Page 759 – Green Prophet

The Elah Valley. Beautiful rolling hills, a patchwork of gold, green and brown with fields, orchards and pasture steeped in biblical tales: Who wouldn’t want to live here?

Thanks to developer Jake Leibowitz, hundreds of new immigrants, mostly from North America, will soon be able to move into the luxury Eden Hills development after 18 years of delays and setbacks. The developers describe the community as a “celebration for ecology and Zionism”, succeeding in settling Jewish olim as well as incorporating green innovations including solar power, geothermal technology and water purification.

But the congenial mezuzah-fixing ceremony attended by Minister of Housing Zeev Boim recently glossed-over the bitter quarrel between the developers and environmentalists who sought to stop the new 1,000 dunam town dead in its tracks. The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel’s (SPNI) Michelle Levine describes the development as an “environmental catastrophe” and told Green Prophet that it “is in essence a bigger disaster to the environment than their gray water and solar power schemes could ever hope to rectify”.

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Eco Contact Gets a Green Spin at Bodyways and Vertigo Dance Festival

Lifestyle

Karin Kloosterman

June 1, 2008

Eco Contact Gets a Green Spin at Bodyways and Vertigo Dance Festival

We’d featured Vertigo’s eco-village taking root in a chicken coop on Green Prophet before, and our friend Ehud from the Jerusalem Post, wrote a brilliant piece on the village.

Today Rivi Nissim, our multi-talented dance friend, photographer and architect from Bodyways, Israel’s largest dance portal, sent us a notice of a new eco-themed festival she’s planning with Vertigo for next weekend –– “Where body and nature collide.”

Green sensory overload. We love it.

It’s the first dance festival Rivi has planned with Vertigo and the first with a decidedly green theme. The four day celebration, a collaboration between Bodyways and Vertigo Dance Company, called Hagiga, will include workshops, performances, jams and dancing. Following the successes of previous years, the festival organizers invite curious people to meet, move and learn, face to face in expressive ways with the body. It’s all happening during the Hebrew holiday of Shavuot.

In a special performance, Vertigo will perform Birth of the Phoenix, their ecologically-minded dance performance about the dialogue between humans and the environment.

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Green News From the Arab Blogosphere

Travel

Karen Chernick

June 1, 2008

Borders, though an understood concept in the modern world, are anything but natural.

The truth is that although borders may physically and ideologically separate us, one of the things that we all share is that we are citizens of the earth. And caring about the environment is a concern that can unite us.

The internet, too, has no borders. And so as part of Green Prophet’s mission to foresee a green, environmentally-sound future for Israel, its neighbors and the world, we’ll be occasionally featuring blogs from the regional blogosphere that also care about all things green, especially those in Arab countries where green issues are relatively undeveloped.

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Car Pool

Cities

Jack Reichert

June 1, 2008

If you are traveling anywhere, whether to work or the mall, find out if any friend or neighbor need to get to where you are going. One less car on the road means less traffic and less pollution! Set up an email group for your neighborhood where people can find a ride…

Tender Offered: Help The Environment Ministry Collect Fines From Green Criminals

Business

Karin Kloosterman

May 31, 2008

Tender Offered: Help The Environment Ministry Collect Fines From Green Criminals

It’s one thing to be a polluter and another to have the chutzpah to not pay your fine. According to Haaretz, Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection is having such a hard time collecting fines that they are now issuing a tender to help collect and handle debts totaling NIS 60m.

It’s a sad story, really, that polluters in Israel are fined and then appeal the fine in court, wasting more time and precious resources. Israel has great laws, the problem is enforcing them. Read about some marine polluters in a story we wrote for The Jerusalem Post last year here and a company Hod Hefer that was dumping chicken parts –– we kid you not –– into a stream that flowed to the sea.

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Samson Organic Farm – Under Threat?

Business

Michael Green

May 30, 2008

Green Prophet recently highlighted the dilemma of buying organic eggs from a Jewish farm in the West Bank. A little investigation by yours-truly revealed that the picturesque Givaot Olam organic farm is a settlement outpost established with no authorisation from the Israeli government, meaning that the farm is (theoretically) slated for evacuation. (Could even be a blessing in disguise for the ‘free-range’ chickens, all of which were locked in their massive sheds when I paid them a visit earlier this month).

This week I visited another organic farm also facing the threat of being closed down. But Samson Farm isn’t a settlement – it’s well within the Green Line, close to the believed resting place of biblical Samson north of Beit Shemesh. Amir Dromi was encouraged to establish a farm there 25 years ago by various government authorities who have since had second thoughts about him being there.

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Netherland’s Climate Neutral Converts Egypt’s Carbon Into Compost

Health

James Murray-White

May 30, 2008

Netherland’s Climate Neutral Converts Egypt’s Carbon Into Compost

Green Prophet’s Karin recently made us aware of a carbon offsetting scheme here in the Middle East, named Libra/Sekem, which converts cash paid for carbon offsets into compost. The project based in the Sharkia region of Egypt, turns coffee grinds, raw food scraps and more (read one of our super-enriched Green Prophet posts on composting here) from the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian Cities into compost, which is fast activated, and used locally to enrich the desert soil.

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Slow Food Farmers Market Comes to Tel Aviv

Cities

Karen Chernick

May 29, 2008

Slow Food Farmers Market Comes to Tel Aviv

With the Shavuot holiday coming up next week, harvest and cheeses (okay, mostly cheeses) are on everyone’s mind. Shavuot is related to ancient grain harvest customs in Israel, making it one of the more significant agricultural holidays in Judaism.

