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Dria Peterson's Handmade Creations, Born From a Geneology of Vegetarianism and Recycling

Design

Karen Chernick

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February 14, 2010

Dria Peterson's Handmade Creations, Born From a Geneology of Vegetarianism and Recycling

It’s not every day that you come across something called a “Feminist Woman Eco Art Doll” – whether you’re looking on Etsy or elsewhere. But for Dria Peterson, its creator, it is only natural.

Because why wouldn’t you make new things out of recycled and vintage fabrics, and reclaimed handspun sheep’s wool? Oh, and did we mention that everything is handmade?

Dria lives in the Amirim vegetarian village in the Galilee region of Israel, where her family lives an actively sustainable life. Her mom and brother are bakers and have a whole meal bakery, her other brother is a carpenter and makes ecological and organic wooden toys and furniture, and her sister runs a small health food shop. Oh, and they all do it in the same place – at the family home: Bait 77.

So with such a green background, is it any wonder Dria’s creations include the Feminist Woman Eco Art Doll?

Dria says that recycling and reusing were normal parts of her life when she was growing up, but that beyond that she has always loved to make things. Even as a child, she remembers knitting clothes for her dolls.

Haifa University Reduced Electricity Consumption by 22% in 2008-09

Lifestyle

Karen Chernick

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February 13, 2010

Haifa University Reduced Electricity Consumption by 22% in 2008-09

Though their lofty ideals of higher education are admirable, universities are often nevertheless subject to frequent budget cuts and funding shortages. This can force university administrations to take drastic measures and reduce important educational resources… or, in the case of Haifa University, it can lead the administration to save money by going green.

During the 2008-09 academic year, the University of Haifa reduced electricity consumption by 22%, fuel oil consumption by 64%, and water consumption by 11% as compared with the 2007-08 academic year. These impressive reductions in resource usage led the Ministry of Environmental Protection to certify the University of Haifa as a “Green Campus”.

But this not only saved resources, it saved money as well. The electricity conservation alone amounted to a savings of 2,400,000 NIS. That’s a whole lot of green. Baruch Marzan, Vice President for Administration and Chairman of the Green Campus Council at the University of Haifa, said that “less electricity consumption not only reduces costs – it minimizes CO2 emissions and air pollution.”

Want to Solar Power the Middle East? Attend the 2nd Annual MENASOL Solar Conference in Cairo

Tech

Karin Kloosterman

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February 12, 2010

Want to Solar Power the Middle East? Attend the 2nd Annual MENASOL Solar Conference in Cairo

Want to accelerate your solar idea and move more developments into the Middle East? The MENASOL conference in Cairo’s gathering a critical mass of opinion leaders, experts and financing personnel this May.

In a part of the world where it can take centuries for there to be something new under the sun, Cairo will be home to the 2nd annual North Africa and Middle East Solar Conference this May 4 to 5. Hosted by New Solar Today based in the UK, participants will learn how to break into the emerging solar market in the Middle East.

Want to learn how to finance your ideas and build utility scale solar projects in North Africa and Middle East? This could be your event. According to Heidi Hafes from New Solar Today/FC Business Intelligence in the UK, this is the opportunity of the year to meet the decision makers responsible for blueprinting solar projects in the Middle East North Africa (MENA) region, and to gain insight on how to take advantage of the solar project opportunities across North Africa and Middle East. We’ve interviewed Heidi all about the event (see over the fold).

Hot topics being discussed at the event this year include: What is the present state for solar in MENA? Where are the opportunities for solar projects in 2010? How will governments and utilities engage with solar? How to finance your next project? Heidi says answers to these questions and more will be given through a selection of high-level presentations, panel debates and roundtables, with representation from key ministry’s and national agencies.

Energy City Qatar on Target for 2012

Cities
Tech

Ira Moskowitz

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February 12, 2010

Energy City Qatar on Target for 2012

In a press conference this week, the CEO of Energy City Qatar (ECQ), Hesham al-Emadi, expressed confidence that the $2.6 billion project will be completed by 2012, despite some delays last year due to the economic downturn and rising cost of raw materials, the Qatari Tribune reported.

ECQ is touted as the Middle East’s first energy business center designed to exclusively cater to the commercial, technical and human resource needs of global and regional energy companies. The project will encompass 1.2 square kilometers and employ as many as 20,000 people.

Al-Emadi said that infrastructure work is slated to be finalized by the end of this year, with about 60% of the project to be completed by the end of 2011, the Qatari daily reported.

Qatar Telecom (Qtel) announced this week that it has signed a 16-year contract with ECQ to support an advanced data center for the project’s tenants. The data center is also on schedule to be operational in 2012.

