Page 166 – Green Prophet

Hassle-Free Method to Procure MMJ Card in Florida

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July 21, 2020

Hassle-Free Method to Procure MMJ Card in Florida

woman smoking a bong — Medical cannabis may help you recover or be protected from Covid. Areas where medicine is needed, and not recreationally legal, may need help getting a medical card to obtain cannabis medicine.

Marijuana is said to be the solution to several health problems. It has thus become a part of many serious medical treatments. Medical practitioners prescribe marijuana for different ailments to speed up the recovery process. However, even if you have been prescribed this drug you will not be able to purchase it freely if you do not possess a medical marijuana card. In order to purchase marijuana, you need the approval of a certified medical marijuana doctor which in turn will help you procure a valid MMJ card.

Every state in the United States has its own set of guidelines to acquire this card. Let us learn about these guidelines and step by step process followed in Florida. Also shared is a simple way in which you can conduct this procedure smoothly without any hassle.

Simple Steps to Obtain MMJ Card

Consult a Medical Marijuana Doctor

As stated above, in order to obtain an MMJ card, you first need to consult a licensed medical marijuana doctor. These doctors have specially been trained to identify people who really need to consume marijuana as a part of their treatment. They approve the case only after studying it carefully. The patients require undergoing certain tests to further the process. The test reports as well as the medical history of the patients is taken into consideration

After thorough examination the doctor determines whether or not you are eligible to consume marijuana.

You can look for a licensed medical marijuana doctor online. However, the task can be a bit taxing and you cannot trust just any name that comes your way. To ease this work you can consider using Veriheal in Florida. This platform bridges the gap between MMJ doctors and patients. The doctors on their list are highly experienced and professional.

Submit the Application

After the doctor approves the case, the patients are required to complete and submit their application to procure the card. The application, to be submitted to the state, requires some information about the candidate. Filling the application can be perplexing particularly for the first timers. In order to avoid any kind of error it is suggested to seek professional help.

Receive the Card

The card is sent to the patient by mail within 2-3 weeks post the submission of the application. Once you acquire the card you can legally purchase marijuana in Florida.

This card is valid for a period of 210 days. You also need to re-certify it after every 70 days to enjoy its benefits.

Get the List of Dispensaries near You

Companies such as Veriheal do not just help the patients procure the card but also provide complete information about the dispensaries where marijuana is available. If you are looking for this drug near your place you need not wander from one place to another. Just refer to their site to get the address.

So, we see how professional help from a reputed healthcare company can increase the odds of receiving the MMJ card and ease the entire process for the patients.

Mosquitoes! Make Your Own Natural Remedies To Keep Them Away

Health

Miriam Kresh

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July 19, 2020

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Mosquitoes! Make Your Own Natural Remedies To Keep Them Away

Nothing spoils a pleasant summer evening like mosquitoes buzzing around. If slapping at your ankles or neck isn’t your idea of fun, consider making your own mosquito repellent from the Lantana camera flower, or essential oils, vinegar and vodka.

Lantana-Infused Coconut Oil

Lantana camara is most often regarded as a decorative garden hedge plant. Its medicinal uses were more appreciated in old times, but recent studies done in the Malaria Research Centre, Hardwar, India, confirm that coconut oil infused with the flowers and applied to the skin repels mosquitoes for close to two hours.

Lantana mosquito repellent is easy enough to make. You can probably find enough flowers in your own neighborhood. When you find a healthy bush – it’s usually planted as a sturdy hedge – ask the owners’ permission to clip off enough flowers to fill a mayonnaise-size glass jar. The jar must be very clean and dry.

Fill the jar with Lantana flowers, as much as you can cram in. At home, pour coconut oil over the flowers, filling the jar. Stir the contents gently with a chopstick or the handle of a spoon, to break up any bubbles and make room for a little more oil. When the jar is full, screw the lid on and put it in a warm place.

The most potent medicine comes from two weeks’ infusion in the sun, but you can speed it up by putting the jar in a water bath. Place the tightly-closed jar in a saucepan and pour water around it to come slightly over halfway up. Use low heat to keep the water hot. Let the oil infuse one or two hours, adding more water as needed. Don’t let the water bubble up to the height of the lid; any water getting into the oil will spoil it.

Either let the jar and its contents cool down in the saucepan, or remove it to a folded kitchen towel in a safe corner. The jar will be hot; use tongs or a dry towel to handle it.

Once cool, put the jar in a warm location: a sunny window is fine. Rotate it once a day. Strain the oil after a week (two is better still)and apply as needed. If you have the time, use the infused coconut oil to make a double-strength batch with new flowers.

Mosquito Repellent Essential Oils Spray Recipe

It’s even easier to put together a spray based on essential oils. It works for hours and is safe for frequent adult use, although it’s wise to avoid spritzing near the eyes, nose and mouth. It’s best to spray children’s clothes and socks or sandals rather than their bare skin. Essential oils are strong!

A word to the wise: when shopping for essential oils, look for the following signs of good quality: opaque bottles and the botanical name of the plant (in Latin) under the familiar English name on the label. Example: Peppermint – Mentha piperita.

You’ll need 110 drops of essential oils per 1/2 cup water, 1/2 cup witch hazel, and 1 tablespoon vodka or rubbing alcohol. If no witch hazel is available, substitute 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar.

You will also need a glass spray bottle. Plastic won’t do; the essential oils and vinegar will corrode it. You can mix the ingredients in a 1.5 cup capacity glass jar, transferring as much as you need to the spray bottle with a small funnel; or use a spray bottle that will contain 1.5 cups of fluid. Needless to say, containers must be kept tightly closed between uses.

The essential oils:

Geranium, 30 drops
Citronella, 30 drops
Lemon eucalyptus, 20 drops
Lavender, 20 drops
Rosemary, 10 drops

If you have sensitivities or simply dislike any of the above oils, substitute lemongrass, mint, cedar, clove or cajeput for it.

Drip the essential oils into the spray bottle (or glass jar)
Add the vodka or alcohol and shake (or stir) well.
Add the witch hazel or vinegar; shake or stir again.
Add the water and shake or stir again.

Shake the spray bottle before each use to re-combine the ingredients.

You can make a salve to soothe bug bites and stings with our mallows salve formula. Shake about 20 drops of lavender into the warm salve and mix well before it cools.

Our editor Karin Kloosterman reports that rubbing bunches of crushed geranium leaves all over her little son did the trick once, on a day when the mosquitoes were particularly vicious. Necessity is the mother of invention.

