Boarding the Bus: Beersheba to Mitzpe Ramon

August 17, 2011 -- After two and a half weeks working at Kibbutz Lahav I finished washing my last dish and dodging my last grad rocket and decided to head south via bus from Beersheba to Israel's Grand Canyon -- the small town of Mitzpe Ramon overlooking the massive Ramon Crater/Makhtesh.

The bus traveled through the heart of the Negev desert of southern Israel, stopping at Kibbutz Sde Boker and Midreshet Ben-Gurion along the way. This area is where the graves of founding Prime Minister of Israel David Ben-Gurion and his wife Paula are located. It was Ben-Gurion's dream for Jews to settle the arid Negev, writing:

The desert provides us with the best opportunity to begin again. This is a vital element of our renaissance in Israel. For it is in mastering nature that man learns to control himself. It is in this sense, more practical than mystic, that I define our Redemption on this land. Israel must continue to cultivate its nationality and to represent the Jewish people without renouncing its glorious past. It must earn this – which is no small task – a right that can only be acquired in the desert.


When I looked out my window today and saw a tree standing before me, the sight awoke in me a greater sense of beauty and personal satisfaction than all the forests that I have crossed in Switzerland and Scandinavia. For we planted each tree in this place and watered them with the water we provided at the cost of numerous efforts. Why does a mother love her children so? Because they are her creation. Why does the Jew feel an affinity with Israel? Because everything here must still be accomplished. It depends only on him to participate in this privileged act of creation. The trees at Sde Boker speak to me differently than do the trees planted elsewhere. Not only because I participated in their planting and in their maintenance, but also because they are a gift of man to nature and a gift of the Jews to the compost of their culture.

Midreshet Ben-Gurion is also home to the Ben-Gurion National Solar Energy Center, which is operated by the Ben-Gurion University of the Negev's Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research.

Riding the bus through the isolated desert, I really started to understand how much Israelis of all backgrounds rely on the buses to get to their destinations. Along the way we picked up college students, kibbutzniks, IDF soldiers, Bedouin villagers and military prison guards. Sadly only a couple of days later the very same bus route I took from Beersheba to Mitzpe Ramon was ambushed by terrorists near Eilat. Eight innocent people were murdered and over 30 were wounded in the attacks.

In Israel a cowardly act of terrorism does not stop citizens from engaging in simple acts such as boarding a bus. I would recommend Israel's excellent intercity bus system to any visitor traveling within the country. Boarding the bus is just one of many quiet acts of defiance that define this great country.

Here is video of the bus ride from Beersheba to Mitzpe Ramon.



Here are photos of the bus ride from Beersheba to Mitzpe Ramon. Click here for the Flickr set.

10 Wackiest Ideas Ever for Improving the Environment

Editor's note: This humorous blog post is taken from the website Compare Electricity Rates. Enjoy!

Throughout human history, there have been some quite noble efforts for sustaining the Earth. Many great innovations have resulted from mankind’s attempts at preserving our environment. Then again, there have been some real doozies too. Today we’re going to have a look at ten of the zaniest ideas ever devised for improving the environment.

1. There is a proposal before the United Nations for environmental justice, in order to save the planet. Said justice calls for legal representation on behalf of the environment – plants, animals, insects – against us pesky humans, with the power to seek financial compensation for damages.
   
2. This one is a bit of a touchy subject. Though the thought is in the right place, the evidence seems to suggest that the concept wasn’t entirely thought through. The push to replace incandescent light bulbs with CFL’s (compact fluorescent lamps) would indeed conserve energy. However, they contain significant levels of mercury which, without any safe means of recycling them, would introduce unsafe levels of mercury back into the environment.
   
   
3. In an effort to safeguard the sanctuary of indigent marine wildlife, the city of San Diego is set to enact laws that would ban birthday parties at local parks within the vicinity of said wildlife.
   
   
4. As a means to harness human energy and transform it into useable energy, the concept of the human-powered floating gym came into being. Imagine, if you will, dozens of sweaty fitness-minded bodies, powering their way upstream in a bubble, and you’ve got a vague idea of what this truly wacky project is all about.
   
   
5. Here’s another idea that someone pulled out of their, um … notebook: The basic premise is that the methane produced through cow flatulence is a major contributor to greenhouse gases (14%) and needs to be stopped. The answer? Kangaroo farts. Apparently their marsupial mates are methane-free down under, and possess a bacterium that it is suggested to be injected into cattle.
   
   
6. Based on the cooling effect that the eruption of Mt. Pinatubo had on the planet 20 years ago, scientists had the brainstorm idea of triggering other volcanoes in the hopes of having similar results. We can only hope that our tax dollars don’t literally go up in (volcanic) smoke, and ash.
   
   
7. The Eco-Kettle is supposedly the answer to a question we have no idea why anyone would even ask: namely, sparing our precious globe from the bane of our existence known as (wait for it) boiling too much water (gasp!).
   
   
8. Asus came up with this gem a while back as a solution to excessive use of plastics in consumer product manufacturing: the bamboo laptop. We would love to have seen this sold as part of an office starter package, with a tiki torch desk lamp and margarita mixer.
   
   
9. Pig pee for plastics. The idea here is to reduce the use of petroleum in the manufacture of plastic plates. The urea in pig urine would act as a bulking agent in its place. Trouble is (among other things -ugh!) is that when these pig-pee plates are discarded? You guessed it, they will emit methane. Maybe we first need to cross-breed these pigs with kangaroos. Yeah, that’s the ticket: pigaroo plates.
   
