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Brigitte Cartier and Hiria Searching for Volunteer Upcycling Arts and Crafters

Karen Chernick
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Brigitte Cartier and Hiria Searching for Volunteer Upcycling Arts and Crafters

Brigitte Cartier, a French-born artist who has been living and creating in Tel Aviv for the past 15 years and who now comfortably tackles Israeli roads in her pick-up truck alongside her trusty dog, is the magician responsible for transforming the Hiria garbage dump into an upcycling design Mecca.  Just check out the before and after shots of the Hiria Environmental Education Visitor’s Center to the left.

With her imagination and crafty hands, plastic bags turn into chandelier-like pom poms that hang from the ceiling, other plastic bags are fused into curtains with a beautiful stained glass effect (see bottom left photo), shopping carts turn into armchairs, blocks of condensed aluminum cans turn into benches that seat children who come to Hiria for recycling workshops (check out the close-up below).

No material is too base, too odd.  The main objective is that materials are reused instead of thrown away because Hiria’s garbage mountain doesn’t need to grow any larger.

Brigitte’s next project is to design and create a line of “Hiria Made” products: handmade items that are created from reclaimed materials and upcycled into something better.  And she’s looking for volunteers!

Volunteers will meet with Brigitte, learn her crafting techniques and recreate one of her prototypes, and have fun while helping Hiria’s environmental education mission in the process. 

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Israel Creates Anti-Fur Import and Trade Bill, Shtreimels Excluded

Karin Kloosterman
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10
Israel Creates Anti-Fur Import and Trade Bill, Shtreimels Excluded

An act of redemption for family sins: Etti Altman co-founder and spokesperson of Let the Animals Live is pushing for anti-fur law she hopes will be passed this February 24. Israel would be the first in the world to ban fur.

While fur was in vogue in the 1950s and ’60s and some people still cling to the desire to drape a fur stole or coat across their body, today many people around the world have rejected the cruelty of the industry and opt not to buy fur. In Israel, a full 86 percent of the population believes that killing animals for their fur is immoral.

In what she calls “an act of redemption for her family’s sins,” Etti Altman, daughter of a furrier based in New York City and co-founder and spokesperson of the Israel branch of the animal rights’ group Let the Animals Live, is spearheading efforts to pass into law in Israel a bill that would ban the sale and import of most fur and fur items.

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Egyptian "Sonar" Bats Have Very Positive Environmental Roles

Maurice Picow
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Egyptian "Sonar" Bats Have Very Positive Environmental Roles

bats environment clearnBats can eat their weight in mosquitos. Some, 1,200 mosquitos every night, making them man’s best night flying friend.

Have you ever noticed those night flying creatures that seem to flitter endlessly among date palm trees in the Middle East at night while making distinctive clicking sounds? If you have, chances are these creatures are not birds but Egyptian fruit bats which have been found to have an amazing ability to find their “target” by not aiming their vocal sonar beams directly but by pointing their “sound beams” to either side of the target.

A recent study was made by researchers at Israel’s Weizman Institute of Science, together with the University of Maryland in the USA, and found that their bats emit paired clicking sounds and that the sonar beam created by each click alternated to the left and right of a target. This alternating pattern effectively directed the inside edge, or maximum slope, of each sonar beam onto the target. As a result, any change in the relative position of the target to the bat reflected that large sonar edge back at the bat, delivering the largest possible change in echo intensity.

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Sticky Liquid in Carnivorous Plant Could be Organic Fungus Fighter in Hospitals

Green Prophet
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1
Sticky Liquid in Carnivorous Plant Could be Organic Fungus Fighter in Hospitals

New Tel Aviv University research investigates anti-fungal agents in the sticky “pitchers” of carnivorous plants. Biomimicry at its best. 

In the tropics, carnivorous plants trap unsuspecting prey in a cavity filled with liquid known as a “pitcher.”

The moment insects like flies, ants and beetles fall into a pitcher, the plant’s enzymes are activated and begin dissolving their new meal, obtaining nutrients such as carbon and nitrogen which are difficult to extract from certain soils. Carnivorous plants also possess a highly developed set of compounds and secondary metabolites to aid in their survival.

