At Green Prophet, we often post on organic vegetables and dairy products being grown in Israel; this November two Jewish environmental organizations are offering a heavily subsidized chance to see the farms and produce yourself. Hazon (which runs an annual Food Conference in the USA) and the Heschel Center will lead an Israel Sustainable Food […]
Reading has its own geography. I read this book The Nature of the State while I traveled back and forth from the West Highlands of Scotland to London for work . . . while Israeli-Palestinian relations erupted into open conflict in Gaza, while fire in Greece turned to fire Australia, while it snowed hard in […]
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nnCqX5Xn0UE[/youtube] Israelis need it to stay secure from terror attacks, but the Palestinians see it as a barrier to making peace, and getting their fair share of water and other resources. Alexandra Cousteau (who I spoke to while on her Expedition: Blue Planet in Israel) interviews an Arava Institute alum from the Palestinian Authority to […]
With the regional water crisis weighing so heavily on everyone’s minds, it’s no wonder that the Palestine Academy for Science and Technology and the Palestinian Water Authoirty have teamed up to host the 2nd International Conference on Water: Values and Rights. The conference, to be held in Ramallah from April 13-15, will bring together academics, […]
As if to add to their current misery, the 1.5 million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip are now facing an acute water shortage due to ground water contamination. These findings were made in a research project recently conducted by three Gaza academics: Dr. Ziad Abu Hein, head of Environment and Earth Sciences Department at the […]
As the resting place of the Abraham and (unfortunately) a hot spot for conflict, the West Bank city of Hebron (or Hevron or al-Khalil, depending on who you ask!) is pretty notorious. Soon, this city will also become an important part of the Middle East’s ongoing clean energy revolution! Last week the European Commission signed […]
What’s left of Iraq’s “Garden of Eden” Marshes The Middle Eastern winter has never been more pleasant, bringing us day after day of perfect blue skies, comfortable temperatures, light winds and crisp, clear views. “What more could you ask for?” must think the residents of Western Europe and North America, who are being pounded by […]
Academics from Arizona State University are hard at work promoting sustainability and regional cooperation with the United Arab Emirates (UAE), a politically stable and very prosperous Gulf country. A delegation from Arizona traveled to the United Arab Emirates this past January for a series of meetings to follow-up on last summer’s visit to their university […]
Amidst all its struggles to develop clean and cleaner technologies (and a war with Gaza), it seem that Israelis got a huge gift this week: Israelis were celebrating this week over the discovery of a massive 3 trillion cubic feet natural gas pocket found buried 1.5 km below the sea floor, some 90 km off […]
This isn’t the forum for politics, but unfortunately so much of what decisions are made in the Middle East (ie funds allocated, prayers made) are determined by the conflict. Above, see a video of the consequences of the Israel-Lebanon war 2.5 years ago. As an Israeli, I know that untold environmental damage happened south of […]
(Rapidly depleting water resources has forced residents of Sana’a to buy water from private sources. Water levels are dropping by 6 metres a year in the Yemeni capital. © David Swanson/IRIN) If you think things seem pretty dicey in the Middle East right now with Israel and Hamas fighting, according to IRIN, expect tensions to […]
(Plastic bags on the trees in Vietnam) With the bombing and chaos in Israel and Gaza right now, it’s a little hard to focus on positive green news from the Middle East. My passion for it, is a little clouded by all the politics and news of violence. See my latest post on TreeHugger “When […]
Green Prophet recently wrote about the rise in environmental activism and awareness amongst Palestinians, including conservation biologist and educator, Sami Backleh. In this guest post, Sami, a resident of east Jerusalem, writes about the flora and fauna of Wadi Qelt in the Jordan Valley near Jericho. (Article originally published in This Week in Palestine.) It […]
Those who have been following the Red-Dead canal proposal, and all its controversies, know that a lot is at stake. The Dead Sea is dying because natural estuaries, such as the Jordan River, Ein Gedi bottled spring water and rainwater are not making it to its shores. Politicians think that by carving a tunnel from […]