That’s it! Happy summer!

:: The Malaria Research Centre, India

Photos: Lantana camara by Alvesgaspar via Wikipedia; herbs in glass bottles by silviarita via Pixabay; 3 essential oils by Laryssa Suaid via Pexels

Tel Aviv makes Covid-friendly breathing sidewalks

Cities

Karin Kloosterman

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July 17, 2020

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Tel Aviv makes Covid-friendly breathing sidewalks

Tel Aviv covid sidewalk — *Tel Aviv has expanded sidewalks for breathing space at cafes and city restaurants. Tel Aviv is a dense city; these sidewalks make it more liveable and dineable.*

Tel Aviv used to be an urbanist’s nightmare, but it is learning fast. And it is growing on me though I like Jaffa, its sister city better. When I first met Tel Aviv 20 years ago it was polluted and noisy. Now it’s trying with all its might to do good by its people: The City has launched a creative solution to enable restaurants and bars to extend their outdoors seating areas, assisting owners to increase dining capacity while ensuring social distancing required by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The municipality has rolled out a series of sidewalk-level platforms at the expense of road space, permitting restaurants and bars to add dozens of outdoors tables and chairs, and welcome significantly more customers.

The move accelerates a key Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality urban policy to prioritize pedestrians and cyclists, and encourage local trade across the city, highlighted by a recent municipal decision to convert 11 streets into pedestrianized commercial zones.

Sidewalk-level platforms were introduced this week along Chayim Vital Street in Tel Aviv’s vibrant (also very stinky from cat pollution) Florentin neighborhood, home to many popular restaurants and bars.

While the street represents an important thoroughfare for vehicular access to surrounding streets and residences, and cannot be entirely pedestrianized, the platforms provide a “breathing” sidewalk that may be extended to support local businesses and encourage greater foot traffic.

In May 2020, Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality announced that it would convert an additional 11 streets into pedestrianized zones, open strictly to pedestrians and cyclists. The decision follows the successful conversion of Tel Aviv’s Levinski Street into a 24/7 pedestrian zone and shut Sheinkin Street to traffic on Fridays during the past year.

In addition, the municipality has placed more than 1,000 outdoor chairs and umbrellas across pedestrian zones to encourage visitors to take advantage of the newly-converted areas.

Activists fought the city and won. These trees lining Jaffa’s famous boulevard will be saved. Jaffa is part of the Tel Aviv Municipality.

Last month, as part of large-scale efforts to emphasize pedestrian travel, reduce traffic congestion and air pollution, Tel Aviv said it would double bike paths in the city from 140 km. to 300 km. by 2025. That’s a great plan, but if they are overtaken by rude and vicious and usually inexperienced moped drivers or electric bikes racing to 100km/hour, no thanks.

The implementation of the plan is expected to reduce traffic congestion in the city by 30% says the city but to what personal expense if the bike lanes are not policed.

Clover rolls over from fluoride in our water and toothpaste

Science

Karin Kloosterman

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July 15, 2020

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Clover rolls over from fluoride in our water and toothpaste

For most of us, our closest encounter with the element fluorine is likely to be our toothpaste or a municipal water supply with added fluoride.

But excess fluorine can be a problem. For example, high levels of fluorine in the soil can hurt plants. Fluorine in soils may also affect microbes and other organisms higher along the food chain.

A new study explored whether soil fluorine levels in New Zealand are high enough to hurt a specific microbe called Rhizobium. Rhizobium bacteria live in root nodules of legume plants, like beans and lentils. These bacteria ‘fix’ atmospheric nitrogen, making the nutrients into a form the host plant can use.

Nitrogen fixation by Rhizobia means farmers need to use less nitrogen fertilizer. That can save significant costs. If soil fluorine levels become high enough to hurt Rhizobia, it could impact the legume crops the bacteria help support.

In addition, pastures for grazing livestock often contain clover, another legume. High fluorine levels could harm Rhizobia living in clover root nodules. Ultimately, that could impact the livestock that eat the clover.

But there are a lot of unknowns about fluorine and its specific effects on microbes. “No one has investigated the potential impact of fluorine on Rhizobia,” says Christopher Anderson, a researcher at Massey University in New Zealand.

In the study, Anderson and colleagues found that high levels of fluorine are toxic to Rhizobia and white clover. In laboratory studies, fluorine levels above 100 mg per liter hampered Rhizobia growth. High fluorine concentrations also led to changes in the shape and metabolic activity of the bacteria.

These high fluorine levels also impacted white clover. At fluorine concentrations above 100 mg per liter, white clover seedlings did not survive. Fortunately, there’s some good news as well. The concentration of fluorine at which it is toxic is much greater than the concentration the researchers found in New Zealand soils.

“This means that there is no problem, right now, of fluorine levels in soil affecting Rhizobia in New Zealand’s soils,” says Anderson.

This finding gives confidence to agencies in New Zealand that are tasked with ensuring sustainable farming systems. “Without our research, they would still be in the dark,” says Anderson.

Rhizobia – and one of the host plants, white clover – are key parts of the New Zealand way of animal husbandry. “In New Zealand, we are fortunate that we can grow grass year-round,” says Anderson. “Our livestock are kept on pasture all year.”

Rhizobium bacteria associated with clover fixes nitrogen from the atmosphere. When clover plants die, they break down in the soil. The fixed nitrogen becomes available to other plants.

“So, we don’t need to apply as much synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, such as urea, to our pastures with clover,” says Anderson. But farmers need to apply other fertilizers to New Zealand’s pastures, including phosphorus fertilizers. That’s where concerns about fluorine levels come in.

Fluorine is a fairly common element in Earth’s crust. It is concentrated in some materials, like phosphate rocks. These rocks are the main ingredient in many fertilizers with phosphorus. In areas where phosphorus fertilizers are applied year after year, fluorine can accumulate in soils over time. This accumulated fluorine can become a soil contaminant.

“But in some cases, biological systems are very tolerant of contaminants,” says Anderson.

Anderson aims to determine fluorine levels at which it is toxic to animals. “In particular we would like to look at earthworms,” says Anderson. “Earthworms are very useful ecological indicators.”

Researchers also want to look at grazing animals, which can eat a considerable amount of soil. When animals ingest too much fluorine, they can develop fluorosis. That can cause bone, teeth, and kidney problems.

“We have to make sure the science is looking after all aspects of the pastoral system – soil, microorganisms, plants, and animals,” says Anderson.

