Comments on: Regional Environmental Hazards and the Red-Dead Peace Conduit http://greenprophet.com/2008/06/27/693/red-dead-peace-conduit/ Cleantech and Green Living from the Land of the Prophets Fri, 09 Jan 2009 22:36:29 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: chamish http://greenprophet.com/2008/06/27/693/red-dead-peace-conduit/comment-page-1/#comment-3264 chamish Fri, 03 Oct 2008 14:03:01 +0000 http://greenprophet.com/?p=693#comment-3264 Israel's biggest engineering projects are largely funded by the sale of Israel Bonds at less than prime interest rates. The Bonds' last big project when I began working for them was Ashdod Port, a multi-billion dollar task that was deemed a success. I was hired to write about the new winner, The Med-Dead Canal project. The goal was to raise half a billion dollars for it in the first year. So off I rode to the Tel Aviv Hilton to use my writing talent to raise some of the funds during its inaugural, kickoff convention. The Dead Sea was drying up and fast. Dangerous sinkholes were appearing on the exposed shore. The Southern end had already been desiccated and water had to be pumped ten miles to keep the hotels relevant. The new scheme would use gravity to pump Mediterranean water 1300 ft below sea level to refill the Dead Sea. After the canal was built, a Red-Dead Canal would be built from Eilat to the Dead Sea for the same purpose. I was coached to write about the beautiful water parks, fishing holes and beaches along the routes of both canals. So, on night one, I took all the literature and reports up to my room and prepared for my assignment. It was the section on environmental effects that ruined my night. The chemical compositions of both Med and Red water were so vastly different than the Dead Sea's potassium, potash and magnesium mix, that the sea water wouldn't mix with the Dead Sea. The sea water would float on top of the Dead Sea creating a greenhouse effect that would boil the Dead Sea to Death. Before then, some Med chemicals would mix and create a witch's brew of "snowballs." The greenhouse effect was so pronounced that one Ben Gurion University professor named Branover was actually running electric turbines on Dead Sea water covered with a layer of common seawater. A Red-Dead Canal would be even worse. Not only would the same chemical effects take place, but leaks would eventually turn the saline Negev aquifer salty, ruining Israel's natural desert water reserve supply. In the morning I turned to my boss with all the environmental objections. He said, "Don't worry. The canal is not going to ever be built. But we sunk too much into the project to stop selling it." "So I'm here to fool these delegates?" I asked. "We'll invest the money in better bonds and everyone will get their dividends. No one will complain." Israel’s biggest engineering projects are largely funded by the sale of Israel Bonds at less than prime interest rates. The Bonds’ last big project when I began working for them was Ashdod Port, a multi-billion dollar task that was deemed a success. I was hired to write about the new winner, The Med-Dead Canal project. The goal was to raise half a billion dollars for it in the first year. So off I rode to the Tel Aviv Hilton to use my writing talent to raise some of the funds during its inaugural, kickoff convention.
The Dead Sea was drying up and fast. Dangerous sinkholes were appearing on the exposed shore. The Southern end had already been desiccated and water had to be pumped ten miles to keep the hotels relevant. The new scheme would use gravity to pump Mediterranean water 1300 ft below sea level to refill the Dead Sea. After the canal was built, a Red-Dead Canal would be built from Eilat to the Dead Sea for the same purpose. I was coached to write about the beautiful water parks, fishing holes and beaches along the routes of both canals.
So, on night one, I took all the literature and reports up to my room and prepared for my assignment. It was the section on environmental effects that ruined my night. The chemical compositions of both Med and Red water were so vastly different than the Dead Sea’s potassium, potash and magnesium mix, that the sea water wouldn’t mix with the Dead
Sea. The sea water would float on top of the Dead Sea creating a greenhouse effect that would boil the Dead Sea to Death. Before then, some Med chemicals would mix and create
a witch’s brew of “snowballs.” The greenhouse effect was so pronounced that one Ben Gurion University professor named Branover was actually running electric turbines on Dead Sea water covered with a layer of common seawater.
A Red-Dead Canal would be even worse. Not only would the same chemical effects take place, but leaks would eventually turn the saline Negev aquifer salty, ruining Israel’s natural desert water reserve supply.
In the morning I turned to my boss with all the environmental objections. He said, “Don’t worry. The canal is not going to ever be built. But we sunk too much into the project to stop selling it.”
“So I’m here to fool these delegates?” I asked.
“We’ll invest the money in better bonds and everyone will get their dividends. No one will complain.”

