Page 717 – Green Prophet

Each week Orthodox Jews read one segment of the Five Books of Moses so that they can complete the entire Five Books within the course of a year. In this week’s Eco-Rabbi post I discuss a Jewish approach to meat.

I’m a vegatarian… sympathizer. (Seriously, could you really eat lamb after looking at that picture?) Yeah, I couldn’t go without eating meat. But I understand the importance of respecting the animal that gave up its life to be eaten.

Down the block from where I live there are regular hafganot, demonstrations, against the slaughter of innocent animals so that us evil meat eaters can have an unhealthily full stomach.

Personally, I think that they’d do a lot more for the well-being of animals if they would protest the mistreating of animals, and not the eating of them. Sure, the mistreating is addressed at the demonstrations, but I think the message is lost in the presentation. I would certainly sign a petition to that extent, instead of what happens now, where I just get hungry for a burger when I see them there…

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Get Green Website Helps Israelis Go Green

Lifestyle

Karen Chernick

March 26, 2009

Do you dream of an Israeli-based website that concentrates information about all the great local eco-friendly businesses into one virtual green portal? That provides reviews, offers coupons, and even has a membership club with a monthly raffle of organic vegetables? A website that arranges Israeli eco events on an interactive virtual calendar?

Well wake up! As Herzl said, “if you will it, it is no dream.” And thanks to co-creators of a new Get Green website, Hila Rom and Dana Chapnik, we can be dreamy-eyed while wide awake.

A first look at the website turned up many familiar businesses that we’ve featured here on Green Prophet – such as Buddha Burgers, Nagaya, Katanchic, and Baby Organic. But a closer look revealed that Get Green’s reach is far and wide in the realm of environmentally conscious businesses. The directory of businesses is divided into categories that include the standard green businesses but also green architecture, organic deliveries, permaculture, green books, and solar energy, among others.

So how does the Get Green website help with the bigger picture? In Hila Rom’s own words, “We believe in practical ecology and the power to choose, or the power of our money. If companies see that people are willing to buy green products, then they’ll start making them. When you have the information, you can make the right choice.”

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How to save the turtles

Travel

Karin Kloosterman

March 26, 2009

Our dear friend Andreas Weil from EcoOcean sent us the YouTube link of the new ad created by the agency Shalmor Avnon Amichay/Young & Rubicam.

The ad was donated by the agency to support EcoOcean, a non-profit marine education organization. This company, says Weil, cares about the environment and donated the ad as part of their mission to help raise awareness about the environment in Israel.

Employing a baby turtle, the commercial hits our emotions right where it counts. And the Hebrew at the end reads: “Life Is In Your Hands.”

Watch the commercial, visit EcoOcean. Or read about their work in marine conservation in Arabic through this link EcoOcean. Look around for Hebrew too.

If you are ever thinking about donating money to an NGO in Israel, EcoOcean would be one of my top 5 pics.

Water Relationship Possibilities Between Israel and Gazans In Better Days

Business

Maurice Picow

March 26, 2009

Water Relationship Possibilities Between Israel and Gazans In Better Days

As if to add to their current misery, the 1.5 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are now facing an acute water shortage due to ground water contamination. These findings were made in a research project recently conducted by three Gaza academics: Dr. Ziad Abu Hein, head of Environment and Earth Sciences Department at the Islamic University in Gaza, Dr. Khalil Tbeil, lecturer at the Faculty of Agriculture at Al-Azhar University in Gaza, and Dr Midhat Abu An-Na’im, of the Geology Department at Al-Azhar University.

The three scientists published their findings in a research paper which received an award at a competition sponsored by the Saudi government’s Sultan Bin Abdul-Aziz research competition and submitted to a conference on water conservation being held in Egypt, where the paper won a third place award.

The three scientists were not allowed to attend the conference, however due to the blockade being imposed on Gaza by both Egypt and Israel.

