to be deep rooted

Their findings show that adding lime to both layers decreased cadmium in the cacao leaves, which was not surprising. They also found that liming only the top layer also decreased cadmium. However, they discovered that when only the top layer is limed, more cadmium is taken up from roots in the bottom layer. This means that researchers and farmers cannot ignore high cadmium levels deep in soils.

cacao beans, cadmium — *The cacao beans were tested for amounts of cadmium in them. Results on how to apply lime can save the livelihood of smallholder farmers.*

“Other nutrients, such as zinc, are chemically similar to cadmium,” Argüello says. “We hypothesize that the reduction of the availability of those nutrients in the top layer due to liming causes the roots in the bottom layer to compensate. During that process, zinc uptake increases but some undesired cadmium is also taken up as a mistake.”

The researchers say their findings have helped scientists understand how cacao plants behave and can possibly chart a path to finding an effective reduction strategy. Argüello hopes their work can help small cacao farmers sell their products. I hope they can find a way to create systems that lead to regenerative agricultural approaches (see the film Kiss the Ground with Woody Harrelson). Maybe there is a biosystem that can be created that can reduce the cadmium more naturally than just dumping lime on the problem.

“I am from Ecuador and cacao is the most traditional export commodity for my country,” says Argüello. “Every time I travel and find a bar of chocolate produced in Ecuador, I feel happy and proud. I like to think that my work will help small cacao farmers sell their products and help my country to continue to be recognized worldwide.”

Looking for a guide to sustainable chocolate? We have to start somewhere, so you can start here.

Home Security Systems for the sustainablist

Tech

Bhok Thompson

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October 7, 2020

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floating home — *Every home should feel like an eco oasis, and it can be done by saving energy using devices like Nest. Security systems are just as important for keeping your eco-oasis safe and home sweet home.*

Buying or building a home is among the most important investments that people make during their lifetime. What’s more, a home is a castle for most people. This is the castle where you want to feel safe and secure. You also want to be confident that your family and possessions are safe inside your home.

The installation of the Security Systems for Apartments and residential properties has, for a long time been considered the best method for protecting a house, occupants, and the valuable possessions in it. But, how effective is this unit in protecting a household? If that’s the question currently lingering in your mind, here are crucial things to know.

Home Security Systems Deter Burglars

Research has shown that households with less-than-basic security are six times more likely to experience burglaries that those with basic security. Essentially, thieves target residential properties that lack security units more than those with effective security units. This shows that the installation of a residential security unit plays a crucial role in protecting you. We have a Canary system built by the team in NY, but it is enough?

When looking for residential buildings to break into, most burglars target places where it’s hard to be spotted or detected. Most thieves won’t try to break into residential properties that have security units or ptz camera systems. Thus, properly installed home security equipment will deter would-be criminals and thereby keep a family safe.

Numerous Home Security Systems Benefits

A home security unit is not just for keeping criminals away from a residential property or diminishing crime within a neighborhood. It also protects a homeowner and their household in several other ways.

These include:

Alerting you about fires
Alerting your household about carbon monoxide
Informing you about the whereabouts of your kids
Can help with medical emergencies
Surveillance cameras are crucial for monitoring a home’s exterior

A security unit’s installation in residence brings mental peace. It gives you confidence that you’ll be signaled in case of an attempted home break-in or even when a fire breaks out. Thus, a security system installation is an effective technique for protecting a household in different situations.

Reducing Other Crimes

A properly installed security unit will do more than simply prevent thieves from breaking into a residence. When several homeowners install security units, crime rates reduce across their neighborhoods. For instance, assaults, car vandalism, and thefts decrease within the neighborhoods where homeowners install security systems.

Essentially, criminals look for ways of making money in any means possible. A home break-in is an easy method in some cases. However, car break-ins are easier in other cases. The installation of security systems by more homeowners can limit options for criminals. As such, criminals are left with no option but to bypass the neighborhoods that they consider more secure. This makes such neighborhoods more secure and safer for their inhabitants.

