Page 753 – Green Prophet

Israel's Water Levels Go From Red to Black

Business

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July 14, 2008

Israel's Water Levels Go From Red to Black

Every Israeli knows what the Sea of Galilee’s (a main source of Israel’s drinking water) red line means. It’s bad. It means Israel is running out of water and we’re all in trouble. So when the Israel Water Authority came out with a campaign about two weeks ago saying that Israel’s water levels were deteriorating from the red line to the black line, that was even scarier.

To make matters worse, last week the Director of the Water Authority announced that Israel is currently facing the worst water supply crisis in 80 years, ever since they started keeping records. And that unless our water consumption patterns (which have increased in disproportionate levels to our population increase) and water purification methods change… it’s bad news all around.

So what do the red and black lines actually mean?

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Israeli Researchers Listen to Plants to Find Water Contamination

Tech

Ilana Teitelbaum

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July 14, 2008

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Israeli Researchers Listen to Plants to Find Water Contamination

In the Middle East, water is never far from our minds. As Israel’s water shortage takes effect, the quality of our water is in brisk decline. Hot on the heels of this crisis, a team of researchers in Bar-Ilan University has developed an effective method for locating and measuring water contamination.

The new method, developed by Professor Zvy Dubinsky and Dr. Yulia Pinchasov, is based on the concept that contamination disrupts plant growth–therefore analyzing plant growth can serve to detect whether or not there is contamination.
The researchers analyze the rate of photosynthesis (the process of converting sunlight into energy) of plants growing in the water, to examine whether the plant is realizing its full photosynthesis potential. If it isn’t, this could indicate that there is a disruption in the water, i.e., a contaminant.

How does it work? Well, it starts with a green laser beam. Also, did you know that plants can sing?

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Controversial Red-Dead Sea Canal on Hold – But why?

Business

Michael Green

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July 13, 2008

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Controversial Red-Dead Sea Canal on Hold – But why?

Last month Green Prophet wrote about the controversy over the so-called “Peace Canal” or “Peace Valley” lauded by French President Nicolas Sarkozy in his recent trip to Israel. A huge man-made canal carrying water north from the Red Sea was envisaged as the centrepiece of the joint Israeli-Jordanian initiative, backed by claims of breathing life into the ailing Dead Sea, developing tourism projects on both sides of the Israel-Jordan border, as well as plenty of well-worn rhetoric about “making the desert bloom”.

Environmental groups who vigorously opposed the plans, such as Friends of the Earth Middle East, may be breathing a sign of relief this week following reports that the canal has been put on hold – albeit for the wrong reasons.

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Is Israel's Bottled Water Polluted?

Health

James Murray-White

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July 13, 2008

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As a thirsty greenie living in Israel, I try to avoid buying bottled water, and instead have recently purchased a very cool stainless steel water bottle – made in the US by Klean Kanteen. But sometimes it’s difficult to avoid buying some water in plastic bottles – although after reading this story, I will think twice.

This report was spotted in this weekend’s Haaretz newspaper (11th July 08):

“‘Mineral Water with a Taste of Gas’: Gasoline fumes penetrate the plastic mineral water bottles sold at gas stations, according to Technion professor Joseph Miltz of the Faculty of Biotechnology and Food Engineering.”

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Eco Tourism in the Middle East: Syria

Travel

Karen Chernick

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July 13, 2008

7

Now that we’ve toured Lebanon, Jordan, and even Iran, let’s make an online eco-visit to Syria. Since Syria has not yet experienced a wave of mass tourism, its sites are still well preserved and relatively undisturbed. That, combined with the fact that Syria has a wide variety of landscapes ranging from forests to beaches to mountains, makes Syria a perfect spot for eco-tourism.

Like other Arab countries in the region, eco-tourism in Syria mainly consists of environmentally friendly tour operators offering a range of wildlife-focused trips.