Tips to Reduce Energy Usage at Home

Energy

Bhok Thompson

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July 15, 2020

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We all want to live in a home that is warm, comfortable and relaxing, and being able to keep temperatures at the right level forms part and parcel of your home environment. However, there are many people who end up spending a fortune on their energy bills, not just in terms of heating their home but also with their various other appliances and devices.

If you want to reduce the amount of energy you use at home, there are various ways in which you can do this. It is important to remember by reducing your energy usage, you will not only be able to do your bit for the environment, but you can also slash the amount you pay on your energy bills. So, this is something that is well worth doing. In this article, we will look at some of the ways you can cut your energy usage.

What You Can Do

The good news is that there are various ways in which you can reduce your energy usage at home, as the infographic shows. A lot of different things contribute to the amount of energy that you use each day, and by looking at these, you can then make cutbacks. Some of the ways you can reduce energy usage include:

Getting Insulation

One of the ways in which you can make a big difference in energy usage is by getting insulation. It is particularly important to consider insulation in areas such as your crawl space and your attic, as this can slash the amount of energy you use considerably by providing you with enhanced thermal efficiency. This means that you will not have to use your heating or air cooling systems as much in order to maintain a comfortable temperature in the home as seen in this guide to efficient heating and cooling.

Turning the Thermostat Down

Another thing you can do during the colder months is to turn down the thermostat, even if it is only by a little. Turning down the thermostat by just a couple of degrees can make a big difference to your energy usage as well as your energy costs. In order to keep warm, make sure you layer up instead, and you will be able to reduce your energy usage and reduce your bills.

Getting Double Glazing

If you do not already have it, it is well worth considering double glazing for the windows and doors of your home. These provide you with a great way to reduce your energy usage and maintain and comfortable temperature in your home. In addition to helping to cut your energy costs, double glazing can provide other benefits such as reducing noise pollution from outside and giving your home a modern new look.

These are all ways in which you can reduce the amount of energy you use in your home. By doing this, you will be amazed at how much you can save as well as being able to do your bit for the green cause.

Bayer-Monsanto Agrees to $10B Settlement With Victims Poisoned by Roundup Weedkiller

Green Prophet

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July 14, 2020

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Bayer-Monsanto Agrees to $10B Settlement With Victims Poisoned by Roundup Weedkiller

Arab Farmer, Gaza farming, organic food, Gaza City, politics, poverty, food security, agriculture — *Farmers, consumers, home gardeners are exposed to cancer-causing Roundup.*

In a settlement reached this past June, Bayer AG agreed to pay $10 billion over claims its signature herbicide Roundup causes cancer in people, according to a report by Reuters.

The $10 billion settlement will be apportioned to four leading plaintiffs’ law firms, who will in turn distribute the money to nearly 100,000 clients who were stricken with cancer after prolonged use of the toxic weedkiller.

The German company acquired the St. Louis-based agrochemical giant Monsanto in 2018 for $63 billion, and inherited liability in thousands of lawsuits filed by people who claim exposure to Roundup and its main ingredient glyphosate was the cause of their cancer.

EWG President Ken Cook made this statement on the settlement:

Today’s settlement is vindication for all those who have fallen ill with cancer as a result of being exposed to this chemical. No amount of money can reverse the damage Bayer-Monsanto has inflicted on these victims and countless others, but because of their and their attorneys’ tireless fight for justice, the company that exposed them is now paying a heavy price for its duplicitous deception.

The most damning revelations in this case uncovered, through the company’s own internal documents, the extent to which Monsanto-Bayer recognized early on the risk of cancer and other health problems posed by glyphosate and its commercial formulations. Monsanto-Bayer aggressively conspired for decades to withhold or lie about the evidence to the public and to regulators, while relentlessly attacking scientists and organizations that sought to tell the truth about the company’s products.

This damning information only became public because plaintiff’s lawyers pried it out of the company in court and made it public. That coverup killed the company’s integrity as systemically as its chemicals kill plants. Monsanto-Bayer’s dissembling for profit at the expense of public health is a permanent stain on its reputation. Nothing in this settlement amends the conclusion that this is a company that simply cannot be trusted.

Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in the world, was classified in 2015 by the International Agency for Research on Cancer as “probably carcinogenic” to people. In 2017, glyphosate was also listed by the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment as a chemical known to the state to cause cancer.

Glyphosate is mostly applied to corn, soybean and wheat crops, but is increasingly sprayed just before harvest on oats, chickpeas and other crops as a drying agent, or desiccant, to speed the harvest. The pre-harvest use is why many oat-based cereals are contaminated with glyphosate.

Three separate rounds of laboratory tests commissioned by EWG in 2018 and 2019 found glyphosate in nearly every sample of popular oat-based cereals and other foods marketed to children. The contaminated brands included cereals and breakfast bars made by General Mills and Quaker.

A new EWG testing report, coming next month, will show glyphosate contamination widespread in hummus and chickpeas.

Besides its use in agriculture, millions of Americans spray Roundup on their yards and gardens – a main source of exposure for those who were sickened and sued Bayer-Monsanto. The product was marketed until last year by Scotts, the same company that sells Miracle-Gro. Four people in California have already won their cases in jury trials, including Dewayne Johnson, a Bay Area school groundskeeper.

“Even as we celebrate and congratulate those who made this day possible, millions of people are being exposed to glyphosate through the food they eat, working as groundskeepers or farmworkers, or gardening at home,” Cook said.

“Bayer-Monsanto must be held accountable beyond today’s settlement. The Food and Drug Administration must immediately eliminate its use as a pre-harvest desiccant, and the Environmental Protection Agency must ban all home uses. That is the only way to assure future generations of Americans do not get sick or die from exposure to this cancer-causing chemical.”

Popular cholesterol drug to treat Covid?

Health

Karin Kloosterman

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July 14, 2020

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Popular cholesterol drug to treat Covid?

spock wearing a covid-19 mask — *In lab studies, the cholesterol-lowering drug Fenofibrate (Tricor) showed extremely promising results.*

Could a simple cholesterol drug, that has been on the market for decades, be used to treat COVID-19? A research team led by Hebrew University of Jerusalem (HU)’s Professor Yaakov Nahmias says that early research looks promising; their findings appear in this week’s Cell Press’ Sneak Peak.

