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The roof is green

We stayed home this weekend, enjoying some peace and quiet at the ‘ol homestead. But last weekend we headed down for our annual Shabbat at Kibbutz Ketura with my husband Daniel’s group of high school students — he runs a program called TRY, Tichon Ramah Yerushalayim, and they always spend a week at Ketura.

But back to my visit to Ketura, which I’m always amazed by each time we visit. Yes, yes, I do have that sentimental love of kibbutzim thing, which I’ve written about before. And even though I tend not to tour the kibbutz, I always find something new on their grounds that sparks my interest. This visit, it was a set of six new kibbutz houses, settled in by six veteran families. The houses are attached, with three bedrooms each, I believe and with a larger than average kibbutz kitchen, which was the draw for most of the families.

What’s striking about them from the outside are their high roofs, which, it turns out, have an environmental purpose to them. They’re essentially open to the elements, covered with simple wire mesh and house the cooling units for each house. They’re not technically green roofs, which are generally roofs covered with vegetation. According to Wikipedia, however, a green roof also indicates a roof using some sort of ‘green’ technology, and this, I imagine, would qualify.

And, according to our friends who live in one of these new houses, it is considerably cooler than their old, flat-surfaced house down the lane. That’s no small matter when you live in a region where 40 degrees Celsius is the norm.

Of course, green roofs are nothing new for Ketura, which owns 40% of Arava Power, one of Israel’s most promising solar energy companies. The kibbutz, just north of Eilat, is also part of the so-called Green Kibbutz movement and has pioneered many new ecologically sounder practices, as well as adopting more common environmentally friendly habits.

Still. I was impressed.

Flower hunt

After several weeks of putting my nose to the proverbial grindstone, my working partners and I decided it was high time for a day off, one that would help us find new material for our latest project (more later on that), and that would get us out of the city.

We had grand plans for hitting the Yoav Yehuda region and then getting to Tel Aviv as well, to check out end-of-winter sales and breath in the urban air, but once we reached the fairly wide open and green spaces of Routes 3 and 44, we were settled on hanging in the country.

It’s truly astonishing how heavy rains can transform the look of this country. Route 3, if taken from the Latrun exit off Highway 1 from Jerusalem, gets you close to Ashdod and all the way to Ashkelon. We were making stops in the yeshuvim, a.k.a. small suburban communities, around the Nachshon intersection, and the views around us were of rolling green fields, dotted with yellow flowers and the occasional clump of red anemones. But one of our best stops — besides a textile designer in Karmei Yosef and a goat cheese farm and cafe in Moshav Tel Shachar — was in the Defenders’ Forest, a JNF park of pine, cypress, olive and carob trees, with monuments of all shapes and sizes erected throughout the park in memory of ‘defenders’ of all kinds, from Holocaust victims and fallen soldiers to people who have died in terrorist attacks or tragedies of the more mundane type.

We were seeking flowers, winter/spring wildflowers to be exact, and it was amusing to watch ourselves drive through the park, looking for the clumps of purple cyclamen and red anemones. We found them, in abundance, carpeting the forest, from clumps surrounding trees to wild beds of cyclamens dotted with bunches of anemones. And even though we were on a mission (to write a piece about finding wildflowers in the Israeli springtime), it was such a lark to actually get out there in the forest, search and seek flowers, and find and photograph them.

Here are a few samples of what we found, now go see them for yourself…

Rain – a love/hate story

I really hate the rain. Oh, I know it’s good for us and the country desperately needs to refill its reservoirs. I just wish we could get all our rainfall at night, when I’m sleeping. Getting caught in a daytime downpour is one of my most dreaded activities. It’s cold, my glasses get pelted so I can barely see, and I’m always afraid that sloshing through puddles will ruin my shoes.

Now, my wife Jody and I are regular exercisers. Our main workout is running – we head to the streets 3-4 times a week, on several different circuits in southern Jerusalem. Our favorite is along the Sherover and Goldman Promenades, overlooking the Old City. We also run up to the Ramat Rachel kibbutz and back, and through the German Colony.

This morning, the skies looked ominous. It had been thundering all weekend, but at 9:00 AM, the ground was dry. We decided to chance it. Strapping on our iPods, we headed out on the closest route to home towards the Old Katamon neighborhood.

About five minutes into our run, we felt a few drops from above but not enough to turn back. I can deal with a light drizzle as long as it stops and starts. Which is exactly what it was doing. So far so good.

10 minutes into the run, the rain started coming down harder. We were in San Simon Park and ducked under a tree until the rain lightened up. Then we were off again.

