“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
“In the midst of uncertain time, renewable energy remains consistent and steadfast in its expansion,” said Francesco La Camera, IRENA’s Director-General. “A more decentralised energy system, with a growing share of renewables and more market players, is structurally more resilient.”
Health insurance is a regulated financial product. Insurers operate under binding contracts, overseen by state insurance commissioners, that legally obligate them to pay claims meeting policy terms. Policyholders who believe a covered claim was wrongfully denied have legal recourse through state regulatory channels.
The New Zealand Merino Company, now rebranded as Zentera, has quietly removed the phrase “world’s leading ethical wool brand” from its website, a notable change that comes after a disturbing investigation by PETA Asia-Pacific into the company’s ZQ-certified wool supply chain, PETA reports to Green Prophet.
Somehow vegetables with short seasons excite the imagination and appetite more sharply than produce that’s available all year around. Good Middle Eastern cooks have many recipes for delicate fava beans, and this turmeric-fragrant soup is one.
One of my fondest memories of my childhood is going out to explore the new world the day after a big snow. I can still remember vividly how the snow would hang off the trees, the pristine white fields so bright that they blind you if you look at them directly. I always felt sad, though, on my way back home looking at the damage I had caused to that breathtaking view by leaving my footprints across the expanses.
When going throughout our daily lives we each leave an ecological footprint in our world. Much like the footprints in the snow, these ecological footprints are effects we have on our environment as a result of the actions we engage in daily.
Today is devoted to the sheer joy of growing something, in this case, an organic gooseberry bush (Latin: Ribes Grossularia).
Growing something – anything really, from a geranium stem, roughly transplanted and shoved in soil, to vegetables for your plate; can be a mystical experience. It mesmerizes, absorbs, transfixes … and continues the biblical evocation of mankind in the Garden of Eden.
Ultimately, planting something is beneficial for the environment – a universal give and take between all the elements needed for the plant to grow is undertaken, and humans are (for once) on the margins of the process.
Over a year ago, I brought back from the UK a packet of organic gooseberry seeds, picked up from a garden centre. Dutifully planting these seeds in a plastic plant tray (one of the cheap and ugly green ones found everywhere around this country), the 40-odd seeds slowly budded and become little plant-lets.
The soil was a mixture of home-baked compost and garden centre fine potting soil – maybe the stuff with tiny polystyrene balls in. The argument for using these is that they aerate the soil, which allows roots to spread easier and prevents the soil material from clogging; but of course, ultimately millions of these polystyrene balls aren’t good for the environment, and will eventually get into water and wildlife. So try to buy bagged soil with mulched bark in instead.
A dozen of these baby plants went to a fellow green-fingered friend. The needs of her fleshly baby took priority, and the wee gooseberry seedlings sadly went to the great compost-maker in the sky.
Grow gooseberry from seed
The rest I nurtured paternally, fretting every time we went away for a few days, and calling in favours from friends for regular watering duties. Some remained to grow in pots, (the seedlings, not the long-suffering friends) and others went into a large flowerbed at the back of the house, which is regularly fertilised with each seasons fresh compost (see earlier articles I wrote Mulch, rot & reinvigorate: composting part 1 and A half empty bin & some worms: composting part 2′.
Random garden accidents, cats and weather, gradually reduced the seedlings to just one, but what a prince among plants this is, now after a year of delicate growth, slowly unravelling itself into a bush. There aren’t yet any fruit on the branches, but every time I inspect it I remember boyhood tastes of wild gooseberry jam, or plain stewed gooseberry and ice cream.
This berry was common in my childhood, both in gardens, allotments and out in the wild, finding shelter in hedgerows along with blackberries, elderberries and sloes, with which a skilled and patient parent concocted sloe gin every summer – and left it to become a punchy winter liqueur. (Make liquor out of blossoms of plants too such as almond blossoms).
These wild fruits have rapidly disappeared from the English countryside – pesticides and policies on the size and shape of hedgerows, country lanes and most places of wild wilderness, having eaten away this reality. Gooseberries found in British supermarkets and gourmet health food shops are often imported, and priced over most people’s budget.
A basket of gooseberries
So with all this in mind, I cultivate and nurture this bush outside, which is about 2 foot in height so far. Apparently they take about 2 years before bearing fruit, and even then the yield for the first growing season is low. Hazards to watch out for include fruit fly, including a variety called saw fly, birds with a sweet tooth, and in our case, warring cats.
I will be bringing more seeds back from my next trip (if anyone has a local source, please let me know), and nurturing the next crop sometime soon. If anyone wants to join me in the introduction of this fabulous fruit into Israel (perhaps this could be my contribution to the 60th birthday celebrations), get in touch.