Over the last three-months, Nahmias and Dr. Benjamin tenOever at New York’s Mount Sinai Medical Center have focused on the ways in which the SARS-CoV-2 (aka, the coronavirus that’s causing our current pandemic) changes patients’ lungs in order to reproduce itself.

Their major finding? This virus prevents the routine burning of carbohydrates. As a result, large amounts of fat accumulate inside lung cells, a condition the virus needs in order to reproduce. This new understanding of SARS CoV-2 may help explain why patients with high blood sugar and cholesterol levels are often at a particularly high risk to develop COVID-19.

Viruses are parasites that lack the ability to replicate on their own, so they take control of our cells to help accomplish that task. “By understanding how the SARS-CoV-2 controls our metabolism, we can wrestle back control from the virus and deprive it from the very resources it needs to survive,” Nahmias explained.

With this information in hand, Nahmias and tenOever began to screen FDA-approved medications that interfere with the virus’ ability to reproduce. In lab studies, the cholesterol-lowering drug Fenofibrate (Tricor) showed extremely promising results. By allowing lung cells to burn more fat, fenofibrate breaks the virus’ grip on these cells, and prevents SARS CoV-2’s ability to reproduce. In fact, within only five days of treatment, the virus almost completely disappeared. A research team in Wuhan found similar results and reported them two weeks ago.

“With second-wave infections spiking in countries across the globe, these findings couldn’t come at a better time,” shared Nahmias, and global cooperation may provide the cure. “The collaboration between the Nahmias and tenOever labs demonstrates the power of adopting a multi-disciplinary approach to study SARS-CoV-2 and that our findings could truly make a significant different in reducing the global burden of COVID-19,” tenOever added.

While there are many international efforts currently underway to develop a coronavirus vaccine, studies suggest that vaccines may only protect patients for a few months. Therefore, blocking the virus’ ability to function, rather than neutralizing its ability to strike in the first place, may be the key to turning the tables on COVID-19. “If our findings are borne out by clinical studies, this course of treatment could potentially downgrade COVID-19’s severity into nothing worse than a common cold,” Nahmias concluded.

These popular hummus brands worst for cancer-causing Roundup

Food

Karin Kloosterman

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July 14, 2020

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These popular hummus brands worst for cancer-causing Roundup

The conventional hummus product with the highest level of glyphosate – more than 2,000 ppb in Whole Foods Market Original Hummus – was nearly 15 times the benchmark set by a US enviro group.

Independent laboratory tests commissioned by the Environmental Working Group in the United States found glyphosate, the notorious weedkiller linked to cancer, in more than 80 percent of non-organic hummus and chickpeas samples, and detected at far lower levels in several organic versions. Find out what brands are worrisome below. The take home: buy organic most of the time.

Glyphosate is the most widely used herbicide in the world. It was sold for decades by Monsanto, now Bayer AG, under the brand name Roundup. Bayer AG is a German multinational pharmaceutical and life sciences company and one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.

This product Roundup was marketed for years by Scotts MiracleGro company in the United States until last year. Until Scotts understood they could no longer be implicated in peddling this poison. But Scotts is how consumers accessed RoundUp for years. Some blame Roundup celiac and stomach diseases as well.

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified glyphosate a probable human carcinogen, and the state of California lists it as chemical known to cause cancer.

One third of hummus brands tested exceeded recommended amount of Roundup

One-third of the 27 conventional hummus samples exceeded EWG’s health-based benchmark of 160 parts per billion, or ppb, for daily consumption, based on a 60-gram serving of hummus (about four tablespoons).

The Environmental Protection Agency’s woefully inadequate legal limit for glyphosate in chickpeas, known as a tolerance level, is 5,000 ppb, or more than 30 times EWG’s benchmark.

The conventional hummus product with the highest level of glyphosate – more than 2,000 ppb in Whole Foods Market Original Hummus – was nearly 15 times the EWG benchmark.

Overall, 10 hummus samples exceeded EWG’s benchmark for glyphosate:

Sabra Classic Hummus

Sabra Roasted Pine Nut Hummus

Whole Foods Market Original Hummus

Whole Foods Market organic-label Original Hummus

Cava Traditional Hummus

Harris Teeter Fresh Foods Market Traditional Artisan Hummus

Glyphosate levels in organic samples were much lower

EWG also tested 12 samples of organic hummus and six samples of organic chickpeas. All but two contained detectable concentrations of glyphosate. Although glyphosate levels in organic samples were much lower than those of their conventional counterparts, one dry chickpea sample had the highest glyphosate concentration of all samples tested in the study.

“Beans, peas and lentils are a nutritious, affordable source of protein and an important part of the American diet,” said Olga V. Naidenko, Ph.D., EWG’s vice president for science investigations. “These excellent foods would be much better without glyphosate. Toxic weedkiller should never be allowed to contaminate these products, or any other foods, that millions of American families eat every day.”

The beans and bean-based products such as hummus tested in the study were purchased online or at major food retailers in the Washington, D.C., New York City, and San Francisco metropolitan areas, including Aldi, Costco, Giant, Harris Teeter, Safeway, ShopRite, Target, Trader Joes, Walmart and Whole Foods grocery stores.

Glyphosate was first brought to market in 1974, but its use exploded after 1996, when Monsanto introduced genetically modified “Roundup Ready” crops that were resistant to the herbicide. For consumers, most worrisome is use of the chemical on beans and grains as a drying agent just before harvest. This spraying can lead to high levels of glyphosate in beans, hummus, oat cereals and other foods.

By law, organic farmers are not allowed to spray Roundup or other toxic pesticides to grow and harvest crops. The detections of glyphosate on the organic samples may be due to pesticide drift from conventional crop fields or contamination at processing and packaging facilities.

Only organic

“Organic foods, including organic hummus and chickpeas, remain a better choice for consumers,” said EWG Toxicologist Alexis M. Temkin, Ph.D. “EWG testing of both conventional and organic bean products for glyphosate helps increase the transparency in the marketplace and protect the integrity of the Department of Agriculture’s organic certification.”

Hummus and chickpeas, as well as other beans, offer multiple nutritional benefits, and are an important part of a healthy diet. EWG’s findings show the need for a ban on pre-harvest uses of glyphosate, a much stricter EPA standard, and increased testing by the USDA and the Food and Drug Administration for this cancer-causing chemical in the American diet.

EWG’s research on beans and hummus builds on EWG’s tests of oats and oat-based products for glyphosate, which found the weedkiller in nearly every sample of cereal and breakfast bars tested.

