Who was Maria, who lived an immaculate life 1400 years ago?
Ancient Greek burial stone discovered while clearing paths for nature park in Israel's Negev Desert
Negev Desert
Ancient grotto projects Ivo Bisignano’s human forms
The ancient caves at Beit Guvrin in southern Israel opened for the first time in 25 years with an art exhibit by sculpture Ivo Bisignano.
One Of The World’s Oldest Mosques Excavated In The Negev
The rocky brown soil of the Negev desert suggests an empty environment, but recent excavations by the Israel Antiquities Authority have brought to light an ancient mosque from the 7th-8th centuries CE there. It’s one of the earliest known mosques in the world, a surprising find in the area. Dr. Jon Seligman and Shahar Zur, […]
Ecoppia’s waterless robots clean solar panel dust in Israel
Solar parks in the desert face two major challenges: a lot of dust on the photovoltaic panels and not enough water to clean them. Dust can cause up to a 40% decrease in efficiency of the panels. So there is huge interest to avert this problem. Normally teams of humans come in with squeegees to […]
Incredible video captures rare footage of Wadi Zin flash flood in Israel
Flash floods are very dangerous; they come quickly, often catch people by surprise, and their force is formidable. This is especially true of Israel’s Wadi Zin, a deceptively dry riverbed most of the time. Visitors to the Dead Sea captured rare footage of a recent flash flood – a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Negev Energy Wins Bid for Israel’s Largest Concentrating Solar Power Plant
Spain’s super solar giant Abengoa has teamed up with Israel’s Shikun & Binui Renewable Energy (SKBN) to build a concentrating solar power plant in the Negev desert. When the company announced their win of the BOT tender of the Ashalim plant, they also claimed it will be the largest of its kind in the country.
A Meteor, UFO or Starlings? Check Out This Super Nature Show in Israel
When I lived on a roof in Tel Aviv with my boyfriend Elad more than a decade ago, I would spend some evenings watching the Cypress trees sway and pray in the wind, and above them flocks of starlings painting the sky with their moves like tea leaves in a cup. Without a television it […]
Sidreh Weaves Bedouin Tradition Into Their Future
A few short decades ago, the ladies of Lakiya had a very different life. Their traditional Bedouin clans lived in encampments throughout the Israeli Negev Desert, herding animals. When their families were relocated to government-built towns, the women became aware of how their illiteracy, and their society’s rule against mingling with men who are not […]
Will Dark-sky Ecotourism Spread to the Mideast?
Israel’s Negev Desert, Jordan’s Mount Nebo, Medaba and Wadi Rum are a few dark sky destinations for stargazing. Paris is known as the city of lights. So is Medina Saudi Arabia, Be’er Sheva Israel and Las Vegas, Nevada. We shouldn’t overlook Baltimore Maryland, Varanasi India, Quanzhou China and Milford Pennsylvania. Each of these cities is also […]
It Took 15 Years to Build This and That’s a Good Thing
Remember the good old days when it took decades to build major monuments? Historians estimate that 30 years passed before the back-breaking pyramids of Giza came to glory, for example, and more than a century after construction began in 1882, La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona is still not finished. Although laborers might disagree, there’s something […]
Isrotel Beresheet is a 5 Star Stone-Clad Hotel Overlooking Ramon Crater
I’d love to tell you more about the architects responsible for the 5 star Isrotel overlooking Ramon crater, but it’s impossible to get them to return calls and there’s no information online. As for the communications person, either she wasn’t given the skinny on the design or her English is as good as my Hebrew […]
Is Urbanizing the Solution to Israel’s Housing Crisis?