Repeat Crime Prevention

Research has shown that residential properties with experienced break-ins are 5 and half times more vulnerable to future break-in attempts. When thieves break into a home, they realize that it can always be an easy target. If burglars do not notice the presence of quality security units during the first break-in, they will be tempted to try to gain unauthorized entry into it again since they know it’s easy to escape unnoticed.

If a home lacks a security system, it gives burglars a chance to survey a home compound and familiarize with its layout. They also know the easiest route for getting into your home without raising suspicion or being noticed. However, installing a reliable home security unit deters would-be criminals from regaining forceful entry into a residential property. A system that features surveillance video cameras provides footage that can be employed to search for and prosecution of the burglars. Additionally, burglars will most likely avoid breaking into your residence if they noticed the security cameras’ presence during the first break-in. That’s because burglars fear being detected, seen, or caught while committing the crime.

Home Protection When You’re Away

Most individuals are not always at home. However, they desire to have their residences and valuable possessions safe when away. Implementing an effective home security unit is a great way to protect residential property while away.

Modern units for protecting homes allow owners to easily monitor and even control some of their aspects while away. For instance, you can monitor different parts of your home using a mobile app. Some security systems allow users to turn lights on and/or off remotely. And, if something turns the alarm on, you can be notified via an SMS or email. This will enable you to decide the action to take based on the received alert.

Contemporary Home Security Units come with more than the Hardware

Having locks, alarms, uniformed guards, and bars is a good way to ensure your home’s security. However, contemporary home security systems feature more than the hardware. They feature wireless cameras, highly-effective motion sensors, and mobile applications, among other advances. These make them more effective and easy to use. The installation of these security units makes it easier for homeowners to monitor their homes and take the right actions in case of break-in attempts.

They give homeowners more freedom and flexibility in terms of how they monitor and secure their homes. What’s more, these units can help in monitoring the elderly and sick persons while away. With some systems, an older person can easily alert their loved one when they need emergency assistance. Thus, they do more than just ensuring that properties are not broken into.

The Bottom Line

Home security units are undoubtedly effective in ensuring your protection and that of your household. Essentially, a home security unit does more than simply protect a homeowner and their valuable possessions. It can also allow an elderly or sick person the freedom to live without depending on the others. That’s because they can be left at home alone, and the security system can be used to alert their loved ones in case they need emergency assistance.

Vegan cheesemaker eyes IPO

Food
Science

Karin Kloosterman

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October 6, 2020

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It’s a sign of the times: a vegan cheesemaking company in Israel is considering listing on the TASE – or Tel Aviv Stock Exchange. Two meat or animal product substitute companies already list there and now Vgarden, which makes vegan cheese is looking to raise capital. A report in the local paper Haaretz says the kibbutz-based company plans to list next year at a valuation of $102 million.

Israel has more vegans per capita than anywhere in the world. And the company already has dozens of companies looking to offer a plant-based alternative to meat or animal based products.

Yofix in Israel already sells its soy-free yogurt alternative made from oats, legumes and seeds. The fermented, cultured products contain protein, fiber, calcium and iron, have no added sugar or preservatives, and are pre- and probiotic.

Vgarden produces sliced cheese, cream cheese, ricotta, and feta –– all without milk of any kind. And it’s marketed under the brand Mashu Mashu, which means “wow, that’s something” in Hebrew. I have tried the sliced cheese and it’s a satisfying and convincing alternative. It’s firm and tasty and has a cheesy smell and flavor likely from yeast – which the African Israelites have been using as a seasoning for decades. They are an all-vegan village in Beersheva.

The transition to complete veganism hasn’t been difficult for mainstream Israelis because as part of the Jewish lifestyle and dietary laws it is already known if a food product contains traces of animal products as it’s not allowed to eat meat and milk together, for those who observe the customs and traditions known as kashrut.

They are similar to the Muslim dietary laws called halal but are more restrictive – except for one – Jews are allowed to drink alcohol, Muslims are not.

Israelis taking bite out of meat substitute markets

MeaTech in Israel 3-D prints meat alternatives and its shares have risen 120% on the TASE over the last year according to the Marker, an Israeli financial paper. SavorEat is developing a plant-based meat alternative using 3D printing and plant cellulose.

