[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffl4MMGLLPk&feature=related[/youtube]
This light-hearted clip bears a serious warning of what Egypt might look like in 2150.
Climate change threatens to drastically reduce Egypt’s agricultural production and water supplies, the head of the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency’s climate change unit warned in an interview with Reuters. El Sayed Sabry also noted that key tourist destinations are at risk.
Israel’s TaKaDu and SolarEdge have developed solutions in the water and solar fields that make current technologies more efficient.
Israel’s TaKaDu and SolarEdge have been named Red Herring Europe 100 winners for 2010. The two cleantech companies are among eight Israeli startups to have made the list which considered financial performance, technology innovation and execution of strategy and other criteria.
Here’s a closer look at both companies:
You can bake a sourdough corn bread like this, too. our 4-part series on baking with sourdough starts here.
People have relied on wild yeasts to ferment their bread doughs, beer, and wine for thousands of years. By contrast, commercial yeast has only been around for about 100 years. It only became possible to culture specific strains of yeast after Louis Pasteur discovered how yeast works. While commercial yeast yields safe, predictable beer and wine, sour dough breads, with their delicious tang, still work beautifully in a modern kitchen.
What you need is a starter, a batter-like mix of fermented flour and water. It takes minutes to start your starter, and once you’re sure it’s viable, you’ll master the simple breadmaking techniques by which people have lived since the very earliest times. How locavore can you get?
THE STARTER
Start by thoroughly washing a 2-cup capacity glass or ceramic jar with hot water. A mayonnaise jar is fine. While it’s still hot, put a wooden or stainless steel spoon in it and pour some boiling water into it to fill it up. Allow to cool to warm, then empty it and it’s ready for use as the starter crock.
Metal containers react with the acidity of the starter and can spoil it; wooden ones may harbor bacteria that will spoil the starter. Glass is best, but I’ve used ceramic too, and food-grade plastic in a pinch.
Mix 1 cup of lukewarm water with 1 cup flour (unbleached white or whole wheat)Â in your starter jar. Mix with your scalded spoon (it doesn’t matter what the spoon is made of as its contact with the starter is brief). You’ll get an even mix if you put the water in the jar first and add the flour to it.
Cover the jar with a paper napkin or paper towel, or a thin, freshly-laundered cloth. Use a rubber band to secure it, if necessary. You don’t want insects getting in and spoiling the the starter. Place the jar someplace warm.
Stir the starter once or twice a day for 2 days. You don’t have to scald your spoon each time, just use a very clean one.
On the third day, dump out half the starter. That’s 1 cup. Replace what you threw out with 1/2 cup fresh flour mixed with 1/2 cup water. This is “feeding” the starter. Yeasts feed on the sugars in the flour, reproduce, then die out. To keep a good, strong yeast colony going, you must get rid of excess dead yeast and “feed” the starter with fresh material every so often.
Dump and replace as above every 24 hours for the next 2-3 days.Yeast activity will be evident by bubbles rising to the surface. The starter will start to smell sour, but pleasantly so, or somewhat alcoholic. The color might change to darker, or a thin layer of dark water form on top – that’s OK. Just stir everything up well. Once it’s nice and active, with a frothy top, you can start baking.
A word about purchased sourdough starters. You may purchase a yeast starter which originated in San Francisco, Russia, or France, but over time your exotic starter will attract the local yeasts floating around in the air of your kitchen and mutate into a starter unique unto its locale.
Learn the care and feeding of the starter, on Part II of the Green Prophet sourdough series, here.
More natural eating on Green Prophet:
Members of Vertigo dance troupe in Israel have set up a dance studio in old chicken coops on Kibbutz Netiv HaLamed Hey.
In most places it’s a 1958 Hitchcock movie, or a word to describe a dizzy sort of feeling, but in Israel, Vertigo is a world-renowned dance troupe that was founded in Jerusalem about 18 years ago and now tours the planet.
Not to be over-shadowed or outdone by the Batsheva Dance Company in Tel Aviv run by Ohad Naharin, Vertigo has decided to give itself a new dimension.
The modern dance company has taken a few steps back and in addition to its base in Jerusalem has also made a home in among abandoned chicken coops.
It has gone ‘eco’ (possibly ‘loco’ some might argue) on a 60-year-old kibbutz, Netiv HaLamed Hey in the Ellah Valley (where you can go on wine-cycling tours), smack dab between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv.
As seawater flows into the Hadera Desalination Plant, will fresh water flow into the dying Jordan River?
The world’s largest desalination plant using the reverse osmosis method for extracting salt from the sea is now up and running outside the Israel coastal city of Hadera, according to the Associated Press. The new plant is the third in a series of desalination plants for Israel – that when all are finally in operation – are expected to supply up to two thirds of Israel’s drinking water needs, and put less strain on the country’s main source of fresh water, the Sea of Galilee.Â
“How Do We Want to Live?” asks England’s Former Secretary-General of the Royal Town Planning Institute Robert Upton at an urban planning conference in Israel.