Forest in central Israel, as seen from Ein Karem Some architects and economists are proposing Israel solve its affordable housing crisis by turning central Israel into a “megacity,” similar to Hong Kong, and moving the nation’s lush nature reserves and agricultural lands to the Negev and the Galilee. Supporters of this solution insist it would […]
Solar War Flares Up in Israel
Two solar energy companies are part of a larger conflict and dilemma in Israel: should solar panels be installed on limited open space or on rooftops? There is a small war going on in Israel and it has nothing to do with a nuclear Iran or local terror cells. This war is over the sun. Two companies […]
Climate Change Might Not Get Our Wine
This man singlehandedly produces up to 5,500 bottles of delicious red wine each year, despite living in a frequently drought-stricken region Dave Levitan from Onearth, one of our favorite environmental blogs, traveled to Israel to meet with a hardy winemaker in the Negev desert and came away gushing. No, not from all the red wine […]
Architectural Symposium to Discuss Green Habitable Environments in the Negev Desert
“Active Matters” symposium will discuss how desert living can become more eco-friendly. Environmentalists agree that dense urban living is more eco-friendly (just ask Tel Aviv city architect Yoav David), but desert life is a little if-ier. Living in a sprawling desert, far from water and other resources, could be taxing on the environment since it […]
Sustainable Bedouin Farm, Wadi Attir, To Break Ground in the Negev
After years of planning, a Bedouin eco-farm in the Negev will finally get under way next week. For years the Sustainability Laboratories (a New York-based organization) and the mayor of Hura in the Negev, Dr. Muhammad El-Nabari, have been planning an eco-farm for the Bedouin community. The farm, Project Wadi Attir, would aim to create […]
New Study Shows Negev Solar Farm is a Death Knell for Wildlife
Could large solar array farms put these desert animals at risk? Builders of large solar array farms in Israel’s Negev region and in places like California’s Mojave Desert have had ongoing problems with nature lovers , environmentalists, and Native American Tribes . It now appears that the environmentalists in Israel may be winning out on […]
Dimona Silica To Ship The Negev Desert To China
Within the next four months, Dimona Silica plans to build a factory in Nahal Zin Wadi in order to supply China with high-quality asphalt. Since its inception, Dimona Silica Industries Ltd. has been plagued with a dodgy reputation. After its involvement with the 2004 Investment Promotions Center scandal, where it was found that then Minister […]
Bedouin Home-Spun Woolen Rugs On Show In Milan
Bedouin women from Israel are getting a name for themselves at the furniture fair in Milan, where their home-spun woolen rugs are on proud display as a prized example of high-end sustainable design. The Eindhoven designers BCXSY teamed up with SIDREH, the non-profit organization behind Lakiya Negev weaving to create these one-of-a-kind products.
Israel’s Bedouin Want Their Rightful Share of the Sun
It would create jobs and better dividends for the marginalized Bedouin in Israel’s Negev Desert. So will the Israeli Government allot a lease-land quota for solar energy on Bedouin-settled land? Arava Power, based on an Israeli kibbutz, recently signed a solar energy land lease deal with Israeli Bedouin (previously nomadic people). The deal, it seems […]
Sunray Solar and Sun Power Combine in $277 Million Deal
The world solar energy industry looks even brighter following the purchase of Sunray Renewable Energy by the American solar energy giant Sun Power Corporation and solar array manufacturer in a $277 million deal reported in The Marker. SunRay, headed by Israeli CEO Yoram Amiga, was the first foreign solar energy company allowed to do business […]
Arava Power to "Electrify" the Negev Desert After Signing 15 Solar Energy Deals
Arava Power Team: “We Are The Power!” Israel’s Arava Power Company (APC) one of the country’s top solar energy producers, is now working towards supplying solar powered electricity to 15 Negev Desert kibbutzes and agricultural villages following the signing of an agreement with these communities, as reported in the JPost. Arava was in the news a […]
Green housing construction gets underway in Israel, creates jobs in Negev town of Yeruham
The first green, affordable home designed by an Israeli company has just come off the production line in the Negev town of Yeruham. Following years of planning and design by REAL Housing, the 190 m2 house was inaugurated by Mayor of Yeruham and former Labour Party leader, Amram Mitzna. The three-room, NIS 785,000 house (about […]
Negev Nectars Imports Israeli Organic Farm Food
Feb, 2020 update: This business is no longer viable. But we kept the story in our archives for you to enjoy. And perhaps make the next idea of this kind work. If you’ve been reading from the United States about the organic olive oils, vegetables and honey coming out of the Middle East, you’ll be […]
Live Like A Bedouin and Save Water at Chan HaShayarot
(A bird’s eye view of Chan HaShayarot) We’ve already learned about immersion Arabic in a solar Bedouin village in Israel. Here’s another eco-tourism stop: located in the Negev, just south of Sde Boker, the Chan HaShayarot provides guests with a true Bedouin experience including camel rides, Bedouin food, and the option of sleeping in a […]