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Reflections On A Day Hiking Through Jordan Valley's Wadi Qelt

Green Prophet Guest
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Reflections On A Day Hiking Through Jordan Valley's Wadi Qelt

Green Prophet recently wrote about the rise in environmental activism and awareness amongst Palestinians, including conservation biologist and educator, Sami Backleh. In this guest post, Sami, a resident of east Jerusalem, writes about the flora and fauna of Wadi Qelt in the Jordan Valley near Jericho. (Article originally published in This Week in Palestine.)

It was on the second of November that I decided to go hiking and bird watching in Wadi Qelt, a site that I always admired, not only because of its rich history, archaeology, and natural scenes, but also for being a goldmine of diverse flora and fauna, many of which form important elements of our valuable natural heritage.

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Strategic Solution's Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe

Green Prophet
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Strategic Solution's Floating Gas Pipes Could Avert Red-Dead Environmental Catastrophe

Those who have been following the Red-Dead canal proposal, and all its controversies, know that a lot is at stake. The Dead Sea is dying because natural estuaries, such as the Jordan River, Ein Gedi bottled spring water and rainwater are not making it to its shores. Politicians think that by carving a tunnel from the Red Sea all the way to the Dead Sea, Dead Sea water can be restocked easily and plentifully. Calling it the Peace Canal, they don’t consider the impact of such water as it passes through the desert landscape.

An Israeli company “Strategic Solutions” has announced a new technology that can transport seawater from the Med Sea to Dead Sea, using floating pipes filled partially with natural gas. According to the company, “this is a viable alternative to the canal/pipeline which is an ecological disaster but which has the backing of Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and World Bank. With this new technology it can be done cheaper, safer without impacting on the environment.”

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Jordan Authorities To Flag and Key Red Sea Green Beach Projects

Karin Kloosterman
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Jordan Authorities To Flag and Key Red Sea Green Beach Projects

coral bay beach hotel photoThe Red Sea is a wonder of the world.

Comparing to the Great Barrier Reef in terms of coral diversity and beauty, lack of environmental awareness in the Middle East (in Jordan, Israel and the countries below them), are causing the demise of coral and other marine life.

Now, a new global program that recognizes hotels and beaches meeting eco-standards is being adopted in Jordan, according to the Jordan Times.

They say it’s a first for the Middle East, but is Jordan really an obvious green leader?

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Turning Back The Clock With A DYI Bread Oven Helps Gazans Cook In Difficult Times

Karin Kloosterman
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Turning Back The Clock With A DYI Bread Oven Helps Gazans Cook In Difficult Times

gas stove invention gaza image photo

Green Prophet welcomes the first post of our new Palestinian writer Rami Almeghari. A contributor to The Electronic Intifada, IMEMC.org, and Free Speech Radio News, Rami is also a former senior English translator and editor-in-chief of the international press center of the Gaza-based Palestinian Information Service.

Rami Almeghari gaza writer photoWe first found Rami through a story he’d written about a new solar oven project in Gaza, where times of adversity have led to creative “solar” solutions that also happen to be green. “Don’t you know that life is called ‘green and sweet,’ according to God’s messenger, so improving the environment can make a change!” writes Rami.

Today is Rami’s first Green Prophet story. He introduces us to Abu Abdallah (pictured above by his oven) who has, as a response to Israel’s fuel restrictions to Gaza, developed a creative and “cleaner” oven used by Gazans some 50 years ago:

Due to lack of cooking gas in the Strip for the past three weeks, where Abu Abdallah and 1.5 million others live, this Palestinian man (who used to work as a carpenter in Israel before the border closure policy against Gaza in 2000 began) collected some used water small pipes, a vessel and a second-hand gas canister, in order to roast bread for his 12-member family.

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Alanna Mitchell's Dancing At The Dead Sea Is a Journey to the Heart of Environmental Crisis

James Murray-White
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Alanna Mitchell's Dancing At The Dead Sea Is a Journey to the Heart of Environmental Crisis

alanna alana mitchell dancing dead sea book review photo“My story gathering has led me all over the world. Each journey took me to a perfect example of one facet of the problem or one hint of a solution. I was near the end before I realised that I had looked for my answers on several of the world’s most forgotten islands, self-contained places that have a gift for prophecy…”

Alanna Mitchell is a great writer, an excellently capable and determined journalist, and most importantly, someone who cares about the state of the earth and all the species that inhabit it.