Perhaps peace through gooseberries is too much to hope for, but if you plant a seed, you’ll get first taste of a glorious gooseberry fool 2 seasons hence!
Growers take note:
Gooseberries may be banned as a cultivated species in some places because they’re considered invasive in some areas and may displace native species. They are also an intermediate host of at least one serious disease, white pine blister rust. Cultivation is no longer banned in US states, except for many Maine. They are considered a high value cultivar .
We’ve already had a green kitchen party, we’ve learned about ways to conserve water while greening the old bathroom; we’ve even talked about ways to green your bedroom (hey, you know what we mean). Today we’re moving over to the living room, with a focus on energy conservation.
Roughly two-thirds of our annual energy budget gets pumped into space and water heating in the home. Winter heating emits greenhouse gases.
The good news is that there are ways to heat the living room without being a burden on the earth: Turn down the thermostat, put on a sweater, and cuddle up on the couch under a big blanket are great ways to cut down on heating use.
Jerusalem art students tried their luck recently at weaning Israelis off their addiction to plastic bags at the city’s Machane Yehuda market.Green Prophet recently reported on ‘Plastic for Free’ phenomenon of nylon-binging in Israeli shops, so it’s welcome news that their new shopping bags are not only eco-friendly (made from cloth instead of plastic), they’re cheap (1 shekel each) and stylish too (courtesy of students from the nearby Bezalel Academy of Art and Design).Reporting on them for the Jerusalem Post I recounted an all-too familiar shopping experience in Israel:
“Don’t worry, it’s only a plastic bag,” a fellow shopper at Mahaneh Yehuda market told me when I declined the offer of a free plastic bag to carry home my groceries.
Israelis are known for their advances in high-tech. We brag about it whenever we can. A little known fact is that Israel also generates and exports tons of e-waste, or electronic waste.
Bringing things up to speed is an Israeli company, Snunit Recycling which is poised to make a pretty penny from our electronic waste. And we don’t mind that fact at all.
While computers and electronic devices contain materials such as lead, mercury and cadmium (all very poisonous materials), they also contain good parts too, such as gold, platinum and silver.
Not quite like the Alte Zachen in Tel Aviv that ride around on donkey or horse to fetch your junk, Snunit has begin operating only two collection points so far, INN reports, as well as a mobile collection service across the country, to collect old electronic devices for recycling.
Character vs. flash: An old building in the city center, and a shiny, new Aroma.
What gives a city its particular character? Is it the city’s architecture, its parks and open spaces, its scents, its people?
An article in Ha’aretz’s Real Estate section last week did a pretty good job of conjuring up downtown Jerusalem by describing its shops: “You can’t mistake these stores. They look like they’re out of a movie about the 1950’s. Next to a shiny Castro, Golf or Fox outlet you see a pole from which hang nightgowns and 10 NIS undershirts, or a grimy metalwork shop showcasing a broken-down hot-water boiler, with a mess of tar affixing it to the ground. Or a locksmith or a backgammon club. Until half a year ago Nahalat Shiva Street featured a ceramicist making clay pots for a throwback era.”
Not exactly flattering, but a pretty accurate picture. Like it or not, all of those small, old, “hole in the wall” shops are an integral part of the city’s character and identity. However, the author of these lines, Ranit Nahum-Halevy, is not trying to paint a poetic picture of the city center, she is describing a problem, and the above lines are followed by the rhetorical question: “What can the city do?”
“Sometimes you’ve just got to act” is a personal motto of two enterprising environmental activists, Devora Liss & Shoshannah Finkelman, who have initiated the Jerusalem Of Green Project, based at the Mercaz HaMagshimim (New Immigrant Absorption and Community Centre) in Jerusalem’s German Colony.The JOG Project mentors anyone who has an idea for an environmental project, and gives them the necessary support, resources, and a little funding to get the idea up and running. Currently there are 4 projects that Shoshannah and Devora oversee, both through a monthly ’round table’ meeting with all the participants, and with regular one to one sessions with each participant. The projects in development right now include an online Green Talmud Project; a Recycling Initiative for Yeshiva students; a Green Audit project that gives individuals and families the chance to have their lifestyle and energy output ‘audited’, and a scheme to bring to shoppers and shops on Emek Refaim in the German colony a localised cloth shopping bag, in place of the ubiquitous (and hopefully soon to be outlawed) plastic bag.
I will report back on these projects and how they develop over the next few months in a series of special posts.
