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Sweden Moots Joint Water Research Projects with Israel

Maurice Picow
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Sweden Moots Joint Water Research Projects with Israel

Sweden’s interest in new Israel innovated water leakage finder device may result in joint R & D research projects

Sweden, a country with a lot of fresh water resources, is now interested in promoting joint water R & D projects with Israel. This interested was expressed recently by Sweden’s new ambassador to Israel, Elinor Hammarskjold, who expressed these remarks in a speech at a ceremony at the Jerusalem College of Technology, and reported in the Jerusalem Post.

The ambassador, whose late grandfather was the well loved UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold, told the ceremony audience that although Sweden has abundant fresh water, her government is nevertheless interested in finding ways to increase the amount and quality of fresh water in countries where water resources are much scarcer than in her own country.

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Bisphenol A Disrupts Quality of Eggs Retrieved in IVF Treatment, New Study Demonstrates

Tinamarie Bernard
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Bisphenol A Disrupts Quality of Eggs Retrieved in IVF Treatment, New Study Demonstrates

Fertility is big business, but new research suggests new challenges to harvesting eggs via IVF: a common compound in baby bottles has been shown to reduce the viability of a woman’s eggs.

Baby bottle makers in the US voluntarily removed it from their products a few years back, and while Israel follows EU standards, compromised baby bottles are still plentiful on shelves in the Middle East. We know certain and specific chemicals makes men make compromised sperm. And now bisphenol A, otherwise known as BPA, has been shown to compromise the quality of a woman’s eggs retrieved during in vitro fertilization. Such news for reproductive health and female fertility continues to paint a grim picture, environmentally and sexually speaking.

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28 Days To World Future Energy Summit In Abu Dhabi

Tafline Laylin
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28 Days To World Future Energy Summit In Abu Dhabi

WFES-attendees-2010There are only 28 days before the World Future Energy Summit from January 17-20, 2011

Abu Dhabi is beset with a kind of sustainability schizophrenia. On the one hand there is Masdar City – an effort to achieve carbon neutrality and zero waste – and on the other certain irresponsible and extravagant moments such as the diamond-studded Christmas tree glimmering in the Emirates Palace Hotel.

Yet, since 2008 the Emirate has hosted the World Future Energy Summit, which spends a lot of carbon to bring together leaders, junior and senior, from around the globe to share ideas about renewable energy and other progressive initiatives. Last year’s event drew nearly 25,000 people from all sectors of the society. Next year’s summit – which will run from January 17-20, 2011 – promises to be equally well-attended.

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Israeli Hotel Owners Fear Diversion Of Dead Sea Tourism To Jordan

Tafline Laylin
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1
Israeli Hotel Owners Fear Diversion Of Dead Sea Tourism To Jordan

israel-jordan-dead-seaView from Israel to Jordan; hotel owners fear that years of construction projects will send tourists to the other side.

The discussions over an appropriate solution to rising water levels in the southern Dead Sea flared up again in Israel last Wednesday as representatives of 14 hotel owners and environmentalists urged the government to abandon plans to raze and then reconstruct hotels.

Both the Society for the Protection of Nature (SPNI) and the Union for Environmental Defense support harvesting the excess salt built up by Dead Sea Works’ mining activities that have caused water levels to rise rather than creating an expensive and uninviting construction zone that will send potential tourists to Jordan, where no such drama exists.

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Ormat Subsidiary Joins Geothermal Rush to Supply Chile’s New Renewable Energy Program

Susan Kraemer
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Ormat Subsidiary Joins Geothermal Rush to Supply Chile’s New Renewable Energy Program

Until this year, Chile’s renewable energy standard required only 3.5% of clean electricity by 2020. This year, they raised it to 20%. Now they are swamped with geothermal bids.

Ormat Technologies Inc  ((NYSE: ORA) South American subsidiary Ormat Andina Energia Ltd was among the companies and subsidiaries of foreign-held companies that submitted bids to explore for geothermal potential throughout Chile, according to the Chilean Energy Ministry. As an indication of how much Chile’s new 20% by 2020 renewable energy standard has catapulted investment interest in developing the nation’s geothermal potential, the last time that the Chilean government put geothermal concessions out to bid, there were only 9 companies bidding on the same amount of land thought to have geothermal potential, and they submitted only 59 bids.

This time, 13 firms submitted a total of 70 bids.

