Jerusalem’s Bezalel Academy of Art and Design – Israel’s oldest institution of higher learning – is a prolific incubator of brilliant ideas, with its post-grads serving as the school’s best advertising. They move on to produce beautiful artifacts, while kicking forward the antique design credo of “build a better mousetrap”. Now one student has developed a device that can pasteurize raw milk, and do it off-grid, improving human health and safety and the environment, and it looks good too. Meet Guy Feidman Reshef’s battery-powered milk machine.
Israeli designer creates device that sterilizes milk – off-grid!
Coffee extinct by 2080
The sun may be setting on a popular morning brew. According to a new report issued by the Climate Institute, global warming will underpin an estimated 50 percent drop in coffee production by 2050. Bad news for coffee lovers, but catastrophic for the 120 million people in dozens of mostly developing nations who depend on the coffee trade to make ends meet.
The report predicts that worldwide coffee production will drop by half over the next three decades due to climbing temperatures and changing rainfall patterns, rendering regions historically suited for coffee cultivation unable to meet global demand. Production may be forced to move away from low-level equatorial regions and higher up into forested mountains causing new negative ecological impacts. Significantly altered micro-climates will affect both coffee quality and yield sizes.
Climate change is creating more coffee plant disease
“It’s not just the heat, which is a big factor which is driving some of the regions where coffee is produced uphill,” John Connor, Climate Institute’s chief executive officer, told ABC. “We’re also seeing extra diseases increasing and being able to go up into those areas.”
The overall outlook is bleak, although earlier studies had indicated that Honduras, Indonesia and Vietnam are producing more coffee than usual. Mexican coffee fields will become “nonviable” first, followed quickly by Nicaragua; both regions are expected to lose commercial productivity by 2050.
Brazil, the world’s largest coffee grower, has been crippled by heat waves since 2014, which have devastated harvests and prompted retail price hikes.
Coffee has grown increasingly gimmicky in our lifetime. It’s earned faux foreign-language drink names and secret drinks menus at top franchises. We can sip coffee crapped out of a marsupial’s bum and crunch edible coffee cups.
Lady Gaga donned a dress made from coffee filters and Green Prophet even brought you 15 #LifeHacks using coffee grounds. But all that spin-off is done if the beans disappear.
Beans most affected have been popular Robusto and Arabica, the latter requires sequential rainy and dry seasons to mature. This is noteworthy since Arabica beans, which originated in mountainous regions of Ethiopia and Yemen, are the basis for 75 percent of the world’s coffee. Robusta – so named as it is more tolerant of climactic differences – is expected to become extinct in the Congo (its birthplace) by 2050.
Currently, according to the folks at Climate Institute, we drink about 2.25 billion cups of coffee daily, and global demand is rising. The report concludes that unless climate change is addressed, wild coffee could become extinct worldwide by 2080.
“We have a cloud hovering over our head. It’s dramatically serious. Climate change can have a significant adverse effect in the short term,” Mario Cerutti, a director at Lavazza, one of Italy’s top coffee roasting companies, told Think Progress. “It’s no longer about the future; it’s the present.”
Industry officials have been issuing warnings for years. In 2011, Starbucks director of environmental affairs, Jim Hanna told the Guardian, “What we are really seeing as a company as we look 10, 20, 30 years down the road — if conditions continue as they are — is a potentially significant risk to our supply chain.” Hanna pointed out that farmers were already seeing how climate change was creating severe hurricanes and more resistant bugs.
While big business forms coalitions to press governments to tackle a changing climate, what can the individual coffee drinker do? The report urges consumers to choose carbon-neutral brands and also demand action from companies and governments to ensure all products, business models, and economies are carbon neutral or carbon negative. Green Prophet suggests you also cultivate an appreciation for plain water.
“Our concern is primarily for the 25 million farmers out there whose entire livelihoods depend on this incredibly important global commodity,” Molly Harriss Olson, chief executive of Fairtrade Australia and New Zealand, which commissioned the report, told ABC. “We’ve got to build a new economy that doesn’t threaten things in our lifestyle such as our coffee.”
Consider coffee brand Maxwell House and its iconic slogan, Good to the Last Drop!, which may turn out to be the world’s most prescient advertising motto. Download the full report – link here.
Growing your own food in America is now a criminal act?