Last week Green Prophet introduced Sophie from Tinok Yarok, when she started her weekly column on ‘greening’ your baby. This week Sophie discusses the cloth nappy debate. Thinking about switching to the cloth diapers of yesteryear?
Here’s Sophie’s take:This week I am introducing you all to the cloth nappy debate. This is a big one so it will probably run for a few weeks. Next week I will take you through all the different types of cloth nappies available and will also talk about doing without; then there’s all those so called accessories, so stick around and let’s hear what you think too!
For today’s Eco-Mum, options are happily increasing all the time and nobody can say that it is like days gone by. Cloth nappies come in all shapes and sizes allowing mum and baby to find the best and comfiest option possible. So what’s all the fuss about?
Jack discovers a solar-powered trash compactor in Jerusalem.
I stepped off the bus this evening and standing on the sidewalk before me was this great alien looking device. It was about two-thirds my height, a bit wider, but square, with flashing lights emitting from the top. This device, while it appeared to come from another planet or dimension, it seems was a garbage can, a BigBelly compactor, solar-style.
Solar power seems to be one of the most promising alternative energy out there… The reason? It’s out there! The question is how to harness it: The car? More efficient cells? How about trash?
While most Israelis take pride in having made the desert bloom, some of the imported “blooms” have been contested over the years as threats to the ecosystem. In a land where Biblical passages echo everywhere, it’s sometimes disconcerting to realize just how dramatically the face of the landscape has been changed in recent years, and how many sources of that change have their roots–so to speak–in foreign soil.
A particular source of controversy is the pine tree forests, which are a 20th century invention in these parts. Now some researchers are asking: has the pine tree gotten a bad rap? And more interestingly, can dramatic changes to the ecosystem, performed without knowledge or understanding of ecology–still be okay?
Today we bring you the recycled creations of Guy Arzi and his Rocky Chair.
We wonder what movie might have inspired him? The recycled seats from an old cinema in Israel give you all the more reason to stay at home and rock to your favorite cops and robbers flick. Or to see Cinema Paradiso, over and over again.
Arzi is a graduate of Nottingham Trent University in the UK and now with a headquarters in Derbyshire, UK, Arzi is working in interior design and taking discarded items and bringing them back to life.
It’s vintage chic coupled with a modern aesthetic sensibility.
Guy writes: “Our aim is to push the boundaries of design by mixing old with new in a unique way. We see our designs as pieces of art, as a result most of our work is commission based and no two projects/product are the same.
“We choose to alter and work with distinctly old designs – the outcome is familiar with a contemporary twist. This approach applies as much to our interior design service as to our product design.”
We like these stylish chairs that have eco-appeal and a not so palatable price-tag of £1,499.99 at stores in the UK.
Who said being eco-chic comes cheap? On the other hand, you can take inspiration from this and try your hand at upcycling and repurposing some old furniture in your neighborhood.
Our readers have also been asking about organic gardening during the shmita (or Sabbatical) year in the land of Israel. Are there any loopholes around the halacha? What does shmitta mean?
We love the idea of shmitta. The biblically ordained one year out of seven when the land is left to lie fallow (this applies to the land of Israel only).
We’d been talking about it and what it all means. No sooner had I pressed the send button on my email to James and Jack, and we get a message in our comments section from Michael Doniger.
Have our prayers (and questions) about shmitta been answered?
Read on…
“My name is Michael Doniger and I live in Jerusalem. I’ve have worked as a landscaper for the last 13 years…I have received numerous inquiries both over the phone and by email on how to care for one’s garden according to halacha during the shmittah year.In response to these inquiries I decided to set up a website called Shmitta Gardens.
“This web site does not give halachic rulings; it only acts as an informational guideline. Think of this web site as an educational tool to teach you about these complex laws in a hopefully enjoyable and engaging way. I have a quiz page to test you on the laws of shmittah, with real live pictures from different gardens in Jerusalem.
You can also download my pamphlet “The Layman’s Shmittah Guide to Gardening” for free found on the back page of the site.
My friend and fellow gardener Richard Kovler and I provide shmittah garden consultations in the Jerusalem and Gush Dan regions. We also give lectures using PowerPoint demonstrations and visual aids to educate people on shmittah gardening in an enjoyable way.Richard Kovler is also an expert on shmittah flowers.
If you have any comments feel free to email me or phone me and I’ll get back to you in a timely manner. Thank you for visiting my website. Visit shmitta gardens, and feel free to leave your questions in our comments board. We’d like to enter the discussion. And take the shmitta quiz.
Environmental entrepreneur, Eyal Biger (right), the founder of Israel’s Good Energy Initiative.
