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Guy Dauncey's "Earth Future" And A 'So-So' Review of Eco Short Stories

James Murray-White
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Guy Dauncey's "Earth Future" And A 'So-So' Review of Eco Short Stories

guy daunceyEarth 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.

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Pomegranate-nut salad recipe

Hamutal Dotan
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4
Pomegranate-nut salad recipe

 

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

pomegranate deseed seeds wooden spoon

  • 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
  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

Serves 6 to 8

The Cycling Nightlife in Jerusalem

Michael Green
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13
The Cycling Nightlife in Jerusalem

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…

To find out when the next ride is email: [email protected]

Photo: Michael Green

Old Israeli Dump Threatens Water Resources in West Bank

Rachel Bergstein
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Old Israeli Dump Threatens Water Resources in West Bank

west bank water research photo

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.

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Public Transportation Day 2008: Still Stuck in Traffic

Jesse Fox
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2
Public Transportation Day 2008: Still Stuck in Traffic

Tuesday, September 23 was Public Transportation Day in Israel, the local answer to European Mobility Week and World Carfree Day, an attempt to “remind the world that we don’t have to accept our car-dominated society.” In Europe, they managed to keep the cars off the streets for a few hours. In Israel, we will have to wait until Yom Kippur for our own day without cars.

The day’s events featured a professional conference on “Public Transportation in the City,” organized by Transport Today & Tomorrow and the Ministry of Transportation, and a race between different modes of transportation, organized by SPNI Tel Aviv.

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Lebanon Celebrates Three Years of an Organic Farming Project

Karen Chernick
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3
Lebanon Celebrates Three Years of an Organic Farming Project

Last Friday, World Vision and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) celebrated the achievements of a three year project that has helped hundreds of Lebanese farmers grow organic agriculture in Lebanon.  The project – called the Sustainable Agri-Business Initiative for Lebanon Project – directly helped 800 farmers and over 4500 people in total.

USAID helped spearhead this widespread organic farming by providing the funding to develop specialized organic agriculture practices, provide state-of-the-art processing, packaging, and storage facilities throughout Lebanon, and put the necessary marketing services in place in order to successfully bring organic Lebanese farm products to the market.

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Life in the Suburbs in America and Israel

Daniella Cheslow
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2
Life in the Suburbs in America and Israel

On of the most depressing bus rides I have ever taken in Israel was a late-night local from Kfar Saba to Tel Aviv. In addition to its sheer length (an hour and a half ride for a trip that should take 40 minutes), the bus went from suburb to suburb, revealing identical buildings and streetscapes on every stop.

Yet if bland architecture got to me in Israeli suburbs, they have nothing on America. Beyond inventing suburbs, Americans also spent trillions over the years to pave the roads, lay the wires, build the sprawling strip malls and erect the McMansions that have spread over so much of our open land to devour habitats and make us dependent on our cars.

strip mall in the suburbs

In my first week back in New Jersey from Tel Aviv I have been taking a special glee from listening to James Kunstler’s Kunstlercast, a weekly podcast devoted to “the tragic comedy of suburban sprawl.” Kunstler, the author of “The Geography of Nowhere,” “The Long Emergency,” and other books on the environment and urban planning, believes that suburbs are the worst waste of resources committed in world history, and he eagerly looks forward to their demise when what he calls our “oil fiesta” is over.

In his podcasts, which usually run for 15 to 30 minutes, Kunstler visits suburban shopping malls, where he remarks on the irony of sitting on wooden Adirondak chairs outside an L.L. Bean outdoor goods shop when the only outdoors is the parking lot. He also coins new terms to describe the bleak realities of suburban life, such as “parking lagoons” that sprawl around shops. And he analyzes why America has “a rail system that even Bulgaria would be ashamed of,” and recommends rebuilding it immediately as the first step toward energy independence.

It is easy to hate American suburbs; they are an unusual blend of ugliness and environmental destruction. Moreover, because Israelis are following America’s terrible example, it’s important to understand why the strip malls and shopping centers sprouting faster than a JNF forest may not be the best of news.

Yet Kunstler’s biting sarcasm and his knowledgeable comments infuse a new life into the debate, and you may not even notice how much you learn because you will be laughing so hard.

Photo: http://www.freewebs.com/jadeindustrailmaintenance/

The Compost Guy Takes on his Mother

Jeffery Yoskowitz
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2
The Compost Guy Takes on his Mother

Compost plays an important role in this Green Prophet’s life as has been written about in previous posts, and over the years I’ve become somewhat of an advocate.  I must have spoken with hundreds of people on the topic and have convinced a good many to at least try composting in their backyards, both in American and Israel.  However, I’ve never fully gotten through to my parents.  At least not fully. After enough conversations with my mother I’ve managed to induce a sense of guilt in her every time she throws away food scraps, though I haven’t successfully provided her with a composting option that meets her needs.  Recently, when hesitantly placing carrot shavings in the trash, she turned to me and said, “I’m ready.”

Now I’m on a hunt to make composting simple and easy for her. Like many people I’ve spoken to about composting in the suburbs, my mother is really into the idea but has a list of basic concerns:

1)    How will it look?  Especially in New Jersey, but also definitely in Israel, people are wary of neighborly judgment, and it’s important for yards, as small or big as they are, to look neat and orderly.  I’ve always been more of a let it grown wild kind of guy, but my parents aren’t so much.  My mother’s asked me for something that will not attract attention, and that doesn’t look homemade.

2)    Animals.  In Basking Ridge, New Jersey we have lots of deer, squirrels and foxes, and our backyard is essentially a forest.  We have no fences to keep anything in or out. Thus, my mother wants a closed container that won’t become a hot lunch spot for wildlife.