Here are some of Syria’s top green tourism companies:

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Is Wind Energy a Danger to Migrating Birds?

Tech

Maurice Picow

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July 13, 2008

7

Is Wind Energy a Danger to Migrating Birds?

We’ve explored the heady possibilities of wave energy…But what about wind? Wind turbines, those modern day versions of Don Quixote’s windmills, may have some environmental drawbacks, according to research being carried out by the Israel Ornithological Center, a branch of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel. The study appears to center around a growing concern by ornithologists (bird watchers) that large revolving turbine blades could be deadly to the thousands of migrating birds who pass through Israel annually on their journey to and from summer homes in Russia and Eastern Europe.

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One World, Many Beads: A Journey in Bedouin Jewelry

Lifestyle

Green Prophet Guest

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July 13, 2008

5

One World, Many Beads: A Journey in Bedouin Jewelry

In The Beginning

There came a moment when I realised that I had to make a business with the jewellery that I kept buying for myself in Sinai. Everytime I returned to Tel Aviv with a new bracelet, a fancy anklet or a ‘jada’ for the hand, a stranger on the beach, in the market, even on a bus would say to me “Ooh where did you get that from?” and sometimes I would end up selling the jewellery I was wearing at the insistence of the admirer.

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Close the Fridge

Cities

Jack Reichert

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July 13, 2008

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When I was a child growing up I was indecisive. It would take me whole minutes of peering into the fridge to decide what to eat. My grandmother used to chide this practice saying: “Don’t pray in front of the open refrigerator!” Orthodox Jews can take up to twenty minutes in their silent prayer on a weekday. While one is praying he, or she, is not supposed to move their feet, but instead, stand upright, unmoving…

Avoid leaving fridge doors open. Each minute the door is open takes three minutes of energy to cool down again.

Tel Aviv Puts Jaffa Skyscraper Plans on Hold

Cities

Jesse Fox

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July 11, 2008

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Tel Aviv Puts Jaffa Skyscraper Plans on Hold

Photo by Dan Keinan, Haaretz.

A modernist skyscraper was built with no connection to the existing urban context, and plans for a row of similar towers threatened to destroy the character of the historical city center. This so outraged the residents of the area that they managed to bring about a complete ban on skyscraper construction in the historical city center.

The city was Paris, and the year was 1977. (The skyscraper was the Montparnasse Tower, which in 2005 turned out to be loaded with asbestos…) However, a similar process may be underway in Tel Aviv of 2008.

On Wednesday, the Local Planning and Construction Committee (an organ of the Tel Aviv Municipality) decided, unanimously, to freeze a plan for a 30 story residential building at the corner of Nahalat Binyamin and Derech Yaffo Streets.

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Zalul's Protecting the Lachish River

Business

Hannah Schafer

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July 11, 2008

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Sea pollution closes the beaches in Bat Yam. (Credit: Zalul Environmental Association)

For a long time now, Israel’s water resources haven’t been getting the respect they deserve. Out of the 16 rivers that flow into the Mediterranean Sea, all 16 are polluted – many to the point that you wouldn’t even let your dog go swimming in them, much less your children. And that pollution? It flows into the Mediterranean Sea, where thousands of Israeli residents and tourists go year round to surf, play, and work on their tans. Water pollution in Israel is not only a danger to river and marine life, but also a danger to public health and Israel’s economy.

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Clean Your Naot

Cities

Jack Reichert

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July 11, 2008

0

Have your Naot (leather sandals and shoes) gotten dirty? To clean leather shoes, rub with banana peel (the inside of the peel), then wipe and buff with a cloth.

Nano Technology's Cleaning Up Space Junk

Tech

Jack Reichert

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July 10, 2008

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Nano Technology's Cleaning Up Space Junk

So you’ve finally done it. You’ve built your own rocket ship and you’re about to make your virgin launch. 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… LIFTOFF! The pressure builds as your ship picks up speed.

