The hot environmental topic this season, seems to be about banning the bag – the plastic bag that is.Zalul ‘s blog Clear has reported on it this week and has provided a link (in Hebrew) where you can sign a petition to get the plastic bag banned in Israel.San Fran has done it, so has China.Can Israel let go of its bag habit?
Can Israel Bag the Bag?
All about the Dude Shemesh from Israel
It’s Friday, and hey we like videos. Here is a short movie on an Israeli green achievement: the dud shemesh. Israelis were quick to adopt the low-tech technology which uses heat from the sun to warm sink and bathwater.We are pretty sure that the invention was pioneered elsewhere.
But that doesn’t stop us from puffing out our green chests with pride, for how widespread the invention has become in these parts.
The Green Maps of Jerusalem
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4Xz2fLlNpo&rel=1[/youtube] Some people call for Israel to be wiped off the map. We say, put us down on a Green Map. That’s just what a local NGO SPNI and students from Green Course in Jerusalem have done (see the above video). Green Maps is an international enterprise, that lets locals and visitors literally map out ecological and environmental sites of interest.Whether it is cloud-gazing in Alberta or the best vegan restaurant in New York City, Green Maps attempts to tell the story of a place, and let its visitors enjoy local treasures, that would normally take years to find. It is a global word-of-mouth database, that you can help grow.::Green Maps story and Jerusalem Green Maps (in English).
Random Green Event Next Tuesday at Dizengoff Mall
Andreas Weil, our friend from EcoOcean called us today excited about a new art event happening next Tuesday night in Dizengoff Mall. Apparently an Israeli architect/artist named Gal Gaon is opening an exhibit, complete with student works, called “Green In Me.”
The exhibit is going to cover 100 square meters in a pavillion at Dizengoff (probably in the basement or the eastern side of the mall). And the project, we are told, is advertising its happening on a blog, which we have yet to see.
So mallrats hanging out in the Dizengoff area next week, take note. We are told it’s to be an exciting and unusual environmental meet. It will last three days. Stay tuned for updates.
Update: here is the blog – Green In Me
Get on yer bike in Tel Aviv
Hot on the heels (or should that be, ‘wheels’) of the news that bicycle use is on the rise in Tel Aviv, the municipality in Israel’s second city has just announced that it is launching a ‘pay and ride’ bike rental system.Last week, Green Prophet reported that bike use in the city shot up by 300 per cent in the last decade, which is now set to climb even further with the scheme which aims to provide 1,500 to 2,000 eco-friendly two-wheelers at 100 different stations in the future.So both Tel Avivian commuters and visitors alike will be able to cruise the 74 kilometers of bike baths in the city (the municipality is paving another 26 kilometers to make it 100 in time for Tel Aviv’s centenary in 2009).
Tel Aviv to Jerusalem Train Offers A Long Journey Through Greenness
Traveling anywhere in Israel from the Holy City isn’t going to be easy on the day President Bush arrives, but it is a perfect day for experiencing the low carbon pleasure of train travel. For a start, Malcha station at 9 a.m is empty – it seems many commuters, tourists or day-trippers have left earlier, or stayed home for the State visit.
Once we get going, precisely at 9.41, the initial part of the journey takes in wonderful views of the Har Giora Nature Reserve, winding around the valley floor, and picking up the course of the Soreq river. Leaving the City this back way, around its rump as it were, gives the traveller the unexpected delight of seeing such fertility. We weave through Cypress groves and olive tree plantations.
Only train passengers and hikers and herders see this. It is an ecological niche; a basin of CO2 absorbing trees, with several types of lichens in abundance.
Prophet of the Week: Nigel Savage
“You can trace the recent history of Tu B’shevat seders like branches on a tree.”
Nigel Savage, originally from Manchester, England, founded Hazon (Hebrew for “vision”) in 2000. Hazon works to create a healthier and more sustainable Jewish community — as a step towards a healthier and more sustainable world for all.
In 2000 Nigel led Hazon’s first major project, a 3000-mile Cross-USA Jewish Environmental Bike Ride, in which participants cycled from Seattle, WA to Washington, DC, teaching and speaking along the way. They ended at the White House where they received a national award from the EPA.
A Spiritual Danger: Have A Nice A**
It was neat to see the billboards are off of Ilan Pivko’s tower, in Tel Aviv today. The Ayalon Highway is pretty much free from all of the billboard clutter. In light of Ilana’s post yesterday, we thought we’d post this little ditty that we wrote for Heeb Magazine this summer, before they canned their Israel issue (or maybe they were just being polite).
