For the next week, your friends’ profile pictures might look a little different on Facebook. A little greener. Don’t worry, they’re not sick – they’re just concerned. They’ve joined Greenpeace’s campaign to get Facebook to use 100% renewable energy and you should too. Starting tomorrow, Facebook protesters will be changing their profiles to icons such […]
The first time I entered Zendegi, a natural and organic clothing shop in Tel Aviv’s historic Neve Tzedek neighborhood, a particularly unique pair of boots caught my eye. I picked up the boots to take a closer look, but quickly realized that they were out of my intern-activist-blogger budget range. “But you have to understand […]
Habitat ’67 was a model for sustainable village living, in the city. Based on the model city Haifa, does it translate to the Middle East today? We recently profiled Moshe Safdie’s LEED certified Peace Building as a call to bring more sustainable building to the Middle East. In it, we briefly mentioned Habitat, Safdie’s debut […]
You won’t be able to keep these halvah-like cookies around for long. And they couldn’t be simpler to make. We never thought to use tehina (or tehini as you might know it) in baking, but this recipe produces the most meltingly delicious cookies you can imagine. If you’re looking for ways to use up your […]
Nissan’s all-electric LEAF gives a run for Volt’s and Better Place’s money. Nissan has no plans, however, to target infrastructure-poor Middle East. The battle over which company will market the first practical electric car is becoming more intense with the introduction of Nissan’s new total electric LEAF model. The Japanese carmaker is marketing this new entry […]
If you’ve ever braved the streets of Cairo, you know that every time you cross the street there as a pedestrian an adventure is in store. Cairo, unfortunately, is almost synonymous with traffic congestion, and all those drivers want to get where they’re going – fast. But if there were less cars on the road […]
Of the many non-fiction, environmentally-themed books I’ve read over the past few years, those that stand out are Alanna Mitchell’s ‘Dancing at the Dead Sea’ and ‘Seasick‘, both of which I have reviewed for Green Prophet. Mitchell is an acclaimed Canadian writer, skilled in her clear evocation of the destruction of the environment she witnesses […]
[youtube width=”560″ height=”400″]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anjsDjPvsN8&feature=player_embedded[/youtube] Trees tell stories. And it’s not just because you can see and measure their rings. In Israel there are thousands of old trees with history. Serious history. Some have “seen” great battles, heard prophets, witnessed the advent of new religions and the rise and fall of different empires through the ages. The […]
A pan-Middle East nuclear power plan? Arabs and Israelis working together? While Israel continues to maintain a policy of ambiguity regarding its military nuclear capability, it is making no secret about its plans to pursue a nuclear option to meet its energy needs. The minister of infrastructure, Uzi Landau, officially announced today that Israel seeks […]
Raw sewage seeping off Beirut coastline, and dump trucks heading straight for the sea, is the “catch of the day” in Lebanon. Marine pollution in Lebanon is becoming so severe these days that local fishermen are catching more garbage in their nets than fish. An article on thenews site Inter Press Service said that Lebanon’s […]
Good news for all our readers out there who have (paper and ink and fossil fuel saving) Kindle Wireless Reading Devices: now you can get your Green Prophet news downloaded straight to your Kindle! The Kindle is Amazon.com’s lightweight, portable electronic reader that can hold as many as 1,500 books (eliminating the need for these […]
(Photo Credit: Jim Davidson) Jewish leaders were among 50 religious leaders who prayed and visited Capitol Hill together during the week of February 22 to tell US legislators that action on climate change is urgently needed. Religious faith and concern for the environment should really go hand in hand. If you believe in God and […]
Question: What product do we buy just to throw out again? Answer: Garbage bags. New “green” products, like biodegradable garbage bags, are a hot topic. But it’s usually best to manage with fewer products instead of buying more, even if they are “green.” In most cases, biodegradable bags pose less danger to landfills and groundwater and […]
Bats find no-man’s land makes a great “hang-out.” Image via Yuvalh. The song lyrics ask, “War — what’s it good for?” Well, conflicts between peoples may create new opportunities for displaced and endangered animals. Haaretz newspaper reports that Ph.D. student Eran Levin of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Zoology has discovered one of the most […]
Moshe Safdie’s Habitat ’67 designed for Montreal World Fair a model of sustainable living. Image via Wikipedia. Sustainable building is gaining some speed in the Middle East, but at a pace that is powerless against escalating climate damage. The Gutman Visitation Center’s Living Building in Jerusalem and Qatar’s LEED certified convention center offer good examples […]