Israel’s water crisis has been in the news a lot lately. We have all heard how low the Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee) is, and seen suggestions on how to save water this summer. Although it receives much less media coverage, water scarcity has also become a major issue in the Palestinian Territories. This past […]
The recent attention given by the news media and this blog concerning our water problems in general, and to the depleting the Kinneret in particular, reminds me of a poster I saw once in a surfing products shop that read: “The Next War in the Middle East Will be Over Water.” Although the poster really […]
“Make sure to place your organic waste in the buckets outside and please use our shampoo and soap when you shower so chemicals don’t enter or gray water system,” my hostess explained to my family as we first arrived in Amirim. I immediately felt at home. We’ve been covering lots of eco-tourism tips and organic […]
Israel’s fastest-growing supermarket chain is the upscale Tiv Taam, where customers can browse shelves of international beers, pick through extensive cheese selections and even purchase pancetta to include in their gourmet dishes at home. At Hinnawi, a Yafo-based butcher with a branch inside the shopping mall in Ramat Aviv, customers can choose between 17 kinds […]
The word “organic” can be applied to many things in our modern day lives. Most commonly, it applies to food that has been grown organically (meaning without pesticides). But as a quick search in Webster’s dictionary showed us, the term organic means “of, relating to, or derived from living organisms.” And Tel Aviv’s “Don’t Panic […]
You’re eating a bag of chips while walking down the street. As you finish you look around to find a trash can but nothing is in sight. Do you drop it? If the city doesn’t bother to make waste bins available, why should you care about the city’s cleanliness? How about eating a piece of […]
Ful medames; ta’miyya; bissara — fava beans have given rise to iconic dishes across the Middle East. Egyptian cuisine is unimaginable without them. They’ve been a staple in the region for about eight thousand years, and were one of the first plants cultivated for food. Most often, they are used in their dried form: rehydrated […]
One of the wonderful elements of the open market is that we actually do have the power to make changes. You don’t like the way a store treats its customers? Tell your friends to complain. If that store is smart, it will change it’s ways. This can be applied to environmental products as well. If […]
If you switch your oven off a few minutes before your food is ready it will stay hot enough to finish cooking the food. Also try to avoid opening the oven too often to check whether your dinner is ready by doing so you are allowing the heat to escape and your oven will have […]
Last week in Haaretz, Naamah Lanski reported on the new green police in town. They’re about a meter tall, can’t read or write yet, and you better not throw away plastic bottles (or any other recyclables), leave lights on, or even pack lunches in plastic bags around them. That’s right. Israel’s kindergartens are going green. […]
Should Israel’s premiere environment preservation group support settlement activities? Regarded as one of, if not the, most respected environmental NGOs in Israel, the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) has a lot to be proud of. Perhaps best known for its tours and field schools, it also works on grassroots community initiatives […]
Bottled water is pretty evil, no matter what way you spin it. Essentially what happens is that a company is pumping water from our aquifers (the place from where the water in your pipes comes from) bottles it (another bad) and then sells it to you at a premium. The water that comes in your […]
We’ve heard of environmentally conscious Israeli designers doing some pretty crazy stuff with paper. Green Lullaby makes EcoCradles out of cardboard paper, Amit Brilliant turns used paper wrappers into wallets, and Erez Mulai transforms wasted paper into wastepaper baskets. While we think these designers are great and love their work, none of them has reinvented […]
While Green Prophet is unified in purpose, our Prophets are an eclectic bunch with distinctly individual perspectives. In this series we’ll be featuring an inside peek into what makes each of our Prophets tick. First up is Karen Chernick, art researcher and vegetarian gourmand extraordinaire. When she isn’t penning prophecies, Karen is employed in an […]
Anyone who has ever experienced Bedouin hospitality will know that the kettle is always on in a Bedouin home: brewing either the strong bitter coffee, or a special infusion of sweet tea, brewed with desert herbs. If you delve a bit further, you will hear that although the Bedouin know all about life and survival […]