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Rishon Lezion Schools Walk for the Environment

Karen Chernick
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1
Rishon Lezion Schools Walk for the Environment

If you live near a school, then you know what 8 am and afternoon pick up times mean for the environment.  With all of those parents driving their individual children to and from school, the carbon emissions associated with getting elementary, middle, and high school students to school can be pretty detrimental.

Not only is this bad for the environment at large, but if often creates denser air pollution around the school – exposing school aged children to greater health risks.

So it’s a good thing that the municipality of Rishon Lezion, Israel’s fourth largest city, decided to do something about it.  After a pilot run in 2007 that was sanctioned by the National Parents’ Association, the municipality has launched a project calling on all 6000 school children in the city to walk to school on Fridays in an attempt to boost environmentalism, road safety, and physical education.

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Sustainable Reading: The CEO of Eco-Libris Speaks

Green Prophet Guest
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3
Sustainable Reading: The CEO of Eco-Libris Speaks

eco-libris sustainable reading books

You love reading books, and at the same time you care about the environment and don’t feel too good about all the trees cut down for printing these books. So what can you do to green up your reading?

There are several options for the eco-conscious reader who wants to act in support of the environment, and we are happy to share few of these ideas with you. One of our goals at Eco-Libris is to increase the awareness to the need in change in the book industry and we believe that readers can have a significant role in it. So here we go:

Join your local library.

My mother is a librarian for the last 27 years and I spent many hours as a kid and a grown up in the public library where she worked (you can still visit her at the library and say hi if you live in Rishon Letzion J). So you can imagine I am a big fan of public libraries, especially since a public library is not just a great cultural institute, but also a very eco-friendly place.

Public libraries are maximizing the usage of every printed copy and we need to remember that ‘reuse’ is a greener strategy than ‘recycle’. I don’t know the data about libraries in Israel, but according to the book “Seven Wonders for a Cool Planet” (recommended!), the average North American library lends out 100,000 books a year, but buys fewer than 5,000 books. Because less books are needed to be printed, the library is saving a huge amounts of CO2 emissions, or for those who are in favor of figures – 250 tones of greenhouse gas emissions every year.

Swap books with other avid readers.

Book swapping is a great concept: you get books you are looking for at no cost, give books others to enjoy and of course benefit the environment. It’s very similar to the idea of a library – maximizing the usage of every printed book minimizes the need to print new ones and saves many trees from being cut down.

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Solutions to Sewage Sludge – energy and wetlands

Daniel Pedersen
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1
Solutions to Sewage Sludge – energy and wetlands

Any place that has wastewater treatment plants, must deal with the issue of sludge – all of the solids left over after the sewage is treated. Sewage treatment consists of a number of stages.

Stage I, where the solids are flocculated (encouraged to glom together) and settled out of the stream.

Stage II, where the organic content is removed. This step is important because the organic matter serves as a source of nutrients in the water, and if it is released into open bodies of water, it will promote the growth of algae, leading to oxygen deprivation and problems for the aquatic populations. The most common method these days is to bubble air through holding tanks that contain bacteria which consume the nutrients. At the end of this stage, the solids containing the bacteria – the sludge – are removed. Previous technology trickled water over a bed of gravel where a bio-film grew.

Stage III, where the water is disinfected using chlorine or UV light, to kill all of the pathogens in the sewage and the bacteria used for the water treatment.

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Deliver

Jack Reichert
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1
Deliver

Considering the rising price of gasoline it is probably cheaper to get your groceries delivered than to take your car to the supermarket. Yes, the delivery van will be doing the driving for you, so why bother? Well, they deliver multiple deliveries for the same amount of gas that you would use to go and return. So you save money and save a little bit of the environment as well!

EcoMum Goes Back To The Beginning With Pregnancy

Sophie Ohana
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3
EcoMum Goes Back To The Beginning With Pregnancy

pregnant woman organic perfumes products imageFor most people the first steps to a more organic, greener lifestyle is often when we start to think about children. We start to look at our diets and lifestyles from a different persepective. What is healthy to eat, drink and do. This is when most poeple take the step to buy organic food but as we are hearing more and more about chemical threats from our cosmetics, make-up, furniture and toys and bottles for our children, organic food is really just the tip of the iceberg.

Our first port of call in the family raising stakes is pregnancy and keeping mother and baby healthy.

So what should we be doing & avoiding?

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Green Profits – Cleantech Israel on the Up and Up!

Green Prophet
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Green Profits – Cleantech Israel on the Up and Up!
Image Credit: Chop1n

Israel seems to fall into the thick of the boom, and I’m not talking terror. With the tech boom, we were on the forefront. Now with the world-wide eco-conscience growing, Israel is one of the forerunners of exciting new markets opening up – all of them working to make our planet a better place for us all.

Last week Green Prophet interviewed Eyal Hadas, managing director and head of renewable energy at Cukierman & Co. Investment House Ltd. You may have browsed through our Solar Energy Co. Guide. Due to popular demand we have decided to run with the idea and this week we are proud to announce our Cleantech directory: Green Profits.

As you can see there are plenty of great ideas out there churning. If you’re an entrepeneur looking for an angel we have some great pick-up lines for you. If you are in the field already and can’t find your company on our list, we are still filling out the ranks, please submit your company. We don’t want to leave anyone out!

Pickling 101 – Vinegared Cucumber Salad Recipe

Hamutal Dotan
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5
Pickling 101 – Vinegared Cucumber Salad Recipe

slice cucumber vinegar salad brine

It’s about this time of year that the air starts to change. Evenings cool off and breezes pick up. Put another way: it is a time to put some food by, as the old phrase goes, the season for trying to make freshly harvested vegetables last as long as they possibly can. We’ve already explored the sweet end of the food-preserving spectrum, so we thought it only fair to look at the savory side as well. Thus we arrive, happily, at the wonderful world of pickling.

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