]]> By: Danny Yarhi http://greenprophet.com/2008/06/27/693/red-dead-peace-conduit/comment-page-1/#comment-1446 Danny Yarhi Sun, 29 Jun 2008 23:09:40 +0000 http://greenprophet.com/?p=693#comment-1446 I cannot understand the resistance - specifically the idea that a "rapidly fading landmark" as the author calls it, will somehow be "ecologically" affected by the addition of seawater. Firstly - what ecology? The dead sea is indeed - dead. There is no life in it, and the addition of seawater, or brine for that matter will make it - salty? Probably less than it now is, regressing it some 200 years maybe? And how is that a problem? There is a concern about the Red Sea, and that is valid. Though this is not an obstacle that cannot be overcome. Using many pumping locations further out in the sea maybe? Why is it that human progress must always be pitted as totally damaging to nature in the minds of environmentalists? If we had not done all those things we did to get to where we are, we would not be able to exert the little control over our lives we do exert. Besides, we must come off of this idea that Nature is entirely positive, subject to some misterious order and totally benign. Random events occur ALL the time in nature, they cause much damage - weather and climate are chaotic systems - but by and large, life adapts. That is the very nature(no pun intended) of life. I cannot understand the resistance - specifically the idea that a “rapidly fading landmark” as the author calls it, will somehow be “ecologically” affected by the addition of seawater. Firstly - what ecology? The dead sea is indeed - dead. There is no life in it, and the addition of seawater, or brine for that matter will make it - salty? Probably less than it now is, regressing it some 200 years maybe? And how is that a problem?

There is a concern about the Red Sea, and that is valid. Though this is not an obstacle that cannot be overcome. Using many pumping locations further out in the sea maybe?

Why is it that human progress must always be pitted as totally damaging to nature in the minds of environmentalists? If we had not done all those things we did to get to where we are, we would not be able to exert the little control over our lives we do exert. Besides, we must come off of this idea that Nature is entirely positive, subject to some misterious order and totally benign.

Random events occur ALL the time in nature, they cause much damage - weather and climate are chaotic systems - but by and large, life adapts. That is the very nature(no pun intended) of life.

]]> By: Rachel Weiss http://greenprophet.com/2008/06/27/693/red-dead-peace-conduit/comment-page-1/#comment-1415 Rachel Weiss Fri, 27 Jun 2008 05:59:19 +0000 http://greenprophet.com/?p=693#comment-1415 This canal idea scares the living daylights out of me. Look what happened after Suez -- mollusks and jellyfish now overtake the Med Sea. I am sure there are other negative environmental consequences. This canal idea scares the living daylights out of me. Look what happened after Suez — mollusks and jellyfish now overtake the Med Sea. I am sure there are other negative environmental consequences.

]]> By: Adam ben-Gan http://greenprophet.com/2008/06/27/693/red-dead-peace-conduit/comment-page-1/#comment-1413 Adam ben-Gan Fri, 27 Jun 2008 00:11:17 +0000 http://greenprophet.com/?p=693#comment-1413 Another potential ecological concern is that water pumped from the gulf would increase the turbidity of the Red seawater. Consequently, the polyps that are already severely stressed because of agricultural and economic factors, will face another obstacle, lack of the clear water that sustains them. For the northernmost reef in the world to suffer for the sake of the "Taalat HaYamim" would be a travesty. Another potential ecological concern is that water pumped from the gulf would increase the turbidity of the Red seawater. Consequently, the polyps that are already severely stressed because of agricultural and economic factors, will face another obstacle, lack of the clear water that sustains them. For the northernmost reef in the world to suffer for the sake of the “Taalat HaYamim” would be a travesty.

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