Last week in Florida, a judge ruled on an ordinance banning front yard vegetable gardens. This allowed the upscale village of Miami Shores to take legal action against residents who to grow food in their yards on the grounds that vegetable patches are “ugly.” Seems, in at least one part of America, that growing your own food is now a crime.
Build an ecological homestead for 1/10th the cost of a trad home!
It’s coming up on two years since Cameron Sinclair announced the shutdown of Architecture for Humanity, probably the best thing to ever emerge from an architect’s imagination. That San Francisco-based nonprofit brought pro-bono architecture to the world’s neediest communities. Now a young husband/wife team have stepped into the void, launching a venture to make affordable, ecological housing accessible to everyone.
Israeli artist raises a ghostly bride from the Dead Sea
Dip a dowdy dress into one of the world’s saltiest lakes and see what happens. Artist Sigalit Landau did, and ended up growing a crystalline gown straight out of Frozen. Take a look at these images. It’s unlikely you can “Let it go”.
Syrian dancer helps children through tears and rubble
When there is nothing left to do, you might as well do something. In Syria, where the war is five years and counting, dancing might be the last thing on anyone’s mind. But for Ahmad Joudeh, it is a priority. Dance is his lifeblood, and he is fueling others with it, too.
Joudeh teaches dance classes to young people, including a large group of orphaned children. The studio must seem like an oasis in the middle of a desert of smashed concrete. While not necessarily a safe haven – really, nowhere in Syria is safe – it is a refuge for the soul.
As a dancer, I know that dance stimulates both the body and the mind. Joudeh teaches, among other styles, ballet – the most exacting genre of dance there exists. For the young students, working on a higher leg extension, to name an example, could be a metaphor for getting past the extreme hardship they face every day.
The inspiring teacher has had a great deal of success in his career as a professional dancer. Most notably, he was a top contestant on Yalla Nor’os, the Pan-Arab version of the show So You Think You Can Dance.
These days, though, he can’t devote as much time to dance as he wants. Survival is not a guarantee, and so he has altered his lifestyle to help ensure it. As it shows him kneading dough in the video above, one of his main responsibilities is to quite literally put bread on the table.
And yet, and yet…he still makes time to teach dance classes. Not only is his teaching a special effort; it is also a huge risk. Joudeh has received several violent threats. One promised to shoot him in the leg, so as to handicap him, if he continued to dance and teach dance.
But with his strength of character, he refuses to be intimidated. “Dance or die” – that’s his motto, written in ink across the back of his neck. If we must fight for what we believe in, then he is a leader in the battle.
“You hear the guns?” He asked the cameraman . “They are shooting us. But they will never kill us.” He knows that he feels the most alive when he dances, and that dance itself can never die.
In the meantime, before something changes for the better or worse in his world, he dances for lost souls – on a rooftop in Damascus, in the streets at the place he once called home, in the rubble of Palmyra – sweeping up shards of glass and debris, and the occasional bullet, with his feet.
Art can come from any emotion, and it can create any emotion: grief, joy, anger, grace. It is clear that the young dancers under Joudeh’s instruction love the opportunity they have to learn something new and express themselves.
They are growing stronger, as dancers and as people, with each class. The electricity cut during filming for the video, right as the kids were talking about never giving up. In the darkness, you can hear their laughter and – unless I imagined it – a “Welcome to Syria!”
Update 2023: Joudeh made his way to safety in Amsterdam with the help of the Dutch National Ballet.
This fact about figs is sure to bug you!
Flavorful figs are Middle East natives. Green Prophet Linda Pappagallo wrote about this in a swell story about the versatile little foodstuff. Did you know they come in more than 750 varieties? They also come with a little surprise tucked inside – a secret ingredient that will delight and disgust you in equal measure.
Who needs a maid? Houseplants are powerful cleaners.
The brainiacs at NASA conducted a long-ago study on the impact of common house plants on indoor air pollution. Their findings are as relevant today as when first released in 1989: easily grown indoor gardens can work wonders in filtering airborne toxins. Green up your home and clean up your airways with some easily acquired, low-cost, and energy efficient house plants.
Tips for an eco-friendly summer holiday
Anyone who spends a good deal of time looking for eco-friendly solutions in everyday life probably also wants to do their part even when going on holiday. If you are among the growing number of people who are always seeking a way to accomplish what you want or need to do without further endangering the planet, why not also carry that through to your summer holiday travelling plans?
