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Environmental History is Made in Ashdod: The Lachish River Opens for Water Recreation

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Zalul, the water protection NGO of Israel, is tremendously proud to announce to a major success in the campaign to save the Lachish River.

After three years of campaigning in the city of Ashdod to rescue the Lachish, Zalul stood alongside the Mayor of Ashdod, Dr. Yechiel Lasri, at a press conference on July 6, 2009, to announce the opening of the river to water recreation.

Three years ago, Zalul had a vision for a pollution-free Lachish River, believing that we could bring it back to life within three years. In September 2006, Zalul began a public campaign to rescue the Lachish River after years of severe pollution. The main pollution sources were industrial waste water from the Ashdod industrial zone, wastewater from the municipal sewer system, and wastewater from other settlements in the region.

Israel Scraps Tax on Fresh Produce

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apples israel food tax photo

Last week, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu gave up an idea to close a 1.8 billion shekel ($450 million) budget gap by taxing fresh fruits and vegetables at 16.5 percent. The tax proposal was shot down by a combination of interests representing the poor, the farming sector and good nutrition.

According to Ynet, 62% of adult Israelis are overweight or obese, and the tax would further encourage the poor to buy unhealthy manufactured products rather than fresh produce.

New Student Center at Beirut's American University Wins Top Architectural Green Award

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UAB Campus aerial viewBeirut and other cities in Lebanon may still be recovering from the 2006 with Israel; but this has not prevented the construction of a new green complex at the American University of Beirut.

The complex, named the Charles Hostler Student Center, was the only college building to be listed on the prestigious American Institute of Architects Top Ten Green Projects list for the year 2009.

The complex contains a number of cultural and recreational facilities including a green track field, amphitheater and auditorium, gymnasium and fitness room, indoor swimming pool, tennis and squash courts, and student union area for students to meet between or after classes.

The student meeting area includes a spacious cafeteria.

Night Garden in Jerusalem Exhibited the Beauty of Solar Power

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solar power flower jerusalemSunshine helps flowers grow and now, thanks to a joint collaboration of the Israel Electric Corporation and O*GE Architects, it makes enormous steel and metal flowers grow, too.

In mid June, visitors to Jerusalem could stroll through a solar powered garden of larger-than-life sized flowers.  As described by O*GE Architects, visitors could “immerse themselves in a sensual delight of magical light, bright sounds and fragrant aromas… The garden demonstrates the importance and beauty of alternative energy.”

Get the live experience of the Night Garden below:

Hotel Mizpe Hayamim in the Galilee Offers Luxurious Vacations in Their Hotel, Spa, and… Organic Farm

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organic farm hotel israelLuxury and “green” are usually mutually exclusive.  Sure, you have to spend a lot of green to be luxurious, but generally speaking there isn’t much that’s environmentally friendly about five star hotels and luxury spas.

Hotel Spa Mizpe Hayamim in the eastern Galilee region of Israel is trying to rectify that situation and create a space where, in their own words, “luxury and authenticity meet.”

Inspired by their beautiful natural surroundings – such as the Hermon mountain, the Golan Heights, and the Sea of Galilee – the hotel has been trying to leave their environment as unharmed as possible and has integrated organic and free range farming practices into their business.  As the hotel describes itself, “the composition, values, beliefs and exclusive location of the Hotel Spa Mizpe Hayamim creates an island of ecological harmony between man and nature.”

Louise Looks At Eco-Travel With "The Guardian Green Travel Guide"

boat-photo-flagsWorried about your carbon footprint? Not sure where to turn for accurate information? This book certainly delivers what it says on the jacket.

Drawing together a range of contributions from travel and green experts, it offers the reader opportunity to explore options for travelling worldwide which take least toll on the environment and which contribute to the communities of developing countries.

What is Green Travel? the reader is challenged to think beyond the way we travel and look at the wider implications of actions we take. How can we choose our airline tickets, destinations, and travel companies according to a more eco-friendly set of criteria? Here you can learn more about the entire spectrum of Green Travel and how you can reduce your carbon footprint. Not only that, but you will learn more about how Green Travel can benefit developing countries.

In Section two – Way to go – there is information on everything from boating, cycling and camping in the UK and abroad; skiing; safaris; getting to Australia by bus; travelling by freight; comparing the environmental impact of a range of forms of transport; working out whether a company which says it’s eco-friendly really is; understanding the accreditation schemes, and family friendly options.

Section three – Directory – offers comprehensive information on handpicked places to stay around the world plus a great deal more.

Live Like A Bedouin and Save Water at Chan HaShayarot

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bedouin-tourism-eco-israel
(A bird’s eye view of Chan HaShayarot)

We’ve already learned about immersion Arabic in a solar Bedouin village in Israel. Here’s another eco-tourism stop: located in the Negev, just south of Sde Boker, the Chan HaShayarot provides guests with a true Bedouin experience including camel rides, Bedouin food, and the option of sleeping in a Bedouin tent.

The Chan, which is a popular stop for Israelis, foreigners, and tour groups, is now working with water management company Triple T, to improve the process of disposing its waste water in a way that is less energy intensive, durable in the arid Negev climate, and able to recycle waste water to irrigate a nearby olive orchard that is currently irrigated with potable water.

How Terra Venture Partners Accelerate Clean Technology

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terra-venture-partners

There are numerous start-up companies in Israel today, but finding investors to fund the new technology is often a challenge. In the field of Greentech, Terra Venture Partners (TVC) has made it their objective to fund and invest in promising seed and early-stage start-ups led by top entrepreneurs in energy, water and other environmental sectors.

