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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on October 6th, 2008 Israel builds its first ‘eco-friendly’ town. http://web.israel21c.net/bin/en.jsp?enDi…; It’s one thing to adopt environmentally conscious behavior, such as recycling, taking public transportation, and saving water or electricity. But that’s not enough for The idea for Nurit stemmed from discussions conducted by Gilboa Regional Council officials nearly a decade ago, as they were seeking to build tourism in the area, as well as comply with new government requirements to introduce environmentally responsible educational programs and activities. “We are also considering putting up a new town to attract more residents here from the center of the country, and the whole project just sort of made sense,” Atar tells ISRAEL21c. “Thus was Nurit born.” *** First homes ready in a year: And, after intense study and consultations with environmental experts around the world, the town is ready for prime time; work has begun on infrastructure, and the first 100 homes will be ready next year. By 2012, there will be 400 families living in Nurit, Atar says. Located on Mt. Gilboa itself, Nurit will take advantage of the mountain’s wind and sun to generate power, and will install dozens of wind turbines and photovoltaic (PV) solar panels, enough to provide electricity for all the public buildings in Nurit - and then some. “We recently got approved for a program by the Israel Electric Company, where residents and public buildings will be able to mount solar PV units on their roofs and sell the electricity to the IEC,” says Atar. “Together with turbines to generate electricity from wind, we expect that the electricity we generate will be enough to light most of the schools, offices, streetlights, and park lights in Nurit - as well as save homeowners money on their energy bill, since they can get credits for the power their roof PV systems generate that they don’t use, selling it back to the IEC.” Atar says. The regional council has a program that provides loans for residents to buy and install the PV panel setup, or residents can design the systems into their construction plans, he adds. Trees as cooling canopy: Residents will also be asked to grow tall, leafy trees around their homes, creating a natural “cooling canopy” that will help cut down on the need for artificial cooling and heating systems, “saving electricity and reducing pollutants in the atmosphere,” Atar says. And, residents will be asked to build their homes using effective insulation systems, to further reduce the need for air conditioners or heaters. “We hope to be able to limit the use of artificial heating and cooling solutions to the hottest or coldest days of the year,” Atar says. Nurit residents will be required to save water - naturally. “In theory, Israel gets more than enough rainfall, but much of the rain is lost to evaporation or runs off to the sea,” Atar says. “We are requiring all residents to build rain collection systems and mini-reservoirs to store rainwater. The water will then be funneled into the town reservoir, allowing us to cut down significantly on our use of water from Mekorot, which is drawn from either the Kinneret or Israel’s underground aquifers.” With the Kinneret [the Sea of Galilee] at an all time low, and Israel scrambling to build desalination plants to make up for projected water shortages, Nurit’s efforts could serve as a model for other, non eco-friendly communities as well. Saving rainwater is important, but saving “gray water” is even more important, say many environmentalists - and Nurit is requiring all homeowners to install a gray water collection system, which will store waster water from dishwashing, bathing, and other non-sewage (”black water”) sources. The storage of gray water entails building a separate drainage system, which funnels the water into a tank - and is then used for a variety of purposes, such as watering gardens, decorative fountains, etc. “No one in Nurit will be permitted to use fresh water to water his or her lawn,” Atar says. “Residents will use gray water to water their lawns and run watering systems for plants or orchards.” Unfortunately, Nurit won’t be able to encourage its residents to trade in their cars for commuting by train, because there is no Israel Railways line in the area, at least for now. But the town will have a complete complement of local and inter-city bus service for those who need to travel. Actually, it is expected that most of Nurit’s residents will work in the area, either at home businesses, in tourist-oriented services such as bed and breakfasts or restaurants, or at one of the industrial zones in the area. “Many of the homes have been zoned for use as businesses as well, so a resident can operate a small business in their backyard,” Atar says. “There is an industrial zone three minutes out of town, mostly with light manufacturing or agriculture industry allied services. And tourism in this region is expected to skyrocket when regular horse racing begins at the Afula Hippodrome, only a few minutes from here,” he adds. Nurit is open to anyone willing to live by the town’s eco-friendly ethos - and many Israelis are willing, apparently, because there is already a long waiting list for lots. “We’ve already got about 700 families who have made a deposit to get into the lottery for a chance to buy a plot, with more signing up all the time,” Atar says. “The lots, which will have extensive infrastructure to support the gray water drainage and reservoirs system, cost $120,000 to $150,000 - not particularly high for people coming from the center of the country, where many of the Nurit hopefuls come from, and certainly not expensive, when you consider the cost of the infrastructure.” Most applicants are from big cities - Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Haifa and its suburbs. A few people from the kibbutzim in the area have signed up as well, but the majority are new to the lower Galilee. Which already makes Nurit a success, as far as Atar is concerned. “This is a beautiful part of the country to live in, and thanks to Nurit, hundreds of families are going to get the opportunity to find out just how beautiful it really is,” Atar says. Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 5th, 2008 UNEP NEWS RELEASE - 2008/31 KYOTO/NAIROBI, 5 September 2008–A plan to list as a World Heritage Site an The initiative, to be supported by funding from the Government of Italy, Dams upstream on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which feed the fabled UNEP estimated then that these wetlands would be completely lost within The World Heritage management support plan, announced at the end of a ***
