Every Friday night religious Jews light candles for Shabbat, the Sabbath or Shabbos. Guest poster Debra A. Waldoks sends us this tip in “light” of Earth Day today. Jewish or not, consider the ramifications of earth-friendly candles. My husband called me out on it: He claims that I am “green” when it affects my personal […]
Muslims recognize the Qu’ran has a lot to teach about ecology. A critical mass of Muslims are now working to make the annual Hajj pilgrimage greener. Green was, after all, Mohammad’s favorite color. Image via jonathangill Ask around in Egypt and the environment is usually not on the top of most people’s agenda, especially considering […]
The Muslim Green Team connect water to spirituality. Words of wisdom for the Middle East. [image via: luigig] It may not seem like an obvious connection, but if you are a believer in God and the wonder of his creations then you probably have a vested interest in conserving them. These creations include wildlife, plant […]
If you are Iranian, now is the time to celebrate the Spring holiday. Make the green holiday, greener. [image via: Hamed Saber] Spring is celebrated as a time of renewal and regrowth among many religions and cultures that originated in the Middle East. The Christian holiday, Easter, coincides with spring, as does the Jewish liberation […]
An impressive aerial shot of Israel’s garbage mountain – site of new ecological activity – for Passover. You’ve already begun your preparations for Passover – you’ve starting finishing up all the yeast (or hametz) in the house, you’ve thought of ways to avoid food waste during the holiday, you’ve bought local, handmade and green gifts […]
(Photo Credit: Jim Davidson) Jewish leaders were among 50 religious leaders who prayed and visited Capitol Hill together during the week of February 22 to tell US legislators that action on climate change is urgently needed. Religious faith and concern for the environment should really go hand in hand. If you believe in God and […]
Earlier this year Green Prophet interviewed Asiila Rasool, an Eco-Muslim from SE San Diego, about the community garden she grew from scratch. Check out why Asiila was inspired to go organic and why home-grown produce is worth all that effort.
An act of redemption for family sins: Etti Altman co-founder and spokesperson of Let the Animals Live is pushing for anti-fur law she hopes will be passed this February 24. Israel would be the first in the world to ban fur. While fur was in vogue in the 1950s and ’60s and some people still […]
New Year’s for the Trees, is about to be celebrated in Israel and by Jews everywhere. Some people like to plant trees, like this family. Over in the Holy Land, and the Jewish Diaspora, Jewish people are stock-piling dried fruit and nuts to welcome in one of four different new years celebrated each year. Starting […]
Noam Dolgin is a Jewish environmental educator and the executive director of the Green Zionist Alliance (GZA). Based in Vancouver, Canada, he travels regularly around North America teaching about Jewish environmental values and Israel’s environment. Green Prophet sits down with Noam to learn a little more about the Green Zionist Alliance and what it does. […]
Muslims succumb to swine flu during annual Hajj pilgrimage. One of the biggest concerns to Saudi Arabian health authorities has unfortunately become a reality at this year’s Hajj pilgrimage, now underway in Islam’s holiest cities of Mecca and Medina. This year’s pilgrimage, which began on Saturday, November 21, has already claimed at least four lives […]
Lebanon’s Harissa Forest is only 400 square hectares in size, but it is considered one of ten Mediterranean forest attractions from a sheer beauty and conservation standpoint. Located on a hillside above the predominantly Christian city of Jounieh, the more than 1,000 year old forest had been threatened by real estate developers and construction contractors […]
Islam’s holy city Medina is about to become green model for Muslim world. On November 4, 2009, UK-based the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC), in working with the U.N., hosted 200 representatives from nine major world religions spanning over 60 different religious organizations. For a background, read Green Prophet’s post Interfaith Initiative plans to mobilize […]
Nearly one month before the climate talks in Copenhagen begin, a crucial event to reach out to the eighty-five per cent of humanity who follow a religion kicked off in London’s Windsor Castle. From 2-4 November, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon co-hosted the global gathering of inter-faith leaders: Faith Commitments for a Living Planet. The meeting […]
If any of you were able to make Sunday’s renewable energy conference in Jerusalem or in San Francisco, you may have gained a better insight of the joint renewable energy projects that Israel and the US are involved in. The one-day conference was held in the American Jewish Committee’s Jerusalem headquarters in Beit Moses, and […]
With an eye to the Middle East, hundreds of Jewish professionals will meet November 8 in San Francisco to share ideas and experiences dealing with clean energy projects in both the US and in Israel. The conference Jewish Response to the Energy Challenge (JREC) will feature some of the top Jewish “players” in the clean tech and […]
After a green Rosh Hashanah and a low carbon emission Yom Kippur, the next on the Jewish holiday marathon is Sukkot. Which can also be celebrated in an environmentally conscious way. We’ve already written about the annual Green Sukkah conference being held again this year at Kibbutz Ein Shemer, but if an all day conference […]
The high holidays keep marching on, and after a reflective and sustainable Rosh Hashanah (and Yom Kippur) comes a (hopefully green) Sukkot. The ecological greenhouse in Kibbutz Ein Shemer will be hosting their annual Green Sukkah Conference again (we wrote about it last year as well) with this year’s topic being “The Water Crisis as […]
With the Jewish New Year (Rosh Hashanah) coming up this week, many of us are reflecting on the past year and making resolutions for the next. These resolutions may include ways to treat ourselves better, ways to be better to those around us, and ways to make a more positive impact on our surroundings. Making […]
A year ago, James wrote an article on Green Prophet about a unique organization known as the Sulha Peace Project and its role in reconciliation among peoples of different religious faiths and cultures, which is what the word sulha or reconciliation in Arabic is supposed to be about. The Sulha Peace Project was founded in […]
The links between religion and environmental concern/activism are no news to Green Prophet. We’ve covered them in our Eco Rabbi series, discussion of the environment and the Qu’ran, and in stories about multi-faith perspectives on the environment. But it was news to discover an Eco-Activist Beit Midrash (EABM) in Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Simchat Shlomo, which, in […]
Dr. Fuad Fares has a huge secret. It’s big enough to make sure his laboratory is locked tight when he’s not there. The Israeli scientist has been looking into the potency of ancient herbal treatments, and has discovered what he believes is a new family of antioxidants. He’s tested the secret compound based on an […]
Twenty years, ago, Sally Bingham went to her local bishop and announced that she wanted to be ordained so that she could become the world’s first priest for the environment. She was received with some skepticism. Undeterred, she embarked on almost a decade of study and became an Episcopalian minister in 1998. She went on […]
(Thousands of Christian pilgrims get baptized in Israel’s Jordan River every year. Are they risking their lives by immersing in the polluted waters?) It’s the highlight of any Christian’s trip to Israel – a dunk in the Jordan River, the way Jesus did it thousands of years ago. But with increased pollution in Israel’s waterways, […]
Eco-Jews are busy now celebrating Passover, while Christians in the Holy Land and the world over ready themselves for Easter. Iranians, we learn had their own celebrations this time of the year, coinciding with the vernal equinox on March 21. Iran’s political makeup and leadership may not be making many friends these days, but one […]