Recycling cans and bottles can be annoying: they clutter up your home, they smell if you don’t wash them out.
But a little bit can go a long way… The average American drinks 216 liters of soft drinks each year. In soda cans that the equivalent of 648 cans a year. If you would cash those in at 25 cents a can you would get $162… Still sounds like something to scoff at?
If you don’t feel like recycling check out other ways in which you can reuse your cans…
Last week, God took care of the waste in the camp. This week Moses hits the rock. The Israelites had been traveling in the desert for roughly forty years, and Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, dies. After Miriam dies suddenly the People of Israel lack water. Commentaries explain that in Miriam’s merit a spring followed the Israelites around, miraculously, during their travels. Now that she had passed on, the spring has dried up.
God commands Moses to gather the people in order to show them a miracle. Moses is supposed to speak to a rock and water will flow out of it. When Moses stands up before the people he loses his temper and hits the rock instead, water still flows from the rock but God is angry.
The previous time that the people of Israel did not have water God commanded Moses to hit the rock. But this time God commanded Moses to speak to the rock. God tells Moses that is as a result of his not bringing water in the manner in which he was commanded, he would not be allowed to bring the Israelites into Israel.
We can learn much from this story. Several commentaries extrapolate various educational models from this story, being forceful vs. being pleasant with your students. I believe that we can learn about not just how we should treat students, but how we should treat our land.
Leaders from Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority concluding talks in Tokyo yesterday with the announcement that they plan to start building an agro-industrial park in the Palestinian Territories by next year.
The agro-industrial park could provide jobs for up to 6,000 Palestinians in the West Bank. According to Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura, the park’s “success would provide local people with new jobs, promote the economic development of Palestine and hope for the future (full story from AFP).”
While we applaud the efforts of all four sides to work cooperatively towards achieving a viable Palestinian state with a successful economy, we wonder if this is another example of improper consideration of environmental concerns…
The summer is here and the kids are at home, if they are not at summer camp then you are probably hearing the words “I’m bored!” alot, if not too much. So how to keep your kids happy and green at the same time. In the next few weeks I hope to bring you some fun ideas to wile away the summer without putting a hole in your pocket!
First of all turn the TV off and let’s go out, whether you live in the city or the country, a little bit of imagination and old fashioned fun can keep you all busy and tired at the end of the day. Build your own kite and go fly, bike rides, nature trails, star-gazing and even bug collecting, all for no extra cost.
My first offering is good for inner-city and country kids alike. The Nature Trail can be at your local park or along your street, by foot or by bike. Just don’t forget plenty of water, a hat and suntan lotion.
This is the first book I’ve read in a long time that I have felt so conflicted about.
I bought it after having seen it prominently displayed in UK bookshops, and having read some of the author’s incisive political writings in The New Yorker.
I anticipated that it would be illuminating and instructive, and expected it to fit into a recent run of similar non-fiction books about the environment that equally inform with hard facts; frighten the reader at the scale of the problem humanity faces, and also provide some sense of optimism about human ingenuity and ecological salvation.
After reading ‘Field Notes from a Catastrophe’ I found that it did none of these, and that its style oddly jarred with me – not compulsive writing, nor reflective and so insightful as to leave me wanting more.
Indeed Kolbert’s closing lines leave a bleaker taste than other writers on this subject:
It may seem impossible to imagine that that a technologically advanced society could choose, in essence, to destroy itself, but that is what we are now in the process of doing.
In the spirit of using every possible material available and avoiding waste, Israeli designer Zohar Yarom has found a creative and functional purpose for furniture fabric samples. She makes handbags out of them.
After receiving degrees in design from the Bezalel school in Jerusalem and Parson’s in New York, Zohar founded her own ZY design company in 2003 with the objective of creating environmentally and socially sensitive design pieces.
Her diverse line of products once included handbags, storage solutions, furniture (such as the saddle chair), light fixtures, and ceramics.
And she prides herself on finding an aesthetic solution to reusing materials in a way that is both stylish and conscious of the environment.
According to Zohar, “it is important for me to emphasise environmental and social sensitivity through the design and use of the product, with the possibility of being more stylish.”
She is currently working on reusing billboard materials (similar to Abu YoYo, which creates bags out of billboard waste in Tel Aviv) and is involved with an organization called “Shekulo Tov” – an organization that helps provide vocational work for people with emotional disabilities. (As of 2020 the link wasn’t working, so we removed it.)
Zohar’s bags can be found in organic clothing store, Cotton, as well as online and in select design stores.