Did you ever stop to think that there are ways to travel that use fewer resources and places to go where you won’t be using electricity made by fossil fuels and where sustainability is a way of life? There are actually loads of things you can do on a summer holiday that can be considered environmentally friendly, so make your next summer holiday a green one.
Choosing the Best Mode of Travel
When travelling, unless you plan on bicycling across the country, you will be using fuel of some kind. In fact, if you take the time to plan your trip well, you can use half (or less!) the amount of fuel you did last year. One suggestion that comes from a global environmental group is to consider exactly how far you will be going.
Most people automatically believe that flying uses less fuel than going by car but what about the amount of carbon being released into the atmosphere? When travelling short distances, your ‘share’ of the fuel used might be better spent in a car than on a plane as they do take a huge amount of fuel to take off and also during flight. When you arrive at your destination, how far will you be from attractions you intend to visit? Walk whenever possible to conserve fuel.
Places to Go that Are Considered Sustainable
You can actually have a lot of fun planning trips to sustainable locations throughout Europe. In fact, there are even travel agencies that specialize in locations that pay special attention to the environment and make a concerted effort not to make a negative impact on it.
Some exotic locations even use revenue from tourists to pump back into the community towards sustainable projects and to support the locals. These are wonderful learning experiences for those of us travelling from developed nations and as interesting as the local sights and sounds may be, their emphasis on a green economy is simply amazing.
Choosing Environmentally Friendly Accommodations
Of course you can always backpack it and camp in a primitive campground but when choosing a hotel or hostel, check out what they do about waste management and whether or not they derive some, or all, of their power from eco-friendly sources.
Most people who are really serious about conservation at home are also sincere in their efforts to choose eco-friendly lodging. If you put your mind to it and do a bit of searching online, you can find accommodations that use alternative power and operate in a green environment.
With so much emphasis on sustainable living, most countries around the globe have stepped up their efforts to do their parts in reducing their carbon footprint and working towards a greener tomorrow. Support those destinations that are making a real effort and travel there on your next holiday.
DuoSkin smart tattoos turn your skin into a touchpad
Mash-ups of tech with temporary tattoos are not new. Versions are currently used to measure blood alcohol levels and detect exposure to ultraviolet rays. Designers from MIT Media Lab have teamed with Microsoft Research on a project to develop “smart tats” able to interface with remote technology. They can also report on their users health and environment, essentially turning human skin into a gadget.
Jordanian-born chef cooks with cannabis
Legalization of recreational marijuana in American states is on the upswing, spurring entrepreneurs to devise new ways to use the flowering psychoactive herb such as CBD and THC as an ingredient in retail food products. California-based chef Christopher Sayegh is taking Arab haute cuisine even higher, cooking up traditional Middle Eastern fare infused with cannabis.
Marijuana edibles created by companies such as Wyld offer a popular alternative to the traditional way we enjoy weed (smoking marijuana by joint, pipe, or bong).
They also offer a convenient – and discreet – way to consume cannabis, particularly for those who dislike smoke. Many users report that edibles offer a more relaxing high than smoking pot – described as a “full body” high instead of a “head” high.
On the downside, the effects of edibles can be unpredictable, varying wildly among users.
To date, 24 US states have legalized medical marijuana and recreational pot use is fully legal for adults in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon, Washington and the District of Columbia. Cannabis is now legal in Canada. As the stigma surrounding marijuana gradually lessens, the entrepreneurial rush to capitalize on its appeal increases.
According to cannabis investment and research firm Arcview Group, legal pot sales in the US totalled $1.2 billion in 2015, a 232 percent increase over 2014. They predict sales to exceed $22 billion by 2020.
Let’s get back in the kitchen with Chef Sayegh. Midway to a degree in molecular biology, he dropped out of university to explore cooking, then honed his culinary skills working in Michelin-starred restaurants in New York and California.
Sayegh got in at the start of the edible drug craze. In 2014 he started The Herbal Chef, his Los Angeles-based business that focuses on cannabis-spiked foods. “I am trying to give people a cerebral experience,” 24-year-old Sayegh told Indoology. “But I’m also really careful in how I take them along on this journey.”