With the collapse of the Saddam Hussein Government in mid-2003, local The UNEP marshland management project, which commenced in 2004 with funding These include environmentally-friendly methods that are providing safe A Marshland Information Network has been established. Training in During this meeting, the Iraqi Ministry of Environment also requested UNEP MEAs range from the Convention on Biological Diversity, the Montreal Narmin Othman, the Iraqi Environment Minister who is in Japan for the “Because of what Saddam Hussein did, the marshlands were in danger of “Now we have 50 to 60 per cent of the marshlands back we can look forward Achim Steiner, UN Under-Secretary-General and UNEP Executive Director, “The work in the Iraqi marshlands may have been unique and challenging for *** Chizuru Aoki of UNEP’s International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) This will include pilot projects on community-wide ecosystem management and According to UNESCO, the earliest that Iraq could envisage a submission to “It is essential that we continue to work with the Iraqi partners, UNESCO, *** FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: The Iraqi Marshland Project: http://marshlands.unep.or.jp/ UNEP’s Post-Conflict and Disaster Management Branch Iraq Reports: Downloadable maps and images at www.unep.org? For more information, please contact: Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson and Yukio Yoshii, Senior Liaison Officer, UNEP International Environmental Habib El-Habr, Director and Regional Representative, UNEP Regional Office *********************************** ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on September 1st, 2008 WIP - Starting Labor Day 2008 - Gustav - Just Three Years Later, On-the-Dot, and President Bush Overseas the Surge in KatRitaStan. Mr. McPathetic and the Queen-of-the-Fossil-Carbons, Will Get Anointed Without a Mention of Global Warming. WIP on our website means WORK (WRITING) IN PROGRESS - or simply unfinished article. When finished the WIP will be taken off but the article will stay in place without the UPDATED designation. Nevertheless, theses introductory lines will remain as a reminder that the article had a long birth. —————- We are disgusted. We happen, personally, to love Arizona, Alaska, Louisiana, Hawaii - those are to us the States of the Union that always were an inspiration to us. We took there on trips our young - real Americans - and imprinted lasting memories in their minds. We have been many times to those four States of the Union. I said inspiration because we regard those States as the remaining places were you can still find a Winetou - the figure Karl May wrote about, and who inflamed my imagination back then when I was a young boy in the Europe of the Nazis. Those were the days my own image of America was formed, and I still was not ready to cut lose from those dreams. We do not shoot at caribous, We do not even smoke in the honky-tonk bar, we love the Amerindians, the Eskimos, and the native Hawaiians. We watched their love for the land and learned from it. We even visited the Vodoo lady of the spirits in New Orleans, and I was moved to look for her remaining sisters in many places of Latin America, Africa and Asia - even in Scandinavia. We looked at the way nature was ruined because of oil and coal. Yes, we did not move to live there permanently. We still think that New York and California are the States we prefer to live in. But I can say that I did live for a year in Arizona, and spent the most memorable night of my life in Alaska. The year in Arizona was with the American Graduate School for International Management (AGSIM or Thunderbird in short) when we developed personal relationship with Thomas Banyaka - the so called foreign minister of the Hopi Indians - the man who was let into Sweden on the basis of his home-made passport, that included an eagle feather, for the sake of the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the Environment. But the that night I mentioned in Alaska (one night of many spent in that State) is even clearly of greater interest to me - really unforgettable. Twenty years ago I made a wrong turn on the Matanuska Glacier (in between the towns of Wasila and Palmer). It was the young ladies of Wasila that spent the night with my wife who luckily was wiser, and did not descend from the parking lot when I went to take, very late afternoon, a picture of the glacier. I wanted also to finish the film, and asked another visitor to take a shot of me with the glacier - as the last shot on the film. An hour later that lady told my wife that “she took my last picture.” Those young Wasila ladies knew how to initiate my rescue and stayed with my wife while waiting for an army (or was it the National Guard?) helicopter to come with day break to search for me. I spent the night stuck behind an ice-rock throwing pieces at shadows to find out if those were not some animal. I literally owe my life to those ladies of Wasila. Was any of them a sister of Sarah Palin? I assume