Gene editing or gene modification in agriculture? What’s better – or worse?

Cities

Karin Kloosterman

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July 14, 2020

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MONSANTO-Vernon Hugh Bowman — Vernon Hugh Bowman a US farmer fought Monsanto and lost. He wanted to save and grow patented seeds. He lost the battle.

Genetically modified (GM – or GMO) crops are unpopular. Despite their vast potential to help improve global food security while reducing pesticide use, many countries are extremely resistant to planting GM crops, with 85% of global GM agricultural land coming from just four countries: the US, Brazil, Argentina and Canada.

Where they have been grown, GM crops have been very successful, to the point where more than 90% of the soybean, corn and cotton crops grown in the US are GM. A 2014 meta-analysis found that an average farm can increase yields by 22%, reduce chemical pesticide use by 37% and increase farmer profits by 68%.

Despite this, difficult regulations and consumer hostility have meant that growth in GM crops has been stagnant for much of the last decade, with companies instead turning their attention to gene editing in crops. GM crops remain hugely controversial, to the point where (former) GM giant Monsanto is a synonym for corporate evil to many consumers.

Gene editing could be set to become the next revolution in agriculture, allowing the precise editing of specific genes without introducing foreign DNA into the final crop. However, for it to truly become a game-changing technology, developers will need to avoid making the same mistakes that were made with GM crops in the 1990s. Gene edited babies have been born in China. There are vast problems with the approach if it gets into the wrong hands.

A consistent mistake that the industry made was relying on the science to try and persuade the public while neglecting the emotional aspects of the debate. When Monsanto attempted to introduce its glyphosate-resistant soybeans in Europe in the 1990s, it attempted to brush off criticism, leading to a war of words with environmental groups.

Here, the environmental groups had the upper hand, capitalising on the public’s fear of the unknown, especially in relation to emotional triggers of personal health and safety, something that continues today. Additionally, its approach to protecting its IP – suing farmers for violating terms of service – drew intense criticism from consumers who viewed seeds as being part of the natural world that belongs to everybody.

Successfully commercialising gene-edited seeds will require a careful approach. This will require a meaningful dialogue with consumers, addressing the wider emotional concerns around GMOs whilst also engaging in efforts to educate the public around the technology and improve wider scientific literacy. However, navigating this space in an open and inclusive manner while also protecting IP and investments could be a serious challenge.

“Crop Biotechnology 2020-2030” a new report by IDTechEx, explores and contrasts gene editing and GM technologies, analysing the scientific, market and consumer factors needed to make gene editing a success. For those in the business game of agriculture, the report might be worth reading.

Build and brand your own electric car onto Ree’s flat-packed modular chassis

Transportation

Karin Kloosterman

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July 14, 2020

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Ree Automotive, electric chassis — Like the cellphone industry, the automotive one likely won’t go electric like Japan. With Tesla like Apple, bet that all the automobile players will rally around components like this one, a chassis by an Israeli company Ree. Ree’s platform houses all of a car’s major components – brakes, thermal systems, motor and drivetrain – next to the wheels.

Ree Automotive, an electric car chassis platform company from Tel Aviv has been named as one of ten game-changing companies by Bloomberg for its novel EV platform – flat, scalable and modular and offers customers full design freedom to create the broadest range of EV and autonomous vehicles for current and future use. REE’s new platform approach, provides access to hundreds of production lines. Eat your heart out Elon Musk and Tesla!

Michael Wilshire, from the Bloomberg group that awarded Ree the prize, said: “Ree is literally reinventing the wheel with its revolutionary approach, putting intelligence and drive inside [the arch of] each of the four wheels of a chassis to create a new, flexible and modular electric platform, which gives customers complete design freedom to build their vehicles.”

We like seeing the way this startup has taken on the problem that companies like Tel Aviv’s all-electric car company Better Place could never fix: Better Place built the infrastructure and charge stations but they needed to rely on Renault to produce the cars. Boring, average, nothing to write home about in looks: customers weren’t lining up to buy one and the company flopped. On top of that, Better Place started with a vision that you would pay for minutes of use for the battery much like a cell phone plan.

Israel is not known for its successes in automotive: when the entire Middle East embargoed Israel decades ago, and wouldn’t let western or Asian car companies import to here, the Israelis were forced to innovate. And they developed a local car called the Sussita that was made from fibreglass and also tasty to camels.

Many people have tried to innovate for the auto industry from Israel. Waze, and MobileEye, all modern startup draw dropping success stories: but innovating the car itself has been a different challenge, probably because Israelis are about as opposite to the Swiss as you can imagine. Things made in Israel don’t have the same standards of excellence found in Europe.

But Israel likes to be a disruptor and Ree thinks they have done it with its chassis. I used to work at a car plant in Canada, at Chrysler and helped build chassis It’s the structure upon which holds the guts and body and engine of the car. It’s like the car’s spine.

Ree says it’s doing more than a basic build for electric with patented modules that integrate more than just a steel frame, but suspension and steering components into the arch of the wheel – a pioneering by-wire control system that carries a totally flat, autonomous-ready EV platform, designed to fulfil existing and future e-mobility applications. Basically they are putting all the important parts into the chassis, and most of the rest is just the skin of the car. If you are a brand or a car manufacturer, build your own.

With the global EV market projected to reach $803 billion USD in 2027 from $162 billion USD in 2019 (and let’s bypass 2020 please because it’s not a usual year), Ree hopes to lead the transformation of cars at existing and new car plants to make them all electric.

Recipe: Vegetarian Tahchin, Iranian Rice With Eggplant and Portobellos

Food

Miriam Kresh

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July 13, 2020

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Recipe: Vegetarian Tahchin, Iranian Rice With Eggplant and Portobellos

*Vegan, vegetarian, a great way to make eggplant.*

Searching for a vegetarian alternative to traditional chicken-based tahchin, I was pleased to find this recipe by Yasmin Khan, author of The Saffron Tales. Meaty eggplant and Portobello mushrooms give the dish the necessary heft to become a festive main dish.

Eggplant in general serves as a meat substitute in many recipes, but I enjoy the vegetable for its own flavor and character, rather than regarding it as a substitute for anything. The combination of eggplant, mushrooms and saffron-infused rice in this vegetarian version of tahchin is simply delicious. The crunchy bottom part is particularly prized. You’ll see below how to flip the cake over to make that bottom into the alluring top.