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Israeli Trees Go Hightech and Alert Farmers With SMS When Thirsty

Tech

Karin Kloosterman

March 25, 2009

Israeli Trees Go Hightech and Alert Farmers With SMS When Thirsty

It sounds like a fantasy of Audrey II, the colorful man-eating plant from the Little Shop of Horrors movie: Israeli scientists have developed a new device that taps into the stem of a tree and when water levels are low, the tree can text a message, email the farmer, or turn on the irrigation tap to water itself.

Measuring electric conductivity inside the tree, a parameter of water stress, the Israeli researchers Eran Raveh and Arieh Nadler from the Volcani Institute of Agriculture, say that Californian citrus and mango farmers, banana plantations and vintners have already expressed interest in the technology, which can be programmed by the farmers themselves.

Now developing it into a product, Raveh tells ISRAEL21c that it will take about three to four years until the novel device is on the shelves: “We have a water crisis here in Israel and need a way to irrigate more accurately,” says Raveh.

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Israel Environment Show Broadcast in Israel

Lifestyle

Green Prophet

March 25, 2009

Israel Environment Show Broadcast in Israel

A new television series, “Sovev Israel” (translated as both Around Israel and Israel Environment), was launched on March 22, 2009 in Israel.

The series was produced by Israel Educational Television in cooperation with the Geography Instruction Inspectorate in the Ministry of Education and with the assistance of numerous organizations, including the Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Nature and Parks Authority, the Jewish National Fund, the Israel Electric Corporation, the Center for Educational Technology, the Israel Geographical Society, the Council for a Beautiful Israel and the Geological Museum in Ramat Hasharon.

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Searching For A Clean Stream In Israel, Or Anywhere

Travel

Maurice Picow

March 24, 2009

Searching For A Clean Stream In Israel, Or Anywhere

(A Christian woman about to be baptised in Israel’s Jordan River.)

Sunday was World Water Day, and lately with all the adverse publicity regarding the cleanliness of Israel’s streams and rivers, I’ve often wondered if there are any that might be considered as safe to drink out of, even if one were in dire straits and suffering from severe thirst.

While some appear to be running clear and clean, especially those on the Golan Heights such as Nahal Hermon and Nahal Yahudiya, what one would find in the waters of these placid streams, if samples were sent to a laboratory, would be a bit disturbing, to say the least.

Even Nahal David and Ein Gedi, those streams in the Ein Gedi Nature Preserve, where the biblical David drank form when hiding in the wilderness from King Saul, are considered as too polluted to drink from, unless treated.

And as far as the Jordan River, one of Israel’s major suppliers of water to the, Kinneret, it’s waters are also substantially polluted after receiving a good portion of Lebanon’s raw sewage and other pollutants from the Lithani River, one of the Jordan’s major sources.

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Canadian Organization Introduces Household Grey Water Recycling System for the Middle East

Business

Rachel Bergstein

March 24, 2009

As the global community celebrated World Water Day on Sunday, many eyes were on the Middle East. The region’s ongoing water crisis is a cause for serious economic, political, and – most importantly – humanitarian concern.

So it’s great to hear that, as one of many possible solutions to the ongoing scarcity, Canada’s International Development Research Centre (IDRC) introduced a kit designed to treat and reuse household wastewater at the World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.

The kit, which will mainly benefit rural areas of the Middle East and North Africa, will treat grey water, non-industrial wastewater that comes from dish washing, laundry, and bathing, and comprises 50-80 percent of domestic water consumption.

Hammou Laamrani, project coordinator for the IDRC’s Regional Water Demand Initiative, told IRIN News, “It is a very simple, easy to manipulate, inexpensive water treatment kit which can be handled without special training and technological skills, and can be used in the context of poor and marginalized communities.”

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British Council Israel Initiates Energy Exchange With Turkish Experts

James Murray-White

March 23, 2009

British Council Israel Initiates Energy Exchange With Turkish Experts

Those clever clever folk over at the British Council Israel are this week hosting a live video conference with British energy expert Francis McGowan and an audience in Turkey, all from the Council offices in Ramat Gan.