Read more about on sustainable design:
More Mileage out of Your Purse
Enlightenment by Arik Levy: Our Future’s So Bright, Green and Beautiful
Did you know that the bagged salad bought in the supermarket tends to contain high levels of chlorine… often higher than in the average swimming pool? It’s easy, and much healthier, to bag your own! Just like with aromatics, after washing and then spinning it dry, roll up your lettuce in paper towels and then seal it in a ziplock bag. It will hold up to a week or more!
Want more tips on green eating? Visit here.
Environmental and social change don’t always go together in green organizations, but the truth is that you can’t really make green changes without effecting society. Alternatively, some socio-economic groups just don’t have the resources to make costly (yet positive) environmental changes. As Jeff recently pointed out in his reaction to Tel Aviv’s farmers market, it would be great if everyone could eat organic veggies – but the sad truth is that only a slice of the population can afford to make this positive change.
That’s why it’s so cool that Green Action, a non-profit organization based in Tel Aviv, focuses on eco-social change. They don’t distinguish between the needs of the planet and the needs of the people who call it home, and work to protect both natural resources and disadvantaged communities.
Green Action tackles lots of issues, including:
Millions of printer cartridges go into landfill sites each year and this is increasing annually. Buying refilled cartridges is a good way to prevent this waste and they’re often cheaper than new ones. A quick google search can help you find a supplier near you!
Interested in ways to green an old computer? Visit here.
I know it sounds crazy, but composting is a great way to green your life, and it’s a lot easier than it sounds. But most important, it significantly reduces the damage we are doing to our environment. Most of the junk that goes into the garbage can be composted products like egg boxes and shredded paper can be thrown on the compost heap, as well as all the usual fruit and veggie peelings. Interested? Visit here for more information on how.
My parents are not your typical candidates for owning a hybrid car. They’ve been loyal owners of gas-guzzling Volvos for at least 20 years, replacing one trusty, sensible Volvo with another about once a decade. So it was quite a pleasant surprise when they announced 8 months ago that they were going to turn in their 14 year old Volvo station wagon for a Prius.
And 8 months later they’re considering replacing their other Volvo for a Prius, too.
My mom initially considered buying a Prius because her place of work had moved an extra 20 minutes away and she figured that with the extra commute, a more fuel efficient car would make sense. My dad wasn’t having it. It took some convincing to get him to change his old Volvo ways, but once he saw that the Prius was not only a fuel efficient car but a car with some “oomph” (his term, not mine) they decided to check it out.
The small (yet surprisingly roomy), powerful (yet quiet), and fuel efficient Prius prevailed. Now the two of them always use the Prius as their vehicle of choice.
(Illustration of how the solar-powered air-con might look)
Solar energy has long been considered as a source of power. And more recently, a number of projects have been created in Israel to do more than simply heat water as the conventional sun boilers have been doing for years. Solar energy is now being developed to work in powering air conditioning systems in both home and commercial enterprises.
A Beer Sheva based company, EWA Technologies Group (EWA: for Earth, Water, Air), is developing a solar powered air conditioning system that converts solar energy to a low cost energy system that harnesses the sun’s power and uses it to create cooling.
EWA’s solar cooling process is basically simple: A special solar collector collects and stores solar energy, and then transforms the accumulated energy into effective cooling. A special granular material, placed within the solar collector, reacts with a special liquid cooling fluid that send cool air into a room or office in a process similar to an inter cooling radiator system in an automobile.
All of us green folk know that trash is a serious thing. It takes up space, pollutes our waterways, doesn’t decompose, and produces harmful gases. But there ain’t nothing serious about Merav Feiglin’s Trashlights. Nope, not even close.
Merav, who also creates other environmentally friendly art such as mosaics, altered books, and collages, collects found objects that would normally end up in the trash and makes hysterically whimsical one-of-a-kind lamps out of them.
Barbie doll legs are paired with shaving brushes, rubber duckies with spoons, pasta strainers with old coffee tins. Croc shoes and toy trucks and plastic horses, oh my!
Besides the environmental benefits, using old stuff that would usually end up being thrown out has its design benefits too. Since Feiglin uses mostly old, outdated things, her lamps have a warm retro feel.
If you want to lighten up your day, your room, or your carbon footprint, Merav welcomes visitors to her studio in Moshav Givat Shapira (call her in advance to make an appointment at 052-357-5361).
More Israeli Sustainable Design:
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
Plants around your home or office not only brighten up the place, but they are natural air conditoners and have been shown to remove up to 87% of indoor pollution in 24 hours! Skip the air fresheners and buy some plants instead. If you buy spices you can eat them as well! Interested in seeing how plants are being harnessed to generate electricity? Visit here.
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