This leisurely recipe recalls bygone days in exotic Iran, when sisters, aunts and mothers would gather in the kitchen and cook, cook, cook with all their hearts, chatting and laughing while skillfully recreating traditional foods. And at the end of the afternoon, each would pack generous portions to take home for her own family’s dinner.

Today’s cooks don’t count on cook-ins with extended family anymore. We’re used to recipes that promise food we can whip up and put on the table ASAP. But early in this year of 2020, life changed. Now, we’re enduring periods of isolation at home, or just avoiding going out unless it’s urgent. We have far more time on our hands than we’re used to.

So what better way of using it than perfecting a new version of an old-fashioned dish from exotic Persia? Here’s Tahchin. The recipe instructions are slightly modified from the author’s.

Eggplant and Mushroom Tahchin
Yield: 6 servings

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups white basmati rice
1 1/4 teaspoons saffron strands
A pinch of sugar
3 tablespoons freshly boiled water
3 medium eggplants (around 1 1/4 lb), cut horizontally into 1-inch slices
Sea salt and black pepper
Sunflower oil
3 tablespoons butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, crushed
4 Portobello mushrooms, sliced into large chunks
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
2 egg yolks
Scant cup Greek yogurt
For the topping:
1 tablespoon butter
2 tablespoons barberries or dried cranberries
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon pistachios, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon sugar

Pre-heat your grill to medium-high, or turn your oven broiler on.
Rinse the rice in several changes of cold water until the water runs clear, then leave to soak in a large bowl of water for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

Bring a large pot of water to the boil and add 2 tablespoons of salt. (The author notes: “Don’t worry about the large amount of salt here, the rice has a very short time to absorb the water and the final result won’t be too salty.”)

Add the rice and cook for 4–5 minutes over medium heat. Taste to test; the rice should be soft on the outside but still hard and firm in the middle. Drain, then rinse with tepid water to stop it cooking any further and set aside.

Make a saffron liquid: grind the saffron strands with a pinch of sugar with a mortar and pestle. Add the hot water. Lacking a mortar and pestle, simple put the saffron and sugar in a small bowl with the hot water. Leave to steep.

Dribble sunflower oil over the eggplant slices. Season generously with salt. Grill for 10–15 minutes, turning occasionally, until the eggplants are cooked through. Alternately, broil the slices in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

Heat 2 tablespoons of sunflower oil with 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large saucepan and fry the onion for about 10 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and fry for a further 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms to the pan along with the turmeric, allspice, cinnamon, cayenne pepper, 1 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper.

Lightly toast the cumin seeds in a small, dry pan for a minute and then crush them with a pestle and mortar or a spice grinder. Lacking mortar or spice grinder, crush the seeds with the bottom of a heavy bottle. Add the cumin seeds to the mushrooms and seasonings.

Cook until the mushrooms are soft, then take off the heat.

Pre-heat the oven to 375°F. – 180°C.

In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the yogurt, saffron liquid, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Fold the rice in until it is evenly coated with the yogurt and saffron.

Rub 1 tablespoon butter over the base and sides of a 10-cup ovenproof glass dish. Spoon half of the rice into the dish and press it down evenly.

Add a layer of eggplants and mushrooms and finish with a final layer of rice.

Dot with the remaining butter, cover the dish tightly with foil, and bake for 1 1/2–2 hours or until the rice at the bottom of the tahchin is crisp and golden brown.

Remove the tahchin from the oven and leave it to cool slightly while you make your topping.

Melt the butter in a small frying pan and fry the barberries (or cranberries) pistachios, and sugar for 2 minutes, until the sugar has melted and the dried fruit has plumped up.

To serve, run a butter knife around the sides of the tahchin to separate it from the dish. Place a large board or platter over the top and quickly invert the whole thing. Tap the inverted pot all over, wait a few minutes to let gravity help release the rice, tap again, and lift it off. (We learned this tip when we made Makluba with chef Moshe Basson.)

Garnish the tahchin with the topping.

Khan notes that tachnin is a good make-ahead dish. Prepare it up to the stage of baking it. An hour and half before dinner time, pop it into a preheated oven; that’s it.

The Saffron Tales has been listed on Best Cookbooks of the Year by the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, and the BBC Food Programme. It’s available via Amazon.

Photo of vegetarian tahchin by Matt Russel via Epicurious.

Bats can add the Empire State Building to their BatMap GPS

Animals

Karin Kloosterman

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July 10, 2020

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Bats can add the Empire State Building to their BatMap GPS

bat map new york — Bats are like your boyfriend. They might not be good at reading maps because they focus on landmarks.

For the first time in history, researchers at Tel Aviv University tracked fruit bats from birth to maturity, in an attempt to understand how they navigate when flying long distances. The surprising results: Fruit bats, just like humans, build a visual cognitive map of the space around them, making use of conspicuous landmarks. They can remember the most iconic buildings in the world, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Burj Khalifa, the CN Tower and even the Empire State Building.

The Israeli bat pups from Tel Aviv University came to know Tel Aviv by looking for large unique structures such as the Azrieli Towers ot the Dizengoff Center. The groundbreaking study was conducted by Prof. Yossi Yovel at the Department of Zoology. The paper was published in July 2020 as the cover story of the prestigious Science magazine.

“How animals are able to navigate over long distances is an ancient riddle,” explains Prof. Yovel. “Bats are considered world champions of navigation: they fly dozens of kilometers in just a few hours, and then come back to the starting point. For this study we used tiny GPS devices – the smallest in the world, developed by our team, in an experiment never attempted before: tracking bat pups from the moment they spread their wings until they reach maturity, in order to understand how their navigation capabilities develop.

Such a study was done in 2011 in southern Israel and we reported on it here.

The researchers in the new study monitored 22 fruit bat pups born in a colony raised at TAU – from infancy to maturity, tracking them as they scoured the city for food. The results show that Tel Aviv bats navigate the space around them in much the same way as the city’s human inhabitants.

“Bats use their sonar to navigate over short distances – near a tree, for example,” says Prof. Yovel. “The sonar doesn’t work for greater distances. For this, fruit-bats use their vision. Altogether we mapped about 2000 bat flight-nights in Tel Aviv.

“We found that bats construct a mental map: They learn to identify and use salient visual landmarks such as the Azrieli Towers, the Reading Power Station and other distinct features that serve as visual indicators. The most distinct proof of this map lies in their ability to perform shortcuts. Like humans, bats at some stage get from one point to another via direct new routes not previously taken.