Francis McGowan, senior lecturer in politics from the University of Sussex, is a member of the Sussex energy group, based at the University, which aims to “identify ways of achieving the transition to sustainable, low carbon energy systems whilst addressing other important policy objectives such as energy security” through cross-disciplinary research and dialogue with policy-makers and practitioners.

It’s not so clear from the press release whether McGowan will be here or in Turkey, but he will be speaking about ‘European Energy policy in a changing environment’, and the two communities will be linked by a live video link.

The event is on Wednesday, March 25th, at 6 PM (18:00), and is at the British Council headquarters at Hahilazon 12, Ramat Gan, as one of their Cafe Scientifique events. Further info from them at 03 611-3623

::British Council Israel

Beer Sheva's Earth's Promise Offers an Alternative Spring Break

Travel

Karen Chernick

March 23, 2009

Beer Sheva's Earth's Promise Offers an Alternative Spring Break

For those of you familiar with the typical American college student spring break, you know that it generally entails transporting an Animal House environment to exotic locations such as Cancun, Fort Lauderdale, the Bahamas, or the Carribean. However there has been a movement in recent years to offer students an alternative to these stereotypical spring breaks, in equally exotic locations – such as central America, eastern Europe, and yes, even Beer Sheva.

Starting tomorrow, Earth’s Promise (Shvuat ha-Adamah) and the Jewish National Fund will team up to allow alternative spring breakers to take part in expanding the Beer Sheva NGO’s “Setting Strong Roots” community garden program.

The “Setting Strong Roots” initiative is only one of the programs led by Earth’s Promise, which we featured here on Green Prophet a couple of months ago. This particular program helps the large Ethiopian immigrant community in Beer Sheva with their transition to Israel by building community gardens in unused urban plots. The benefit is both social and environmental – community ties are strengthened at the same time as local produce and plants are grown. (See the photo of a community garden above.)

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On Peacocks, Eggplants and Urban Sustainability In A Tel Aviv University Community Garden

Cities

Green Prophet

March 22, 2009

On Peacocks, Eggplants and Urban Sustainability In A Tel Aviv University Community Garden

The Porter School of Environmental Studies (PSES) at Tel Aviv University supports a new garden initiative: How do you stop peacocks from the neighboring garden, that just love the vegetables in your own little hard-won patch of green? Or the mole rat that happily digs its tunnels under the roots? (Especially when you firmly believe that every creature has a right to live and thrive…)

How do you convince a busy, overstressed cafeteria manager to take the trouble and separate organic wastes just for you? How do you build “herb spirals” and “lasagna beds” to maximize crops in a city setting? This is just a small sample of the numerous challenges faced by a handful of committed, environmentally aware students from Tel Aviv University, who set out to create the University’s first sustainable urban garden.

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Smell and Taste Co Frutarom, A Notorious Polluter in Israel, Buys Large US Company

Business

Karin Kloosterman

March 22, 2009

Smell and Taste Co Frutarom, A Notorious Polluter in Israel, Buys Large US Company

According to a press release issued by the company, Israel’s Frutarom acquires the business of the American flavors company Flavors Specialty Inc. (FSI) in a deal worth $17.2 million. This is good news for the bleak economy. And for the food and beverage industry, we suppose. But the big question Green Prophet has is what is Frutarom doing to improve its stinky environmental record?

Time and time again, Frutarom in Israel is being targeted for severe odor nuisances. The Ministry of Environment here enforced a pollution charge just last month: In mid-February 2009, the Haifa Magistrates Court convicted Frutarom of causing severe odor nuisances, in violation of the Business Licensing Law and the Abatement of Nuisances Law.

Last month the company was held accountable for the mystery maple syrup smell wafting through the streets of Manhattan, especially in the Upper West Side. The smell was emanating from Frutarum’s New Jersey plant, investigators tracked down, and the maple smell was from fenugreek, used as a health supplement, and also in the Yemenite gooey dip called hilbe.