You’re traveling at an astounding 8,000 meters per second. You’re closing in on the stratosphere… You’re through! and BAM! A micro chip floating in orbit from a satellite launched 50 years ago smashes through your windshield.

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'Animate Earth' by Stephan Harding, a Review

Book Reviews

James Murray-White

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July 10, 2008

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'Animate Earth' by Stephan Harding, a Review

“The crisis is at root one of perception; we no longer see the cosmos as alive, nor do we any longer recognise that we are inseperable from the whole of nature, and from our earth as a living being. But there is hope, for as the crisis deepens, the call of anima mundi intensifies.”

Stephan Harding, ‘Animate Earth‘

Tucked down a leafy lane in the Devon countryside in the UK is an extraordinary educational Centre – Schumacher College, part of the Dartington Hall Trust. Here they offer an Msc in Holistic Science – a ‘hard’ science degree grounded in the ecological philosophy that is the Gaia Principle, or theory.

This principle (in a nutshell) is that the planet is a vast living interconnected system, not the dead, mechanical object that many 19th and 20th Century philosophers and scientists in the West have based their ideas upon.

Stephan Harding is the co-coordinator of that Msc, resident ecologist, teacher on the short course programme that the college runs (and on which I have been fortunate to experience his formal & informal teaching style), and author of this recent book, ‘Animate Earth’, which is the fruit of his teaching and personal experience.

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An ecomom on playing indoor games

Lifestyle

Sophie Ohana

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July 10, 2008

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Okay, so I know it’s hot and going outside is not always the best option. So what can we do with the kids indoors that does not involve TV and video games?

This week I will give you the rundown on indoor games, and believe you me, there is no shortage of ideas. There are card games galore, activity games that might require you to store your breakables for a while, memory games and arts and crafts. There’s even a board game to teach your kids about recycling!

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Organic coffee in Tel Aviv

Food

Karen Chernick

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July 9, 2008

13

Tel Aviv, for those who haven’t had the pleasure of visiting the city, is a city of coffee drinkers and cafes. (Some would say bums and people who don’t work in the middle of the day… but we say coffee drinkers and cafes.) It is not unusual to step out in the middle of a work day and spot people happily sitting out on sidewalk cafes drinking some form of coffee drink.

So it’s not a surprise that after organic hummus, organic falafel and even a vegan burger bar hit Tel Aviv… organic coffee would follow suit.

Loveat cafe in the southern part of Tel Aviv (that just opened another branch on Nachalat Binyamin Street), offers only organic, shade-grown coffee which means that the coffee is both delicious and deliciously better for the environment.

Since LoveEat opened years ago, there are even more organic chains like Cafelix — another coffee shop with a hard to pronounce name. And Cafe Ada Hanina in Jaffa. Probably the best choice in Israel for great coffee and amazing vibes. See barrista below.

Ada says: “We love preparing good fresh coffee for you, every day, practicing direct fare trade, farm 2cup, and then back 2farm!”

Why is organic, shade-grown coffee important? Well, since coffee is one of the most widely consumed products in the world (and dangerously close to global consumption of fossil fuels), anything you can do to make your coffee consumption greener will have a big impact.

Regenerative farming and coffee

Organic coffee farming and regenerative agroculture is important because it doesn’t use pesticides and therefore avoids polluting soil and waterways. Shade-grown coffee is important because although it takes longer for the beans to ripen, no trees and natural habitats need to be cleared in order to grow the coffee.

Traditionally, coffee has been grown under the shade of trees but in order to keep up with modern demand farmers have begun to clear forests so that coffee beans can ripen faster under direct sunlight.

So coffee that is organic + shade grown = winning combination. Stir it up with some organic raw sugar and organic milk in a reusable cup, and that’s even better.

For more information about food, farming:

Israel’s Organic Eggs: On the Political Edge?

Why Doesn’t Tel Aviv’s Carmel Market Compost (or Recycle)?

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