In the modern nutrition universe, that level of commitment deserves an applause. But for those who don’t live in a Nordic fishing village, the nutrition company Zinzino has built its omega-3 research and formulations around these principles, combining biomarker testing, antioxidant protection and traceable sourcing across both sustainably harvested small-fish oils and a vegan marine-microalgae alternative.
Dubai Municipality has set up 12 AI-powered "Ehsan Stations" to safely and officially feed strays. The city also officially supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs.
A new project in Spain shows how digital twins, which are virtual replicas of real environments, are becoming powerful tools for protecting ecosystems.
In the modern nutrition universe, that level of commitment deserves an applause. But for those who don’t live in a Nordic fishing village, the nutrition company Zinzino has built its omega-3 research and formulations around these principles, combining biomarker testing, antioxidant protection and traceable sourcing across both sustainably harvested small-fish oils and a vegan marine-microalgae alternative.
Dubai Municipality has set up 12 AI-powered "Ehsan Stations" to safely and officially feed strays. The city also officially supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs.
A new project in Spain shows how digital twins, which are virtual replicas of real environments, are becoming powerful tools for protecting ecosystems.
In the modern nutrition universe, that level of commitment deserves an applause. But for those who don’t live in a Nordic fishing village, the nutrition company Zinzino has built its omega-3 research and formulations around these principles, combining biomarker testing, antioxidant protection and traceable sourcing across both sustainably harvested small-fish oils and a vegan marine-microalgae alternative.
Dubai Municipality has set up 12 AI-powered "Ehsan Stations" to safely and officially feed strays. The city also officially supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs.
A new project in Spain shows how digital twins, which are virtual replicas of real environments, are becoming powerful tools for protecting ecosystems.
In the modern nutrition universe, that level of commitment deserves an applause. But for those who don’t live in a Nordic fishing village, the nutrition company Zinzino has built its omega-3 research and formulations around these principles, combining biomarker testing, antioxidant protection and traceable sourcing across both sustainably harvested small-fish oils and a vegan marine-microalgae alternative.
Dubai Municipality has set up 12 AI-powered "Ehsan Stations" to safely and officially feed strays. The city also officially supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs.
A new project in Spain shows how digital twins, which are virtual replicas of real environments, are becoming powerful tools for protecting ecosystems.
In the modern nutrition universe, that level of commitment deserves an applause. But for those who don’t live in a Nordic fishing village, the nutrition company Zinzino has built its omega-3 research and formulations around these principles, combining biomarker testing, antioxidant protection and traceable sourcing across both sustainably harvested small-fish oils and a vegan marine-microalgae alternative.
Dubai Municipality has set up 12 AI-powered "Ehsan Stations" to safely and officially feed strays. The city also officially supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs.
A new project in Spain shows how digital twins, which are virtual replicas of real environments, are becoming powerful tools for protecting ecosystems.
In the modern nutrition universe, that level of commitment deserves an applause. But for those who don’t live in a Nordic fishing village, the nutrition company Zinzino has built its omega-3 research and formulations around these principles, combining biomarker testing, antioxidant protection and traceable sourcing across both sustainably harvested small-fish oils and a vegan marine-microalgae alternative.
Dubai Municipality has set up 12 AI-powered "Ehsan Stations" to safely and officially feed strays. The city also officially supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs.
A new project in Spain shows how digital twins, which are virtual replicas of real environments, are becoming powerful tools for protecting ecosystems.
In the modern nutrition universe, that level of commitment deserves an applause. But for those who don’t live in a Nordic fishing village, the nutrition company Zinzino has built its omega-3 research and formulations around these principles, combining biomarker testing, antioxidant protection and traceable sourcing across both sustainably harvested small-fish oils and a vegan marine-microalgae alternative.
Dubai Municipality has set up 12 AI-powered "Ehsan Stations" to safely and officially feed strays. The city also officially supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs.
A new project in Spain shows how digital twins, which are virtual replicas of real environments, are becoming powerful tools for protecting ecosystems.
In the modern nutrition universe, that level of commitment deserves an applause. But for those who don’t live in a Nordic fishing village, the nutrition company Zinzino has built its omega-3 research and formulations around these principles, combining biomarker testing, antioxidant protection and traceable sourcing across both sustainably harvested small-fish oils and a vegan marine-microalgae alternative.