Whereas Colombian planner Oscar Diaz (who we interviewed here) was practical and sited specific planning examples at the anniversary conference at the Technion-Israel’s Institute of Technology,  England’s planner Mr. Robert Upton’s speech was more philosophical. This seasoned response from the fourth Royal Town Planning Institute Secretary-General (and the only one to make it out alive, Upton jokes), asked of Israel’s planning audience to think reflectively about the challenges of their profession.
He began by recalling the history of England’s Royal Town Planning Institute,  a relatively brief history that began in 1914. But he said that early on the profession became “cluttered” with “no shortage of bodies who claim to be specialists.” And the public was skeptical.
In a personal interview with Green Prophet he was careful to clarify that in the context of WWII, there was a tremendous need for England to rebuild itself and planners such as Thomas Sharp took on the challenge. Sharp later became “disillusioned” according to Upton, as the public became increasingly dissatisfied.
The profession also suffers from a sort of existential dilemma. It is never clear whether planners are designers or technical, whether the field falls under the parlay of social science, or if it is a hybrid.
Israelis such as architect Amos Brandeis and government planner Shamay Asif, who provided commentary after Upton’s presentation, also identified with this dilemma.
Another shared conflict in England and Israel is that between architects and planners. Â What role should design play in the planning process?
Architects believe that they should play an important role in the planning process, but planners think they are redundant. Upton says that it is important that planners “dont’ take the design out of the plan – design creates understanding.”
However, he also quoted English author Samuel Johnson, who said approximately that it isn’t necessary to know how to make a good chair in order to be able to recognize one. Â The fire rages on.
Upton summarized his discussion with the question “how do we want to live?”  This is the question that all planning institutes should answer, for which Upton agreed with me that there is no blanket answer. The answer depends on the following variables: “what are our options? Our values? What are the facts? What are the rules? The power of relations? Who benefits, and who is not represented?” The answers will be different in every community.
Alexandra Frackelton from The Arava Institute raised the question of public participation. It was agreed that public participation in Israel is neglected, and that the process of encouraging it needs to be streamlined.
As a legal problem, it is currently being addressed. Â Meanwhile, going forward, Upton believes it is important to find a “shared ethic.”
While Mr. Upton’s presentation raised more questions than provided answers, John Simone believed that framing the right questions is the key to wisdom. Â Israeli planners are faced with a rapidly growing population, diminishing natural resources, and imminent climate change: Â their greatest challenge will be to find questions that will produce the best solutions for the greatest number of people.
More on Planning from The Middle East:
Jordanian Sustainable Building Conference
Ecoweek
Rawabi, the First Planned Palestinian City
WANA, a North Africa and West Asia forum recently convened in Jordan to discuss the environment, a green economy, sustainable development and the revival of Hima, an Islamic environmental conservation practice.
The West Asia – North Africa WANA Forum is a long-term initiative that brings together decision-makers, civil society orgs, religious leaders, researchers, business owners, media reps and other relevant regional stakeholders from the region. It works through an annual forum and interim consultations, and looks to engage the public in its processes. The facilitator and guardian of the forum is Prince of Jordan El Hassan bin Talal, with the support of Japan’s Nippon Foundation and the International Senior Advisory Board.
The WANA Forum recently met in Amman, Jordan and sent Green Prophet some updates and policy and green themes the group is working toward:Â Over 130 participants, representing over 50 nationalities, diverse backgrounds, and extensive expertise agreed that developing supranational and regional cooperation is essential if the area wants to find solutions to its challenges.
The Israel-Asia Center gives Green Prophet a podcast transcript of their interview with the Chinese Ambassador to Israel. Lots can be gleaned about China’s sustainability vision from the interview.
The Israel-based Israel-Asia Center recently conducted an interview with the Chinese Ambassador to Israel, Zhao Jun, on what the World Expo means for China, the challenges of urbanization and sustainability facing China’s growing cities, Israel-China relations and Israeli innovation relating to water and clean technology.
Green Prophet presents a transcript of the interview, featuring both David Harris and Rebecca Zeffert from the Israel-Asia Center, and their interview with Zhao Jun. It’s a good read for policy makers, and Middle East entrepreneurs looking to do business (especially green business) with the Far East giant.
A Green Prophet reader shares her personal story on starting up a green business in the Middle East – Diamond Solar Services. Image via pinksherbert
My name is Chava and I’m a green nerd. I love saying that. It sounds kind of corny and probably not the impression you would get if you met me, but it’s true.