“Since we knew the flight history of each bat since infancy, we could always tell when a specific bat took a certain shortcut for the first time. We discovered that when taking new, unknown routes the bats flew above the buildings. Sending up drones to the altitude and location where a bat had been observed, we found that the city’s towers were clearly visible from this high angle. Here is another amazing example of how animals make use of manmade features.”

Proud Tahini company gets boycotted for being gay

Act
Food

Karin Kloosterman

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July 9, 2020

0

Proud Tahini company gets boycotted for being gay

Nazareth-based Al Arz tehini paste — *Nazareth-based Al Arz, maker of a popular tahini paste is coming under fire from the Arab population for its support of the Arab LGBTQ community.*

Thankfully you can still find pasta that doesn’t piss off gay people. And if you are a bit of contrarian and want to piss off straight Arabs in Israel then just say the words Al Arz. It’s a brand of tahini paste. Nazareth is mainly a Muslim and Christian town, and yes it’s the one from the Bible and today it’s home to the country’s only Arab-owned tahini paste company. Al Arz has come under fire and is facing a boycott for supporting a LGBTQ organization creating a hotline for LGBTQ Arab youth.

Let’s just say tahini (also known as tehina, tehini, techina) is a big deal in Israel. It may even be bigger your sexuality. It’s the glue that holds hummus together and it’s like salt and pepper to every Levantini table. But when this brand decided to help support an Arab LGBTQ group, its straight patrons called for a boycott of Al Arz.

Responding to the boycott calls, Al Arz promised to give even more support to the LGBTQ community.

On a local Whatsapp community group in Jaffa, which is a mixed group of Arabic, Hebrew and English speakers, one member Moti White encouraged his friends to buy more, not boycott the tehina, citing it as “the first Arab-owned business in Israel to actively and openly support the LGBTQ population by giving funds towards creating an Arabic-language phone hotline for struggling LGBTQ youths.” he says.

“LGBTQ people in Israel are now posting pictures of themselves with this brand in order to spread awareness,” says White 31, editor and singer, claiming the movement is being led by Muhammad Zoabi, a local gay Arab activist and vegetarian, vocal in leading the way against the boycott.

*Muhammad Zoabi, gay, Arab and a vegetarian. Don’t mess with his tehini.*

Zoabi’s statements in both Hebrew and Arabic:

Muhammad Zoabi the tehini capers — Muhammad Zoabi leading the LGBTQ community to support the Al Arz tahini brand.

Here is a previous video featuring Zoabi, who defines himself as gay and vegetarian:

“We in the Al Arz Tahini family love people without differentiation between religion, sex, gender or color. Food connects people. And so do we. We will continue to be an open house and empower disadvantaged sectors whatever they may be,” the statement from the company stressed.

While many Arab Israelis are socially very conservative, especially the Muslim population, LGBTQ Arab Israelis have slowly been taking a more front-facing role. This past May Ayman Safiya, a renowned Arab Israeli dancer drowned in the sea and his funeral brought out thousands of mourners, despite his queer identity.

The Middle East is not always kind to gay people, men especially. You can go to jail for being gay in Iran – or worse be hung like this 31-year-old Iranian man last year. Sharia law does not permit gay sex. In Israel, on the other hand, you might have a better social life if you are part of the gay community.

I was just walking my kid home from his friend’s playdate and two gay guys in front of me were commenting in Hebrew on the quality of the local men in Jaffa. It’s tough now that tourism is cancelled because of Covid-19. The Pride Parade was cancelled. That sucks. Tel Aviv-Jaffa is one of the lesbian and gay capitals of the world, but when those borders expand to Nazareth, a predominantly Muslim and Christian community, the rulebook isn’t so clear. Or better put, you might be walking a slippery slope.

And yes people we are talking about food. We cared about Barilla and its anti-gay statements; likewise the heteros can’t mess with our tahina. We like it in so many ways and it belongs to all of the Middle East (as does hummus – see hummus wars), in all its tasty varieties.

Bio Jewelry That Helps The Planet And Looks Good

Design

Bhok Thompson

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July 9, 2020

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Bio Jewelry That Helps The Planet And Looks Good

caddisfly live jewels — Here a caddisfly larva builds its own encrusted gold case. A bird would do this too if you gave it golden twine. The ethics of this is questionable.

Products that provide environmental, economic, and social benefits are known as sustainable goods or bioproducts. They help protect the environment and public health throughout their existence, from the time raw materials are extracted, until disposal. As concern for the planet has increased, many jewelry makers have found ways to create wonderful, sustainable pieces. Known as bio jewelry, they attract buyers who love beauty but want to avoid contributing to issues like pollution or human rights abuses.

Designers Transform Recycled Materials into Elegant Pieces

Sustainable jewelry makers respect the planet by re-purposing materials that go into their pieces. That often means items are made with recycled metal and fair trade gold. Some find creative ways to include parts that would otherwise go into landfills, a process that is known as upcycling. For example, some designers use upcycling to create bright, colorful earrings from bits that would otherwise be discarded. It is easy to learn whether sellers offer bio jewelry because they typically advertise the fact on company websites. For example, if you’re considering Adina’s Jewels, their customer service page outlines the company’s commitment to sustainability.

Ethically Sourced Diamonds Are the Responsible Choice

Many diamonds are extracted from mines that treat workers poorly and force them to labor in dangerous conditions. There are also diamond sellers who only get stones from companies that pay fair wages and are committed to humanitarian practices. These are known as ethical diamonds and are the only type of stones used by designers like Kimberly McDonald. One of several sustainable jewelry makers listed in Harper’s Bazaar, the brand gives back to the environment and supports several charities. Some of her designs include stunning earrings and bracelets made using reclaimed gold and recycled diamonds.

Handcrafted Items Support Important Causes

Sustainable jewelry can also be defined as hand-made accessories that support local women and humanitarian causes. For example, African designer Akola sells a line of unique, eye-catching pieces made by Ugandan women. Their colorful earrings and necklaces are one of a kind. The women who handcraft pieces use sustainable local materials that include raffia, up-cycled cow horn, and sisal. Benefits from sales of the company’s vibrant pieces empower women and contribute to local economic development.

Wald Berlin’s statement necklaces and dainty ankle bracelets are also examples of jewelry made with a humanitarian purpose. Products are crafted in small German villages by unemployed mothers and grandmothers. The lovely pieces combine natural materials such as freshwater pearls, seashells, and crystals.

