The leader of the Atid Yarok (“green future”) environmental group in the Merkaz Hamagshimim community center in Jerusalem is leaving. Now Atid Yarok must have a new leader, or the group will fade away. The initiatives of Atid Yarok have included the Jerusalem of Green project, which James reported on last February; and perhaps the […]
We’ve seen that environmentally conscious tourism is becoming more than a buzz word, what with government initiatives stepping in, and the various alternatives in eco-tourism that Israel now offers–including Kazakh yurts! Australian-born tour guide Zel Lederman customizes personal tours for groups and families with Israel Travel Company: Israel Off the Beaten Track, including tours with […]
World Usability Day was founded in 2005 as an initiative of the Usability Professionals’ Association to ensure that services and products important to human life are easier to access and simpler to use. Each year, on the second Thursday of November, over 225 events are organized in over 40 countries around the world to raise […]
Earth Future is a collection of very worthy short stories. It is immediately clear that Guy Dauncey is not writing from a literary and imaginative viewpoint: he is really telling us stories about how the world could be, using some real social tools and shifts, and in one or 2 stories, how bad the world […]
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) announced yesterday that they would boycott the 60th anniversary gala evening held by the Ministry of Environmental Protection. The reason? The Ministry supports the building of a new settlement, Mirsham, in the Lachish region. The SPNI and other environmentalists have strongly objected to the project, […]
The Israel Union for Environmental Defense (IUED) reported that yesterday (September 14) the Israeli government approved plans to place fish cages in the Ashdod harbor. This marine agriculture initiative was removed from the Eilat harbor after a controversy over whether they were harming the coral reefs in the Bay of Eilat/Aqaba. Without getting into the […]
This prophet just made the flight from Tel Aviv to his childhood home of New Jersey. After a year of observing Israel and it’s eco-consciousness (and at times lack thereof), I was eager to see how the Garden State measured up to its nick name. I couldn’t help but compare my observations in New Jersey […]
How can you recycle your paper and plastic when there’s nowhere to put it in your neighbourhood? It’s not just recycling facilities that are in short supply in East Jerusalem, but also environmental consciousness in general, as I found out recently whilst researching environmentalism among the 200,000+ Palestinian residents of the Holy City. My lack […]
With the aura of an evangelist, Israel’s Shai Agassi is moving full steam ahead to revolutionize the electric car market, with Project Better Place. Essentially borrowing the model from the cellular market, Agassi plans to create a new electric car paradigm, where you switch batteries and pay for the lease of the battery (like minutes […]
Prof. Alon Tal of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev will receive a Lifetime Achievement Award for Environmental Protection from Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection. The award, which is being granted to 12 recipients, recognizes the honorees for their work on behalf of safeguarding Israel’s environment and is being granted as part of the country’s 60th […]
A usability experts dissects the problems of automatic flush toilets and why we need to think about the environment in design.
This week, our Green Prophet in Focus series gets up close and personal with resident Prophet Michael Green. Once a music journalist (he stands true to vinyl) and environmental activist in Bristol, UK, Michael has since brought his green wisdom to Israel. In addition to his position here as Prophet-in-residence, Michael is a journalist for […]
In this week’s green book review, guest reviewer Rabbi Julian Sinclair unpicks the recent ‘Breakthrough’ by US writers Ted Nordhaus & Michael Shellenberger. Last month Al Gore gave a rousing speech on climate change, throwing down an audacious challenge to the American people. By 2020, Gore declared, let American by powered 100% by renewable sources […]
It’s a drawback to being popular: Litter has become a big problem on the coast of the freshwater Kinneret lake (the Sea of Galilee). To take charge of the problem, Israel’s Ministry of Environmental Protection, the Israel Police force and the Kinneret Authority inaugurated a new environmental policing unit to clean up the coast.
How many shades of green can a Jaffa orange be? Israeli fruit and vegetable grower and supplier Mehadrin (owned by Hadarim, a property and building group, and a succession of other parent companies) is working with British supermarket chain Tesco in a bid to mark all its Jaffa oranges with the Carbon Trust label, a […]