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Is Red-Dead Canal or Med-Dead Canal Better for Israel?

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Dead Sea Red Sea Mediterranean environment Israel Middle East Jordan
Paint it Dead or Red?

The alarmingly fast decline of water levels in the Dead Sea have resulted in numerous plans to bring sea water from either the Mediterranean or Red Sea to replenish the water in what has often been referred as the world’s lowest level body of water. It’s the lowest place on earth.

The Dead Sea’s main water source, the Jordan River, has reached the point that the biblical river’s flow into the Dead Sea has been reduced to a mere trickle as a result of the Jordan’s flow being diverted to both Israel and Jordan for both country’s water needs.

Even the Jordan’s flow into the the Sea of Galilee (the Kinneret), Israel’s main fresh water source, has been reduced considerably over the years by lack of adequate rainfall and diversion of water from the Jordan’s sources in Lebanon by Israel’s hostile neighbors.

Networking In Israel's Growing Cleantech Industry

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cleantech Israel water energy Red-Dead Sea Canal environment

Introducing Chava Shaked, who shares her adventures in Israel’s blossoming cleantech scene.

What started off for me as a business, became a vibrant hobby and fascinating exploration into the world we live in.

This is the case with many of the people I’ve met at the Cleantech Israel meetup.  

Founded by Gene Dolgin and Jonathan Shapira (a green prophet writer), with a growth rate of almost 500 members since February 2008 and RSVP-space only at filled to capacity meetings, it is obvious that most feel this way.  What is the draw to dry science that brings so many?

Brilliant innovation.

Junktion designs at intersection of waste and whimsy

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juntion barrel seat drum seat
Green Prophet’s Karin Kloosterman finds a seat in Jaffa with her baby

Junktion: Tel Aviv design studio founded in 2008.  Lovers and joiners of what the city dwellers classify as junk.

Junktion, one of Tel Aviv’s newest and most fabulous reuse design studios, tries “to create a meeting point with what the city has already classified as junk.”  In taking everyday objects out of context (such as the suitcase-turned-medicine-cabinet on the left), they create funny, clever, and beautiful ways to take another look at things we so easily discard.

junktion telephone lamp

And when they take another look at that tossed out suitcase, or washing machine, or bicycle – that means one fewer item in the garbage dump.  Which is good news for everybody.

gas cannister upcycled junktion suitcase upcycled to stand tin drum upcycled to chair upcycled chairs jaffa studio junktion

Junktion believes that “there is enough stuff in the world already and [they] try to take from what there is.”  In their own words, they “often find [their] desires in what no longer interests others” and “are committed to go happily to work every day.”

Some of our favorite Junktion designs were the suitcase closet, bicycle chair, cooking pot seat, and, of course, the foosball soccer player hangers.  Check out their website to get ideas for reducing your carbon footprint by using the stuff you don’t need anymore to create things you do need (thus avoiding unnecessary waste and unnecessary use of new resources – voila!).

More Israeli Sustainable Design:

Israel and Milan Design Week

Merav Feiglin’s recycled lights out of trash

Waste Not, Want Not: Doron Sar-Shalom Recycles With Style

Beggars Can Be Choosers: Amit Brilliant’s Recycled Wallets

Beauty Increases Sustainability, According to Designer Gadi Amit

Ten Sustainable Israeli Designers Who Reduce, Reuse & Recycle

Good Ol' Home Cooking…

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Packaged food is becoming more and more predominant in our society. The busier we get the more we look for instant solutions. The problem is that pre-cooked/store bought foods are not only less healthy for you than home cookin’ but it’s bad for the whole planet as well. Eat one more meal in. Take the extra minutes to cool a wholesome meal. And you won’t only reap the benefits, but the whole planet will as well!

It's Possible to Harvest More Crop Per Drop, Find Israeli Cleantech Researchers

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improved irrigation genetically modifying plant rootsA new solution addresses the problem of water loss and promises farmers “more crop per drop”

A part of the global food crisis is the inefficiency of current irrigation methods. More irrigated water evaporates than reaches the roots of crops, amounting to an enormous waste of water and energy.

Tel Aviv University researchers, however, are investigating a new solution that turns the problem upside-down, getting to the root of the issue. They are genetically modifying plants’ root systems to improve their ability to find the water essential to their survival.

The Root Cause of Wasting Water

When it comes to water, every drop counts. “Improving water uptake by irrigated crops is very important,” says Prof. Amram Eshel, the study’s co-researcher from Tel Aviv University’s Plant Sciences Department. His team, with that of Prof. Hillel Fromm, hope to engineer a plant that takes advantage of a newly discovered gene that controls hydrotropism, a plant’s ability to send its roots towards water.

Green Tsunami Washes Over Knesset

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green environmental legislation Israel Knesset

 

 

Maybe it was the teetering government or the water crisis, or maybe it was just the sticky and oppressive summer heat. Whatever the cause, the summer session of the Knesset closed last week with an unprecedented burst of environmental legislation.

Leading the charge was a trio of maverick lawmakers – Dov Hanin, Michael Melchior and Ofir Pines-Paz – who have devoted their time in the Knesset to pushing the environment to the top of the agenda. Green Prophet salutes these guys and their accomplishments.

Here’s a roundup of the laws that we hope will make Israel a cleaner and healthier place to live:

"Chaschams" Water Saving Devices Go Door to Door

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simple water saving devices from Israel image

Chascham, the water saving device that can reduce flow by as much as 42%.

In April, Green Prophet had a chance to go from door to door with Vered Hatab, a water savings advisor hired by the Milgam Municipal Services company to sell Israelis on using less water.