Dubai Municipality has set up 12 AI-powered "Ehsan Stations" to safely and officially feed strays. The city also officially supports Trap-Neuter-Return (TNR) programs.
A new project in Spain shows how digital twins, which are virtual replicas of real environments, are becoming powerful tools for protecting ecosystems.
In a few hours Jews in Israel will start the annual holiday Yom Kippur, and a day-long fast. It is by default, the greenest day of the year in Israel. For more than 24 hours, starting at sunset tonight, Jewish people will not only refrain from eating, but driving, shopping, wearing leather (and body lotion), taking showers and using modern day conveniences of life like computers and TVs.
For those readers about to participate in tonight’s Yom Kippur fast, Green Prophet Daniella Cheslow offers up many reasons why we need to think again about food production in this weeks ‘eco-reads’ review:
Paul Roberts may be the only food writer capable of swinging from prehistoric man gathering berries to a doomsday scenario ten years from now when avian flu slaughters humans by the millions. In The End of Food (390 pp) Roberts takes the long route through the history of food domestication and industrialization to see how humans built a modern system that has created a billion obese people even as another billion are starving.
If Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma was about how he felt upon looking at towering corn silos and polyculture farms, Paul Roberts’s The End of Food is about how different elements of American and global food production are all enmeshed in one massive system lurching toward disaster. He writes about Africa’s enduring food crises:
“For decades, the operating assumption of the aid community was that no matter how dysfunctional a country’s food system might be, it would eventually respond to the right combination of policies and technologies and join the global food system. Such an outcome may still be possible for a country like Kenya. But we also now understand that food insecurity comes not simply from bad government, fickle aid strategies, and postcolonialism, but also from the pressures of a burgeoning population coming up against natural constraints such as poor soils, scarce water, and a changing climate.”
Roberts is an expert weaver of economic numbers with journalistic storytelling. He goes where few food writers have gone before, such as Chinese agricultural expos and Japanese rice paddies fertilized by duck manure. He also details the Cuban agriculture devolution, which occurred in the late 1980s as the Soviet Union stopped exporting cheap oil and oil-based fertilizers to the Caribbean island, leaving it to retool the food economy for local production.
About 500 bodies wait submerged in a Philippine ferry –– ironically named the Princess of the Stars –– until divers and authorities feel it is safe to proceed. The ferry capsized en route to Manila in June after being hit by a typhoon, killing an estimated 750 people. Only 56 people survived the accident, while most of those who didn’t are still trapped underwater.
An environment group — EcoWaste coalition — has urged the government to ship the toxic pesticide back to Israel. The group said the chemical poses a grave threat to its handlers, transporters and members of the community where it will be stored.
The Jewish Day of Repentance, Yom Kippur, is a day of introspection and self-evaluation. While doing so make sure not to sin in the green realm. On a day that no one showers and most people are out of the house for most of the day, in synagogue, there is a relatively low eco-print. But there are a few areas to be aware of:
Check ahead of time when the break will be and set your air-conditioner’s timer to match. It’s a shame to waste on such a day.
Same with lights, no need to leave them on the whole time. Many modern houses have timers int he fuse box. You can easily set your timers so that the waste in minimum.
On the flip side be careful not to be over-wasteful as well. While you will probably be hungry from not eating all day it is easy to over-compensate with wastefulness when one has been frugal the entire day.
While contemplating ways in which you can improve how you treat others think as well about how to improve your relationship with our home – Earth.
Since 1982, the American Jewish Communities’ Project Interchange has been giving a first-hand introduction of Israel and its regional historical and contemporary challenges to current and future United States and international leaders. This past mission has been focused on the greens.
Just five weeks into the job Stephanie Hillman, Greenpeace Mediterranean’s brand new project director, came to check out one of the countries in her region of responsibility.
Historic garden and cottage at blarney castle and gardens center in Cork, Ireland
I am delighted to be in County Cork, in the truly green Republic of Eire – a place I lived in for roughly 5 years some years ago – up in the Northern wilds of County Donegal, mainly.
The Constitution of Ireland of 1937, provides that Ireland (or Éire in Irish) is the official name of the State and following the enactment of the Republic of Ireland Act of 1948, in 1949, Ireland became a Republic.
