One week a year, every year, Hebrew books get their chance to shine. A tradition that began with modest book stalls on Rothschild Boulevard in Tel Aviv in 1926, Hebrew Book Week has since grown to enormous dimensions and every municipality and book store in Israel finds a way to celebrate the event. Usually, this […]
To be perfectly honest, I received the news about Al Gore coming to Israel to collect a $1 million prize for his achievements in raising environmental awareness with a dose of skepticism. Does Al Gore really need more money or recognition, especially when there are so many committed, homegrown environmentalists in Israel, many of whom […]
Come on, who hasn’t always wanted to say that? And now you can, because an Israeli researcher with a flair for electricity-centered solutions has discovered–wait for it–a bacteria that produces electricity. Tel Aviv University Professor Avi Kribus, who until now has been best known for his advances in solar energy, discovered a bacteria that generates […]
What’s the next challenge for the World Trade Center’s chief engineer? Designing solar-powered houses in the Negev desert that can be built from scratch in nine weeks? Unlikely, but true. Hy Brown is a man on a mission. Originally driven by the will to find a constructive response to the terrorists who felled his creation […]
How many times have you gotten up to go to bed wondering what you had gained from that extra hour or three of television watching? Rather than sitting through a TV programme you’re not really enjoying, why not go to bed and get some extra sleep. It has been found that 42% of people worry […]
For two days this week, at Jerusalem’s Conference Centre, the first Jerusalem Environment and Nature Conference took place. You can read a preview post here. For this Green Prophet correspondent and greenie, it wasn’t the dull political speeches and pontificating that mattered (all of the politicians who showed up, spoke and left immediately, kindly donated […]
(Israeli winemaker Golan Flam inspects his wine) This is a guest post by Israeli wine expert Richard Sheffer from Israel Wine Direct. Last week he talked about the connection between wine, man and the land. This week he talks a little more about the history of wine: In spite of what some Californians believe, wine […]
Those of you who watched Al Gore receive the Dan David Prize last night, either on television or online from Tel Aviv, probably missed one very important thing. He was wearing cowboy boots. (We have proof – check out the footware we pictured above). This, of course, officially makes him my new favorite environmental hero. […]
Dr. Isaac Berzin, founder of Greenfuel Technologies, was recently profiled in Ha’aretz. Berzin, a Ben-Gurion University and MIT-trained chemical engineer, and Boston-based Greenfuel Technologies have developed a revolutionary technology to produce biofuels from algae that are bred on gases emitted by power plants. Time Magazine included Berzin in its list of the 100 most influential […]
We’ve been a little overwhelmed by American visitors in this tiny country lately. Earlier this month we were visited by President George Bush and now, for a completely different reason, Al Gore will be visiting Tel Aviv. And what a reason. In a gesture of respect and admiration, the Dan David Foundation (which is headquartered […]
What is microfinance? How does it work? What kind of potential is there in Israel for microfinance projects to succeed? The Microfinance Club, a project created by third-year Interdisciplinary Center students Misha Nataf, Gilli Cherrin and Simon Seroussi, in collaboration with international NGO PlaNet Finance, will answer these questions and discuss opportunities for new microfinance […]
An Israeli company has discovered that bottling the beta-carotene goodness found in carrots (and other orange vegetables and fruits) is beneficial for skin and hair. “Yes To Carrots” is a two year-old company, based in Israel, that is now hitting the international scene. Their secret: a combination of beta-carotene, which is said to have anti-aging […]
Could nature ever obliterate all our traces? How would it undo our monumental cities and public works, and reduce all our myriad plastics and toxic synthetics back to benign, basic elements? Alan Weisman: ‘The World Without Us’ 2007 Halfway through reading this enthralling book, I realized I was looking at the world in a new […]
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=oZLw_QINf-E[/youtube] Everyone knows how terrible plastic bags are. They take hundreds of years to biodegrade, pollute our landfills and waterways, and most plastic bags cannot be recycled (only 5% of plastic bags are actually recycled). To add insult to injury, it is cheaper to produce new plastic bags than to recycle existing ones. The Council […]
Refrigerators and freezers account for about a sixth of all electricity use in a typical home. Over- or under-crowding makes the fridge work harder to maintain its optimal internal temp around 37 degrees F. This means that you should throw out all that junk that piles out in your fridge, but if it gets empty […]