that by that time she was already out to college in Hawaii or Idaho, or was she back on summer vacation? Who knows by now? The Alaska newspapers wrote about my rescue the following day, and a month later I even got a letter from a local army official that wanted to make sure that I was OK and he can close the file on my rescue. I mention this just to say that there is nothing in my past to indicate anything but admiration to those energetic young ladies of Wasila that knew how to handle the situation and call for help from the right quarters, and to those that implemented that rescue. They saved my life, because, as they imagined I will do, I did indeed veer in the wrong direction believing I can reach a highway were I saw moving lights - but which was totally unreachable from where I was. 12 hours later I was rescued by being pulled up with ropes, by a helicopter crew that used body-heat sensors. And those huge cauliflowers and cabbages, pumpkins of Wasila that grow there in the summer with all those extra light-hours the sun provides? Let me stop here please. But then, we have a son that was born in Phoenix, Arizona, and who spent his first half year in a crib in Glendale, Arizona. He is now 34 years old and has done, and does, a lot for animals. He would never think of shooting at them. On the other hand, Sarah Palin went with her father to shoot caribou before breakfast. —————- We are disgusted because of all that talk of “YOU CANNOT CONTROL MOTHER NATURE.” *** But we corrupted “Mother Nature.” This is not a nature catastrophe. WE DID IT. We caused global warming and Alaska ice is melting away. The Seas are rising. We pulled oil out of the ground in the Gulf of Mexico and caused the land of Louisiana to sink further. These misdeeds get their punishment while the GOP continues to march under the flag of enhancement of oil production and use. Louisiana is just the first State to pay for these misdeeds. Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, Texas are in line. The Whole World will have to pay for US government’s insistence on avoiding to see the obvious realities. ————– Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 20th, 2008 Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 12th, 2008 Bauhaus-era plant to power Jordan Valley eco-tourism. http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDi…; Less well known, however, are the many other projects built throughout the 1920s to 1950s in the International Style. One of the most ambitious of these was the Rotenberg Power Plant, which from 1932 supplied both sides of the Jordan River valley with electricity up until 1948 when it was destroyed. In 1994, the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty turned the area into an international border crossing. Now, an equally ambitious Israeli-Jordanian initiative project, spearheaded by Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME), aims to revive the area, and the Rotenberg compound along with it, as a unique eco-tourism site spanning both sides of the border.
‘This is 20th century industrial archeology.’ In May, a design workshop (also called a charrette) took place with the participation of faculty and students from Yale University and the Bezalel Academy of the Arts together with Jordanian and Palestinian architects. FoEME presented the results of the charrette in Jordan and Jerusalem, along with recommendations from pre-feasibility studies and business plans. The group recommended utilizing the site’s architectural heritage: a 2,000-year-old bridge built by the Romans to connect the cities of Beit Shean (today in Israel), Pella and Um Quais (today in Jordan); a khan (inn) from the Middle Ages that served travelers passing from east and west; an Ottoman era bridge that connected the railway from Akko (Acre) to Damascus; a Turkish customs house and police station; an additional bridge built under the British Mandate and, of course, the modernist Rotenberg power station. “The [station] rivals some of the industrial sites in the US from the same period on the same scale, like some of the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) projects,” says Prof. Alan Plattas of the Yale University School of Design, at the charrette presentation at Jerusalem’s Van Leer Institute. “We’re not going to restore the power station. What we have now are the remains. We’ll convert the existing structures, stabilize the ruins, and reuse other structures. This is 20th century industrial archeology,” says Plattas, who further noted that the site’s old railroad station “is a little gem of modernist Bauhaus building.” The ultimate goal, he said, will be to turn the whole area into a major attraction for the newly burgeoning field of eco-tourism. “Tourism, over time, will supplement and overtake agriculture as the economic base in the region, especially on the Jordanian side. Former workers housing will be converted to eco-lodges, the power station will be reconstructed as a visitor center, and the surveillance apparatuses will be converted to birdwatcher shelters,” he says. Bird-watchers, it turns out, are a target market for a region that is one of the world’s major way stations for migratory bird, and re-flooding the present day dry lakebed would create a bird sanctuary. Baqura is already among the best preserved multi-ecosystem habitats in Jordan and FoEME estimates that the lake would serve to attract the more than 500 million migratory birds that cross the Jordan River Valley twice annually, as well as a good number of the world’s 60 million birdwatchers, along with assorted hikers, bikers and other various and sundry nature lovers. “Adjacent kibbutzim have already developed tourism industries,” says Plattas, who envisions a car-free compound surrounded by “reservoirs of parking, where people would leave their cars behind and convert to other modes of transport available at the park.”
