I actually attended the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies for a year down at Kibbutz Ketura. Probably the greatest year of my life. It is by far one of the coolest schools in the world. We studied Desert Ecology by tracking animals and identifying plants, Archaeology by excavating ancient sites, Marine Ecology by diving on the reefs in Eilat every Tuesday for 9 months, and being the ultimate Kibbutnik by just hanging out on the Kibbutz. Definitely glad Silverman’s helping to raise the awareness.

From the JPOST:

Comic Sarah Silverman is serious about the Arava

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nathan burstein , THE JERUSALEM POST Oct. 25, 2007

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Talk to God and her brother-in-law, and you’ll hear very different appraisals of the kind of person Sarah Silverman is.

“You,” the Almighty says in the first episode of Silverman’s hit TV show, “are the most selfish, racist, manipulative, pompous human being alive today.”

Her brother-in-law, meanwhile, calls her a “mensch.”

The evidence appears to be on the side of her brother-in-law this fall, with the star of Comedy Central’s The Sarah Silverman Program set to headline a fund-raiser next month for the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, the ecological and coexistence center located at Kibbutz Ketura, near Eilat.

This is awesome. Israel’s so green we chill out in the garbage dump. In fact, Israel’s largest dump is being converted into a recycled park. Hey we’re just doing our part to keep it cool.

From the NYT:

October 24, 2007
Hiriya Journal
Recycling in Israel, Not Just Trash, but the Whole Dump
By ISABEL KERSHNER

HIRIYA, Israel — It is rare in Israel for leaders to have a site named for them while they are still alive. It is more bizarre for the object of dedication to be a colossal garbage dump, for decades the country’s most conspicuous — and smelliest — eyesore.

But on Oct. 28, in the hazy light of afternoon, Israel’s president, prime minister, senior politicians, mayors and business leaders plan to gather on this flat-topped brown mound, known as Hiriya, on the outskirts of Tel Aviv, just by Ben-Gurion International Airport, and name it the Ariel Sharon Park.

This is an unusual yet fitting honor for Mr. Sharon, the iconoclastic soldier and statesman, farmer and former prime minister who suffered a crippling stroke in January 2006. Mr. Sharon, known familiarly as the Bulldozer, still lies in a coma in a hospital just visible from the top of the dump.

Ensuring that Hiriya and the flat flood lands around it would be reclaimed as open green space for the residents of southern Tel Aviv, rather than falling into the hands of eager real estate developers, was one of the last and lesser known battles fought by Mr. Sharon. “It was very important to him that they wouldn’t build there,” said Omri Sharon, his older son. “It was very close to his heart.”

And for some good news today from the NYT:

October 9, 2007

Israeli, Italian Survive 8 Days on Raft
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

MUMBAI, India (AP) — An Israeli woman and an Italian man survived on a life raft for eight days in the Arabian Sea after their yacht sank in a storm, the Indian coast guard said Tuesday.

The couple, identified as Libi Belozerzki, 27, and Pierpaolo Mori, 35, set out from the Maldives on a yacht planning to sail to the Red Sea, but their boat overturned in a late monsoon storm, said Commandant Raj Putran of the Indian coast guard.

Putran said ships in the area were told to look out for the missing sailors after the Rome Maritime Rescue Coordination Center lost contact with them after Sept. 24.

A Belgian tug sighted them and picked them up on Oct. 3, he said. ”The yacht had a life raft on board and they survived because they had emergency rations and water.”

We hope they are able to help in any way they can. This picture was taken by AFP with a satelite. Unbelievable…

From YNET:

Helping to put out the flames

A group of Israeli firefighters travel to Athens to assist their Greek colleagues in conquering the giant fires

Dani Adino Ababa

A group of 25 Israeli firefighters is leaving for Greece after the Greek government approached Israel on Sunday and asked for assistance in fighting the massive fires in the country.

The commander of the group, Moshe Suissa, said the team will contribute their knowledge and creativity. “We were told we will be in charge of a region. We will follow the Greeks’ instructions. Some of us will be stationed in firehouses in Athens and the rest will head to the disaster zones.”

Suissa added that the group will carry with it only basic equipments such as helmets and fireproof jackets.

Tzahi Levi, one of the firefighters on the team, said: “If our Greek friends need us, we will support them as much as we can. We have the courage, dedication and good will that is needed. We leave today but don’t know when we’ll return.”

Holy cow crap! Even if these business savvy environmentalists aren’t on to something, they’re at least entertaining.

From Ynet:

Electricity from cow manure

The GES company of Granite Hacarmel and the regional council of Emek Hefer have activated the first commercial facility in Israel to manufacture electricity from cow manure. The facility , created with a NIS 40 million invesment, will treat 600 tons of manure daily, from 12,000 cows, and will sell the electricity to the Electric Corporation

By Tani Goldstein

The Energy and Infrastructure Company GES, a subsidiary of Granite Hacarmel under the leadership of David Azrieli, and the Emek Hefer regional council, began on Tuesday to supply the Electric Corporation with electricity manufactured from cow manure.

The recycling facility in Emek Hefer is the first commercial facility in Israel - and one of the first in the world - to use organic refuse from dairy farms, mainly from cow manure, to create electricity. In addition to electricity, the facility also manufactures quality fertilizer from the cow waste.