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Burj Tower In Dubai A Steep Investment During Tough Economic And Environmental Times

Cities

Maurice Picow

March 21, 2009

Burj Tower In Dubai A Steep Investment During Tough Economic And Environmental Times

It seems that the Emirate state of Dubai is continuing to construct projects that are not only grand but totally unique as well (see its wind-powered skyscraper here).

Not only do they have world’s first indoor snow ski slope, the world’s most modern and advanced airport, and most luxurious hotel The Dubai Atlantis (with “Bridge” suites going for $25,000 per night), Dubai now can boast the world’s tallest building the 2,684 foot Burj Dubai Tower (pictured left).

Not only is this unique building special for its architectural design (it was built in sections over a 4 and half year period, beginning in September, 2004), it was constructed to withstand the extreme temperature ranges of this Persian Gulf city-state, where external temperatures during the summer can average more than 50 degrees C (122 degrees F).

Although only a portion of the building is actually composed of either offices or residential properties, that portion alone is higher than what used to be known as the Sears Towers in the American city of Chicago.

The building has been specially designed to withstand both moderate earthquake tremors as well as wind resistance to its upper portions. Even so, the top portions of the more than half a mile high edifice have a wind sway of 1.2 meter or 3.9 ft. (And previous reports we’ve covered suggest that no serious environmental impact assessments have been done prior to undertaking these massive land-altering construction projects.)

One might wonder why such a building was built, especially since office suites in the tower go for $4,000 a sq. ft. and residential apartments for a mere $3,500 a sq. ft. But this is just part of the entire scope of this location, which is trying to be the most modern and unique in the world.

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Israel to Compensate Jordan for Polluted River Water With the Sea of Galilee

Business

Rachel Bergstein

March 20, 2009

Israel’s Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). As compensation for polluting the Yarmouk River, Israel will pump freshwater from the lake into Jordan

As if the regional water scarcity wasn’t bad enough already, Israel will soon begin compensating Jordan with freshwater after oil waste and sewage contaminated the shared Yarmouk River water supply.

After detecting pollution from the Israeli side of the river last week, the Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation suspended pumping from the King Abdullah Canal, which supplies Amman with one-third of its total water demand.

The ministry also filed an official complaint against the Israeli government, claming a violation of Jordan’s 1994 peace treaty with Israel. According to the agreement, Jordan receives 60,000 cubic meters of water daily from Israel’s Lake Kinneret during the month of March. Jordan Valley Authority (JVA) Secretary General Musa Jamaani said Israel will pump up to 180,000 cubic meters from the Kinneret to Jordan, and will pump another 50-60,000 cubic meters this summer.

Mr. Jamaani also indicated that, although the relevant authorities will take steps to prevent similar incidents in the future, there are no safety guarantees. He said, “If it reoccurs, we will close down the waterways and get our compensation. If Israel is fine with supplying us extra water in return for what it pollutes, it’s up to them… the pressure is on them rather than on us.”

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Prepare For Major "Solar Power" Event As Jews "Bless the Sun"

Lifestyle

Karin Kloosterman

March 20, 2009

Prepare For Major "Solar Power" Event As Jews "Bless the Sun"

Just once in 28 years.

That’s how often religious Jews bless the sun.

While observant Jews bless their food before they eat it, bless first fruits of the season, trees, and guard the cycles of the moon “religiously” to mark their holidays, the Blessing of the Sun occurs only once every 28 years.

The event marking a natural and spiritual phenomenon for Jewish people, will happen on April 8.

According to tradition and (Chabad.org), the blessing of the sun marks the point in time when the sun returns to the exact point in the sky it occupied on the same day of the week during the creation of the world.

So this April, millions of Jews from all over the world are expected to gather to commemorate this day.

Sara Goldstein, a 26-year-old New Zealander will be one of the first to be able to fulfill this commandment this year. “To be the first to bless the sun is quite a privilege,” she said, predicting that thousands of backpackers from Israel along with members of the local community will gather in New Zealand to mark the date.

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