Hatab, 23, was lugging a case full of plumbing tools through apartment buildings in Herzliya. Dressed in a light blue button-down blouse, a brown skirt and black sneakers, she made her pitch to the residents.

“I want to talk to you about the water shortage in Israel,” she said, as an elderly woman in a housedress poked her head out the door. “Can I come in?”

Have A Good Shabbat

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The Shabbat is the Jewish day of rest. According to tradition God created the world in six days and on the seventh day he rested. Because of this religious Jews will not do any acts of creation on Saturday. Acts of creation includes cooking, using electricity, and even traveling long distances.

Take a page out of the religion’s book. One day a week desist from doing one destructive act. Whether it’s using your car, reading a book instead of watching television or using less electricity. Even if you are not Jewish, this act will help you take a step outside of your daily routine and rethink it. Even if it is just a little.

Have a good Shabbat!

Green Your Dog: the 4th Great Green Giveaway!

hemp dog collar image poochAs its the head of the month, we here at Green Prophet are feeling even more extraordinarily generous, and thanks to an earlier post about fellow eco-site Lifegoggles, we are offering two 100 % hemp dog collars in our 4th Great Green Giveaway!

This is in addition to the 3rd Great Green Giveaway still running, which offers a reused paper Meishi (business card holder) from designer Anat Safran, to whichever reader can come up with the most creative way businesses can go green.

Offset Yourself

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Offsetting alone won’t save our planet but it certainly isn’t anything to scoff at.

There are many ways to offset. But probably the best way to offset is to educate others. You wont only be cutting back on ways you are damaging our planet but you will be helping others take that first step.

Find out more about offsetting and our effect on the planet.

Eco-Rabbi: Parshat Maasei – What Kind of Mark Are You Leaving?

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camping pollution litter environmentWhen I was growing up whenever we would go to a park or on a camping trip, my parents would instill in me the importance of leaving the area where we had just been cleaner than how we had found it.

This is probably one of the most influential ideas from my parents that has traveled with me throughout my life. This idea is applicable wherever one is, and is not only applicable to actual physical places, but people and ideas as well.

Last week, in Parashat Matot, we discussed decision making and the environment. In Parashat Masaei the Torah describes the journey, the travel route, of the Israelites through the desert – from Egypt to Israel. The question arises: why does the Torah have to list every single place where the Israelites camped?

Lifesource: Working for Water Justice in Israel and Palestine

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Lifesource water politics Palestinian Israel

Last week I took a tour of unrecognized Bedouin communities in the Negev/Naqab, similar to the one that James did with Rabbis for Human Rights.

This tour was fascinating because of its subject matter, but also because I was introduced to an extremely cool organization called Lifesource, one of the sponsors of the tour.

Barely a year old but going strong, Lifesource is a Palestinian-led organization dedicated to achieving systemic change and building sustainable, socially just water management in the region.

Earth Shattering EcoPoems

earth shattering poems book cover

“The trees are weeping
in the Land of Israel…

There is no compassion
For the land’s raiment –
Its seven species…

And on these parcels of land
Concessions will be granted
To Burger king

And Kentucky Fried Chicken.”

From The Trees are Weeping by Aharon Shabtai

We’ve seen how poetry and the environment can intersect, as in the work of poet laureate Robert Hass. ‘Earth Shattering: Ecopoems’ is an exquisite collection of vital writings on the most important topic today. That is not to say all the poetry and collected pieces in ‘Earth Shattering: Ecopoems’ are wonderful and worthwhile, but collectively they form a powerful and deeply persuasive mandate for reflection and response.

I love the range of work presented here – from small and subtle observations of animals and smells and sounds, to real destruction and the real consequences of ignorance and pollution.

“It’s about selling off resources
receiving revenues
having a place in the global glut.
& moving greed, mediocrity & stupidity
to a new plateau of power…”

From ‘What Do They care’ by Jayne Cortez (about the Ogoni people)

These upcycled bags give you map to go green

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recycled paper bags infobag sustainable artPaper is one of those materials with endless possibilities. Which is why Israeli (and international) designers keep having fun reinventing them over and over again.

Last week we took a look at Guy Lougashi’s recycled paper baskets and recapped some of the other recycled paper products being made by environmentally conscious Israeli designers: wallets made out of product wrappers, a wastepaper basket made out of wasted paper, and even a baby cradle made from paper cardboard.

Anat Safran’s beautiful Infobags – made out of old encyclopaedias, maps, and atlases – are another gorgeous and functional environmentally friendly design product. But unlike the other designs mentioned above, her products actually make you smarter!

infobag recycled paper handbag sustainable artAnat first started making her intelligent paper handbags a few years ago when she stumbled upon a French encyclopedia that had been tossed out on the street. Recognizing its aesthetics and potential, she brought it home and started creating infobags and other paper products in all shapes and sizes. Her friends have been collecting appropriately worn out and unique books for her ever since.

wallet sustainable art recycled paper handbagIn Anat’s own words, “The material defines the size of the bags- it’s due to the size of the page I’m using. I choose a very simple shape for the bags, something that reminds the shape of books. Also a simple shape makes more place for the material to be in the front and for the text and images on it to show better.”

 

Zucchini Blossom Frittata Makes the Most of Farmers' Market Jackpot

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zucchini flowers squash blossoms

Zucchini flowers, or squash blossoms (for culinary purposes these are interchangeable), are one of those off-the-supermarket-beaten-path ingredients you tend to find only at farmers’ markets or fancy restaurants. (Or Italy, though that doesn’t really help most of us all that much.)

This elusiveness means that if you do come into a supply – either because you’ve lucked into some at the market, or by growing them yourself – it may not be entirely clear just what to do with the darn things.