“I am literally changing people’s brain chemistry as the dishes go on,” he said, “By the third course you feel it a little, by the fourth a bit more and by the fifth course, you’re starting to hit your groove. So it’s like a symphony,” he added. “I have to make sure that as the come-up is happening, the dishes correspond with that and as it’s coming down, the same happens.”
Pot food products are made by infusing “normal” recipes with cannabis. The first wave of edibles came in the shape of simple snacks, think pot-laced baked goods, candy and popcorn. Sayegh took it up several notches, introducing cannabis to haute cuisine. He works exclusively on private affairs for people who hold medical marijuana cards. His meals, which cost up to $500 each, aim to bring diners on a unique “immersive” journey. It’s not just about getting stoned.
The Jordanian-born cook fills syringes with a cannabis compound, and injects sauces, breads, and juicy cuts of meat. He experiments with classic Middle Eastern fare such as stuffed grape leaves and falafel, and puts a nouveau twist on Levantine ingredients: pot-primed pomegranate sorbet, and cannabis and chickpea beignets.
He has cooked up “medicated” oysters, a decidedly non-halal dish. But he returns to his roots with za’atar-topped pot biscuits (below).
Sayegh says that getting high on a cannabis meal is not a joke. “You have to be extremely careful because not only does heat play a very important role when cooking with cannabis, but you’re also taking people on a trip, literally, and you have a responsibility to make sure it’s done right.”
Consumer advisory:
There are real differences between eating and smoking cannabis. When smoked, cannabinoids enter the body through the lungs. The cannabinoids in edibles are absorbed through the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in a more intense high that lasts much longer. Effects from marijuana edibles take longer to start working, usually up to an hour. However, effects reportedly last longer than smoked weed.
State laws require that total milligrams of THC and number of servings be included on the wrappings of pre-packaged foods. There is currently no standardized regulation to advise consumers to THC content of individually cooked meals. Weight, gender, and metabolism influence how fast you’ll feel the effect from edibles.
Signs of an edibles overdose include paranoia, lack of coordination and hallucinations. Symptoms usually subside within a few hours. Stay calm, stay hydrated and eat non-cannabis food.
Images from The Herbal Chef Instagram site
Olympian David Kiribati dances against climate disaster
A weightlifter from Kiribati is our favorite Olympian. After completing a move called the “clean and jerk lift”, he steps away from the barbell and transitions into jubilant dance. He wasn’t celebrating his sixth-place finish in the 105kg weightlifting competition; he’s not aiming for gold on social media. His message is serious, belying the grin on his face. David Katoatau is dancing to save his island nation from climate change.
Shiply innovates the moving of stuff, in the most efficient way possible
Stuff. We’ve all got it. Unless we’re from the Nomad class, we’ve got stuff to move and ship. Lighter stuff can be packed in a small envelope or box and sent in the mail. Just about everything else from printers to mattresses to books and clothes. We can’t send it over high speed Internet, yet. That stuff moves around our lives inefficiently. If you have the smarts and social network you can get your stuff moved around for free by asking your buddy a favor. But who has the time and friends for that?
My biggest problem when shipping stuff around is finding the company who can do it. I can spend hours trying to find a company that can handle what I want to ship. The price? Usually something completely outrageous that I don’t even bother. Should it be like that?
And remember the fad when cargo biking your stuff around cities, even for moving day, became all the rage? We love human-powered shipping, and Summer, one of our buddies in Tel Aviv runs a one-woman show move-anything company with her little van. But eco-friendly stuff-movers like Summer can’t scale. And cargo and courier biking, while romantic, cannot solve the problem of shipping between cities. Or loads of trucks and couriers going to one drop-off, returning empty handed.
The UK’s Shiply has the answer. The company has developed software that now links with massive companies like eBay to solve inefficiencies in the shipping industry. The vision is to be the most sustainable transport system in the world, using any system it takes, as long as it’s the most efficient one to get from point A to point B. It works like an auction.
Here’s how it works: Have something to move? Create an account and list what you want to transport, saying how much you can pay and when you need it delivered. The item goes into the auction. Expect to pay less for being flexible on the dates. Transport companies and people bid on deal. Transactions are then enabled by a fee paid for by the bid winner. Wait for your delivery!
Ways your stuff can be moved: by bicycle, by private car, by boat, by motorcycle, by furniture movers, by handle-with-care freight companies and many, many more.