Impossible Burgers have been on the Israeli grocery shelves for a couple of years already. But they cost about $8 a piece, which is more than double the price of a burger bought at a butcher. McDonalds in some locations in Israel is selling vegan burgers and for those observing dietary laws can for the first time order a cheeseburger from the famed fast-food chain.

Redefine Meat from Israel says it is making the world’s first plant-based steak created using 3D printing technology. The Rehovot-based company said it will start testing the beef, which it calls Alt-Steak, at select high-end restaurants in Israel later this year.

Israelis are thrilled with the rollout of Beyond Meat and are clearly trying to take a bite out of this enviable market. Global Opportunity Analysis and Industry Forecast, 2019-2026, “the global meat substitute market size was valued at $4.1 billion in 2017, and is expected to reach $8.1 billion by 2026.”

RilBite is ambitiously positioning itself as the basis for “The burger that saves the world.”

Founded by Barak Melamed and incubated in The Kitchen FoodTech Hub of the Strauss Group in Ashdod, RilBite is developing a “minced plant” product using only six ingredients: onions, tomatoes, textured vegetable protein (TVP) from soy, lentils, rice and spices.

There is Kinoko Tech developing a vegan protein with a meat-like texture and slight umami flavor. The secret ingredient is an edible mushroom tissue called mycelium.

FFW is creating a yeast-based meat alternative. Founder Leonardo Marcovitz says that yeast contains 50% protein and has all the essential amino acids. It’s cheap and easily available. But until now, no one has been able to create a textured product out of yeast or temper its strong umami flavor.

“For the past year, our food technologists have been working on solving those two challenges,” he says. “We’re deciding whether our first product will be in the form of pulled chicken, chicken nuggets or Bolognese.”

Taking on the humble chickpea, a staple of the Middle East diet: InnovoPro and ChickP have developed proprietary technologies for extracting neutral-tasting protein from chickpeas for use in the food industry. Although hummus everywhere unless it’s organic contains high amounts of cancer-causing Roundup.

Sometimes, unless it’s my daughter begging to try a vegan bacon one day, I just have to hope: maybe we should just stop trying to create substitutes? The next generation of vegans won’t hunger for milk, cheese or anything that resembles meat if we educate them properly. Food grown simply from a garden and made into a homemade spread without a printer or complicated enzymes in a lab is really the healthiest and more sustainable way we can consumer our food. These foodtech companies may both help and hinder a meat-free transition. What do you think?

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Finding Covid outbreaks in your street sewers

Science
Tech

Karin Kloosterman

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October 6, 2020

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Cod — *Kando sends sensors into a sewer find Covid-19 hotspots in your towns and cities. Should we bring one into the White House?*

Is there a Covid-19 hotspot growing in numbers on Fifth Avenue near the Empire State Building or is it happening now in Brooklyn? Look to your sewer and it will tell you endless information about the health or problems of a local population.

Human waste carries knowledge and disease, and it also carries the pharmaceuticals we use to keep our problems at bay. Now a wastewater data company called Kando is being hired in Israel to confirm Covid-19 outbreaks in the country. Kando can also predict where an outbreak will occur.

Covid-19 can be detected in sewer systems, and knowing where it is being flushed – means health services can get a better handle on local Covid-19 hotspots and outbreaks.

“Monitoring our sewers is like taking the ‘blood test’ of a city,” said Ari Goldfarb, the CEO of Kando.

Kando is the Israeli cleantech company that was hired for the task. In good days the company provides data to wastewater management companies so they can understand how to use their resources for treating pollution optimally. The company started a pilot this summer with Israeli universities and announced recently it will continue its sampling throughout Israeli cities. Some $220,000 USD was put into to support the pilot until the end of this year.

The company takes samples from sewers which are brought back to a lab to undergo polymerase chain reaction – or PCR – testing. We assume that in the future some better “real time” and online data assessment tool will be put in place to make sense of the data, because anyone anywhere can pull a sample of sewage out of a manhole and test it. The questions will be – what are we looking for and what does it mean in comparison to the density and population.

“Shit” down streets, not nations

Contract tracing has become impossible with dense communities and neighborhoods in poorer demographics in Israel where up to 12 people can live in one small apartment, or more if extended families are brought in. But it’s been impossible to segregate these areas in red or green zones: they predominantly poor ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods and poor Muslim enclaves.