Catching up with TVP’s General Partner Astorre Modena, Modena explained some of the unique aspects of the firm and what they have accomplished since their founding in 2007.

TVP currently invests in four companies: Phoebus Energy, IQWind, Biological Alarm Systems, and LithiumForce.

Solar Energy is Israel's Best Energy Bet

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solar energy Israel photo

Israel is one of the leading countries involved in a number of alternative and renewable energy projects, which even include making bio fuels from algae and splitting hydrogen and oxygen molecules in water to produce hydrogen fuel, one of most abundant fuel sources in the universe. 

But despite these and other methods o f producing energy from non-carbon based sources, the most promising way of producing energy, i.e. electricity, is by harnessing the power of the sun.

White Trash, An Ecological Group Exhibition, Opens in Tel Aviv Next Week

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Participating artwork by Inbal Limor
Participating artwork by Inbal Limor

Inbal Limor, an Israeli artist whose artistic plastic bag creations and puppets we’ve already covered on Green Prophet, is devoted to using her art to promote environmental awareness.  And this time she’s going bigger, joining forces with other artists who have a similar mission.

Together with Amanda Mehl and Shameless, Inbal has initiated and curated a group exhibition that will open on July 16th in Tel Aviv called White Trash: An ecological group exhibition calling for creative awareness.  True to the unconventional nature of the art that will be exhibited, the show will take place in an industrial space in south Tel Aviv.

Participating artists include Inbal Limor, Maya Gelfman, Amanda Mehl, Rafi Perez, Sivan Gross, Shameless, Rani Birnbaum, Natalie Mandel, Nima Ktlav, Yael Yaari, Mashka, Maria Makarov, and Emil Tuval.

The artists’ joint statement about the upcoming exhibition is as follows:

“Garbage is our creation. We create it at every moment.  A substance that was a usable material now becomes garbage, and it piles up, it’s present, and it becomes a testimony of our lives and actions, a silent symbol.

Dangerous Gases Other Than C02

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kyoto japantimesThere are many gases, aside from C02, that cause harm to our atmosphere. The problem is that not all of them are included in the Kyoto Protocol meaning that they do not need to be reported. Take care to learn your gasses, if you are connected with the industry, so that you do not inadvertently cause damage to the environment while trying to avoid other dangerous gasses.

Sunday Energy and Carmey Avdat Winery Helping Produce Israel's First Solar Powered Wine

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carmey avdat vineyard solar israelGreen Prophet has already reported on Kibbutz Tzuba switching to wine production because of the decreased water needs of grapes.  Now Israeli wine is going even greener, with solar power.  This past Monday, Sunday Energy Ltd. (Isra’el’s leading solar energy service provider) announced that it had completed installing a 50 kW Peak solar system on the roof of the Carmey Avdat winery located in the Israeli Negev desert.

Since the winery is located in an area that consistently gets a lot of sun, the installation on the 200 square meter roof of the winery is expected to meet approximately 65 percent of Carmey Avdat’s annual energy needs.

Thus making them Israel’s first solar powered wine producer.

Eyal Izrael, co-founder of the Carmey Avdat winery, said that the company intended to put the solar power to immediate use and that “thanks to Sunday’s excellent work installing our solar roof, our winery, starting with the 2009 vintage, will produce wine with the help of solar energy.  As a socially-responsible company, producing “green” wine was always a goal, and is an important step for us in reducing our carbon footprint and contributing to the reduction of greenhouse gasses emitted into the atmosphere each year.”

Taco Bell Goes Green with All Unnatural Ingredients

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taco-bell-greenLoyal GP readers know that there are many ways to cut a burger out of your life, from being a part-time vegetarian to vegging out on Meatless Mondays at Israel’s gourmet restaurants.

The Onion reports one more: the American fast food chain Taco Bell is going green by replacing all its ingredients with those grown in laboratories.

A “spokesperson” for the company told the fake news program that “At Taco Bell we have a long tradition of taking as little as possible from the natural world. Our ground beef for example has always been environmentally friendly. It’s 85% gluten filler, 8% petroleum based grease flavoring, but it’s always had 4% meat, real livestock… But with Taco Bells new green initiative, we’ve actually been able to replace that 4% meat with a simple chemical adhesive.”

Follow the link below to check the video out.

Taco Bell’s New Green Menu Takes No Ingredients From Nature

Anthropogenic — What Does THAT Mean?

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car exhaustWhen conversing with the “greenies” you may have come across the word “Anthropogenic” and wonder what it means…

anthropogenic |ˌanθrəpōˈjenik| is an adjective that describes something as a pollutant, chiefly environmental, that originates in human activity. So the CO2 from your car can be described as “Anthropogenic”, whereas the CO2 from your neighborhood Volcano is not.

Green Prophet Sees Aora's Solar Flower Power Fire Up in the Desert

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aora-flower-solar-energy

“In Jewish tradition, if someone has a coin, half will be used to buy bread and the other half for a flower. The gesture of giving a flower is nice, and soon we hope to provide many flowers in a variety of colors,” announced Haim Dotan, the architect of AORA’s new “Power Flower” at Kibbutz Samar.

On June 24, AORA Solar had its Kibbutz Samar Launch Event, to show off “flowery” new technology that generates 100kW of electrical power and 170kW of thermal power.

With an audience of around 250 journalists, investors, scientists, and curious individuals from around the world, the AORA team showed off their site and later signed agreements with Spanish and Australian firms to start introducing their technology outside of Israel.