The results for our planet we love:
- Stuff that we love can be loved longer by other people or by us again, but in new places
- Greenhouse gases for shipping can be cut at least in half if transport vehicles are in use in both directions
- New channels of operators such as biking couriers, van companies, Uber drivers, taxies, and small businesses can access the supply chain, previously limited to big shipping and courier companies
- Prices for shipping can be drastically lowered
- Shipping becomes democratized, and available for the masses which is good if you are starting a new business or sending stuff to your kid in college
The company was founded in 2008, and within 2 short years had 17,500 companies listed as transport services, clearly greasing the wheels of a very outdated and inefficient industry.
Go Shiply! We love you.
Solar powered plane completes round-the-world flight
Solar Impulse, the world’s first intercontinental solar energy powered aircraft, finally touched down last month in Abu Dhabi after completing a round the world flight. The flight took more than a year to complete, after originally taking off from Abu Dhabi in March, 2015.
The 2.3 tonne aircraft was piloted by Swiss adventurer Bertrand Picard and his associate André Borschberg, another Swiss adventurer, businessman and pilot. They managed to spend 23 days of actual flight time in the air by alternating piloting the craft, which has a wingspan of 72 meters (236.22 ft). Powered by 72,000 solar cells, the flight was challenged by adverse weather conditions, over heating storage batteries, and extreme cases of fatigue due to having to fly in a cramped, single seat cabin. But it was a landmark moment for history.
Solar Impulse 2 is a similar version of the previous solar powered plane, Solar Impulse, that made history when it flew a non-stop flght from Madrid, Spain to Rabat, Morroco and back again in July, 2012. This flight, part of which occurred during the night, helped to show that solar powered flight is possible under the right conditions. The Solar Impulse 2 flight, which also included night flying, often flew at an altitude of up to 29,000 feet during the daytime and glided at a lower altitude of 5,000 feet during the night to save energy.
The last leg of the journey, from Cairo to Abu Dhabi, was especially difficult due to a large amount of air turbulence: “It was very inspiring though as I neared my final destination, knowing this had been accomplished without the use of conventional fuel” says Picard.
Before the Solar Impulse project began, Picard, together with another adventurer, Brian Jones, made history by being the first persons to fly around in earth in a high altitude balloon. This journey, in March, 1999, lasted 19 days, 21 hours and 55 minutes.
The Solar Impulse 2 journey was plagued with difficulties: financial ones as well as mechanical difficulties. These included having to be grounded in Hawaii during the winter of 2015 to 16 because of overheating batteries. Flying the plane was often extremely difficult due to the cramped flight cabin and not having heating or pressurization. The single pilot seat also had a built-in toilet.
Despite these difficulties the flight gave the men a great sense of achievement of flying around the earth, powered only by the sun: “Now I really want to leverage this demonstration and create a world council for clean technologies,” says Picard, who hopes this feat will help bring the contribution of alternative energy to help combat the ravages of climate change.
“This is a historic day for humanity,” said UN Secretary Ban K. Moon.
Indeed says Green Prophet!
More articles on solar powered flight:
Would You Fly by Sun and a Solar Impulse?
World’s First Solar-Powered Transcontinental Flight in Pictures
The internet of eco-powered smart home gadgets
With the advent of low-cost sensors and wide-spread internet connectivity, more of us are buying smart home products that can conserve and even generate energy. Many of these products are getting smarter, with the integration of the real and virtual worlds with artificial intelligence.
We’re in love with Smart Home products like Nest which can help cut your energy bills by learning about your behavior inside and outside the home, security companies like Canary that can detect leaking gases and environmental pollution inside the home (as well as detect intruders!), and super-cool eco-products like Eddy (built by flux), that help anyone, even those with a black-thumb, grow their own organic food at home.
You are eco-minded, but you are also current. You want to tread gently on this planet, but you don’t want to return to a cave. If you aren’t following sites like Product Hunt on a day-to-day basis, how can you keep up with bleeding edge technology built with sustainability sensibilities? Powershop lists the latest in energy efficiency and energy-harvesting gadgets that every smart home, smart camper, and smart body would love to own. Be surprised by showerheads, trash cans and gadgets that harvest energy from your windows.
We’ve covered products like solar-powered backups that charge your phone (and Lumos is on that list), but sophisticated people, demand more sophisticated devices. We want to venture farther. What’s on your list of gadgets now and in the future?