“The successful initial results of this pilot study demonstrate that our sophisticated wastewater monitoring systems can help detect new outbreaks and determine exactly where and how serious they are,” Goldfarb says.

The company partnered with local universities Ben Gurion University and the Technion “to offer actionable insights to authorities, alarming them to outbreaks even before residents are symptomatic. Our hope is to help cities around the world prevent wholesale shutdowns and mitigate future outbreaks.”

Kando puts its sensors into manholes and say they are able to quantify and delineate this environmental and epidemiological data, allowing them to narrow down measurements to neighborhoods, and potentially streets.

The coastal city of Ashkelon in Israel was chosen as the pilot site for the project as it was believed to have a low number of case. But what researchers discovered was something entirely different: significant remnants of the coronavirus in municipal wastewater, indicating early detection of outbreaks in local neighborhoods.

The results suggest that tracking coronavirus remnants in the sewer network is a timelier and more efficient gauge of the extent of outbreaks than testing individuals – especially given the asymptomatic nature or delay in symptoms of those suffering from COVID-19.

The results of the pilot study will offer authorities capabilities for early detection of new outbreaks and can help avoid total lockdowns by pinpointing affected areas, the company believes. Israel is in the third week of a 3-week lockdown, its second nation-wide lockdown since the middle of March, 2020.

Helping identify hubs of contagion can allow a much more localized response – avoiding the need for more sweeping lockdown measures. And that is something we all want.

“Identifying traces of the coronavirus in city wastewater is extremely challenging due to the various types of substances found in sewage systems, including industrial wastewater, which can dilute or destroy remnants of the virus,” said Professor Nadav Davidovitch, Director, School of Public Health at Ben Gurion University, and who is part of the project:

“Our unique methodology enables us to detect and trace the presence of the virus and calculate its concentration with these substances factored into the equation, and to integrate epidemiological evidence in order to pinpoint emerging COVID-19 hotspots. This will allow authorities to take actions to contain future outbreaks. This type of interdisciplinary science will continue to help disease containment methods – for coronavirus, and beyond.”

Artificial Intelligence going down the drain?

Kando provides Internet of Things data for for wastewater management with operations in North America, Europe, Australia, Asia and Israel. The company was founded in 2011 and is headquartered in Israel. They can detect blockages in real time before extensive damage is done to sewer systems.

It is no coincidence that Israel produces a disproportionate number of wastewater data companies for its size: Israel has been a global leader for greywater recycling. It reuses about 97% of its water as grey water, but it comes with challenges as these lines can not contaminate drinking water for domestic use. Greywater contains a high amount of bacteria and toxins, even pharmaceuticals, so much to the point that organic vegetable growers in Israel don’t want to use the subsidized water offered to them for fear of a chemical load in their produce.

Who wants to eat someone else’s cancer medicine or birth control pills? There is also cocaine, codeine and methadone.

But silver linings? Some startups make new paper from sewage waste.

When I studied biology in university the professors always told us that there is gold in animal excrement –– how well an animals is doing, its habitat, its link in the web of life. I spent a year studying the waste of small amphibians to understand how populations of indicator species bounce back after forest fires or clearcut logging.

In times like these we need to put ourselves back into the circle of life and look for answers even in the lowliest places – the toilet bowl.

The case of an environmental fallacy?

Alon Tal, Israel environment — *Alon Tal founded a number of NGOs, including the Arava Institute in Israel*

Alon Tal, environment leader and lawyer from Israel cautions against this “looking for a needle in a haystack approach”. He has experience looking to wastewater for pollutants, including pharmaceuticals. He isn’t convinced this is a great method for detecting Covid-19 cases in the city:

“When you look at things at the neighborhood level, you just have to be careful you don’t commit, the “ecological fallacy”.

“Here’s a good explanation on you tube:

“So yes – it is good to know if there appears to be some residual corona in the sewage system of a city,” Tal tells Green Prophet. “But it can’t tell me a whole lot. It might be from a single family. It might be from an old age home which is in danger – or from an asymptomatic yeshiva student.