These compounds could serve as a new class of anti-fungal drugs for use in human medicine, says Prof. Aviah Zilberstein of Tel Aviv University’s Department of Plant Sciences. In a study conducted together with Dr. Haviva Eilenberg from her lab, Prof. Esther Segal from the Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Prof. Shmuel Carmeli from the School of Chemistry, the unusual components from the plants’ pitchers were found effective as anti-fungal drugs against human fungal infections widespread in hospitals. The primary results are encouraging.

“To avoid sharing precious food resources with other micro-organisms such as fungi, the carnivorous plant has developed a host of agents that act as natural anti-fungal agents,” says Prof. Zilberstein. “In the natural habitat of the tropics, competition for food is fierce, and the hot, moist environment is perfect for fungi, which would also love to eat the plant’s insect meal.”

Highly resistant and 100% organic

After initial tests of the plant proteins and enzymes that dissolve the chitin of fungi, Prof. Zilberstein assumes that, in the right clinical conditions, the pitcher secondary metabolites can be developed to effective anti-fungal drugs, that may avoid the evolution of new resistant infective strains.

The collaborating team has just published a paper exploring that potential in the Journal of Experimental Biology, based on the biology of the carnivorous plant Nepenthes khasiana. This plant species is originally found in India but is also being reared in Tel Aviv University greenhouses.

Currently there is a need for additional broadly effective anti-fungal drugs. Even mildly severe forms of athlete’s foot or other skin fungal infections lack effective treatments. The problem becomes more dire at hospitals, where thousands of Americans die each year from secondary fungal infections they acquire during their stay as patients.

Forging a “wild” pathway in drug discovery

The collaborating team has determined plant secondary metabolites that function as anti-fungal agents. “The pitcher of the carnivorous plant produces these compounds in a gland,” says Prof. Zilberstein. Until now, no one has published or discussed the anti-fungal metabolites found in the trap liquid of this plant, she says.

“We’re hoping that these metabolites are working together to keep fungus at bay. Our aim now is to get funding for pre-clinical tests of these compounds in an animal model, so we can investigate their effectiveness against the two very acute fungal pathogens found in hospitals worldwide,” she says.

The idea that liquid from a plant pitcher could stave off infection has been documented in the folk literature of India, where people drink carnivorous plant pitcher juice as a general elixir. “There is a lot of room for developing compounds from nature into new drugs,” says Prof. Zilberstein. “The one we are working on is not toxic to humans. Now we hope to show how this very natural product can be further developed as a means to overcome some basic problems in hospitals all over the world.”

Doha Bank and UNESCO Join Together to Green the Middle East

Maurice Picow
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1
Doha Bank and UNESCO Join Together to Green the Middle East

sahara desert shotGreening the Desert? A Qatar bank and the UN are now partners.

Parts of the Middle East, especially in the Persian Gulf area will get a bigger environmental boost thanks to an alliance between Qatar’s Doha Bank and the UN’s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO.

In an article published in the Eye of Dubai news site, the Doha Bank, one of the Qatar Emirate’s largest, has entered into a formal alliance with the UN organization to work together on various environmental programs to promote a greener environment.

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Ecomum Throws a Green Birthday Party

Sophie Ohana
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Ecomum Throws a Green Birthday Party

Birthday parties can be delightful events but they can also be stressful and very unhealthy for your children and the earth. With the stress on many parents these days to invite whole classes of children, to entertain, feed and send them home with a party bag, it is no wonder that we are left with piles of left over junk food, plastic plates and cups and plastic party bags filled with cheap, made in china toys, that usually break the same day and are full with chemical packed candies.

So how to keep your little ones smiling and the earth green?

Well it is easier and often cheaper than you may believe, it’s all about changing your perspective and being a little radical, and not conforming.

Entertainment

There are so many ideas out there for all age groups. The traditional games are still loved by every child, the delight and anticipation of pass the parcel is one of my favorites, add an extra twist with questions, forfeits and games between each layer. Musical chairs or statues, gets them dancing and burns that energy off. A treasure hunt gets their minds working too and is good for all ages, for the young ones use picture clues.

Parties are not just about games, I took my daughter to a party recently where they all decorated their own cakes, it kept them all very busy and very happy for about half an hour, heaven for us nattering mums! If you don’t want to go the sweet route, let them make their own pizzas, this is a definite winner for everybody, as you are also cutting out the stress of preparing food.

