The Jerusalem Post
Aug. 5, 2007
Shmuley Boteach
Every year my family and I take a summer RV trip out into nature. This year we are in Alaska, where I am filming a family TV show. The beauties of this wondrous land are difficult to describe but are perhaps best captured in the words of a secular Jewish lawyer friend of mine who said that seeing Alaska was like seeing the face of God.
Jordan Times
August 3, 2007
By Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN -- The Cabinet last week approved awarding a tender for the sale of carbon
dioxide generated from the Rihab electricity generating plant in Mafraq to a US
company.
Continue reading "Carbon dioxide sale tender awarded to US firm" »
6 August 2007
MEDIA RELEASE
WORLD BANK TO HOLD FIRST SET OF PUBLIC HEARINGS ON "RED DEAD" CANAL PROJECT
On Sunday, August 12th, the World Bank will hold its first public hearing on the
Terms of Reference of the Feasibility Study for the "Red Dead Conduit" project.
Continue reading "World Bank to hold public hearing on Red Dead Canal" »
Haaretz
By Michael J. Caduto
News from the Middle East usually describes conflicts and their root causes in
politics, religious fundamentalism and the struggle between Israelis and
Palestinians for a homeland. Threats to peace and security are indeed a
backdrop for daily existence, but that is only part of the story.
Haaretz
August 2, 2007
By Nadav Shragai
Avri Ran is a leader of the Hilltop Youth movement from the West Bank settlement of Itamar. He has been acquitted of charges of assaulting an Israeli Arab and a left-wing activist, and residents of the Arab village of Yanun accuse him of harassing villagers. But Ran's right-wing activities are not his only claim to fame: He is also one of the largest suppliers of organic eggs in the country.
August 12, 2007
see http://www.foeme.org/events.php?ind=42 for hot links below.
On August 12, 2007, The World Bank has scheduled a public hearing on the issue
of the Terms of Reference for the Feasibility Study of the "Red Dead Canal".
Continue reading "Red Dead Canal / World Bank Public Hearing" »
The Jerusalem Post
Aug. 1, 2007
rory kress
The Kinneret Basin Authority was established this week to protect the soil in the region surrounding Israel's largest freshwater source.
Lake Kinneret has long been an environmental concern due to its receding water level, and most recently, last week's forced closing of its public beaches due to sewage contamination of the water.
Continue reading "Kinneret Basin Authority formed to revive area" »
Jerusalem Post
Jul. 24, 2007
RORY KRESS
Gidon Bromberg, founder and Israel director of Friends of the Earth Middle East, loves his job not just because it allows him to fight for the environment, but because it gives him an opportunity to build bridges between Israelis and Palestinians.
Continue reading "Cross-border efforts focus on greening Wadi Abu Nar" »
Haaretz
July 25, 2007
By Mijal Grinberg
Towering over the trees of the Yatir Forest on the southern slopes of Mount Hebron is a green metallic building. Passersby may mistake it for just another weather forecast station, but in fact, the research conducted there could help combat desertification around the world. The research station, operated by the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, is the only facility in the Middle East capable of measuring greenhouse gases.
Continue reading "Lacking water, trees turn to carbon dioxide" »
Arab Environment Monitor
Saturday, July 14, 2007
By: Batir Wardam
With a water per capita share of 160 cubic meters per year, Jordan is among the world's top 10 water scarce countries. The struggle to provide adequate and clean water resources is one of the biggest developmental challenges in Jordan. At the center of the debate about water management is the issue of water pricing and valuation.
Jordan Times
Jul. 12, 2007
Hana Namrouqa
AMMAN -- The Ministry of Environment on Wednesday signed an agreement with the Jordan Environment Society (JES) to implement a comprehensive awareness programme aimed at reducing the use of plastics and encouraging the segregation of waste materials.
Continue reading "New strategy warns of dangers plastics pose to environment" »
Haaretz
July 10, 2007
By Tamara Traubmann
In the early afternoon, Tami Zuri picks lavender, melissa and mint from the flower pots on her balcony in north Tel Aviv. She is preparing a drink for the participants in a workshop she will be giving shortly on producing vegetable dairy products.
Continue reading "Green life in the city: Clothes from the street, recycled water" »
Jerusalem Post
July 13, 2007
Shelly Paz
Israel ranks 31st out of 108 countries for environment and social responsibility according to a new international report.
The State of Responsible Competitiveness 2007 is a biennial report that sums up the conduct of private and public businesses in 108 countries and examines their achievements regarding encouraging environmental public policy and civilian involvement.