The park will be developed in stages, with Phase 1 on the Jordanian side of what is a truly unique border. At Peace Island the charrette witnessed first-hand Israelis and Jordanians entering the site, without the need for visas and passports - due to terms of the 1994 treaty that took into account “the special circumstances of the Naharayim/Baqura area, which is under Jordanian sovereignty, with Israeli private ownership rights.” The owners, in this case, include concessionaires Israel Electric Corporation, formerly the Palestine Electric Corporation, whose visionary founder, Pinchas Rotenberg, was awarded use of the Jordan and Yarmouk rivers to supply hydroelectric power to Mandatory Palestine, by the British authorities. Rotenberg successfully negotiated with Jordan’s Emir Abdallah to use 1,500 acres of land that was under Transjordanian control. The station operated from 1933 until it was destroyed by the Arab Legion in 1948 and became part of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. “The power station has a history of shared international cooperation that has been interrupted,” says Plattas. Travel itself has its own rhythms and the ongoing tension between Israel and its neighbors has blocked traditional traffic flow, says environmental consultant Aviad Sar Shalom. “Tourism in the area today is mainly on the Israeli side from north to south. This project will restore the natural tourism circulation of east to west.”
Bromberg says the next step will be for the Jordanian side to be declared a national park, and to link the Israeli sites of Naharayim and Gesher, “and then we’ll continue undertaking concrete investment in the infrastructure in a parallel fashion, preparing everything for the linkage into one cross-border Peace Park. If all goes well, we’ll have enough in place to be able to open in two and a half years time.” FoEME’s feasibility studies, says Bromberg, “predict that within five years of opening, we can expect 250,000 local visitors (Jordanian and Israeli) and 200,000 foreign visitors within 10 years. That will create many different types of employment as rangers, managers, service providers and small business opportunities such as concessions on bike and electric cart rentals, souvenirs, food service, guides, etc.” Because bird-watching takes place in the early morning or at dusk, the project forecasts an expansion in accommodation and transport providers on either side. “On the Israeli side there are already many establishments that will directly benefit such as B&Bs and kibbutz guest houses but we predict that demand will increase and facilities will upgrade. Presently, on the Jordanian side, there are limited facilities - the Pella guest house has only 10 rooms - so we intend to work with aid agencies to develop a training program that can help the rural communities to create a B&B infrastructure in the town of North Shuna and the village of Baqura.” It’s not just wishful thinking, Bromberg points out. “Certain aspects of the project already exist. The Israeli side [Gesher/Naharayim] is already open. And the Jordanians have already started to bring groups to the site; local students and teachers, entrepreneurs and potential investors. Northern Jordan is an area that is very poorly visited at the moment and with high unemployment. That’s why the authorities have shown such interest.” Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 3rd, 2008
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 1st, 2008 Nordic Climate Solutions – Scandinavia´s annual marketplace for low carbon economy leaders – takes place on November 25th and 26th, 2008, in Copenhagen. The event is jointly organized with the Nordic Council of Ministers and a series of industry leaders from the Nordic Region. Towards and beyond the Copenhagen UN Summit, NCS gathers a significant number of business and industry leaders. In 2007 the event gathered more than 600 decision makers. This year more than 1000 delegates are projected for the event in November. As we would like to offer our delegates key insight from experts WE ARE CURRENTLY LOOKING FOR SPEAKERS for the following sessions: - Building the Future – Energy Efficiency: What energy and carbon savings could be realized if older commercial buildings had the energy consumption of the newer commercial building stock? How can we improve the incorporation of different energy efficiencies into different types of domestic and non-domestic buildings? And what will it take to achieve mass deployment of carbon neutral buildings? - Adaptation in the Third World – Markets Beyond China and India: As a global problem, climate change demands global solutions – yet the majority of the technology and financing for these solutions are not accessible to emerging economies and developing nations. India and China are naturally the center of attention when it comes to CDM projects or other climate action projects and policies, but how can we ensure that countries in Africa, Asia and South and Central America also have the capacity and the technology to develop in a sustainable and climate friendly manner? - The Future of CDM – The