With the financial crisis effecting more and more people every day and spending becoming significantly more conscious, many consumers are choosing to trim the fat. Unfortunately, this often means becoming more dollar conscious and less eco conscious. Greener choices – such as organic, shade-grown, or local – often cost a little bit more, and so […]
There are some very beautiful wine bottles around and it seems a terrible shame to just throw them away. Here are a few ideas of how to harness that beauty and make your house classier as well. Some fancy restaurants use empty wine bottles to serve water. It certainly looks more elegant than a plastic […]
During the week of June 7, 2009, Deloitte released a survey indicating the extent of how hard hit VCs have been and that changes are on the way. Phoebus Energy raised $1 million and AORA’s hybrid solar-gas turbine will be turning on soon. Nike’s shoe recycling project is now in Israel and an agreement on […]
A UN worldwide tree planting campaign has now reached the 4 billion mark in its drive to plant 7 billion trees world wide. The campaign is being undertaken to fight the effects of climate change; as well as to prevent soil erosion, one of the most common reasons for desertification in many parts of the […]
(Kiryat Sefer resident and activist Miri Kupermintz on the park site. All photos by Daniella Cheslow) A tour of Tel Aviv organized last week by the Cities of Tomorrow conference offered good news and bad news about the 100-year-old Hebrew city. The good news is that it looks like the decade-long citizens’ battle to get […]
The desalination of water will be expanding in Israel in order to cope with the current water shortage, according to Globes. Last week, the Ministry of Finance signed an agreement for financing the expansion of the Hadera desalination plant by 27 million cubic meters per year. Not only will the plant be producing 127 million […]
The Israel finance ministry is planning new regulations on car purchasing, with special discount incentives for purchasing hybrid cars, according to Reuters. The new changes are being planned to help alleviate the increasing air pollution caused by cars, as well as to save energy costs. One of the new regulations will be increased taxes and […]
Few building projects have received as much attention and fanfare as Dubai’s Burj Dubai 800 + meter skyscraper, that including its top tower will be the tallest building in the world. A few weeks ago, I posted an article about the Burj tower, which when completed will contain residential and business properties selling at $3,500 […]
When you think of farms, a lot of things may come to mind. Especially if you’re green. You may think of organic farms, fair trade farms, local farms, urban farms, free range farms, solar powered farms… the list goes on. But adding the word “farm” in front of the words “art” or “gallery” might not […]
Who said being an environmentalist is thankless? If you’re worried about how global warming may drastically change the Middle East, and you know how to work a reporter’s notebook, paintbrush or computer graphics program, there are two international competitions coming up to raise awareness of climate change. The first one, which we came across on the Dot […]
The facts are these: Water scarcity is a real and looming threat; while several countries are already below the dreaded 1700 m3 per capita water availability mark, many others are quickly approaching it; most international NGOs have predicted that the worst affected will be those already marginalised, the sick, and the poor, the children and […]
Talk about being down in the dumps: What began as a surprise for an elderly Tel Aviv woman, has turned into an absolute nightmare as the old mattress she had owned for years was thrown into the trash by her well meaning daughter who wanted to surprise her mother with a new one. Unfortunately, the […]
We’ve all heard about hybrid energy systems for cars (because we’ve read Karen’s story about her family Prius); but now an Israeli company, Phoebus Energy, located in the coastal city of Netanya, has developed a unique hybrid heating system to produce energy more efficiently to heating and cooling large institutional buildings such as schools, hotels, […]
In yet another move to reduce solid waste and increase innovative recycling, Israel has joined Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe project. The Reuse-A-Shoe project was started in the United States in 1990 as a way to recycle old sports shoes. Instead of allowing these worn-out items to be tossed into landfills, Nike collects the shoes and salvages rubber […]
Dubai’s mega developmental projects, including several artificial islands complexes, are beginning to cause a number of environmental concerns. The artificial islands, which when completed will contain large numbers of residential and commercial properties (including vacation resorts) are already having their effect on marine life in the Persian Gulf. One particular project, The World, encompasses three […]