Continue reading "Report ranks Israel 31 in social and environmental responsibility" »
Arab Environmental Monitor
July 15, 2007
Batir Wardham
Sustainable buildings are wittnessing high growth and momentum in many countries around the world. The concept is pioneering and such buildings will include hundreds of eco-friendly innovations. The cost of installation and maintenance will always be high until it becomes economically feasible but the technology is there and that matters.
The Ecogeek blog, the world's leading blog for ecological innovations has published a list of the world's top 10 green skyscrapers based on a study by Jon Schroeder.
Continue reading "Study: The greenest skyscraper in the world is in Bahrain" »
Jordan Times
Agence French Presse
July 5 2007
Laith Abou-Ragheb
Giant islands taking shape off the coast of Dubai are sparking interest not only from celebrities but also from environmental campaigners jittery about the man-made structures so large they can be seen from space.
Continue reading "Green campaigners keep watch on Dubai's man-made isles" »
Israel 21c
July 01, 2007
DEMOCRACY
By Ilana Teitelbaum
From the moment we wake up in the morning and open a box of cereal to the hours we spend at work among printers, faxes, and copying machines, to times spent relaxing in the evening with a magazine or mass market paperback, we are constantly surrounded by paper.
Continue reading "Israeli discovery paves way for cost-efficient wood alternative" »
Israel 21c
July 05, 2007
TECHNOLOGY
By Nicky Blackburn
You can tell Joseph Cory is a dreamer. Turn to his company's web site, Geotectura.com, and you see a host of ideas ranging from the wild - a one-meter square movable 'house' for the homeless, to the wacky, electro-magnetic skyscrapers that float above the ground. But out of this riotous imagination, Cory, a new breed of environmental architect, has developed a number of award-winning schemes that could help deal with some of the world's most pressing problems - lack of renewable energy, and water scarcity.
Continue reading "Israeli inventor puts his head in the clouds and his feet on the ground" »
The Jerusalem Post
Jul. 9, 2007
MATTHEW KRIEGER
Calling his new program "agriculture in service of the environment," Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon on Sunday unveiled his ministry's plan to reward those farmers who demonstrate "eco-friendly" farming practices.
Israel 21c
July 08, 2007
DEMOCRACY
By Michelle Levine
They may come from worlds apart, but leading political and environmental figures from Israel, Jordan, and the Palestinian Authority have found a common theme to bring them together - the Great Rift Valley.
The Great Rift Valley is a series of geological rifts stretching 4,000 miles, from southern Turkey to Zimbabwe, running through Syria and Lebanon, along the Jordan River, the Dead Sea, the Gulf of Eilat and the Red Sea until Kenya, at which point it splits into two branches. Five hundred million birds use the valley route to migrate twice a year from Europe to Asia.
Continue reading "Environmental concerns bring Israelis, Jordanians and Palestinians together" »
Jordan Times
June 27, 2007
AMMAN (JT) — The 2007 State of the World Population report, entitled
Unleashing the Potential of Urban Growth, will be officially launched worldwide today.
“In 2008, for the first time in history, more than half of world population, 3.3 billion people, will be living in urban areas. By 2030, this is expected to swell to almost 5 billion. Most of the new urbanities will be poor… most cities will struggle to meet current needs,” according to the report, released by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
Continue reading "2007 population report to be launched today" »
The Jerusalem Post
Mar. 5, 2007
Sheera Claire Frenke
Despite Israel's carcinogenic waterways, local companies lead the world in clean-water know-how, and 2007 is set to be a banner year for foreign sales of the blue-and-white technology.
Dozens of groups from across the globe are planning trips to Israel this year with an eye toward purchasing some of the environmentally friendly technology being developed by Israeli scientists. The industry brought approximately one billion dollars last year, but Avraham Israeli, head of Water and Environmental Technology at the Israel Export Institute, said Israel's slice of the international pie could be $10 billion.
Continue reading "Israel's green technology leads world, but not at home" »
YNET
March 5, 2007
Pollution costs as mush as Israel's defense budget; new bill proposed to deal with air pollution, cut costs
Amir Ben-David
Israel Money
Air pollution in Israel places a financial burden of NIS 11 billion ($2.7 billion) on the country, equal to 2.26 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP). This figure is the amount the state pays on such expenses as sick leave and medical treatments for those who suffer from severe illness and early death fueled by pollution.
Continue reading "Israel loses up to NIS 11 billion a year on air pollution" »
The Jerusalem Post
Mar. 1, 2007
ryan nadel
One p.m. at the Ben-Yehuda pedestrian mall. A choir of Chinese Christians serenely sings hymns as a bearded man hocks tefillin to passersby. Just meters away, a self-declared prophet preaches redemption and a steady stream of shoppers stroll by without taking note.