In her 2005 book ‘Dancing at the Dead Sea’, which grew out of winning an environmental journalist of the year award, Mitchell crossed the world and doggededly pursued leads and contacts to uncover some of the key environmental issues, in some of the key hotspots. This is a finely crafted and evocative tale of that journey, beginning in Jordan, on the banks of the Dead Sea, where she was collecting the award.

The award led to a residency at Oxford University in the UK, where her fascination with the work of Charles Darwin was able to flourish, and she was able to start walking in his footsteps. She writes as a talented interpreter of his theory for the modern green or eco-conscious audience, and weaves Darwin’s life and thought through her own journeys, both personal and professional.

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Learn From spud! On How To Carbon Offset Your Business

Karin Kloosterman
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Learn From spud! On How To Carbon Offset Your Business

spud! carbon offset guide truck photo

Speak to an average person in Israel who cares about protecting the environment, and they will cross their eyes will cross when you start speaking with them about carbon offsetting. While Israel does have a few carbon offset providers (the Good Energy Initiative is one — they powered Earth Hour in Tel Aviv, with their bikes!), and projects underway, only an esoteric group of policy makers, the odd business group, and activists are talking about it.

If the economic crisis in America spills over to Israel and the rest of the Middle East, which it probably will, it might take even longer for companies who are talking about going green (here we are mainly still attacking the concepts of recycling, composting, buying local, carrying fabric bags to the grocer), to take action. But Green Prophet proposes that Middle East companies consider making their businesses carbon neutral.

That is –– making business practices more efficient, and offsetting the rest through purchasing carbon credits. You’ll probably find green practices can also improve the bottom line. Now, over on Carbon Catalog, where I blog, I had the chance to interview spud! (see some of the guys from LA pictured above.)

spud! is a local online ordering and food delivery service in the West Coast US and Canada. I’ve reposted the interview here on Green Prophet as a short and quick guide for small companies on how to green their business. Carbon offsetting is good for PR, good for business and good for the planet.  What are you waiting for? Over the fold for the interview.

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Eco Rabbi: Parshat Vayetzei – Working Together

Jack Reichert
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Eco Rabbi: Parshat Vayetzei – Working Together

mountain, israel, sunset, vayetzei, eco rabbi picture

In this week’s segment Jacob leaves his parent’s home. Jacob just out-maneuvered Esau, his brother, for the birthright and now Esau wants revenge. Jacob hopes to stay with family in Haran. On his way there Jacob sets up camp in a special “place.” Sources explain that that place is holy and is either the Temple Mount in Jerusalem or Hevron. In order to protect himself from dangerous animals Jacob surrounds his head with stones from the area. That night he has a paradigm-shifting dream where God promises Jacob that he will be with him wherever he goes.

There is an interesting grammatical inconsistency in this text. When Jacob lies down to rest he takes stones from the area and places them around his head, but when he wakes up the text only mentions one stone. Genesis Rabba, a sixth century commentary, picks up on this and explain that the stones understood that Jacob was holy and a very special person. All of the stones wanted to support the head of this great man so they joined together into one stone.

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Kishon River 2? IDF NAHAL Infantry Unit Afflicted by Cancer–Causes Unknown

Daniel Pedersen
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Kishon River 2? IDF NAHAL Infantry Unit Afflicted by Cancer–Causes Unknown

idf nahal unit cancer image kishon river

The army unit I served in (way back when) was featured in tonight’s news broadcast for having cancer levels more than twice as high as other infantry units.  Channel 2 TV (Arutz 2) reported this evening (video, in Hebrew) that IDF’s Nachal infantry had 2.5 as many Hodgkin’s Lymphoma cases than either Paratroopers or Golani, the two main “competitor” infantry units.  This raised echoes of an earlier cancer cluster in the Navy Seal commandos who trained in the polluted Kishon River.