As we turned back onto Kovshei Katamon Street, the skies opened up big time. There was a bus stop across the street. We dashed between oncoming vehicles where we took shelter to wait it out.

Only this time, the rain didn’t abate – it intensified. The streets began to fill up. It’s amazing how quickly water can come cascading down a slight hill in the midst of Israeli city. It was easy to imagine how a flash flood could appear out of nowhere.

As the gullies deepened, the splashes from nearby cars loomed closer. When a truck rumbled by, soaked us from head to toe. We knew it was time to head home…regardless of the downpour.

For the next five minutes, we sprinted through the streets as if wading in a freezing swimming pool. We were up to our ankles in a gray and brown Jerusalem liquid mix. Since I was running blind (the glasses thing, remember?), if there had been a pothole, I would have been a goner.

We made it home and our teenager daughter laid out large beach towels at the door to mop up our mess.

All I wanted at that point was a nice hot shower. I threw myself under the water, only to realize too late that there had not been enough sun that morning to power the solar heater and we had neglected to turn on the electric timer.

Sitting in the kitchen, sipping a cup of tea, Jody tried to lighten the mood, pushing a more optimistic agenda. After today, she said, it couldn’t possibly get any worse.

That’s when we heard the drip-drop of the rain again. We looked up. It was coming through the roof.

Did I mention I hate the rain?

I Finally Meet My Prince

Karin meets Prince Hassan of Jordan at a water security conference in Switzerland last week.

It was a meeting of minds, water minds. Water consultants, ambassadors who’ve built water treaties, and government specialists and negotiators from around the Middle East and Europe gathered in Montreux, Switzerland for a two-day workshop on Water Security in the Middle East last week. Sure, I am busy writing stories for ISRAEL21c, but an environment blog I run called Green Prophet was invited to attend. The object was to explore sustainable and cooperative solutions to water security, and to use the problem of water and turn it into an instrument of peace.

Organized by the Strategic Foresight Group, the same India-based firm that brought us the Cost of Conflict to the Environment in the Middle East report, the event included a gala supper, and meeting with the Prince of Jordan, sponsored by the Swiss and Swedish governments. Both peace-loving and humanitarian nations are eager to ease future conflicts in the Middle East, with all fingers pointing to water conflict being the fuel for the next big one, many believe. But how can it be done? Read more

Foto Friday – Creepy Crawlies

Last month, scientists at the University of Haifa announced that they had discovered a new and previously unknown species of spider. I don’t know about you, but I greet news like that with mixed emotions: pride in our local research institutions, curiosity at seeing the bug and — now having seen the photos (like this one by researcher Yael Olek) — a dash of alarm. This thing is a big as a Mack Truck.

The researchers say that this spider’s leg-span can reach up to 14 cm., which makes it the largest spider of its type in the Middle East. The species was discovered in the dune of the Sands of Samar in the southern Arava region. It is a member of the genus Cerbalus and was named Cerbalus aravensis for its native habitat, if you like knowing that sort of thing.

Unfortunately, however, the poor critter’s habitat is endangered by — you guessed it — humans and their boundless capacity to screw things up. According to head of research Dr. Uri Shanas, mining projects in the area will endanger the existence of the spider as well as possibly other unknown animal species living in the sands. Hopefully, efforts will be made to preserve this unique region in the Arava, as well as the lifeforms crawling in, out and round about.

Photographer Marco Jona has a particular fascination for such creepy crawlies. Waiting patiently for the right moment, he manages to get in close and catch almost human-like expressions. A few of his photos are presented here with more on display at his website.

Nostalgia Sunday – Israel Electric

Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) is amongst our country’s most hated monopolies, and today we got another dose of why that is. According to a World Bank report reported by Globes, “Salaries at Israel Electric Corporation (IEC) (TASE: ELEC.B22) are among the highest among utilities in the world…”

“IEC commissioned the report in an effort to prove that Israel’s electricity tariffs are low. While the utility got the answer it sought, it also received an unsolicited sting about its employees’ high salaries.” (Full story available here).

It’s very nice to find out that we pay lower tariffs… right now. (Despite the recent price cuts, the World Bank believes that is going to have to change). But it doesn’t make up for decades of abuse at the hands of surly overpaid technicians and clerks who for many years — and I’m not sure the World Bank knew about this one — also got their electricity for next to nothing.

The free electricity thing was so out of control that back in the Seventies, when our family would go visit cousin Sasha, a veteran IEC employee, we would count the number of unnecessarily electrified appliances he had, such as wall clocks, stove top cookers (Israelis usually have gas ranges) and the occasional extension cord trailing out of a window — just to help out the neighbors.