Following on from a fellow prophet’s recent posting on the green initiatives of New Jersey, I’m curious to see exactly where Eire is on the green scale of actual practical initiatives in greening up its environment, as well as being a green and wet environment (although no Irish drizzle yet: we seem to have arrived on the only day of Irish summertime!).
My first observation is the lack of plastic bags being carried by shoppers in the streets. About 5 years ago, the Irish Government brought in the world’s first legislation to reduce and eventually ban plastic bags. Activists and Governments around the world (including the Knesset) have been watching the Irish example to see how the political action would work in practise.
Over 4 days, carrying out random observations in Cork City centre, I saw fewer plastic bags being carried than I expected to. They seem to have been replaced by either cotton bags or one off paper bags from the store, which is better, but not the ideal solution.
In a health food store, I was shocked to see the customer in front of me being offered a plastic bag. I asked the store manager how the scheme was working, and she felt the current charge of 22 cents (a cent is the small change of the Euro, which would be roughly 1 NIS, or thereabouts) was working, and, apart from the elderly gentleman ahead of me – a regular customer apparently – was deterring shoppers from taking plastic bags on every trip. Would that it were the environmental incentive that deterred them, rather than the economic!
A labyrinth in County Cork
Despite arriving after 2 weeks of heavy rain across Eire, and visible greenness everywhere I looked, water use and conservation is also a huge issue here. I learnt that due to a water poisoning scare recently, householders are rushing to get expensive filters fitted to their taps.
Most of the populated areas of the country have moved away from household or community wells to group schemes, where the price of water is regulated, and the system is supposedly monitored, until agricultural runoff gets into the system, and the filters clog up.
The Irish are very mobilised on such issues – an example is the group Sustainable Clonakilty (Clon is a fair sized town in County Cork), which campaigns on water, climate change, urbanisation and green education amongst other issues.
Transport is another key issue in the Republic. The so-called ‘Celtic Tiger’ or economic upswing in Eire over the past 10 years has brought business and tourism to a previously poor Country. The airports in Cork, Shannon (near Limerick) and Dublin particularly are expanding, and flights bring in thousands of people daily for work and pleasure. The advent of cheap air travel means a daily commute between Cork and London is possible – but at the long-term expense of a once pristine environment.
Take a slow ferry in County Cork
Getting there by ferry is fun and slow, and also has an environmental impact, with oil and carbon spewed out at sea instead.
With a population in the Irish Republic of 4 million, Ireland has a smaller population than Israel, but is spread over a larger land mass. Island life brings certain unique environmental and economic issues to a community, and it’s clear that the Irish Government has pioneered some green initiatives, and yet is slow to respond in other cases.
For instance, the agricultural lobby is huge in Ireland, and has a lot of power and influence inside the Dail (Irish Parliament). On my desk I have a review copy of ‘The Environmental Movement in Ireland’ by Liam Leonard, a distinguished green academic and activist at Galway University. Comments and links welcome from Ireland, Israel and beyond!
It has been estimated that a single gram of dog waste can contain 23 million fecal coliform bacteria, which are known to cause cramps, diarrhea, intestinal illness, and serious kidney disorders in humans. EPA even estimates that two or three days’ worth of droppings from a population of about 100 dogs would contribute enough bacteria to temporarily close a bay, and all watershed areas within 20 miles of it, to swimming and shell fishing.
Aside from being bad for your health it isn’t much better for your garden. Dog excrement does not make good fertilizer. It is actually toxic to your lawn, causing burns and unsightly discoloring. If you leave it in the streets, even if it does not end up on someone’s shoes, it will inevitably be washed away and more often than not ends up in the wrong places.
So clean up after Fido. The ideal is to flush it with your own in biodegradable bags. The runner-up option is tossing a biodegradable poop bag in the trash; composting dog poop is controversial, since its bacteria could make you sick if it’s spread on your veggie garden.
Under a six-month trial program residents are being asked to voluntarily bring their dogs into a city veterinarian who will take a saliva sample from the dogs to gather DNA. The sample will be sent to a lab in order to assemble a database of dog DNA. The registry will enable the municipality to identify dog feces left on sidewalks. Workers will just bag a sample of the offending material when they find it underfoot, mail it into the lab for identification, and a fine will be sent on to the dog’s registered owner.