Welcome to Jerusalem's city center.
The Daily Star
March 02, 2007
By Maher Zeineddine
Daily Star correspondent
CHOUF: Administrators of the Chouf Cedars Nature Reserve have struck a deal with local goatherds in an effort to protect the area's vegetation. Grazing will now be conducted outside the reserve and according to strict schedules and in specific regions, in an attempt to prevent deforestation and limit notorious and all-too-frequent brush fires.
Continue reading "Chouf Cedars Reserve teams up with goats and their masters to protect greenery" »
Asharq Alawsat
18 February 2007
Hussein Shobokshi
More than a year has passed since my last meeting with the former Vice President of America, Al Gore, in Jeddah, which he visited as part of the economic forum. My meeting with him was long and he explained to me his new priorities away from the political world and far from his famous defeat in the race for presidency against George Bush in 2000.
Haaretz
February 20, 2007
By Tzafrir Rinat, Haaretz Correspondent
The Israel Defense Forces has begun planning a town in the Negev that will accommodate several army training camps currently located in the center of Israel, Haaretz has learned.
The town will be erected in the northern Negev, some ten kilometers south of the Ramat Hovav industrial zone. IDF planners received the go-ahead after the Ministry of the Environment and Ramat Hovav factories reached a settlement agreement on the treatment of environmental hazards, which delayed the army's final decision on whether to build the town.
Continue reading "IDF begins mobilizing on 'training camp' town in Negev" »
The Jerusalem Post
Feb. 22, 2007
LEAH GRANOF, THE JERUSALEM POST
A single snapshot could capture the entire settlement of Haruv's long row of temporary houses built on a solitary street. But that picture would hardly encapsulate the essence of this community, 20 kilometers east of Kiryat Gat. Located next to the agricultural community of Shekef, Haruv's one street, adorned with playgrounds at each end and dogs cavorting with unabashed freedom, is only a temporary stopover for the community of 35 families awaiting construction of a permanent location atop the green hills two kilometers away.
Haaretz
February 22, 2007
22.2.07 | 10:31 By Sharon Kedmi
After years of delays and procrastination, a tender for building Israel's first solar-power plant is to be issued this year.
The 250-megawatt plant will be built on 4,000 dunams (1,000 acres) in the Ashalim complex in the Negev.
Continue reading "Israel to get its first solar plant, at last" »
Haaretz
February 18, 2007
By Ronny Linder-Ganz
The green Star of David stamped on products to indicate that the product is environmentally friendly does not appear to be backed up by any environmental criteria, testing or supervision, an investigation by TheMarker, in conjunction with consumer law expert Dr. Shmuel Becher, has found.
Continue reading "Green Star of David isn't backed by solid criteria" »
Haaretz
February 7, 2007
By Ronny Linder-Ganz
The green Star of David stamped on products to indicate that the product is environmentally friendly does not appear to be backed up by any environmental criteria, testing or supervision, an investigation by TheMarker, in conjunction with consumer law expert Dr. Shmuel Becher, has found.
Continue reading "Green Star of David isn't backed by solid criteria" »
Greenpeace
February 18, 2007
International — Greenpeace today called for urgent discussions about a Nuclear Free Middle East to create a region free of all nuclear technology, civil and military, as essential to increasing peace and stability in the region. The international peace and environment group said nuclear technology is not the solution to either national security or energy needs.
Continue reading "Greenpeace calls for a Nuclear Free Middle East" »
Al Jazeera
February 18, 2007
The plant could be operational by 2009 [EPA]
Abu Dhabi is to build a $350m solar power plant, the first of its kind in the Gulf, according to an investor in the project.
Abu Dhabi holds more than 90 per cent of the oil reserves of the United Arab Emirates, the seven-member federation.
Arab Environment Monitor
February 20, 2007
Derek Sands
UPI
CAIRO -- Egypt may soon harness the same physics that a child uses to burn an ant with a magnifying glass, to generate electricity from the sun, a move that reflects the growth of Concentrating Solar Power technology worldwide.
Haaretz / Jordan Times
February 15, 2007
By Margaret Beckett
[listserve note: published in both Jordan Times and Haaretz, unusual for the region]
All too often the news is dominated by conflict and disagreement. Then a threat of such magnitude comes along that it forcefully reminds us of our common humanity - in other words just how much all of us, whatever our background, creed or colour hold in common. For our generation that threat is climate change.