Some people like comic books, some fashion, I love the green world and all the people attached to it. I’m fascinated by new and brilliant technology, things that move the world on the high speed train of life or in some cases …the wings of a hovercraft. It fits with my passion of loving to be involved with making the world a better place.
My story is this: I am a Canadian-Israeli business developer and I took a hiatus from work here in Israel and moved back to my hometown in Canada for about a year and a half, where I continued education in my former field of insurance, specifically industrial commercial business, and worked till returning to Israel.
In Canada, I was focused on a future of environmental liability and what I could contribute to getting companies to go green by better insurance incentives. Canada is a beautiful country with beautiful people: I loved the baseball, beer, geese, deer and raccoons that came up to my doorstep, but I missed Israel and felt it was time to come home.
Put your mouth where your morals are and eat the plants and vegetables you want to conserve. Image via ivanwalsh
Since the beginning of the green movement, there has been a rise in the number of organizations and businesses that are doing their part in the promotion of sustainability through conservation. This past Earth Day brought about the Earth Day Network, which has been playing its part to bring conservationist and green enthusiasts together, sharing ideas and discussing new ways to support the planet.
Other large organizations NGOS like Doug Band and the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative) have been working on successful emission reduction projects in the San Francisco Bay area. All the while, the climate is continuing to worsen, and individual, as well as collaborative acts, are important for any successful green campaign. As human beings, we’re constantly told to reduce our carbon footprint, consume less unhealthy foods, and spend less time in the shower!
But let’s take a minute to step back and look at this from a different perspective; one that the Arab-American writer and conservationist Gary Nabhan strongly suggests.
Mr. Oscar Diaz Inspires Israeli Planners to Build For People, Not Cars.
We promised to bring more news from the Technion-Israel’s Institute of Technology, where the Center for Urban and Regional Studies’ 40th anniversary conference was held yesterday, 3rd June 2010. After brief greetings from representatives of The Center for Urban & Regional Studies, the Urban and Regional Planning Program, and the Municipality of Haifa. And after the Technion’s President and the Dean of the Faculty of Architecture also gave brief introductions, the keynote lecturer Professor Dani Shefer introduced Oscar Edmundo Diaz.
Partner of the consulting firm GSD+ and formerly Senior Program Director at the Institute for Transportation and Development Policy and Senior Advisor to the City Mayor of Bogota, Diaz addressed the Israeli Planning audience about successful methods for planning a sustainable city.
Disruptor: In the past week SolarEdge has announced partnerships to distribute its technology across Australia and Europe and has been named a Red Herring 100 Winner.
Known for its high costs and lagging efficiency, the solar energy field has been one to watch for many but one to take advantage of for very few. New innovations and incentives in the field however, reported on CNET, offer promise for many solar companies looking to establish themselves. One company that seems to have had little difficulty establishing itself is SolarEdge, a solar power harvesting solution provider based in Israel.
In a world of synthetics and polyesters, fabric merchant Bilal Abu-Khalaf sells hand-woven silks, cotton and gold-threaded cloths from his Jerusalem shop. Some cloths can wait 45 years before being sold.
In the hustle and bustle of Jerusalem’s famous Old City bazaar, shopkeepers are busy selling trinkets to tourists, synthetic t-shirts and plastic souvenirs made in far-off China. But there is one place where the appreciation for old-fashioned ways still exists. At Bilal Abu-Khalaf’s shop, he imports his hand-woven silk, cotton and gold-threaded cloths from Africa. His fabrics are used to make robes for Christian priests, Muslim imams and ultra-orthodox Jews.
Yael Uriely’s Dvarim Tovim (or “Good Things”) fabric jewelry line is made of vintage and upcycled materials.
Good things don’t always come in shiny, new, plastic packages. Sometimes, according to Yael Uriely, they come in upcycled, vintage packages that bring us back to previous eras revisited. Yael’s line of fabric jewelry, Dvarim Tovim (Good Things) is assembled almost completely from upycled, recycled, reclaimed and vintage materials, teaching us to rethink our concept of the new good thing. Good things can sometimes just be new to us.
Oscar Edmundo Diaz and Robert Upton Are Expected to Share Urban Planning Pearls With Israel [image via Technion-Israel Institute of Technology]
Before globalization, ideas and technology ambled across the oceans and progress piddled along. Now cooperation happens in seconds. Microseconds even. And though not all ideas are equally useful, there’s no question that when great minds meet there ensues the following net result: opportunity. Whether sharing technology with other nations or floating to draw awareness to environmental issues, sharing ideas allows us to circumvent mistakes made before us. Tomorrow, when Oscar Edmundo Diaz and Robert Upton join some of Israel’s best Urban Planners at the Center for Urban and Regional Studies’ 40th anniversary conference, Israel will have the opportunity to incorporate lessons learned in Colombia and the United Kingdom.
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