Levels of Cancer: According to the report, the army medical corps ignored reports from casualty officers about cancer cases in the unit for 8 years, declaring that the data was insufficient and not deserving of comments.  An investigation was begun only in the past few months, including the IDF, the Health Ministry, and a group of independent expert consultants.  The results?

Lymphoma cancer cases in the Nachal were 2.5 times higher than in other infantry units, a statistically significant difference, and all types of cancers were also higher in this unit, according to Micha Bar Chana, the chief cancer scientist in the Health Ministry.

How much higher? Among soldiers – warriors in top physical condition – who served between 1994 and 2004, lymphoma cases were
7 among paratrooper and Golani soldiers
17 among the Nachal soldiers, 2.5 times greater.

For all forms of cancer, there were 58 cases in the Nachal, compared with 43 cases in Golani and 47 among paratroopers.

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Hawaii Will Be First US State To Hook Up Shai Agassi's Electric Car

Green Prophet
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Hawaii Will Be First US State To Hook Up Shai Agassi's Electric Car

hawaii shai agassi electric car better place photo

Hot off the press –– According to the AP, Hawaii has unveiled plans to be first in the nation to roll out electric car stations statewide — a move the governor hailed as a major step toward weaning the islands off oil. This news follows a recent declaration that California cities will be entering into a similar $1 billion project with the electric car provider, Better Place.

Hawaii currently imports foreign oil to meet 90 percent of its energy needs. Hawaii going electric is great news, because one-third of that oil is used to power cars and buses on island streets.

Gov. Linda Lingle said Tuesday this new program, developed by the Israeli Shai Agassi of Better Place, would help Hawaii meet its goal of slashing fossil fuel use 70 percent by 2030. In a press conference, he said: “This is the preferred future. Today is a part of the execution of our energy independence, and our getting off the addiction to oil.”

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Urban Design: The Traffic Circle as a Space for Art

Hannah Katsman
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Urban Design: The Traffic Circle as a Space for Art

Petach Tikva traffic circle art image

According to surveys, Petach Tikva is the number one destination for young couples purchasing apartments, with a population that is growing at an annual rate of 2.4 percent.  As part of a public improvement campaign before the recent municipal elections, the city began two new traffic circles. One is near my home at a dangerous intersection, where drivers routinely threaten pedestrians by making illegal turns.

I’m pleased that traffic will slow, but I suspect the city’s main concern is traffic patterns and not safety. A circle will provide an additional way for cars to cross the main road. My daughter, though, worries that in times of heavy traffic the circle will make it difficult to cross the street, as she won’t know whether a car is headed toward her until the last minute.

Neighbors on a side street sued the city because they feared increased traffic and noise. Traffic violations don’t seem to concern them. They managed to have the work stopped on a technicality.

Then we have the aesthetic issue, as every traffic circle creates a new public space to be filled. Here’s how my friend Victoria describes one notable sculpture: “An astronaut holding a giant eyeball, standing on a pea pod that is growing out of a kettle.”

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Ben Gurion University to Host International Desertification Conference

Green Prophet
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Ben Gurion University to Host International Desertification Conference

ben gurion university desertification conference image

Convening at the Ben Gurion University’s Sede Boqer campus on December 14-17, over 350 people from 40 countries are expected to meet and map out ways to combat desertification around the world. The four-day gathering is the largest international conference ever held in Israel focused on an environmental topic, and probably the largest international academic forum ever on desertification. Delegates will be coming from as close as Jordan, and as far away as China, North Africa, India and Pakistan.

Amid warnings by the United Nations of a looming desertification crisis in both the developed and underdeveloped world, the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will be hosting a major conference aimed at examining new ideas to combat the phenomenon.

Beyond the academic and practical aspects of the conference, the forum will also serve as a meeting place for scientists, farmers and bureaucrats from across the globe to share their experiences and exchange ideas.