As previously reported in the Green Prophet, Energy City Qatar features an “all-green” design including unique solar paneling and cooling systems. The Qatari Tribune notes that the project will incorporate “multiple sustainable technologies to achieve a LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] Gold certification” – including thin-film PV modules, wind towers and passive solar shading, as well as “indigenous landscaping and other environmentally sensitive design strategies.”

Animals Cope With Climate Change At the Dinner Table

Travel

Green Prophet

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February 11, 2010

Animals Cope With Climate Change At the Dinner Table

Some animals, it seems, are going on a diet, while others have expanding waistlines.

It’s likely these are reactions to rapidly rising temperatures due to global climate change, speculates Prof. Yoram Yom-Tov of Tel Aviv University, who has been measuring the evolving body sizes of birds and animals in areas where climate change is most extreme.

Changes are happening primarily in higher latitudes, where Prof. Yom-Tov has identified a pattern of birds getting smaller and mammals getting bigger, according to most of the species he’s examined. The change, he hypothesizes, is likely a strategy for survival. Prof. Yom-Tov, who has spent decades measuring and monitoring the body sizes of mammals and small birds, says that these changes have been happening more rapidly.

Bin Laden Blames the US For Climate Climate Change: Arab Countries Getting Drier

Business

Maurice Picow

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February 11, 2010

Bin Laden Blames the US For Climate Climate Change: Arab Countries Getting Drier

The Arab world is getting dryer; Bin Laden blames the US and western globalization for climate change.

We’ve covered this topic before: the effects of climate change on a region of the world that in even normal weather periods is not exactly flowing with fresh water. In one article we noted acute water crises problems in Middle East countries like Jordan. We’ve explored how Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, may well become the world’s first waterless capital, much of which is being caused by mismanagement, wars, and climate change

An article posted on the Arab Environment Watch blog notes sadly that in the nearly 45 days since the end of the COP 15 climate change conference ended in Copenhagen, little appears to be being done in the Arab world to deal with the environmental problems being caused by global warming.

The article states that the watered down “Copenhagen Accord” agreement that was drafted by some of the major participants, does not really commit any of them to make efforts to keeping world temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees C. Many of the media representatives reporting on the conference even said that as are as they are concerned, the conference was a failure.

But perhaps the most earthshaking message that this article reprinted on the blog wanted to relate was that of all the entities in the Arab world, including both Arab governments and NGO’s, one of the few groups to voice their concern for the environmental of the Middle East appeared to be coming from none other than the world’s most arch Arab villain: the spiritual leader of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda’s Osama bin Laden.

KAPARA's Upcycled Gift Tags and a Green Prophet Giveaway!

Design

Karen Chernick

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February 11, 2010

KAPARA's Upcycled Gift Tags and a Green Prophet Giveaway!

You’ve selected your gift (which is hopefully local, handmade, and made out of sustainable materials), you’ve written a card (hopefully on recycled paper), but the presentation still needs that extra touch? KAPARA (also known as Viktoria Slutsky), runs a cute little shop on Etsy that specializes in upcycled paper gift tags.

When you are making upcycled paper gift tags, the possibilities are almost endless. Unlike gift bows (which you can read a tutorial on how to make here), gift tags are, by nature, tiny little things, and do not require large areas of paper. Gift tags can be made from cereal boxes, old envelopes, you name it (and you will later on… keep reading).

But Viktoria’s paper sources have a great story. When Viktoria first became an Etsy seller a few years ago, she decided that she wanted to include cute, colorful gift tags with her sold items. She decided to make them herself to reduce packaging costs, and conveniently had a neighbor at the time who worked in a printing house. She asked her neighbor if they ever threw away cardboard or other papers, and sure enough the next day he brought home some leftovers.

GlobalTap Offers Water Refilling Stations in North America, Bringing Better Water a la "Better Place"

Karen Chernick

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February 9, 2010

GlobalTap Offers Water Refilling Stations in North America, Bringing Better Water a la "Better Place"

As with any good idea, it doesn’t mean a thing if you don’t find a convenient, easy, and preferably aesthetic way to bring it to the masses. Shai Agassi, founder of the electric car company Better Place, understood this when he hired industrial designer Gadi Amit to design the company’s electric car charging ports.

And apparently this is a mode of operation that makes sense to other entrepreneurs worldwide. Daniel Whitman, a Chicago architect and social entrepreneur, recently founded GlobalTap – a for-profit social enterprise with the dual mission of selling/installing tap water refilling stations in public places in North America and Europe, and then using the revenues to fund much needed water projects in developing countries.

Basically, using the funding coming from privileged places to fund water projects in considerably less privileged places. “Water should be free and accessible to everybody,” Whitman says.

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