“I imagine that in the peak incidence days, Bnei Brak’s sewage [in Tel Aviv] might have been slightly higher than other communities. But you’d have to be very lucky to get samples to prove this. Concentrations are de minimis.

“In short — I know they used sewage to try to identify illegal use of narcotics and such. But, it’s not entirely clear to me why this makes more sense than simply random testing several hundred people directly. That might tell me much more about where morbidity is happening and how to intervene,” he concludes.

US oil giant Chevron buys Israel’s natural gas

Karin Kloosterman

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October 4, 2020

0

US oil giant Chevron buys Israel’s natural gas

Israeli offshore gas fields are now under control of one of the world’s biggest energy companies, Chevron. It irks activists, but might spark a pan-European pipeline, one analyst suggests.

Israel started finding natural gas in offshore gas deposits more than a decade ago. They started in the 1920s under the British Mandate over Palestine with no success. Some estimate that what lies out under the shore-bed off the Israeli coast in the Mediterranean Sea could equal as much as one-fifth as all the natural gas owned by the United States.

Israel’s offshore gas deposits are known as Leviathan and Tamar deposits and they are considered one of the world’s biggest offshore gas discoveries in the last 10 years. Owners in the company exploring Leviathan were Texas-based Noble Energy, Israeli owned Ratio Petroleum, and Israeli-owned Delek Drilling.

Noble Energy held 39.66% of Leviathan, and it is also the company that operates the gas drilling platform in the reservoir. Noble Energy has two Israeli partners in the ownership of the Leviathan rights: Delek Drilling (45.24%) and Ratio Petroleum (15%).

Noble Energy had a controlling share in the Israeli gas fields but its assets officially transferred to the oil company Chevron this past Friday.

While the gas deposits are an energy game changer for Israel which had been burning coal and oil to fire its power plants, environmentalists believe that public interests and health are at stake in the business and operations of the natural gas facility. Analysts at research institutes might argue the deal is a positive game changer for Israel in politics.

Let’s start with the environmentalists: They are even more worried now thanks to the disastrous environmental record and cleanup policies of Chevron. Last summer Chevron dumped 800,000 gallons of oil and water into a California canyon. The oil and gas company has a spotty history with oil spills and environmental responsibility. Over in Kazakstan it is rumoured that Chevron violates workers’ rights and more:

“It is not by chance that Kazakhstan is considered to be the jewel in the crown of Chevron, as the country’s oil helps the company flourish,” says Sergey Solyanik, consultant to Crude Accountability.

He continues: “For Chevron and other foreign investors, Kazakhstan has long been turned into a kind of field camp, where people come to pump out natural wealth and make money, leaving behind large-scale environmental pollution, poverty and lawlessness.”

Israel’s gas went online earlier this year amid fears and protests of people worried for their health as the gas lines purged polluting water into the sea. Israel now supplies natural gas domestically as well as to Egypt and Jordan.

The addition of Noble will boost Chevron’s natural gas holdings. It also adds nearly 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas reserves close to growing markets.

The deal values Noble Energy at around $4.2 billion, excluding $8 billion in debt. This is the first big energy deal since the coronavirus crushed global fuel demand.

Natural gas has made Canada, Qatar and now Israel energy-rich, in theory. But Israelis are left scratching their heads, wondering who is benefiting from their natural resource.

While natural gas burns cleaner than oil or coal, it is not a renewable energy. Fossil fuels contribute to global warming and while Israel has been very vocal in the last 15 years about its advances in clean technology, including solar energy, it supplies solar for only a meagre 3% of its total energy use. This small number still makes it a world leader. Germany in comparison produces about 8.2% of its energy from solar, mainly via photovoltaic or PV panels.

Several people had wanted to stop the Chevron-Noble deal: US billionaire Paul Singer who invested in a stake in Noble under his firm Elliot in NY told Bloomberg that that Noble agreed to the deal [with Chevron] at the wrong time for the wrong reasons and that the company is better positioned to benefit from a recovery in oil prices if it remains independent. When the recovery happens, Noble should consider selling its Mediterranean assets, Singer advised.

