Eco mom greens the nursery
All that new furniture and "essential" items you are all being told are necessary for your baby are NOT. Swap and borrow furniture from friends and family.
Israel Number One In Middle East According to Yale and Columbia Environmental Performance Index
Israel was ranked #1 in the Middle East on Yale and Columbia’s 2008 Environmental Performance Index, a system which consists of variables that relate to environmental health and ecosystem vitality. But in comparison to the rest of the world, we’re #49.
The Electric Car Hype Intensifies
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmOW0z__AMI&rel=1[/youtube]We’ve been a little skeptical about the electric car project proposed by Shai Agassi. Israel relies still on heavily-polluting coal power plants; and a great deal of infrastructure will need to be put in place for this scheme to work. Not to mention the fact that Israelis barely recycle. That’s quite a jump from throwing […]
The Kishon River: Polluted No More?
The Kishon River was once a notorious dumping ground for seven chemical plants, with the result that the entire ecosystem died and the river was even blamed for causing cancer in soldiers (though that has never been proven conclusively). In recent years, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has initiated what they refer to as a […]
Robbie Burns: Scotland’s Green Prophet Poet
“Gie me a spark o’ natures fire, thats a’ the learning I desire: Then, tho’ I drudge thro’ dub an’ mire at pleugh or cart, my muse, tho’ hamely in attire, may touch my heart.” Israel’s small but distinguished Scottish community may well be nursing hangovers and sore throats this week, after celebrating the anniversary […]
The sustainability guide to the bathroom
Green Prophet took you on a whirlwind tour of a green kitchen party. Now we head to the bathroom. Some first steps in making the bathroom green and sustainably shiny, could start with natural cleaners on your tub, toilet and sink. You can buy them or make your own. We’ll talk in more detail about […]
Natalie Portman’s Vegan Feet
Natalie Portman has taken up design… big deal! Another hot actress designing clothes… This actually is a big deal. Sizzling its way through all the hottest fashion blogs is the actress’s Vegan footwear! In previous posts we talked about a skirt that can save your life (Yael Mer’s evacuation skirt), a patch that can save your […]
Tel Aviv Plans Expanded Tayelet – and Shrunken Beach
Central Tel Aviv’s beach and tayelet. Democracy is a messy system. Churchill was probably right when he said that democracy was the worst system of government, except for all of those other systems that have been tried from time to time. However, democratic decision-making is an art, and in most cases its practitioners are […]
Guesthousing It In Israel: Get Your Eco-Farm On
Israel has a number of Eco-Tourism options. But we suppose, at the end of the day, it all depends on semantics, marketing and what one classifies as “ecological.” We are of the notion that an eco-trip could be as simple as a walk in the forest, basking in the sunshine at your local cafe, or […]
Michael Pollan: In Defense of Food
So while our thoughts remain on what we eat and where our food comes from, Green Prophet would like to recommend some seasonal reading material in the shape of Michael Pollan's In Defence of Food which critiques Western diets and the modern obsession with nutrition:
When The Sea Turns Into Our Toilet
[googlevideo]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=544518686784404916&hl=en[/googlevideo]A short public service announcement from our friends over at Zalul.Last year we wrote a story on Israel’s sewage problem “The Sludge Report” and the fact that it regularly flows into the sea. You’d have thunk by now, that a country as advanced as Israel (talking ’bout electric cars and mighty microbes) that we’d find […]
Seeking Retreat at Kerem Maharal
Stay in an 11-century Crusader Castle in Israel. Kerem Maharal.
Neta In Wonderland (via Tel Aviv)
We bumped into Neta’s blog “bobilina” by accident and have been so charmed by her unique hand-made creations, often done with the help of recycled materials and socks (like the creature pictured above). When we lived in Tel Aviv there was always such a bounty of neat fabrics – both at the pedestrian mall on […]
The New Year of the Trees
Although Israel has grown into a modern post-industrial economy, the country still has strong agrarian roots, most famously, the agricultural socialist community of the kibbutz. But earlier than that, the Bible proscribes things to do to mark the passing seasons. There are rights and rituals for nature in Judaism and it all started thousands of years ago.
Eco Rabbi: Judgement Day
Throughout history when a great event happened people would reset their calendar. When a new king became ruler the year would start again with one. Similarly, that is why we are in the year 2008 Anno Domini, Latin for: in the year of our Lord, referring to the birth of Jesus. In the Jewish calendar, […]