I did the best part of my growing up in Toronto, a cold and somewhat bike-crazed city. It’s there where I met a champion bike courier from Berlin and had my first long-distance love affair when he moved back to Germany. Joern, god bless his heart, used to deliver love letters by international courier!
Now there is a good reason not to buy an electric bike: the Copenhagen Wheel from the Senseable City Lab can make you go hybrid with the switch of a tire. In a sense, it turns an ordinary hilly city such as Jerusalem and Amman into flat cities like Copenhagen and Amsterdam.
Bertini Derailleur racing bikes like this one were used by Israeli cyclists in the Rome 1960 Olympiad Bicycle riding, including bike sharing in Tel Aviv and traveling by bike in the Middle East have been popular topics that Green Prophet writers have enjoyed sharing with their readers. Those living in urban areas, where bike riding is […]
There’s been a huge jump in Tel Avivians riding on two wheels in the last decade. When I first visited Tel Aviv about 12 or 13 years ago I was one of the only cyclists on the road, along with a few other nuts, and the African immigrant workers hauling around skeins of fabric in […]
Bikes blocking traffic or crosswalks are being impounded in Tel Aviv. From the first time I visited Tel Aviv more than a decade ago, up until today so much has changed in the way the city’s residents accept cycling. Back then if you rode a bike you were either a migrant worker pushing fabric rolls […]
Izhar Gafni makes a bike from cardboard for $9. Engineers told Izhar Gafni that a cardboard bike was impossible. But he went ahead and made one anyway. An ardent cyclist and skilled mechanic, Gafni found a cardboard bicycle taking shape in his mind. American engineers he consulted solemnly nay-sayed, but he couldn’t let go of […]
Jerusalem’s light rail may be a great way to encourage the use of public transportation, but why doesn’t it allow bikes on board? Four months ago the much anticipated Jerusalem light rail was launched after years of construction. (The future of the Tel Aviv light rail has yet to be seen.) The new light rail […]
Are you lyrical about your two-wheeler? If so, contribute to a literature project on the humble bike It seems that the majority of people serenading the magic and innocence of cycling are American and European males. In a bid to change this, professors Elamar Schenkel, Alon Raab and Jinhua Li are asking writers from the […]
Could a bike sharing system work in Beirut? Bicycle sharing has become all the rage in certain cities in the past few years, ever since the Parisians got the trend going with the Vélib’ shared bike rental system approximately three years ago. In the Middle East, Nicosia implemented a bike sharing system a few weeks […]
Green Prophet’s own Green Sheikh posing with a mime. Could the Caracas model of street miming reign in bad Middle East drivers? Drive anywhere in the Middle East and you are taking your life in your hands. Whether you are in a car, bus, train, or just walking on a sidewalk or riding your bike, […]
Israeli bikers are hoping that the new year brings them greater cycling convenience and safety. The Israel Bike Association isn’t a quiet or a shy bunch – they make their opinions about the importance of urban cycling known through naked protests and the like. Which is why it is not surprising that they protested the […]
Before the 25th of January no more than 150 cyclists could pedal together without attracting police authorities’ attention. In Cairo, Inji El Abd from Cycling for Change, talks about a revolution for bikes. Che Guevara had his motorcycle and they had their bicycles: Revolutionaries on wheels went from all corners of Cairo to Tahrir Square to demand […]
Green Prophet’s Arwa on her decision not to drive a car and the social stigma that comes with it… Maybe it has something to do with my love of trains and car-induced travel sickness as a child, but I can honestly say I’ve never aspired to driving a car. Hitting the open road or whizzing […]
New algorithms make bike sharing more efficient. The environmentally-friendly concept of bike-sharing is taking over European cities like Paris, and Tel Aviv is about to get its own too –– although that’s been in the works for several years. Bike sharing, if you haven’t experienced it allows a subscriber to “borrow” a bike from one […]
The Bedouin village of Um Bateen, just outside Beersheba in southern Israel, has no paved roads – which makes it the perfect place for a new mountain bike club. Now the Bikes4All project sponsored by the Israel Cycling Federation and funded by the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, has distributed free bikes to more […]
Everything’s dead at the Dead Sea; even bikes that get left behind. It’s pretty shocking when you are out there to see for yourself how this world’s natural wonder is shrinking year by year. It makes you want to scream. Here are some pictures from my visit to the Dead Sea about 6 weeks ago. […]
During the week of August 16, 2009, researchers from Ben Gurion University began taking steps towards commercializing their cheaper method of reverse-osmosis desalination to clean dirty groundwater. GreenProphet covered Taga’s hybrid bicycle and baby stroller in one and Globes reported on plans to install solar energy systems at Ben Gurion Airport. For these stories and […]
Beer Sheva, the long-suffering capital of Israel’s Negev desert, just broke ground on the biggest shopping mall in Israel. Like the other seven malls of Beer Sheva, this $180.5 million complex will continue to suck business out of the dilapidated but walkable Old City. Unlike the others, this one claims to be green. Architect rendering, […]
Around two weeks ago, the Israeli Ministerial Committee for Legislation decided not to support a bill that would encourage bike riding as transportation. The bill would have mandated the inclusion of bike trails in urban plans, allow bikes to be taken on intercity public transportation (like trains and buses), and pave the way for specially […]
We’ve posted here before about a Walk About Love, a hike for Israel and a bike ride to benefit Israel’s environment. This October, get a more regional view through Peace Cycle, a bike trip from Amman to Jerusalem. While the rough terrain and stunning views will certainly be rewarding, Peace Cycle’s main purpose is activism […]
When it comes to transportation around Tel Aviv, there are a number of alternatives to driving a car. For longer commutes, riding public transportation with Dan or Egged buses helps reduce the amount of pollution. For shorter commutes, there is the option of going by foot or the ever-popular bicycle. While the bicycle provides a […]
Do you ever get the feeling that every time you close your eyes, someone in Europe is doing something brilliant for the environment? Well, the residents of Vauban, Germany live in a suburb where most streets are off-limits to cars and the shops are mixed in with housing. The town’s 5,500 people are packed into […]
(Karin’s new bike, from a bike store in Jaffa.) After moving from the hilly terrain of Jerusalem, back to Jaffa, I decided it was time to get serious about biking around the city. Not for pleasure. Bah humbug. But for getting from point A to point B. To help me make quick runs to the […]
A couple of months ago we wrote about how the Israeli Ministry of Tourism is investing millions of shekels towards developing clean, green, eco-friendly cycling tourism. That’s great, but how can we make green transportation part of our everyday lives – and not just something we enjoy on the weekends or on vacation? How can […]
No. 3 on Mayor-elect Nir Barkat’s winning list, Naomi Tsur is going to be spearheading any changes the city makes to beautify the city in the near future. Formal head of SPNI’s Jerusalem office and founder of the Sustainable Jerusalem, a coalition of 60 environmental groups is now going to tackle those same issues but […]