If you really want to you can have a green theme for the party too, get your children’s creative juices flowing and get recycling all the wrapping paper from presents, you can make giant paper pompoms (this is another great cheat as it also gives them something to take home too!).

Food & Party Bags

Fast, convenient, junk food is very tempting and I do understand time is precious but there are options just as easy, sometimes more fun for the children and you, and definitely healthier. The pizza option we’ve already mentioned, other options that the kids can get involved in too, are making burgers, fruit smoothies and a taco bar. My daughter’s last birthday cake was made from organic wholewheat flour, organic cocoa, organic eggs and goat’s milk, and the kids loved it.

As for the party favors, well we’ve covered the present with a make your own craft, and harking back to my childhood, a piece of scrummy birthday cake wrapped in a paper napkin (and no bag!). An idea I think I might use next year is a plant pot and a packet of seeds, they paint and decorate the pot in the party, then just pop a slice of cake in there with some flower or veggie seeds. If you feel you need to add some more bulk, try dried fruits and fruit leathers, fresh popcorn is always a winner too.

“I always recommend to friends and family to send eco-friendly ecards for birthdays, so as not to be left with a big pile of paper cards. But at the end of a party, you could be left with heaps of disposable plates, cups and burst balloons, all very unfriendly to the environment.

I keep a stack of plastic cups, plates and bowls at home all year round, as they are supremely handy when friends come to play and they are the best for parties too. If you really can’t get your head around washing up after, there are plenty of greener, biodegradable options available today.

As for decorations, balloons are quite nasty things, when you dig a bit deeper you discover a plethora of chemicals, there are eco-options made from latex but as yet I have only found them sold to performers here in Israel. So no balloons, big deal, get creative with your kids, paper chains, paper pompoms, all made with old wrapping paper, newspapers, enjoy!

Israel, Egypt Considering Joint Solar Energy Project in Sinai

Jesse Fox
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Israel, Egypt Considering Joint Solar Energy Project in Sinai

israel egypt solar energyIsraeli Minister Ben-Eliezer addressing the Eilat energy conference this morning. (photo by Daniel Cherrin).

Israel and Egypt are discussing a possible collaborative solar energy project in the Sinai desert, Israel’s Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor Binyamin Ben-Eliezer announced this morning at the third annual Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference.

According to Ben-Eliezer, he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the issue with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on a recent visit to Egypt. According to the plan, Israel would supply the technology, with Egypt supplying the land required for the project. The electricity produced from the project would power both states, with excess energy being sold to other countries. President Mubarak reportedly expressed his interest in the idea, and agreed to explore the issue.

If carried out, the project could go a long way toward solving one of the major obstacles to the development of renewable energy in Israel: land. Much of the discussion this week at the 3-day conference has revolved around the need to develop renewable energy projects, especially solar energy, that utilize limited land resources in an efficient manner.

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Organic Supermarket in Dubai Brings Organic (but not local) Trend to UAE

Karen Chernick
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6
Organic Supermarket in Dubai Brings Organic (but not local) Trend to UAE

Organic Foods & Cafe, an organic supermarket and cafe in Dubai, brings a range of organic products to the United Arab Emirates and defines part of its mission as “furthering learning about what is healthy for us and our world and environment around us and promote it.”

The supermarket attempts to create a welcoming and warm environment where customers learn that eating organic doesn’t have to be scary or strange.  The cafe offers delicious organic dishes (many of which are vegetarian), such as brie & apple omelettes, mushroom and turkey ham pizza, roasted pumpkin salad, an ostrich special, and freshly squeezed pineapple and cucumber juices.

While their organic values are in the right and their menu sounds delicious, many of their organic products are sourced from overseas and it seems as though very few products are local.  In the “Meet the Growers” section of their website, farms are located in countries such as South Africa and Austria.  (The one “local” Middle Eastern farm seemed to be Sekem in Egypt.)

Which leads us back to the big green food question: what’s more important – organic or local?

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EU Gives $4 Million Grant to Med and Red Sea Coral Reef Studies

Karin Kloosterman
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2
EU Gives $4 Million Grant to Med and Red Sea Coral Reef Studies

Getting close to his subject: marine biologist Prof. Zvy Dubinsky hopes to understand the changes global warming will cause to the world’s delicate coral reefs. A new EU grant will give the corals a chance.