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Future-Proofing: Key Protection Invented By Israeli Company

Susan Kraemer
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Future-Proofing: Key Protection Invented By Israeli Company

jellyfish take overIncreasingly, we humans are going to have to share our coasts with a new pest we have created.

Here’s a problem that will get worse in future centuries. The rise in jellyfish. Jellyfish populations are proliferating and evolving. They are moving to new regions. Scientists attribute the rise in jellyfish populations on our coasts to three factors: to the warmer seas of climate change, to increased salinity due to our increased reliance on desalination plants, and to our overfishing, which eliminates their natural predators.

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Arava Institute Joins Forces With American Arabs

Arwa Aburawa
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1
Arava Institute Joins Forces With American Arabs

arava-middle-eastThe Arava Institue works with Palestinians and Israelis to cooperatively solve the region’s environmental challenges

As one the most conflict-ridden regions in the world, the Middle East has it’s fair share of political problems. In fact, whenever the issue of environmental dangers are highlight many people will shrug their shoulders and say ‘we have more important problems to worry about’. What this attitude fails to recognise is one thing: regional co-operation to tackle environmental issues could be the very thing the Middle East needs to help it see past petty differences. The Arava Institute, one of our all time favourite eco-Israeli organistion, knows this only too well.

Now, the Arava Institute has taken it’s co-existence message overseas in a bid to promote its mission of peace and justice amongst Arabs and Jews. Joining forces with the Centre for Arab American Philanthropy (CAAP), the Arava Institute hopes to create a link of solidarity between the two communities and allow Arab and Muslim donors to support the Arava Institute’s work.

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The UAE Gets Its First Carbon Neutral Bus. Maybe?

Tafline Laylin
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The UAE Gets Its First Carbon Neutral Bus. Maybe?

A UAE facilities management company and a Swiss non-profit have teamed up to create the UAE’s first carbon-neutral bus. nissan-bus-carbon-neutral

Just this week we learned that Gulf countries are considering ending oil subsidies and that an Eco-Playbus is tooting around Bethlehem, showing some signs that the Middle East is moving towards a more sustainable future.

That news was then overshadowed by the hideous jeweled Christmas tree standing in an Abu Dhabi hotel. Just when we want to give up completely on ever getting the wealthy Emirates on track with the real world, an encouraging new bus arrived in the UAE that promises to be carbon-neutral.

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Palestinian Blogger Provides Inside Look At Tranquil “Bride Of The Sea”

Tafline Laylin
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1
Palestinian Blogger Provides Inside Look At Tranquil “Bride Of The Sea”

diana-rayan-saudiConservative women who visit Jeddah swim wearing their Hijab and all, but still manage to enjoy what this lovely seaside city has to offer.

Diana Rayan, a Palestinian blogger and photographer living in Saudi Arabia contacted us with images of Jeddah, a city in Saudi Arabia along the Red Sea which is said to be less conservative than other parts of the country. One of the photographs was selected by Cambridge University to feature as the May photograph in their 2010 calendar.

Combined with the image of two people involved in intimate conversation, this small, Saudi-style travelogue depicts a tranquil scene complete with spirit-lifting sculpture and warm lighting. Ms. Rayan tells a lovely story about the meaning of the name Jeddah and how the people there enjoy the seaside city, Hijab and all.

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Abu Dhabi Bejeweled Christmas Tree is World Record for Extravagance

Maurice Picow
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abu dhabi diamond christmas treePlastic bottles might not work in the Emirate Palace Hotel – but opulent jewelry decor isn’t fitting either. Image via AFP

“Deck the halls with boughs of diamonds tra-la-la-la-la-la-la-la”. Over extravagant Abu Dhabi has done it again! This time it’s with an opulent bejeweled Christmas tree that is now “decking” the main entrance hall of the Emirate’s posh Emirates Palace Hotel .

This outlandish display of oil begotten wealth was inaugurated at the hotel to “accommodate” non-Muslim guests to the hotel, which in itself is a bit strange for a country whose permanent resident population (not including guest workers) is no less than 99.5% Muslim.