Israeli solar energy pioneer Yossi Abramowitz cautioned the public to not accept the sale in the OpEd: Dear Nobel Energy Shareholders, Chevron is About to Take You for a Ride.

He and his co-author Maya Jacobs, the CEO of Zalul, an NGO to protect Israel’s sea, wrote:

“Reject the Chevron acquisition offer; they are short-changing you, and only giving you shares in a sinking business. Are you fully aware of Chevron’s environmental record and their $9.5b judgement in Ecuador for the Chernobyl of the Amazon?

“Traditional oil companies are overburdened with what will be stranded assets, as the world continues to battle Corona, adopt more Green Recovery deals, and impose carbon taxes. While Chevron is valued today at a whopping $155 billion – down $10 billion just this week — their valuation is subject to wild fluctuations, like when in March, due to Corona, it lost nearly half its value.”

In the Jerusalem Post (the competing newspaper to Times of Israel) he said: “Chevron has one of the worst environmental track records on the planet when it comes to oil safety, oil cleanup, respecting local lives and paying judgments against it.

Abramowitz also expressed concern that “it looks like the energy minister gave an assurance to Noble and Chevron [that it could] keep a significant monopoly on Israel’s energy market,” saying this was “wrong economically and wrong environmentally.”

Israelis currently pay 3 times the price for energy than others in developed nations. The promise was that when Israel invested in natural gas the citizens would earn the dividends by lower prices on their energy bills. This promise never materialised.

If you look to the INSS, the Chevron deal is good for political manoeuvring. The think tank’s analyst Oded Eran based at Tel Aviv University writes in a policy piece:

“Without a doubt, the move brings the American presence in the energy sector of the Eastern Mediterranean to a new level, which until recently was limited to the relatively minor involvement of energy giant Exxon in Cyprus and Noble Energy, which is a small American company in Israel.

Beginnings for the Eastern Mediterranean natural gas pipeline?

“Israel wants to be part of a natural gas pipeline that travels undersea to Cyprus and then Europe,” Eran writes, “it is not without a huge cost and risks shaking the boat with Turkey:

“Although the Israeli government is promoting the Eastern Mediterranean natural gas pipeline project, considerable doubt still exists regarding its technical, economic, and political feasibility.

“At a length of 1,900 kilometers, 1,300 of which are at sea, the pipeline, if and when it is completed, will transport approximately 10 billion cubic meters of natural gas from Israel and Cyprus to Europe each year.

“The cost of the pipeline has been estimated at 6 billion euros. In early January 2020, Greece, Cyprus, and Israel signed the framework agreement for the construction of the pipeline, and in July of this year the Israeli cabinet ratified the agreement.

“Turkey has already expressed its firm opposition to the project, and its dispatch of a drilling ship to Cypriot waters and its agreement with the Libyan Government of National Accord regarding the demarcation of economic waters (November 2019) should be seen as part of Ankara’s response to the alliance between Israel, Greece, and Cyprus in the natural gas sector,” Eran adds.

Chevron’s CEO Michael Wirth said in a release: “With an industry-leading balance sheet and a track record of capital discipline, we believe we’re in a different place than others and can protect the dividend while driving long-term value.”

Dubai’s Sustainability Pavilion for Expo 2021 revealed in real

Architecture

Karin Kloosterman

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October 4, 2020

0

Dubai Expo 2020 2021 Sustainability Pavillion, Wasl Dome — *The iconic Wasl Dome*

When I was a kid my parents decided us 3 would go to the World Fair Expo ’84 in Vancouver. I loved travelling with my parents, but I felt the Expo was like a giant marketing event with each country trying to out-impress the other. The event didn’t really move me on the inside: Moving sidewalks, Egyptian relics imported. Video displays selling shiny images for each country, as they stand alone looking to the future. It felt something like pain and boredom together.

Despite Covid-19, Expo 2020 set for Dubai this year will be postponed to October 2021, the most popular city to travel to in the United Arab Emirates. The theme will be “Connecting Minds, Creating the Future” and will be based on mobility, sustainability and opportunity, with pavilions for each subject designed by starchitect firms Foster + Partners, Grimshaw Architects and AGi Architects. The UAE National Pavilion was designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava.