   
10. And finally, a supremely sage environmental observation by none other than the Wizard of Wit himself, former Vice-President of the United States of America, Dan Quayle:

“It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment. It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it.”

Green Traveler: Beersheba, Israel

August 7 and 11, 2011 -- Water is a precious resource in the Middle East. Israelis are well aware of the water shortage in the region and are taking steps to reduce, reuse and recycle. Nowhere is the scarcity of water felt more than in the Negev desert of southern Israel. In Beersheba the nahal (river) is but a trickle most of the time and the riverfront district has been neglected for years.

But in Israel turning a barren desert into a green oasis has been a national mandate since its founding. So it should come as no surprise then that The Beer Sheva River Park is currently undergoing a major reconstruction project thanks to the Jewish National Fund's Blueprint Negev initiative. This project will create a 1,700 acre riverfront district that will be the catalyst for the revitalization of the "Capital of the Negev."

Here are some highlights of the restoration project taken directly from the JNF website:

• "JNF has succeeded in cleaning up the river that had been used as a dumping ground for decades, and has completed half of the planned 8 kilometers of landscaped promenade on each shore. Engineers responsible for the success of the San Antonio River Walk are partnering with JNF to send water through the river bed year-round. 

• JNF plans to use its expertise in water rehabilitation to recycle the city’s water and transport it to a 15-acre lake for boating.

• Plans include gardens showcasing desert flora and fauna, bicycle paths, recreation areas, an 12,000 seat amphitheater and 750 acres of new parks with 40,000 new trees."

When I walked across the street from Abraham's Well I saw a new promenade called the J. Lew Schepps Recognition Center, a newly paved walkway and a bridge under construction that leads to a park and bicycle paths on the other side of the river. So the restoration project is well underway.

If the Beer Sheva River Park restoration project is successful it could become a model for other cities attempting to find creative solutions to water conservation and economic development. 

Click here for more observations of Beersheba on my travel blog.

Here are more photos from The Beer Sheva River Park.

Occupy DC at Freedom Plaza Still Rockin' and Rollin'

Across the country Occupiers are entering the next phase of the movement by abandoning encampments and taking over foreclosed homes to bring attention to the housing crisis. But in our Nation's Capital the tent cities at McPherson Square and Freedom Plaza are still standing strong. During a recent visit to Occupy DC at Freedom Plaza there was even a Jimi Hendrix cover band electrifying a small audience gathered near Pennsylvania Avenue.

It appears the populist movement is beginning to resonate with leaders as evidenced by President Obama channeling Theodore Roosevelt's New Nationalism in Kansas yesterday with a fiery speech about the growing inequality in America. Also yesterday a group calling itself "Take Back the Capitol" occupied the hallways and offices of Congress demanding that lawmakers extend unemployment benefits, end tax cuts for the wealthy and pass the American Jobs Act. The timing couldn't have been better as news came out that the "Do Nothing Congress" is aptly titled because this session of Congress has passed the fewest number of bills in at least 10 non-election years. And today there were plans to protest against corporate influence in politics by shutting down K Street -- a major boulevard in downtown Washington that is home to some of the biggest lobbying firms in the country and has become a symbol of special interest money corrupting the political system. Demonstrators were also planning to march on the White House and Supreme Court today as well.

Here is video of the band jammin' with Jimi.

Here are more photos from Freedom Plaza.

Green Traveler: New York, New York

Photo credit: Inhabitat.com

A few green observations from a recent visit to New York City:

• Occupy Wall Street at Zuccotti Park was green. How green? When I visited the encampment they were generating electricity and heat from a stationary bicycle. The pedal power on display was part of a sustainability showcase that also featured the importance of plants to the ecosystem and a grey water recycling system.  

• New York has an aggressive public recycling program as evidenced by the blue and green recycling bins strategically located across the city. The green bins are for newspapers and magazines and the blue bins are for bottles and cans. 

• While riding the NYC subway I saw ads encouraging New York homeowners to "join the evolution" by switching to clean, renewable and homegrown bioheat. The Bioheat website states that right now they are capable of blending biodiesel with traditional heating oil at only 2-5% but that they are working on increasing the biodiesel blend. Here is a great video presentation on what bioheat is all about.

• The NYC Department of Parks and Recreation is greening their fleet and since 2006 has been operating trucks on a 20% biodiesel blend (B20) made from soybeans and 80% ultra low sulfur diesel. And the department has been conducting trials using a B50 blend. So B20 is only a stepping stone to using more clean, renewable biofuels in city vehicles.  

• One noticeable change I've seen over the years in NYC is the increase in hybrid taxis and hybrid police cars. The NYPD features a fleet of Toyota Prius patrol cars, Nissan Altima Hybrids, Ford Fusion Hybrid sedans and Ford Escape Hybrid crossovers. And as of July 2011 there were 4,980 hybrid taxis in service representing 38% of the total fleet -- the largest hybrid fleet in North America.

• NYC aims to plant a million trees throughout the five boroughs over the next decade as part of a public-private partnership. So far the city has planted 527,315 trees.

And if New Yorkers need to be reminded why there is such a sense of urgency among city leaders to make the Big Apple the greenest city in the world, all they have to do is take a trip to Midtown Manhattan near Penn Station and Madison Square Garden. At this busy intersection they will see a large billboard sponsored by Deutsche Bank with a rapidly rising number signifying the metric tons of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. I went on the website and the carbon counter is currently at around 3.92 trillion GHGs.