In a bid to cut down on pollution (and greenhouse gases we hope), the Tel Aviv Municipality is conducting a feasibility study on the use of hybrid taxi cabs in the overly congested and polluted city. We say go one step further – turn Tel Aviv into a car-free zone.
The approval is expected to go through in a couple of months and if accepted, could mean Tel Aviv’s fleet of about 5,000 cabs and their drivers will be lured to switch over to the “greener” option with tax incentives.
Green Prophet’s James goes underground to see what happens below the surface in Israel’s water pipes.
I will open rivers on the bare heights and springs in the midst of the valleys. I will make the wilderness a pool of water and the dry land fountains of water. – Isaiah
Always ready and willing to go to the heights and depths for a good story, this intrepid greenie spent part of yesterday with a bunch of journalists under the soil of Israel, submerged in a rusty water tunnel, courtesy of Mekorot, Israel’s National Water Company.
Many in Israel talk of the mis-management here of this scarcest of resources, and it is also clear how water has been used as a political tool; with the Palestinians, shipped in from the Turks, and even secretly siphoned from desert aquifers away from other Middle East countries.
An interview with a water expert at Sde Boker some years ago alerted me to how water access is a conduit to talks, negotiations and deals (many of them secret) across the Middle East, and that the fragility of this resource sometimes binds a fragile peace.
Probably my best memory of Israel is hiking in the Galilee as a teenager. With its green expanses enlivened with blood-red and yellow flowers and sparkling streams, there is no place in Israel like the Galilee.
Much political furor has been provoked by Minister Meir Sheetrit’s promise to build an Arab city in the Galilee. (With the ensuing remarks from both right and left evoking a tiresome paint-by-numbers quality.)
Forget about politics for a minute. What about the environmental consequences?
Try to buy in bulk from warehouse stores or the shuk. Often these items come in big jars which you can use. But even if you cannot, you’ll often find that they offer items that have less packaging and therefore have less trash when you are done using them. An added benefit is that it can also save you money.Just another way in which you can GreenYourselfDaily!
I can go on “home-binges” where I will coop myself up inside for days at a time. There can be the productive kind where I’m a workhorse and so do not get out. There are other times when it’s just out of laze… After one of these binges my house will inevitably end up a pigsty.
This is what is happening to our mountain aquifer.
A $100 million investment by Afcon Industries is more than hot wind. It’s a testament to put Israel on the cleantech map and the country’s renewable energy goals set in the right direction. When ready, the cleantech project could supply up to 5 percent of Israel’s energy needs. It could set an example for the Middle East by being the largest wind farm in the region.
Every morning I feel oneness with nature and my creator when I go to my green city garden just outside my front door in Tel Aviv. There I watch my passion fruit vine grow with tenacity; every morning I check its small tendrils racing to catch the sun while it reaches out to clasp any solid object.
As the passion fruit and other plants in my Mediterranean garden grow bigger – the olive trees, the myrtle, cactuses, native grasses and vines – an increasing number of animals find and build homes next to mine.
Installing Low-Flow showerheads and faucet aerators is probably the single most effective water conservation action you can do for your home.
Inexpensive and simple to install, low-flow shower heads and faucet aerators can reduce your home water consumption as much as 50%, and reduce your energy cost of heating the water also by as much as 50% as well.
This conservation of water and energy is not only good for the environment, but savings in your water bills will more than pay for the cost of the aerators within a few months.
From then on, you enjoy continued savings and of course… It’s a great way to GreenYourselfDaily.
For some reason my mother always hated hanging plants. And clutter. And collecting things. And although I admire her from here to the moon and back – and learned a great deal from her as well, especially in the taste department – it took one Israeli design student to question her authority.
Well, not really but I knew it would get a rise out of her. Check out the superneato square cork hanging plant by Israeli industrial design student Kobi Nakav. Featured at the Designed in Israel 08 exhibition last week as part of the Future Designers section, Nakav strives to bring the outdoors in with this innovative and modern proposal for growing greener interior pastures.
Living in Jerusalem’s city center is an occasionally harrowing, occasionally exhilirating experience. Towards the middle of the spectrum (with “harrowing” being defined, roughly, as beer bottles shattering against the side of the building at 3am) is the state of grocery shopping in the center of town, or rather, the lack thereof.
The wonderful wild weather of last week, and according to forecasts, in the week to come; has inspired a series of special water-related posts. This first one examines the findings of a new International report focusing on the condition of the World’s Oceans. It does not unfortunately make for happy reading………………….
Ben Halpern, a research scientist in California published a report last week in Science Journal, which concluded that only about 4% of the world’s oceans remain unaffected by human activity. Pollution, fishing (read ‘over fishing’) and climate change feature at the top of a list of 17 human activities that have destroyed pristine ocean areas and irreparably damaged water quality, marine life, and the fragile eco-system that exists beneath the waves.
It’s only February and the beach is already a hot topic in Israel, but alas, for all the wrong reasons.
Work has got underway in the last few weeks to build a 350-apartment holiday resort on a virtually untouched part of Palmachim Beach, which lies midway between the cities of Tel Aviv and Ashdod.
It may have rained most of this past week – not to mention the snowfall a fortnight previously – but my luck was in as the sun came out when I paid a visit recently to the beach and nearby kibbutz researching a report about the development.
It may only be a tiny place – sandwiched between the private land of Kibbutz Palmachim and the larger commercial Palmachim Beach – but the secluded bay, dubbed the ‘fishermen’s beach’ by locals, is one of the last ‘wild’ spaces on Israel’s small, but built-up, Mediterranean coastline. So no surprise that the prospect of hundreds of extra people (plus the associated noise, litter and pollution) have caused a stir among local residents and beach-users, some of whom have even set up camp on the beach itself.
Did you know that when you drive at a speed that is over 40 mph using the air conditioner uses less fuel than having the windows open? Because of air resistance when you travel with your windows open you slow down your car and you use more gas. If you are traveling over 40 mph close your windows and keep cool in style.This is a great way to feel good and GreenYourselfDaily.
Israel is no stranger to wind power, but using it as a source of viable alternative energy has been criticized by green groups such as SPNI for several reasons. One major reason is that Israel is a flyway for millions of migrating birds heading to Europe via Africa and vice-versa. And no system is in place to protect these birds.
(In Hebrew)
Channel One’s Yoman reports on the struggle by residents of Florentine, a neighborhood in south Tel Aviv, against the city’s building plans in the area. The city wants to build a ring of skyscrapers encircling the adjacent Neve Tzedek neighborhood, as well as a new neighborhood in Florentine that would include buildings up to 11 stories tall.
Have news to share? Renewable energy news, architectural, artificial intelligence, biotech, sustainable design ideas, eco-architecture, green travel?
Email us: [email protected]
Get important news delivered directly to your inbox and stay connected!
© 2007 to 2026 Green Prophet, All Rights Reserved