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US and Israel Expect to Launch $20 Million Annual Energy Co-op Agreement At Eilat Conference

Karin Kloosterman
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US and Israel Expect to Launch $20 Million Annual Energy Co-op Agreement At Eilat Conference


(Barak Obama meets Israel’s President Shimon Peres)

Conferences on CSR, conferences for greening Islam, conferences honoring Al Gore. Israelis love them. And now that clean technology and energy is becoming a national priority (just ask Shimon Peres), green-themed conferences are popping up around Israel like sabra fruit on a desert cactus. Get out your day planners, and your hybrid engines purring: The latest is a 3-day conference, The Eilat-Eilot International Renewable Energy Conference, next February 17-19 in Eilat. (That Israeli city north of the Sinai Peninsula).

According to organizers, the meet will feature an “unveiling of plans” for a 200 MW renewable energy center in Timna as well as “major announcements” from international solar power companies. Woo hoo! As part of the green festivities, the US-Israeli Energy Cooperation Act, passed two years ago by the US Congress, will finally come into effect.

The cooperation act will fund eligible joint ventures between US and Israeli businesses, as well as establish the International Energy Advisory Board.

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Will Shell Oil Strike a Mega-Deal in Oil Shale With Jordan?

Ilana Teitelbaum
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Will Shell Oil Strike a Mega-Deal in Oil Shale With Jordan?

shell oil image

The Kingdom of Jordan may be about to finalize a mega-deal with Shell Oil for the extraction of oil shale on 22,000 square meters of land–almost one quarter of the country. Some 40 billion tons of shale oil are believed to exist in the central and southern regions.

Natural Resources Authority (NRA) Director Maher Hijazin told The Jordan Times,“We are close to finishing negotiations and we expect the agreement to go before Parliament for approval within the next month.”

Shell, meanwhile, is staying mum about the reports. And well they may, because oil shale is a controversial topic, especially in the context of today’s heightened awareness of climate change.

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Is the Israeli Media Going Green?

Michael Green
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Is the Israeli Media Going Green?

Israeli media green image

As Green Prophet nears its first birthday, we’re are pleased to have brought you hundreds of stories about environmental issues and activism in Israel and the Middle East over the last 12 months.

We’re glad to be playing our part in the mushrooming of environmental awareness in the region. According to data from Yifat Media Research, environmental reporting in the media rose by 300% in the last decade, including a 25% increase in 2007 alone (reported by the Ministry of Environmental Protection’s Sharon Achdut in the Ministry’s latest Israel Environmental Bulletin.)

Sidelined for many years by the Israel’s traditional three national priorities (security, security and security), the increase in media coverage is a sure sign of ‘green issues’ moving into mainstream public consciousness, as demonstrated by candidates vying for the green vote in last month’s municipal elections.

“In the beginning of this decade, environmental stories only hit the front pages under exceptional circumstance,” writes Achdut. “However, much has changed in recent years, with environmental awareness on the rise among all sectors of Israeli society… The mass media has followed suit, generating even greater public interest in environmental issues.”

It’s reassuring to see that Middle Eastern journalists and editors are catching up with activists, NGOs and scientists – and finally taking the environment seriously. Hopefully these green words will be translated into action.

:: ‘Greening the media’, Israel Environment Bulletin, Vol 34, November 2008.

Photo: metamuro.

Green Prophet Interviews Green Movement Spokesman Rami Livni

Daniella Cheslow
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Green Prophet Interviews Green Movement Spokesman Rami Livni

Rami Livni image

Eight months ago, Israeli environmental veterans founded Tnua Yeruka, or the Green Movement. Led by Eran Ben-Yemini, the founder of the student environmental movement Megama Yeruka, and by veteran Israeli environmentalist Alon Tal, Tnua Yeruka aims to marry the values of the green worldview with those of traditional left-wing parties, such as reducing the gaps between the rich and poor and negotiating with the Palestinians, Syria and Lebanon. The full party platform is here.

Rami Livni image

Green Prophet sat with Green Movement spokesperson Rami Livni last week in a café on Tel Aviv’s King George Street. Currently the Media Project Coordinator at the Heschel Center, Livni has an MA in literature from Tel Aviv University and was foreign editor at Haaretz. In jeans and a light green t-shirt bearing the Green Movement logo, Livni explained the history and vision of his party.

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