Post 2012 Scene: At the moment, there are more than 3,000 CDM projects in progress. What is the potential of the CDM on the post 2012 scenario and what concrete measures will be presented a the COP15 to improve this mechanism and ensure that it is contributing to global emission reductions and to technology transfer to all developing nations Climate Solutions for China: China is on its way to become the largest energy market in the world, with the greatest environmental challenges. This creates an enormous potential for the Nordic companies. The current five-year plan of China contains 250 billion dollar for investments in energy savings and environmental considerations and a range of ambitious goals. Thinking Outside the Barrel: President George W. Bush has stated that: “America is addicted to oil.” At times when the price approaches $150 per barrel – it is an expensive addiction to have. Fortunately, several alternatives exist. The Finance of Climate Change – A Guide for Governments and Corporations: The financial markets hold an increasingly important role in government and corporate initiatives designed to fight climate change and make the transition to the low carbon economy. Less is More – Energy Efficiency (End Use): Improved energy efficiency is often the most economic and readily available means of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Nevertheless, there exists a difference between the actual level of investment in energy efficiency and the higher level that would be economically beneficial from the consumer’s point of view. The Local Market of the Nordic: Russia: Recently the Russian economy has been developing at a very high pace and significant investments are being made in the energy and environmental sector, as well as in restructuring. Adaptation - Urban Climate Solutions: Even with substantial reductions in emissions today, the delay in the climate system means that emissions we have already released into the atmosphere will continue to affect the climate for years to come. The impact on cities and the people living there will be significant. De-linking Economic Growth from Emissions – Bypassing the Western Route to Low Carbon Economy: The interrelations between economic growth, energy and CO2 have a tremendous influence on the possibilities of a global ambitious treaty being drafted at the COP15. EU – Framework Conditions: This year a new EU energy market package has been submitted. The ambition is to create framework conditions for efficient and functioning sustainable energy markets. How can the EU balance energy policies between the aims of security of supply, competitiveness and sustainable energy? Renewable Energy Production; With a raising stream of billions of dollars into the sector, the investments in renewable energy production reach new records each year.The Nordic Region has great experience in renewable energy production from a wide spectrum of sources. How may this experience and knowledge be utilized in the global market and what are the barriers to expanding the renewable portfolio standard? Please reply to mwi at mm.dk Thank you for any guidance/recommendations you can provide. Meik Wiking Monday Morning T: +45 33 93 93 23 NORDIC CLIMATE SOLUTIONS - NOVEMBER 25TH AND 26TH - 2008. WWW.NORDICCLIMATESOLUTIONS.COM Permalink | ### |
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Posted on Sustainabilitank.info on August 1st, 2008 nbsp;http://www.climatechangecentral.com/publ… Sustainable tourism taking root in AlbertaNot that long ago, the extent of sustainable tourism in Alberta could almost be summed up by hotel room signs encouraging guests to re-use their towels and turn off lights when they left.  But times are rapidly changing. In today’s hotels and motels, low-flow showerheads and toilets are increasingly commonplace, as are energy-efficient lights and appliances. Behind the scenes, some lodgings are using non-toxic cleaning materials, re-using waste water in flowerbeds and even installing solar panels or turning kitchen grease into biodiesel for running grounds equipment and shuttle buses. Meanwhile, tourism transportation companies are filling up with biodiesel, operating hybrid taxis and offering vehicle rental customers the option to purchase carbon offsets. With soaring fuel prices and escalating operating costs, all these tourism operators are discovering that embarking on energy-efficiency upgrades is just good business practice. But they’re also finding that these and other green actions are attracting the business of travellers who are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their journeys.
“We’re seeing more enquiries - particularly from Europe but also from elsewhere - about what sustainable measures our tourism operators are putting in place,” says Don Boynton, Communications Director for Travel Alberta. “It’s become a more important factor in bookings’ decisions by vacation planners and by independent travellers.” Alberta tourism operators are certainly noticing this shift in attitude. In February, nearly 40 industry officials attended a sustainable tourism workshop hosted by Alb |