Remember when we wrote about the solar panel pavilion covers in 2014? Now it’s becoming real, despite Covid setbacks.

The emirate has high hopes for the Expo next year as it shows itself off a center for innovation and leading “progress” in the Arab world. Its decision to host IRENA, the international energy consortia for renewable energy a decade ago, and last month announcing formal peace ties with the cleantech superpower Israel means plenty of new opportunities in solar energy, desalination and desert agriculture are in store for the UAE and region.

The Sustainability pavilion will show off technology and stories of the way we understand nature today.

Dubai was awarded the Expo in 2013, and since then billions of dollars have been spent to develop it. After the Expo is over the 1,000 acre site will be repurposed with 80% of its infrastructure expected for reuse as a mixed commercial and residential development called District 2020.

We do hope it’s not all talk and a show show though like the Zero Carbon megacity Masdar not far from Abu Dhabi that was built more than a decade ago and which never lived up to its promise.

The Sustainability Pavilion, one of 3 pavilions, is designed by Grimshaw Architects in the UK, features “energy trees” that rotate with the sun to capture solar energy. We’ve seen versions of this kind of design in quite a few places to be honest, including in Dubai (2015) itself and also by Israeli designers (2014) who made a much less design-savvy-version of the trees.

Grimshaw promo video for the pavilion:

Who will make the journey to the Dubai sustainability pavilion next year is anyone’s guess. We expect there to be surprises from the countries that want to show off how they see the future. But how about looking back?

How about desert windcatchers (like the ones from Yazd)? The passive no-tech nature of mashrabiya? Or saltwater agriculture from Qatar? Did you know there are ancient irrigation systems called aflaj throughout the Middle East?

While it’s not clear how many people will be able to make the journey to the Expo next year, Dubai and United Arab Emirates are open for tourists.

“We hope that people will join us to achieve our objectives to bring the world together and put humanity and the planet on the right path towards dignity for all,” said director general of Expo 2020 Dubai and UAE Minister of State for International Cooperation, Reem Al Hashimy, who added more details about the Expo would be shared in the coming weeks.

Dubai has been planning this World Expo for more than 5 years. They deserve to host it and we hope to report on more sustainability ideas on a country basis as the year progresses.

:: Expo 2020

Reasons to Use a Business Energy Provider

Lifestyle

Bhok Thompson

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October 3, 2020

0

All businesses require energy to perform their daily functions. It is an unavoidable expense, which can be a bit costly. However, when it comes to improving your bottom line, minimizing your costs is a top priority. Finding the right energy deal can transform your business while helping you achieve your goals in the best way possible. It’s one of the best ways of making the most out of your finances. While many people are finding the idea of working with a business energy provider as a little off-putting, it’s one of the best ways of taking control of your energy expenses. If you are not sure hiring a business energy provider is the best decision, the following are some of the reasons why you should;

To save money

Every business’s goal is to save money, and it’s one of the main reasons for thinking about changing an existing energy plan. No one wants to waste their money on an unnecessary pricey energy tariff. Working with a business energy provider is one of the best ways of ensuring you get the best deal possible. Business energy provider Powerful Allies help broker energy deals thanks to their ties with several gas and electricity providers and keep a close eye on the energy market. A reliable energy provider will tell you the most affordable plan and help you save on unnecessary costs.

They do the hard work on your behalf.

It’s possible to spend a lot of time scrolling through various energy retailers within your locality as you request their pricing then compare electricity later on. Still, it can be a long process that might not necessarily pay off. You could even miss the top deals that would suit your business. Instead of wasting time that can be spent on other activities that need your attention, why not use a business energy provider? They can check out the best deal available within your area, give you all the necessary information, and set up. If you want a company that can deal with direct credit or is environmentally conscious, a business energy broker got you covered.

You can go greener with an eco-friendly provider.

Green energy is being recommended worldwide to save the planet. Various businesses have established environmental commitments as they try to take responsibility for making the world a better place. Some energy providers offer more renewable energy resources than others. Using an eco-friendly provider can help enable your business to adopt a greener attitude.