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World’s First Eco-Playbus Hits the Streets of Bethlehem

Arwa Aburawa
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1
World’s First Eco-Playbus Hits the Streets of Bethlehem

ecobus gazaBuilt by Palestinian engineers, the toy-carrying Eco-Playbus is powered by solar and cycling power

Yesterday, 250 children from the Aida Camp in Bethlehem and various Camps across Jerusalem gathered to celebrate the launch the unique Eco-Playbus project. Aimed at Palestinians living in refugee camps, the Eco-Playbus is a traveling vehicle filled with games and toys which promotes the right to play amongst locals who often live in difficult circumstances. As well advocating the importance of play and fun for everyone from the age of 2 to 99, the project also had a distinctly green message.

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With Peak Oil Looming, Gulf States Consider Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies

Susan Kraemer
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3
With Peak Oil Looming, Gulf States Consider Ending Fossil Fuel Subsidies

opec oil nations subsidyHuge oil subsidies in the Middle Eastern oil-producing nations mean that residents pay very little for oil.

One big problem in getting everyone to reduce use of harmful fossil fuels is that gas is too cheap some places. The worst offenders pay the least for gas, and it has long encouraged grotesque over-consumption.

Most of Europe has long since adjusted to its high gas prices, with the UK now paying $6.60 for a full gallon, Norway and Denmark; $7.41 and $6.89 respectively. Even in Hong Kong, gas costs $6.87, according to a report published this year by US-based research firm AIRINC that collated global gas price data from around the world in US dollars.

But gas guzzling Americans, currently screeching at the prospect of topping $3,  pay only $2.85. Middle Eastern drivers are even worse. UAE residents pay even less, currently just $1.57. Kuwaitis pay only  85 cents and at the very bottom of the Gulf state list, according to Arabian Business, are the Saudis who pay just 45 cents a gallon!

But all that could change.

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Shale Company Responds To David de Rothschild’s Oil Shale Concerns

Tafline Laylin
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5
Shale Company Responds To David de Rothschild’s Oil Shale Concerns

oil-shale-pitResponding to David de Rothschild’s concerns, IEI attempts to convince Lord Jacob Rothschild that oil shale is good for Israel. Read all about in a letter Green Prophet obtained.

Following our much publicized open letter to David de Rothschild, who is in the running to become National Geographic Adventurer of 2010, Green Prophet was interviewed on a radio station in Iowa about the oil shale exploration planned for Israel’s Elah Valley.

AOL news also covered the story, bringing attention to David de Rothschild’s concern for the potential environmental impact. The eco-explorer wrote to his second cousin, Lord Jacob Rothschild, a new investor in the conglomerate that intends to test its in-situ oil shale technology. That message was then forwarded to Israel Energy Initiatives.

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Tel Aviv Researchers Discover That Hornets Run On An Abdomen Full Of Sun

Tafline Laylin
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0
Tel Aviv Researchers Discover That Hornets Run On An Abdomen Full Of Sun

oriental-hornet-with-beeThe hornet that captures the sun’s energy in its bright yellow abdomen teaches us that nature knows so much better than we do.

When we cover crazy schemes to manipulate nature – such as the plan to move mini oceans to the desert – I inevitably shake my head at our collective arrogance. These plans completely miss the beautiful truth that nature knows so much better than we do, if only we would stop and listen.

Nature is responsible for the thorny devil that can usurp water from one of the world’s most hostile natural environments; mother nature gave every wetland its own set of lungs (papyrus, for example) to filter out impurities. And it is nature that gave the Oriental hornet the remarkable ability to capture energy from the sun to fuel its daily activity.

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Haifa Christmas Tree Made From Over 5,000 Recycled Plastic Bottles

Karen Chernick
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Haifa Christmas Tree Made From Over 5,000 Recycled Plastic Bottles

"recycled plastic bottle christmas tree"In the absence of all the trees burnt during the recent Carmel fire in Israel, a Christmas tree made from 5,480 plastic bottles stands tall in Haifa.

The city of Haifa, in northern Israel, has Jewish, Christian, Baha’i and Muslim residents, and so many religious holidays are celebrated there.  In honor of the upcoming Christmas holiday, the Haifa Municipality approached local artist Hadas Itzcovitch about creating a Christmas tree for the city.  Unfortunately (and perhaps symbolically) the tree went up the day the catastrophic Carmel fires began in the region.  And so as 5000 hectares of natural trees were burning in the area, Itzcovitch’s tree made of recycled plastic bottles stood tall – reminding onlookers to think a little bit more about their environmental impact.

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