It’s about billboards, it’s about Israel, and it’s about advertising junk seeping into your subconscious.
Eco – Thought for the Day
Look at My work, how beautiful and perfect is everything that I created. I created it for you. Be careful not to ruin and destroy My world. If you ruin it, there is nobody to restore it after you…” (Ecclesiastes Rabba 7:28)
Those timely words written back somewhere between the sixth and eighth centuries pretty much sums up the basic party line for ecologists everywhere.
Bringing Down the Billboards on Ayalon Highway
One of my more vivid childhood memories is of the drive across the George Washington Bridge from New York to New Jersey, and zoning out to stare at what seemed like an endless procession of towering billboards displaying images of shiny cars, shiny models, and shiny promises of success.
Seriously, is there a kid in America who can’t name at least three cigarette brands offhand by the age of 6? We’re not so much aware of the ads as much as they sink in insidiously, becoming an integral part of our landscape.
This insidious manipulation was recently called into question in Israel’s High Court of Justice, by none other than the State Prosecutor’s Office. Green Action (Peula Yeruka) had brought charges against Nur Advertising for posting billboards on the Ayalon Highway. The charges? That the billboards flouted the Road Affixing of Signs Law, damaging the landscape and posing a threat to security.
On Becoming a Green Fellow
The Porter School of Environmental Studies at Tel Aviv University is looking for a few good green men and women. Think you have what it takes to become a fellow? The school is seeking fellowship candidates for a potential faculty position.
The fine folks at Porter have sent us a note that they are advertising spaces to fill for up to three temporary positions. After one or two years, the position may lead to a tenure track position at TAU. Jump over to the next page if you have a PhD and need more deets. Otherwise, back to our regularly scheduled programming.
Environmental Energy Resources Says Waste Not…
Environmental Energy Resources, Ltd. (EER) is using Israeli-developed technology to set up Romania’s first plasma waste treatment facility. The system was developed by scientists at the Technion Israel Institute of Technology, and the claim is that it can handle radioactive and medical waste as well as the more conventional kinds. Cost of the project: $30 million.
Climate change evacuation skirt
Yael Mer’s “Evacuation Skirt” was designed tongue-in-cheek. Or was it?
Conceived after the New Orleans hurricane and flood, says Yael: “The skirt keeps its glamorous look when it’s deflated on the one hand, and on the other, it inflates into a kayak with the right amount of volume to carry a grown up woman.
She adds, “I wanted to raise the question of emergency and beauty and to explore whether they can meet each other.”Green Prophet says S.O.S.
If sea levels in the Middle East rise (that’s what the experts say will happen, after global warming sets in), we’ll be ordering a few of these skirts.
We wonder if Yael has a prototype for men, kids and pets in the works?Yael’s design is quirky, but totally thought-provoking, wouldn’t you say?
See also Yael’s Slipper Rocker, rock on!
::Yael Mer
Living High-Rise and Green
Two Architecture lecturers from the Technion Institute in Haifa have designed a high-rise sustainable energy apartment complex that includes greenhouses for all its residents, and are building it in Wuhan Province, China.
Tagit Klimor and David Knafo, who also run their own architectural practise Knafo Klimor, with offices in Tel Aviv and Haifa, believe in the importance of people growing their own food.
“This project, which we have named Agro Housing, constitutes a revolution in the existing social and urban order,” Knafo says.
Shay Alkalay makes sticky stain coverups for stained clothes
Israeli designer Shay Alkalay is a man modeled after our own green heart. And with his cheeky invention, you will never have to say ‘out, out, damn spot,’ ever again.
Taking over your coffee spills (which might have otherwise ruined your best white shirt), is a little iron-on alien, known as a stickystain. A great way to keep your loved clothing item in circulation.
Shay says: “These are iron-on stickers that turn unsightly stains into attractive doodles. An alternative way to prolong the life of stained clothes. A postcard sized sheet that would be enough to rescue at least 4 different stains.”
Hear, hear! We can imagine that they are great for kids clothes, too.
Shay’s not selling his stickies at the moment, as it’s just a concept idea for design school but you can make your own or order them from Etsy.
See also Shay’s partner’s wacky invention, the Evacuation Skirt – perfect for inflating in times of need. Like when global warming kicks in perhaps? If that invention doesn’t float your boat, she’s also made the Slipper Rocker. Part slipper, part rocker.