Saving time

If you switch to a new energy tariff or plan, there are various forms, terms, and conditions and signing a contract that needs your attention. They are time-consuming, but an energy provider can manage the whole process for you to make it as seamless as possible. You get to focus on running your business and delivering excellent service to your customers.

It’s in your best interest to save both money and time within your business because that’s the only way you will be productive and remain competitive. It doesn’t just happen, and you need to work with a reliable energy provider and get the best service to sort out your electricity needs. You will never run your business successfully if you are on the wrong plan or overpaying for your energy.

Amazon rainforest cruises will touch your heart and soul

Travel

Karin Kloosterman

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October 1, 2020

0

Amazon rainforest cruises will touch your heart and soul

I have been on a few alternative cruises in my life. In Turkey, Costa Rica, Canada, Thailand. There are some destinations where a river cruise is about the only way you can get to see the true nature of the place. The River Kwai in Thailand or a Chao Phraya cruise from Bangkok which takes you north to temples and hidden villages. There can only be a Nile felucca cruise to help you feel Cairo. Or a mangrove forest cruise in Costa Rica.

Environmentalists agree: The mother of all cruises would never be a Princess Cruise to Venice or the Caribbean: it’s a cruise through one of the still wild places in the world – through the Amazon.

I am already writing my post-Covid bucket list. Travel will no doubt be even better, but probably more soulful once the risks lift. Some companies are already readying intimate and private style charter yachts for cruises to the Amazon River. These kinds of travels like those run by Rainforest Cruises lift the veil on party time and how westerners used to travel. ‘Woke’ stewards of the earth and their children can hire private riverboats with viewing decks to get close to the nature of the Amazon Rainforest.

rainforest cruises on the balcony, inside the room — *Open and airy and like a private cruise*

Years ago, people could only fantasize about taking a boat through the Amazon rainforest, home to millions of wildlife species and plants, about one-third of all species on the planet, and even unidentified tribes. Now, a number of ecotourism operations can help give you the wild and educational experience you crave, while giving back to the locals and raising awareness of rainforest conservation. Banks are exploiting the Amazon but by getting close to the needs and problems of the region via sustainable tourism, you can help be part of the solution and experience its majestic beauty.

For those travellers looking for greater insight into conservation efforts in the region and even the chance to actively participate in research, there are special conservation-themed cruises out there. There are opportunities to help world-renowned biologists do pink river dolphin research deploying acoustic seapods to collect and record the sounds of dolphins and record water temperatures where dolphins are spotted, and several cruises with special guest speakers on board highlighting the deeper problems that face endangered species, such as the Amazonian manatee.

You can get this kind of education as a traveller with an open heart and mind, and lots of time on your hands, like Krista in Indonesia with her slow travel, or if you are a journalist like me and get to interview Alexandra Cousteau. But if your time is limited, and you aren’t a member of the press, a cruise along the upper Amazon in Peru might be the best way to go. Chartering a whole boat for you and your extended family or a group of friends could offer a new idea for a destination wedding or memorable family reunion – hard to come by these days.

No better setting to be with those you love and whose values you share: “Such unique conservation cruises allow guests to directly participate in conservation action and research while on vacation, and hopefully raise awareness to others when they get home of the importance of preserving the Amazon and its species,” Jeremy Clubb, the owner of Rainforest Cruises tells Green Prophet.

“As you travel deep into some of the Amazon’s largest protected reserves, you’ll get the chance to experience different ecosystems and wildlife as you slowly drift on its tranquil tributaries and idyllic lakes, sleeping in different locations each night, under a different spectacular sunset,” Clubb adds.

Founded in 2011, Rainforest Cruises are experts in expedition coastal and river cruises in South America and Southeast Asia, pioneering experiential travel on the world’s most iconic waterways, from the Amazon to the Mekong, aboard their curated collection of unique cruise vessels. The company is Conservation Circle Partners of the Rainforest Trust and members of Sustainable Travel International and the International Ecotourism Society, and are advocates for responsible cruising, sustainable tourism and rainforest conservation.

Eight years ago I had a wonderful eco experience in Thailand aboard a river cruise for a few days. One day I hope to make it the Amazon.

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