For every car that drives, every plane that flies and every appliance that gets plugged into the wall, a price is paid by the environment. The burning of fossil fuels for use in transport, industry and our day-to-day lives, emits carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.
Al Gore (our Karen gets up close to take a picture of Gore’s boots) has exposed the effects of global warming at great lengths. And some activists around the world – like those from Israel’s Good Energy Initiative – think that there is still time to turn around, or at least stop, the acceleration of climate change.
Bring out the tissues. When we heard the news that a 15 metre fin whale had made it to Ashkelon, in Israel, our hearts filled with joy. We know whales have come to these shores before. Take Jona and the Whale story, for example. Our hearts sunk. The young female calf found swimming off the shores of Israel has died.
After struggling and thrashing for half an hour around the port, near the Israeli town of Ashkelon, reports the Jerusalem Post, the calf finally sank below the water’s surface. Obviously in distress, the Ashkelon police, divers and distraught veterinarians stood helpless along the shore, unable to get the whale to deeper water.
Television footage showed air bubbles on the water’s surface slowly fading away. Newspaper reports say the cause of death unknown. “We tried to show him the way to the opening of the port but he came back in,” said Aviad Sheinin, chairman of the Israeli Marine Mammal Research Center.
“Obviously it’s a very sad situation for us. Fin whales don’t come very often to Israel,” he said.
My compost bin is made from two old wooden pallets, found abandoned on the streets. There are three fixed sides, screwed together, and a fourth wall, which is moved into place as and when. From other bits of the pallet, I made slabs of wood that with the aid of stakes knocked into the earth, when balanced on top of one another, form an internal dividing wall.
This splits the bigger bin into two: one for current compost, the other for compost that I’ve stopped adding to, and other than an occasional random turn with a fork, is being left for however long it takes to completely decompose (or is subject to the whims of my gardening patience, which varies depending on the season and what’s growing).
Knocking this together is so easy, and depending on how fancy you want the bin to be, needs only the pallets, a dozen screws or nails, a hammer and a drill, muscle and elbow grease.
Remember, your plants (and the planet) will thank you.
Right now, the bin is half full. I found the time and motivation the other week to dig out the rotted compost and deliver it to various flowerbeds and potted plants. Some of it is stored for plants to come, and some of it will be added, like a yeast, or activator; to the next batch, which is currently fermenting and gurgling in the other half of the bin.
Learn to love the tiger worm
I’ve completely dug the first half out – this is to dry out both the soil and the wood of the pallet.
Also this lets some light into dark places: roots of random plants can grow, and its a good idea to get these out before they get too thick and dominate.
This is also when a gardener gets to see their best buddy, the tiger worm (pictured above). These are the real workers of an active compost heap. They have their subordinates, like the wood louse, or smaller types of worm, and tiny bacteria we can’t see, but it is the trojan tiger worm who really does the hard machinations, chewing and excreting most of the compostable material. Lots of these worms and you are onto a good thing.
Worms and the glorious Middle Eastern sun keep the whole pile rolling. But if you don’t see any don’t give up – firstly, they are shy, and secondly, if you keep providing good green vegetation, they’ll get there. Worms migrate to where the action is.
In the next compost post (see the first one here) I’ll deal with what you can and can’t put into compost.
Basically, you should treat a compost pile like a sandwich – keep adding layers of stuff until you feel it is ready. But more next time. In the meantime, feel free to tell us any compost-related stories, thoughts, or more exciting community composting plans.
Oh, and any questions, fire away! We’re here to help.
“Sometimes you’ve just got to act” is a personal motto of two enterprising environmental activists, Devora Liss & Shoshannah Finkelman, who have initiated the Jerusalem Of Green Project, based at the Mercaz HaMagshimim (New Immigrant Absorption and Community Centre) in Jerusalem’s German Colony.The JOG Project mentors anyone who has an idea for an environmental project, and gives them the necessary support, resources, and a little funding to get the idea up and running. Currently there are 4 projects that Shoshannah and Devora oversee, both through a monthly ’round table’ meeting with all the participants, and with regular one to one sessions with each participant. The projects in development right now include an online Green Talmud Project; a Recycling Initiative for Yeshiva students; a Green Audit project that gives individuals and families the chance to have their lifestyle and energy output ‘audited’, and a scheme to bring to shoppers and shops on Emek Refaim in the German colony a localised cloth shopping bag, in place of the ubiquitous (and hopefully soon to be outlawed) plastic bag.
Environmental entrepreneur, Eyal Biger (right), the founder of Israel’s Good Energy Initiative. 