Israeli marine biologist Zvy Dubinksy is worried. Coral reefs all over the world – from the Great Barrier Reef in Australia to the Red Sea in Israel – are dying, and global warming is the culprit.

Now the professor from Bar Ilan University in Israel hopes to do something about it. He and his team of researchers from the Faculty of Life Sciences have just been awarded a prestigious $4 million grant from the European Research Council to study the effects of global warming on corals in the Mediterranean and Red Seas in the hope that they can come up with data that will help scientists bio-engineer remedies to global warming in advance.

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Upbeat Mood at Carbon-Neutral Eilat Energy Event as AORA Solar Leaves Stealth Mode

Ira Moskowitz
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Upbeat Mood at Carbon-Neutral Eilat Energy Event as AORA Solar Leaves Stealth Mode

Uzi Landau and Udi Gat launching the Arava Validation Center on Tuesday; Credit: Aran Dolev

Despite some grumbling about zigzags in government policy and bureaucratic obstacles, the mood at the third annual Eilat-Eilot International Energy Conference & Exhibition seemed upbeat during Day 1 of the three-day event, which opened in Eilat on Tuesday. The CEO of Sunday Energy, Kobi Dinar, even cited Rabbi Nahman of Breslov in expressing optimism in the face of regulatory hurdles and uncertainty: “If you believe that you can damage, then believe that you can fix.”

The turnout also reflected the growing interest in renewable energy: According to the event’s organizers, some 2,000 people are attending the conference – about twice as many as last year. However, despite its billing as an international event and a lineup of several VIP guests from abroad (including U.S. Congressman Steve Israel and German Bundestag member Herman Scheer), it is mainly a gathering of Israelis. (Only a few participants used the earphones provided for simultaneous translation from Hebrew.)

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Abu Dhabi Rich Pay Millions For Camels While Arab World Stays Poor

Maurice Picow
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24
Abu Dhabi Rich Pay Millions For Camels While Arab World Stays Poor

The price a pedigree camel fetches could fuel a small town. Is it moral for camel races to continue, while much of the Arab world lives in poverty?

Walk a mile for a camel? It certainly seems like rich people living in Abu Dhabi and other UAE states are more than willing to do this – especially when the camels in question are pedigree racing dromedaries used for sport in the Sheikdom and other locations in the Middle East.

While possessing and racing these “splendid beasts,” as Lawrence of Arabia once referred them to be, is not really in itself environmentally damaging, spending so much money on them is an issue; especially if this kind of eccentric hobby is at the expense of abuse to the animals themselves and to children who care for and even race these ships of the desert.

The situation regarding children being forced to become “camel jockeys” became so serious that under pressure of international organizations such as the UN ‘s UNICEF children’s relief organization, camel racing by underage riders became illegal in 2005. And less than a year later, a conference was held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to make camel racing using children a criminal act.

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Parkinson’s in Arab Communities Linked to Pesticides

Rachel Bergstein
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2
Parkinson’s in Arab Communities Linked to Pesticides

 

spraying pesticidesNeed another reason to eat organic?  Or at least pesticide-free?

In a study to be published this month, Israeli researchers examining the prevalence of Parkinson’s disease in the Wadi Ara Arab communities in northern Israel found an unusually high prevalence of the disease in the areas of Baqa al-Gharbiyeh. 

Baqa al-Gharbiyeh, an Arab community, has an incidence of 73.39 cases per 100,000 residents, in comparison to surrounding communities like Umm al-Fahm (34.84 cases), Kafr Qara (25.45), and Ara and Arara (18.45 cases).

The reason for this disparity, the researchers explain, is exposure to agricultural pesticides. Update: Later studies in the United States in 2014 show a direct link between DDE, a metabolite of DDT, and the brains of people who have Alzheimer’s.

Dr. Rafik Masalha, head of the epilepsy clinic at Soroka Medical Center in Be’er Sheva, explains: “In Baqa there is higher exposure to industrial agriculture, which includes the use of pesticides, and there are many more farmers compared to other communities in Wadi Ara, whose livelihood is more based on urban work or construction.