And agriculture has a big effect on the environment.

Non-organic agricultural practices, such as using pesticides and insecticides, have terrible effects both on the people eating the produce and on the environment. Pesticides can effect human health in a variety of ways, ranging from skin and eye irritations to cancer. Pesticides also effect the environment by polluting our soil and waterways.

In a celebration of the Shavuot harvest and organic farming practices, a weekly organic farmer’s market will be opening up this Friday at the Tel Aviv Port (across from Hangar 11). The market, sponsored by the Slow Food organization, will bring together the best farmers, cheese producers, bakers, and beer brewers from all over the country to sell their products themselves. This is a unique opportunity to meet the people responsible for making your food, learn how it was made, and enjoy the sun on a Mediterranean boardwalk.

Special species of fruits and vegetables will be offered for sale, which are usually reserved for export. You will also be able to find the finest cheeses, breads, products, and fresh artisan beer.

Tel Aviv Farmer’s Market, Tel Aviv Port:: Open every Friday starting from 30/5 at 08:00 until sundown

Unlocking Water’s Potential To "Green" Chemistry

Tech

Green Prophet

May 28, 2008

Unlocking Water’s Potential To "Green" Chemistry

“Environmentally friendly” is not usually something you hear in a chemistry lab. But thanks to a groundbreaking discovery at Tel Aviv University, the chemical industry is a step closer to being green. Prof. Arkadi Vigalok from the School of Chemistry at Tel Aviv University has discovered a way to use water to make certain steps of a complicated chain of chemical reactions more environmentally-friendly.

Prof. Vigalok’s solution replaces chemical solvents, which can pollute the environment, with water. Though chemists have long thought it possible, Prof. Vigalok’s approach has only rarely been even attempted. His discovery was recently reported in the journal Angewandte Chemie, International Edition.

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Green Prophet in the News

Business

Ilana Teitelbaum

May 28, 2008

First of all, to those of you who have followed us since our humble beginnings (which were initiated, as so many things are, over cappuccinos late at night)–thank you. Without your readership we would not be able to continue to update you on the latest news, cleantech innovation, and cutting edge eco-fashions. Where else can you go to find out about a life-saving, inflatable skirt, and still get serious environmental news?

Now our co-founder and editor Karin Kloosterman shares her thoughts on Israel and the environment in an interview with the New Vilna Review. There are even some sneak prophecies foretelling what the future may hold for our site.

Sample quote:

“People have to stop treating the environment as though it’s something romantic. I think buying organic clothing and food raises the awareness of certain health and chemical issues, but it is not the solution. Consuming eco-chic fashion and high-end non-chemicalized food is possible for the people who “have” in our society, but sometimes I feel the whole business is detracting from the bigger problem. What about the have-nots?”

Click here for the full interview.

Israel's National Bird Winner Is….

Travel

James Murray-White

May 28, 2008

The winner is going to be announced at the end of the week in a special ceremony by President Peres (himself a well-known bird watcher, according to media reports). But we are able to tell you, hot from the Green Prophet aviary, that of those who voted in our special Green Prophet Poll, the majority want the Hoopoe (Duchifat in Hebrew) (pictured above in all its glory) to be Israel’s National Bird. Good luck with that, and let’s see which feathered beauty the entire nation favours.

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Use Just Enough

Cities

Jack Reichert

May 27, 2008

Take care to measure out the right amount of water needed. It takes extra energy to boil too much water. Not only will you be saving energy but time as well; your water will take less time to boil!

Bagir’s Eco Suit More Suitable for the Planet

Lifestyle

Karen Chernick

May 27, 2008

Bagir’s Eco Suit More Suitable for the Planet

In one of our past prophecies we wrote about Israeli clothing company, Bagir, and their men’s suits made out of recycled PET plastic bottles. But the EcoGIR suit is not the only environmentally friendly product that this company has up its sleeve.

They’re always thinking of ways to make their suits greener.

I talked with Moshe Gadot, Bagir’s director of global development and marketing, and he told them that the company’s ultimate goal is to see the entire tailored clothing business go green and “retired” suits get recycled into new products. And so far, they’re doing pretty well on that front.

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Citramed Preserves our Cosmetics the Natural Way

Health

Karen Chernick

May 26, 2008

Citramed Preserves our Cosmetics the Natural Way

Parabens, a preservative used in cosmetics such as shampoos, deodorants, toothpastes and creams, are nasty things. They’re bad for our health, bad for the environment, and bad for all the creatures that we share this planet with.

Parabens have been proven to be linked to cancer, and a study in the UK has showed extremely high levels of parabens in breast cancer tissue. The parabens found in cosmetics that we use eventually gets washed off, too, meaning they also pollute our waterways and harm our animal friends. Parabens have been shown to disrupt the hormones in animals, causing things like genetic defects and extra legs on frogs.

In other words, bad news all around.

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Israelis and Palestinians: Teaming Up for the Environment

Business

Ilana Teitelbaum

May 26, 2008

Israelis and Palestinians: Teaming Up for the Environment

Can peace in the Middle East begin with the environment?

A plan is being outlined for the collaboration of Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Palestinian Authority, detailing mutual responsibilities for environmental issues that affect the country–regardless of what the country is called and whose land it is.

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