Those clever clever folk over at the British Council Israel are this week hosting a live video conference with British energy expert Francis McGowan and an audience in Turkey, all from the Council offices in Ramat Gan. Francis McGowan, senior lecturer in politics from the University of Sussex, is a member of the Sussex energy […]
“The Old Testament tells the story of a seriously miffed God flooding the world, and Noah building a wooden monohull to save each species. This time around it won’t be an act of God but a pickle of our own making, and the planet is the only ark we have. It’s time to find that […]
Green Prophet had the opportunity to interview Gitanjali Bakshi, Research Analyst at the Strategic Foresight Group. The group has produced a report on the environmental impact of conflicts in the Middle East, which was presented at the Palais de Nations in Geneva this week. Tell us a little bit about who you are and what […]
Green Design – From Theory to Practice (see preview post here), a major international architectural seminar took place this week here in Jerusalem, bringing together leading experts from the worlds of architecture, design, and integrated studies. Despite the recent war in the south, all but one of the international practitioners came, and by doing so, […]
As far as air pollution and carbon emissions go, transportation is usually a pretty major offender. Ranging from airplane transportation (which is the worst) to your run-of-the-mill daily transport via automobiles, transportation has a big negative impact on the environment and is, unfortunately, one of the most difficult habits to change since it’s so integral to people’s […]
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 […]
Air pollution from transportation is costing Arab countries $5 billion in damages, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) Minister of Environment and Water recently announced. The cost is calculated based on the number of deaths, medical care for health problems and chronic diseases that are attributed to air pollution. The minister, Dr. Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, […]
With America’s and the world’s financial markets going belly up, it will be interesting to see what happens to the carbon market. Smart CEOs will realize that a less carbon intensive business is better for the bottom line, as most companies can kick a lot of wasteful carbon habits, simply by doing a carbon audit. […]
Today’s book review, part of our ‘eco books review festival’, is by guest writer Gil Peled: Jerusalem-based Israeli eco-architect Gil (who trained in architecture in the wilds of deepest Scotland…), has been involved in planning and designing on the green scene in Israel for many years. His ongoing project is coordinating a Jerusalem apartment building […]
Freelance writer James Glave has successfully turned the planning and construction of a shed on his property in British Columbia into a thriving trade. His book, “Almost Green,” his own blog site devoted to the book and his promotional activities selling it, coupled with the Facebook group and the website devoted to renting out the […]
Although there are Israelis who hop between Eilat and Tel Aviv on a plane rather than brave the four-and-a-half hour Egged bus ride, for the most part Israel’s postage stamp size makes the country easy to tackle without taking to the skies. Not so for the USA. I decided last week that I will visit […]
Israel’s tourism industry has made some serious changes recently. The Ministry of Tourism announced a few months ago that it was going ‘green’ for 2009, stating that it had a plan that included “environment-sensitive planning and development; preservation of the cultural and social heritage; developing tourism and new jobs in agricultural areas and the periphery […]
(Image credit: Corbis) It’s bad for the environment, but you know you want it. You want those strawberries in the dead of winter. You know you should be eating local produce year round to avoid all of the carbon emissions associated with flying in food from distant places or using energy guzzling greenhouses to grow […]
In this week’s green book review, guest reviewer Rabbi Julian Sinclair unpicks the recent ‘Breakthrough’ by US writers Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger. Last month Al Gore gave a rousing speech on climate change, throwing down an audacious challenge to the American people. By 2020, Gore declared, let American by powered 100% by renewable sources […]
How many shades of green can a Jaffa orange be? Israeli fruit and vegetable grower and supplier Mehadrin (owned by Hadarim, a property and building group, and a succession of other parent companies) is working with British supermarket chain Tesco in a bid to mark all its Jaffa oranges with the Carbon Trust label, a […]
Well, that depends on how you look at it… Scientists are predicting that climate change will cause upheavals in the patterns of rainfall, drought, floods, and desertification. The latest report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) warns that temperatures in the Middle East have increased between 2-3 degrees Celsius in the last century, […]
Here in the Middle East, echoes of the Biblical prophets are never far off–even in environmental discourse. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the famous cedars of Lebanon, which have been a wonder to the world for thousands of years, and were used to build King Solomon’s palace. Some of the remaining cedars in […]
Okay, first the bad news. Well, perhaps we’d had better warn you that there is no good news in this piece: A new campaign has been launched in the UK by the NEF (new economics foundation) warning the world that according to their analysis, the world is just 100 months away from reaching the tipping […]
From creating the world’s most popular puzzle website (and a Time Magazine top 50), Israeli-British entrepreneur and hightech whiz Gideon Greenspan decided to change gears and put a focus on the environment. A couple of years ago, Gideon (who is based in Tel Aviv) was looking for a way to offset his travel and was […]
Green Prophet’s Karin recently made us aware of a carbon offsetting scheme here in the Middle East, named Libra/Sekem, which converts cash paid for carbon offsets into compost. The project based in the Sharkia region of Egypt, turns coffee grinds, raw food scraps and more (read one of our super-enriched Green Prophet posts on composting […]
Here in Israel there is pretty good access to busses and, in the cities, they go almost everywhere. The benefits of taking the bus instead of your car are numerous. First, you’ll be saving on emissions. Second, you have more time. I must have read volumes at the slow and steady pace of half an […]
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, […]
Tel Aviv is the first Israeli city, and the only city in the Middle East to join Earth Hour, a new worldwide campaign to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Lights out for Tel Aviv will happen on March 29, 2008 at 8 pm, so get your solar-powered flashlights handy. Tel Aviv joins cities in Denmark, Australia, […]
Memos, agreements, bills, pacts, hand-shaking…we’ve heard a lot of talk about Israel and its intent to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The latest episode is yesterday’s announcement that MK Ofer Paz-Pines (Labor party) has submitted a bill to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Israel. According to INN, the bill will call for a 25 percent reduction […]
Everyone and their mother is doing it. Talking about global warming, that is. Stumbling around the net, we bumped into this YouTube video sponsored by the Jewish National Fund, which links nicely to our last post on tree planting in Israel.