One step at a time, right Madonna?

From our colleagues in the swamp:

Embassy of Israel, Washington, D.C.
Press Release
Israeli Ambassador Sallai Meridor Announces Switch of Official Diplomatic Vehicles to Hybrid-Electric
***For Immediate Release*** July 9, 2007
WASHINGTON: Israel has announced that starting this fall, it will significantly reduce the petroleum consumption of its senior diplomats in the United States by switching to hybrid-electric vehicles. The symbolic initiative, led by Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Sallai Meridor, will include Israel’s embassy in Washington, its nine consulates throughout the U.S. and its mission to the United Nations, making Israel’s foreign service among the first in the U.S. to significantly reduce oil demand throughout its entire official fleet.

“Reducing oil dependence and protecting the environment are key factors in improving international security,” Meridor said. “We are proud to be among the first countries to take this small but symbolic step. Our hope is that many small steps taken together will lead to major policy action around the world that will address one of the most critical strategic and environmental issues facing our common future.”

Israel plans in the years ahead to strengthen energy cooperation with the U.S. by developing alternative energy technologies and assisting American efforts to reduce petroleum dependence.
“Israel has always been at the forefront of conservation,” Meridor said. “We believe in the critical importance of embracing alternative sources of energy and advanced vehicle technology to help achieve energy independence and build a sustainable environment.”

To learn more about Israel’s efforts to reduce petroleum dependence, please visit the Ministry of Environmental Protection website , or send an email to israelgoesgreen@gmail.com

Don’t mess with Kibbutzniks…

From the Washington Post:
Man Wrestles Leopard That Jumped in Bed

By ARON HELLER
The Associated Press
Monday, May 28, 2007; 3:07 PM

JERUSALEM — A man clad only in underwear and a T-shirt wrestled a wild leopard to the floor and pinned it for 20 minutes after the cat leapt through a window of his home and hopped into bed with his sleeping family.

“This kind of thing doesn’t happen every day,” said 49-year-old Arthur Du Mosch, a nature guide. “I don’t know why I did it. I wasn’t thinking, I just acted.”

Raviv Shapira, who heads the southern district of the Israel Nature and Parks Protection Authority, said a half dozen leopards have been spotted recently near Du Mosch’s small community of Kibbutz Sde Boker in the Negev desert in southern Israel, although they rarely threaten humans.

Looks like white is the new ‘black’…

From HAARETZ:

Blinding white

By Shani Shilo

When UNESCO added Tel Aviv’s White City to the World Heritage List of sites designated for preservation, it made white fashionable and desireable. Thanks to the White City’s historical designation, that default color of Israeli architecture is now identified with quality.

“This is a trend that began about 15 years ago as part of Tel Aviv’s branding as the White City,” says architect Sharon Rotbard, author of the books “White City, Black City” and “Avraham Yaski: Concrete Architecture.” “In the mid-1990s, Ram Carmi began to talk about white architecture at the same time that architects began whitewashing raw concrete structures in conjunction with Brutalist architecture - for example, the planned Amal School. Eldar Sharon also painted white the Coor Building - now the Beit Amot Hamishpat Building - which he planned with his father, Arieh Sharon.

“When French architect Jean Nouvel visited Israel, he suggested making Tel Aviv a symphony of white, painting all the buildings in shades of white, and strengthening its identity as the White City, just as Jerusalem is identified with stone,” Rotbard adds.

Oil spills have long been regarded – and rightly so – as a disaster of tremendous proportions. When the occasional spill occurs, often thousands upon thousands of gallons of oil spill out into the water or over land, killing many living beings and contaminating the environment for miles around.

Over the years there have been many attempts made at developing new ways to clean up oil spills, but they have largely remained as they were, horrible disasters which do a great amount of damage to everything in their vicinity.

Until now.

Thanks to Professor Eugene Rosenberg of Tel Aviv, the world may have a great new way to clean up those oil spills: eat the oil.

No, not us – according to this story brought by our friends at Israel21c, Professor Rosenberg has discovered bacteria which literally devour oil and turn it into harmless byproducts. Thanks to Rosenberg’s efforts, a new Israeli company called BioPetroClean has developed a solution that utilizes these bacteria, turning oil spills into simply carbon dioxide and water.

Talk about a different approach. Oh, and it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than cleaning up the oil any other way.

Check out the full story here.

It is shocking to think that over 1.6 million children under the age of five die every year in the developing world from drinking untreated water. We were happy to learn recently however, of an Israeli company that has developed a simple and affordable device that could drastically change such disturbing statistics.

Called the Sulis Personal Purification System (after the Greek goddess Sulis connected with water and healing), the solution comes in the form of a small and lightweight unit that is designed to fit onto most universal bottles and instantly purify contaminated water.

Read more from our friends at israel21c here:

Sulis was a Greek goddess connected with water and healing, therefore it’s also become an appropriate moniker for an innovative new Israeli device which instantly purifies contaminated water.

The Sulis Personal Purification System (PPS) takes all the ingredients needed to transform dirty water into clean water - whether it be for stranded hikers, soldiers in the field, or victims of disasters - and has miniaturized the technology to fit into the top of a cork that can be plugged into virtually any size bottle, container or tap.