Pesticides in the brain

“It was proved that pesticides inhaled can affect the brain stem, which is responsible for the production of dopamine.”

Dopamine is a vital brain chemical. Deficiency causes Parkinson’s, a degenerative disease of the central nervous system that affects motor skills and speech.

According to the research, residents of Baqa al-Gharbiyeh are exposed to pesticides that are dumped by small airplanes. They may also be exposed to pesticides by drinking contaminated water, although the Israeli Ministry of Health says it has not recorded any unusual concentrations of pesticides in Baqa al-Gharbiyeh’s drinking water. 

A statement released by the Ministry read:

“The use of pesticides in Israel is reasonable and under supervision. Well water is examined routinely and meets the strictest standards set by the World Health Organization and the US health authorities. If pollution is found in a well, it is shut down. Pollution in wells as a result of pesticides is rare in Israel.”

To date, the Ministry of Health does not maintain a database on Parkinson’s patients, so this research is the first to discuss the disease within the context of community and environmental health.

In Turkey a researcher was threatened he would go to jail if he continued to talk about the link between industrial pollutants in his village and the high incidence of heavy metals in breast milk. If you live in the Middle East speaking up isn’t easy. Especially when your life is at stake. 

More on pesticides:
Turkey Bans 74 Pesticides for the EU
Make Bugs, Not Pesticides
Souls Wait for Heaven as Toxic Pesticides From Israel Pulled from Sunken Ferry

Tel Aviv Port's "Pop-Up Design Store" Features Many Upcycling Designers

Karen Chernick
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Tel Aviv Port's "Pop-Up Design Store" Features Many Upcycling Designers

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MDxk0qAnu0[/youtube]

Tel Aviv’s port (or “namal”) has in recent years become a trendy hot spot.  A little too trendy.  And often their trendiness does not go hand in hand with eco-friendliness.  But sometimes it does, like with their (too chic and elitist for some) farmer’s market and, this month, with their Pop-Up Design Store, Rafsoda.

Rafsoda means raft in Hebrew, and the store definitely allows playful Israeli design to temporarily float alongside the waves of the Mediterranean.

Open as of February 2nd, the temporary store will only remain open until February 22nd and the impermanence of the structure is reflected in the fact that reclaimed materials were used to create the store furnishings.  Instead of internal walls, the store makes use of old wooden doors, window frames, and shutters.  (Check out the construction of the store in the video clip above.)

Several of the 62 designers represented use upcycled or recycled materials, and many of them have been featured on Green Prophet (although there were some fresh surprises!).  These designers include:

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Foodbridge Blog Bridges Cultures Through Cooking

Miriam Kresh
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Foodbridge Blog Bridges Cultures Through Cooking

There’s really no better way to get to know someone than by sitting down and sharing a meal. Sarah Melamed, plant biologist and naturalist, aims to make those connections happen by recreating recipes from all over the Middle East and the Mediterranean on her eclectic blog, Foodbridge.

In multicultural Israel, where Melamed lives, every kitchen offers tempting regional dishes. But most of us don’t follow our noses to find out more. What we like about Foodbridge is that when the author tastes something she likes, she tracks the recipe down, collecting the food traditions of the people who cook it along the way.

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Uber-Designed Kindergarten Provides Beautiful Environment, but not a Sustainable Environment

Karen Chernick
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Uber-Designed Kindergarten Provides Beautiful Environment, but not a Sustainable Environment

A beautiful, uber-designed kindergarten was recently completed in Ramat Hasharon, a suburb of Tel Aviv in Israel.  A collaboration of Sarit Shani Hay (who makes unique toys, children’s furnishings, and textiles) and Lev-Gargir architects, the design philosophy for the space was that “the environment children grow up in strongly reflects how their sensibilities develop and that childhood should be celebrated.”

The design of the school reflects the utopian ideals of its designers that children should be encouraged to be creative, sensitive, imaginative, and original.

But shouldn’t the future of these children be celebrated as well?

While unique, inviting, and extremely aesthetic, the design of the kindergarten is inherently non-sustainable.  Budget and practicality were guiding factors in selecting the materials for the design, and so the entire school is carpeted in light blue PVC (polyvinyl chloride).  The furnishings were constructed from plywood, formica, and whole wood.

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