Cleanly Produced Jewelry Conserves Resources

The processes used to produce jewelry can also brand them as sustainable. Dozens of designers are committed to delivering appealing jewelry using eco-friendly methods. According to Vogue, the AGMES company is a good example. Lead by two sisters, the company’s designers maintain a small environmental footprint and hand make everything locally. All of the sculptural silhouettes that go into their designs are fashioned from recycled metals. Fans of unique sterling jewelry will love their line.

Green jewelry designer Washed Ashore has also committed to sustainability throughout every phase of their operations. Pieces are crafted of postconsumer stones and recycled metals. They include options like a stunning zodiac ring as well as distinctive gold and silver earrings. The business has a green refinery facility and sells products in fully recyclable packaging.

Today many jewelry buyers are looking for sustainability as well as beauty. Fortunately, many designers are now committed to providing bio jewelry that is ethically sourced and created in an eco-friendly environment. Green jewelry designers strive to use recycled or natural materials in their products. They work to reduce their environmental footprints while benefiting humanitarian causes.

Saudi Arabia building world’s largest green hydrogen plant at Neom

Energy

Karin Kloosterman

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July 9, 2020

0

Saudi Arabia building world’s largest green hydrogen plant at Neom

neom artificial moon, night scene — A rendering of Neom, an intentional futuristic city breaking ground on the Red Sea of Saudi Arabia

The American gas giant Air Products & Chemicals announced this week that it will build the world’s largest green hydrogen plant in Saudi Arabia. It will be powered by 4 gigawatts of wind and solar power and the $5 billion USD project will be jointly owned by Air Products, Saudi Arabia’s ACWA Power and Neom, a new mega-city planned near Saudi Arabia’s borders with Egypt and Jordan. You can see the vision in the image above, and the actual site in an image below.

The green ammonia made at the megaplant will made for export to global markets. And the technology used in the project will include the innovative integration of over four gigawatts of renewable power from solar, wind and storage; production of 650 tons per day of hydrogen by electrolysis using thyssenkrupp technology; production of nitrogen by air separation using Air Products technology; and production of 1.2 million tons per year of green ammonia using Haldor Topsoe technology. The project is scheduled to be onstream, or online and working, by 2025.

The new and yet to be built city of Neom has some serious objectionable plans (and a murder of a local Bedouin activist to deal with), with the ideas from it definitely borrowed from but very askew with the Solarpunk movement or environmentalists in general.

After the Saudi Arabian journalist was brutally executed at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Turkey in 2018 many American and UK companies pulled out their deals including Google-owned Alphabet (working with Neom) and Richard Branson of Virgin.

Can we forgive Saudi Arabia as it plans to go green? The completed green hydrogen plant is expected to produce 650 tons of green hydrogen daily, which is about enough to run around 20,000 hydrogen-fueled buses, Air Products said in a press release.

“Harnessing the unique profile of Neom’s sun and wind to convert water to hydrogen, this project will yield a totally clean source of energy on a massive scale and will save the world over three million tons of CO2 emissions annually and eliminate smog-forming emissions and other pollutants from the equivalent of over 700,000 cars,” said Seifi Ghasemi, CEO for Air Products in a press statement.

Neom desert location — Location for proposed Neom City, on the Red Sea.

Global interest in green hydrogen is rising among oil and gas firms and continents like Europe want to make green hydrogen part of its Green Deal, with an EU-wide green hydrogen policy to be published sometime this month.

“We cannot electrify everything,” said WindEurope CEO Giles Dickson. “Some industrial processes and heavy transport will have to run on gas. And renewable hydrogen is the best gas. It is completely clean. It will be affordable with renewables being so cheap now.”

Hyzon hydrogen fuel bus — Hyzon, a hydrogen fuelled bus

Pennsylvania-based Air Products says it is the world’s largest producer of hydrogen and a leader in the liquefied natural gas field technology and it has a trading value of about $60 billion on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE: APD). The American international corporation sells gas and chemicals for industrial uses.

Saudi Arabia is investing in green hydrogen and renewable energy as a move to divest from oil, but also to woo the western world to the overly conservative and restrictive Saudi Arabian culture. The creators of the new city of Neom want to be able to host one million people from around the world every year. As we see with Middle East vision, often borrowed from Western values but put poorly executed, medga-cities like the zero-energy city Masdar don’t really work. The city is virtually a ghost town now – See The Ecotopia that Never Was.

But Neom, planned to include flying taxis, sparring dinosaurs, fake rain, fake moons, AI to monitor your every movement: “This is a pivotal moment for the development of Neom and a key element in Saudi Vision 2030 contributing to the Kingdom’s clean energy and circular carbon economy strategy,” Neom CEO Nadhmi Al Nasr said in a statement.

While green hydrogen is not yet competitive with hydrogen produced by natural gas, like green power made by solar or wind is not competitive with energy produced by natural gas or oil, I support the creation of premium energy and fuel products that are green and sustainable.

However, about the local Saudi Arabian infrastructure, maybe other solutions are in need of investment first:

Over on Greentech Media one reader comments:

“I personally think they’d be better off putting in more efficient desalination technologies and building more waste water treatment plants in their cities, and the plumbing to get the sewage from their various public buildings and hotels to those wastewater treatment plants. I think that would lower more emissions than putting up a massively inefficient and expensive hydrogen generation facility.

“Right now the Saudi‘s truck around a lot of human waste between a majority of their buildings and their waste water processing facilities, putting in plumbing would remove all of the trucks driving back-and-forth and idling for hours in line waiting to dump their waste, and consequent emissions.

“That would be a much better investment for the public good.”

Maybe there is a point: Consider the Burj Khalifa in Abu Dhabi, which trucks out human waste every day from the mega-tower. Read Where Does the Poo Go after you eat at one of the World’s Classiest Restaurants.

But I guess this is less of a social issue and more of investing in renewable energy. The cost of which is often debated. See Planet of the Humans, Michael Moore.

While I can debate the value of putting green energy into practice with endless Saudi oil money (I am in favor of greener fuel and renewable energy), I also agree with the above commenter that public good and local issues should come first. Maybe Saudi is better investing builds and green hydrogen plants actually close to the areas where the hydrogen gas will actually be used for public transport. Public transport in Saudi Arabia where the Prince’s falcons get private planes? Not so much. But again, I stand somewhere between the line of being an environmental activist and supporting the real world technologies that will advance our step toward zero energy fuels.

I am all up for a good debate, so feel free to comment below.

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