Myths and facts about the “Jewish Earth Day” This Wednesday evening and Thursday, Jews around the world will celebrate the holiday of Tu B’Shevat (15th of the Hebrew month of Shevat). Tu B’shevat traditions include planting new trees, and eating dried fruit. Tu B’Shevat has also become the Jewish Earth Day, to celebrate the environment […]
Environmentalists have called for urgent action to save the last 400 argun palm trees, a rare desert palm tree highly valued by the ancient Egyptians In the remote regions of Sudan and Egypt the argun palm tree- a rare desert tree whose fruit was discovered by archaeologists in Pharaoh tombs- grows under a harsh sun. […]
This Lebanese oak tree has survived for 1500 years, but many others were destroyed in recent forest fires. Sawdust from Lebanese cedars has been found in ancient Egyptian tombs, and the Bible recounts how the trees were brought to Jerusalem for the building of Solomon’s Temple. The cedar even appears on the Lebanese flag. But […]
Sometimes less is more. WWF creates a brilliant file format that can’t be printed. The Chinese used to write books on silk. Think about that for a second. If you thought you had to produce an entire sheet of silk in order to pass on that really bad joke your father sent you, might you […]
Muslim starts sustainable tree planting operation to make Ethiopia green once again. Visiting Ethiopia after a thirty year absence, Geshaw Tahir an Ethiopian-born Muslim was struck by one thing. The green landscapes and trees that once surrounded his home had all but disappeared and were replaced with dry fields, eroded and ruined after years of deforestation. […]
What is your T-shirt saying? Buy one of these and you plant a tree in Lebanon. T-shirts have been used to convey messages for decades. These days, popular messages on tees may indicate what city you’re a fan of (as in I heart NY) or what brands you like (in the form of a big […]
The Mayor of Omer insists that Bedouins are behind the felling of thousands of trees on disputed lands. Every so often we are put in the unfortunate position of having to weigh our environmental concerns against socio-political issues. A while ago, we wrote about Palestinian architect Omar Yousef whose philosophy and style are based on […]
This book is unusual. Firstly, by virtue of covering the topic of forest gardening at all, but also unusual in another respect. Many gardening books either concentrate on being packed with practical How-To information, or on offering glossy fantasies for gardeners. In Creating a Forest Garden Martin Crawford has expertly covered both bases. There are […]
Trees tell stories. And it’s not just because you can see and measure their rings. In Israel there are thousands of old trees with history. Serious history. Some have “seen” great battles, heard prophets, witnessed the advent of new religions and the rise and fall of different empires through the ages. The Jewish National Fund […]
As Karin has reminded us, Tu B’Shvat (the new year holiday for the trees) is coming up in a couple weeks. This means that many people are gathering dried fruits and nuts (in a squirrel-like fashion), but it also means that others are planning a Tu B’Shvat seder. What is a Tu B’Shvat seder? The […]
Summer is always hot in the Middle East, but this season has gotten really fiery in Lebanon, where blazes have damaged over 15 million square meters of forest since June. The Lebanese Daily Star reports that farmers who burn their land after clearing it don’t take note of wind and dry conditions that quickly spiral […]
In Israel for the first time last week, Hollywood stars Liev Schrieber and Naomi Watts (and their two cute kids) planted a pistachio tree (and other trees) in the Galilee with the Jewish National Fund (JNF). Though we loved their appearances in “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “King Kong”, we think that tree planting certificates and […]
A UN worldwide tree planting campaign has now reached the 4 billion mark in its drive to plant 7 billion trees world wide. The campaign is being undertaken to fight the effects of climate change; as well as to prevent soil erosion, one of the most common reasons for desertification in many parts of the […]
Earlier this year, we saw members of the Lebanese group IndyACT trek out into the snowy wilderness to protect Lebanon’s snow from catastrophic climate change. This week IndyACT members, along with their friends in the Association for Forest Development and Conservation (AFDC) were back in action, putting the heat (so to speak) on decision-makers to […]
(Yuli Ziv, founder of MyItThings, cofounder of the Style Coalition) I first talked to Yuli Ziv when she was in the middle of a paparazzi storm. It was Fashion Week in New York and she was just about to enter the Justin Timberlake show. Walking over to her website MyItThings, the Tel Aviv native, now […]
“So Hiram, King of Tyre, gave King Solomon timber of cedar and timber of cypress according to all his desire.”-Book of Kings vs. 24 A recent article by Ahmed Khatib in the Lebanese Daily Star emphasized the dangers of climate change and global warming to Lebanon‘s remaining cedar groves, which have been a historic national […]
Each week Orthodox Jews read one segment of the Five Books of Moses so that they can complete the entire Five Books within the course of a year. In last week’s Eco-Rabbi post we discussed water and life. In this week I will discuss man, trees and the receiving of the Bible (Torah) on Mount […]
Our resourceful friends at the Bedouin NGO Bustan are refusing to allow the current tension in the South of Israel affect them. Despite having to cancel some tree planting dates due to the war and the related school closures, they have upped sticks to Tel Aviv and are organising a benefit evening this coming wednesday […]
Tu B’Shvat is the Jewish holiday marking the beginning of a new year for trees, and is usually celebrated by planting trees and exchanging gifts of dried fruit with loved ones. While these traditional activities are great and we support going out to plant trees (thus increasing the amount of carbon-eating leaves out there), these […]
In this week’s segment from the Torah, Parshat Vayigash, Jacob and his family go down to Egypt to Joseph, who is now second, only to Pharaoh, in Egypt. On his way down the Bible explains that Jacob went via Beersheba. The Midrash Bereshit Rabbah, a sixth century commentary on the bible, notices extra language used […]
If you were going to use one word to describe Israel, the word “construction” would be a definite possibility. Visitors who come to Israel within intervals of only a few years are often shocked at the rapid development in the country. At only 60 years old Israel is constantly building and developing, and sometimes it […]
You love reading books, and at the same time you care about the environment and don’t feel too good about all the trees cut down for printing these books. So what can you do to green up your reading? There are several options for the eco-conscious reader who wants to act in support of the […]
One of our favourite Green NGO’s in Israel, Bustan, are holding a special tree planting event tommorrow (Thursday the 11th of September) at Segev Shalom. With the help of local Bedouin residents, Bustan are planting an orchard (bustan, Hebrew and Arabic) as the first event of their new ‘Tree’s For Life’ project, which aims to […]
I’ve been researching Bedouin issues in the Negev Desert for about 5 years, and one of the first individuals I met was Nuri El-Ukbi. Nuri and the El-Ukbi tribe have claims to the land named in arabic El-Araquib, which is roughly situated between Rahat and Beersheva. It is a vast area of land, roughly 19,000 […]
This post is devoted to the sheer joy of growing something, in this case, an organic gooseberry bush (Hebrew: Hazrazar) (Latin: Ribes Grossularia). Growing something – anything really, from a geranium stem, roughly transplanted and shoved in soil, to vegetables for your plate; can be a mystical experience. It mesmerizes, absorbs, transfixes … and continues […]