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 about lack of sleep and fatigue. And save energy while you’re at it…
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 their hot air to warm the conference attendees who shivered in fierce air-con), but the networking opportunities (as well as the great lunch!) and the chance to hear about some of the environmental campaigns being waged around the country by local activists.
(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 was not born in Napa Valley. In fact, the eastern Mediterranean, of which Israel is a part, is the birthplace of wine. The very first thing Noah did when he got off the ark was to plant a vineyard. Wine figures prominently in the Bible and was widely used in the region both privately and as a part of the ancient Temple ritual. Wine in fact provided a major export industry for ancient Israel.
Archaeologists have discovered sealed vessels of wine on sunken ships in the Mediterranean Sea right off the coast. And ancient stone “gats” (Hebrew for wine press) sit amidst current grape vineyards in today’s Israel. So, we know that wine has been made in and around Israel for thousands of years. (By the way, I understand that a 30-minute plane ride from Israel on the island of Cyprus, they’ve discovered wine artifacts more than 5,500 years old!).
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.
With his subtle Southern drawl and cowboy boots, I’d take Gore over John Wayne any day of the week and twice on Sunday. And judging by last night, so would most Israelis.
In addressing the audience and prize laureates at the Dan David Prize ceremony last night, President Shimon Peres made this clear when he said that “Al Gore has many titles. I will not repeat them. Al Gore is a dear and good friend of the State of Israel.”
Related: New York Climate Week
During his prize acceptance speech, Gore called on those concerned about the environment to demand of politicians to make a change to renewable sources of energy, such as solar power. What we need, Gore said, is “sufficient political will. But as the people of Israel know, sufficient political will is a renewable resource.”
Sad, but true.
Gore will be making the opening lecture tonight at a two-day conference at Tel Aviv University called Renewable Energy and Beyond where, hopefully, he will convince others of the need to quit our dependence on fossil fuels. Topics to be discussed at the conference include the connection between global warming and geopolitics, Israel’s road to energy independence, and business opportunities for sustainable energy.
See more on Gore:
Al Gore To Receive Dan David Prize at Tel Aviv University Tomorrow
Al Gore to Visit Israel
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 people in the world in 2008, and Fortune Magazine also published a flattering article about the company, which has raised tens of millions of dollars in venture capital. Just last week the company raised another $13.9 million from Access Private Equity, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, and Polaris Venture Partners.
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 at Tel Aviv University) will be awarding its annual Dan David Prize to Al Gore, among other distinguished recipients such as Amos Oz and Tom Stoppard.
The Dan David Prize annually awards 3 prizes of $1 million each for achievements having an outstanding scientific, technological, cultural or social impact on our world. Each year fields are chosen within the three Time Dimensions – Past, Present and Future.
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 projects in Israel this week.
According to the Microfinance Club, awareness of microfinance as a tool for poverty reduction and small business creation is almost nonexistent, despite the fact that microfinance programs worldwide have benefitted some 100 million people to date in developing and developed countries.
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 properties, and minerals from the Dead Sea. And another bit of goodness: the products are free of paraben, a preservative chemical which has been linked to cancer.
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 way. I was taking time to examine and even chart the progress of weeds bursting through the cracks in the pavement. Weisman’s detailed and wide-ranging research makes his readers that aware and curious about the world around us, that every part of nature, particularly those parts we generally ignore or suppress, becomes absorbing in the context of the book.
[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 For A Beautiful Israel has something to say about that. They’ve come out with a campaign that asks us to reduce our consumption of plastic bags as much as possible or, at the very least, to use One Less Bag.
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 fill your fridge with bottles of water and freezer with ice trays. This way you can throw a cocktail party and keep your energy usage down.
We at Green Prophet have been charting the rising popularity of organic food in Israel for some time now.
One of the biggest suppliers of free-range organic eggs in Israel is Givot Olam, a Jewish farm located in the West Bank.
While you’d think that politics and food don’t mix, there are some who disagree.
If you love the moving image as much as us here at Green Prophet, and believe in its power as an agent of change as well as information and entertainment, here’s advance notice of the 5th ‘Eco-Cinema Festival’, which opens tomorrow night at Jerusalem’s Cinemateque on Hebron Road.
Opening with Israeli director Uri Rosenwaks new film, ‘Garbage Country’, previewed in a Green Prophet post here, the festival contains a wonderful variety of films all with an environmental message, ranging from angry polemics to the fun and the frivolous. Short films, longer documentaries and animations, from all over the world, feature across the 5 day festival; some selective highlights we have picked out below.
They say hope floats. Israel’s premiere environmental architecture firm Geotectura has certainly taken this statement to heart. Joseph Cory a designer at Geotectura, has worked with an aerospace engineer, to develop floating solar balloons capable of collecting solar energy in crowded cityscapes and places where large solar panels are not a viable alternative. They hold potential for disaster-stricken areas as well.
Filled with helium and coated with a space-age fabric made from photovoltaic solar cells, this project called SunHope is a promising low-cost system that could collect solar energy with less environmental impact than other traditional solar energy solutions.
Nachalat Binyamin Street in Tel Aviv is famous for its weekly market of local, handmade arts and crafts – a market that is very environmentally friendly.
But it is also home to some of Tel Aviv’s hippest bars and restaurants.
For the sixth time, these restaurants and bars are getting together for the annual Nachalat Binyamin Food Festival which will take place from May 13-22 and offer gourmet dishes and special cocktails at discount prices. Diners will be able to enjoy entrees for 35 NIS, boutique wines for 25 NIS, and refills and tapas galore.
They can also enjoy their guilt free conscience, because this year the festival is going green.
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