But, the program comes with benefits for the animals’ caretakers as well. Coupons for pet food and toys will be distributed to the owners of registered dogs whose feces isn’t found on Petach Tikva sidewalks. The city’s chief veterinarian, Tika Bar-On, came up with the idea for the experiment and says her “goal is to get the residents involved, and tell them that together, we can make our environment clean.”
Bar-On told reporters she hopes the canine DNA registry will further research on canine genetic diseases, aid in identifying pedigrees and help identify stray pooches. That last part means dog owners wouldn’t need to put electronic tags in their dogs if the program were to become widespread.
If the program works, it could spread rapidly – and submitting a doggie DNA sample could become mandatory in many municipalities. Australia’s largest DNA testing company, Genetic Technologies, has already submitted proposals to implement the scheme in several cities Down Under and several Sydney council-members have already spoken out in favor of the idea. Cities in America and Europe are likely to see similar registries should the Israeli and Australian programs prove effective.
After celebrating Rosh Hashana sustainably this past week (even making pomegranate-nut salad for that extra special touch), some of us may be looking forward on our calendars and wondering how to celebrate the next holiday in an environmentally friendly way. Yom Kippur is already, by default, observed in a green way due to the complete refrain from use of cars and reduction in electrical usage because no televised or audio entertainment is available.
Back in January, I took a friend to the open food market in the Hatikva neighborhood of Tel Aviv, a run-down area near the Central Bus Station that used to be the home of Jews from Iraq and Yemen but of late has also seen a lot of Russian immigrants and foreign workers. We were looking for kubbeh, or Kurdish meatball soup, which in Hatikva is supposed to be fantastic.
As we walked through the market, we were shocked to see butchers there peeling the skin off goat heads and selling the skulls, offering pig feet in the glass cases, and hawking a whole array of other untraditional cuts of meat. Of course, this was only shocking because most meat vendors in Israel, and certainly the supermarkets, sell a short list of cuts, such as entrecote steak and sirloin for beef, chicken breasts and legs and lamb shoulder and leg. I don’t know what they do with the animals’ heads, feet or innards, which despite containing valuable nutrients seem to revolt most Israelis who can afford to avoid them. The result is a pickiness for choice cuts that forces more animals to be killed for the same volume of protein.
It is customary on the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashana, this past Tuesday and Wednesday) to have apples with honey to bring a sweet new year. In honor of this custom I would like to list several benefits of this wonderous sweetener. Being green is about being healthy to the world around you, as well as to yourself. Aside from the extra calories, honey beats sugar, from a health standpoint, hands down.
Honey is not refined like sugar is, and so it contains a more complex array of nutrients that you can not only taste (the “honey” taste) but is better for you. Honey also has healing properties to it which is why it’s used in cough syrups and Chinese remedies. I have a friend that used honey on his hands when they got over-chapped and could not find hand lotion. And when I gave tours regularly I had a spoonful every day to keep away the sore throats.
In honor of the Jewish New Year a sweet new year have a spoonful and enjoy a sweet and healthy new year!
Earth Future is a collection of very worthy short stories. It is immediately clear that Guy Dauncey is not writing from a literary and imaginative viewpoint: he is really telling us stories about how the world could be, using some real social tools and shifts, and in one or 2 stories, how bad the world (meaning both the natural world and the cohesion of the human community) currently is and will continue to become if we don’t act upon the pollution, greed, and other corrupting factors now.
He is talented at conveying the themes, actions and indeed foibles of the human spirit. To a lesser extent he has an ability to describe human relations through the tensions, actions and situations that we find ourselves in – for example, a father and son who find themselves at opposite ends of a protest against a tidal wave energy plant is well described in ‘’Tides of Bold Bluff.”
What does start to grate however is how each of the 18 stories has a specific environmental theme, which the author then ties in to a human trait, or issue.
18 stories: 18 themes, with a bit of padding thrown in for good measure (including a poem, a soliloquy, and a pledge, no less). Those of us involved in environmental activism and protection know that initially issues appear black and white, yet often have myriads of layers and inter-connectivity underneath the surface.
Many of us are rushing this month, crossing things off lists though simultaneously putting new ones on, trying to get ready for Rosh Hashanah. It’s a big food holiday for Jewish people– bigger than most, even – and most of us will have family recipes and traditional fare serving as the staples for dinner. Far be it from us to try to compete with your grandmother’s honey cake. We did, however, want to contribute something to the collective holiday table.
Salad!
It’s easy. It’s seasonal. It’s a great counterpoint to the much heavier dishes on the table. It even has honey. It’s the perfect addition to your Rosh Hashanah dinner.
Pomegranate and Nut Salad
3-4 heads lettuce, whatever mix you like, leaves well-washed and dried
1 large pomegranate
3/4 cup walnuts or pecan halves
Dressing:
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-2 tbsp organic honey
salt and pepper to taste
Make the dressing. Pour olive oil, lemon juice, honey, salt and pepper into a glass jar or plastic container with a tight lid. Shake vigorously until the honey is dissolved. Taste, and adjust as necessary, adding more honey, salt, etc. to your liking.
Tear the lettuce leaves into bite-sized pieces, putting them directly into your bowl or serving platter. Pour dressing over, and toss gently to coat.
Slice the pomegranate in half, and using a spoon, scoop out the seeds directly over the salad, making sure to avoid the white pith as you go. (Any juice that runs out of the pomegranate will only add to the salad’s goodness.) Scatter nuts over top.
Who ever said that there’s no nightlife in Jerusalem?
When it comes to pubs and clubs, Tel Aviv surely has the edge by a long way. Israel’s Sin City is also more bike-friendly with its tree-lined cycle paths and flat topography, but anyone bold enough to take to Jerusalem’s streets at night on two wheels has a treat in store for them.
Putting an end to the longest period of this Green Prophet’s life without owning a bike (approx. 13 months), I recently bought myself a brand-new second-hand pedal-powered Raleigh. After a few days of mocking sedentary motorists in the city’s clogged roads, yelling at homicidal bus drivers and generally enjoying the freedom that only a bicycle brings, I went out for a nocturnal ride with a group of cyclists who venture out each week for an petroleum-free tour of Jerusalem’s hilly terrain, often charting parts of the city one wouldn’t venture into, particularly after dark.
After rendezvous-ing at the Nitzan bike store on Jaffa Street, the 30+ strong group hit the backstreets of the orthodox Jewish neighbourhoods, speeding down one-way Mea Shearim before the ascent to Mount Scopus (for a night view of the desert) and the Mount of Olives (with its own priceless panorama of the illuminated Old City – see photo). The near-45 degree descent from the Arab village on the famous Mount was followed by a two-wheeled scramble through the winding alleyways and rooftops of the Old City’s Muslim and Jewish Quarters.
No loud music, repetitive beats, or even a drop of beer (until afterwards, at least), but it was one of the best nights out I’ve had for a while. Two hours of exhilaration: it’s free, healthy – and it’s green. In any case, my new bike is going way faster than the Holy City’s new light railway…
Events over the past week indicate that Palestinian surface and ground water resources are in great danger.
Last Friday, around three hundred Palestinians protested the reopening of an Israeli dump site near the West Bank village of Deir Sharaf, outside Nablus. The dump, which was closed several years ago, may pose a grave threat to local underground water resources.
Until 2005, the Deir Sharaf site served as a dumping ground for solid waste from Israeli towns and West Bank settlements. The site was closed in 2005 because Palestinians protested that the dumping polluted their underground wells.
There are five artesian wells in the area around the dump site. According to Mohammed Abu Safat, a geologist at al-Najah University in Nablus, dumping waste at the Deir Sharaf site could endanger the water resources on which tens of thousands of Palestinians depend.
Since 1982, the American Jewish Communities’ 
City councils world-wide are watching as municipal workers in the Israeli city of Petach Tikva are DNA-testing dog droppings in order to identify and fine irresponsible pet owners. 
Earth Future is a collection of very worthy short stories. It is immediately clear that Guy Dauncey is not writing from a literary and imaginative viewpoint: he is really telling us stories about how the world could be, using some real social tools and shifts, and in one or 2 stories, how bad the world (meaning both the natural world and the cohesion of the human community) currently is and will continue to become if we don’t act upon the pollution, greed, and other corrupting factors now.