At a certain point, sometime after the other hated monopoly, Israel’s phone company, was privatized, IEC got wise and started behaving more like a service provider, less like a price gouging monolith. And you have to give IEC credit where it’s due: in the span of some 80 years, it has created a modern power infrastructure serving the entire country.

It is also one of the only companies in the world capable of providing complete turnkey service, from building power stations to providing billing services.

IEC has also made public a good number of pictures from their archive, on view at the PikiWiki site. Here are a few nice ones, for starters. This is a picture of Israel’s first power station, in Haifa.

Electric company workers laying high-tension wires.

The next time they built a power station in Haifa, it was bigger…

An interior shot…

And some might recognize this location, the mouth of the Yarkon river near the Reading power plant and the Tel Aviv port.

Foto Friday – Painting Feb Red

It’s February which means only six more weeks of winter, or maybe just six minutes more, given the freakish weekend hot spell. The JNF-KKL has declared February a month-long Festival Darom Adom, or Scarlet South Festival, in honor of the wild red anemones now dotting the fields all over the country, but particularly the northern Negev region where the local residents have organized walking tours and entertainment.

Photo by Hirshfield, courtesy JNF-KKL

The red anemone or calanit, is a favorite of Israelis and one of the success stories of Israel’s campaign to save its wildflowers.

Photo courtesy of Free Israel Photos

According to website Wild Flowers in Israel, an excellent resource, “the Hebrew name ‘kalanit’ is related to the Hebrew word for a bride ‘kala’, referring to its beauty,” and is mentioned the Talmud.

Photo courtesy of Flowers in Israel

Hebrew University’s Flora of Israel Online has plenty of scientific articles and lots more photos of this beloved flower.

Photo courtesy of Wildflowers in Israel

For those who can’t be here right now to see these red beauties at their peak, we present a few images to enjoy. And please visit the JNF-KKL website to download their amazing screensaver of Israel’s wildflowers.

Photo by Gil Soffer

Foto Friday – Israel Weathering the Storms

Israel has quite a lot of weather these days – which is pretty amazing considering that only less than a generation ago, we had no weather at all.

Photo by Zohar Shachar

More accurately put, we had no weather report. Before the advent of Channel 2 and cute-as-a-button weatherman Dani Rupp, each evening we were treated to the following day’s temperatures, but were given no indication as to where the winds were blowing in from. There were no maps, no Arab countries to blame for making sandstorms or Russians and Europeans to accuse for sending in cold fronts. Not like today, when any Israeli can access a weather satellite view online — or just watch the evening news — and be treated to sights like this one. Here’s what the weather is like today… and it’s not getting any better. Look at what’s sweeping in from Europe. Thanks a whole lot, Europe!

Source: Sat24.com

Today, Israel’s amateur weather buffs (like Jessica’s niece) brave rain, thunder, lightening, hurricanes and flash floods — all in the hope of getting a snap of that perfect storm…

Photo by Prof. Haim Kutiel

They then upload them to sites like IsraelWeather.co.il, run by forecaster Boaz Dayan. The site has shots of unusual weather phenomena, like this squared-off lightening bolt…

Photo by The Chessmaster

…and this water spout.
Photo by Noam Halfon, Nahariya.

It’s worth checking out, especially as Israel is finally getting a good watering. Now we can look forward to a bright green spring.

Photo by Revital BA, Kiryat Shemona

From paradise to a parking lot to a high rise

“They paved paradise and put up a parking lot…” then they tore up the parking lot and put up a high rise.

I’m not sure if Joni Mitchell meant that for the continuation of her lyrics to “Big Yellow Taxi” but it seems to be the modus operandi in Jerusalem, at least for the parking lot next to the Mahane Yehuda fruit and vegetable shuk.

The huge area, on the corner of the capital’s Jaffa Road and Shmuel Hanavi St. has been the one saving grace of going downtown in recent years – it’s the only outside, spacious parking lot around and has serviced the shuk shoppers as well as anyone else brave enough to dare to tread downtown during the construction of the light rail tracks.

So imagine my surprise today, when walking past it, I noticed that the lot was closed, the exits gated off, the pavement boasting huge holes in it, and one of those gigantor signs announcing yet another luxury high rise to be built on the premises.

Just what we need in Jerusalem – less convenient parking and more outrageously priced apartments that will be bought by foreigners who will leave them empty 50 weeks a year. Way to go, city hall. And Joni, if you want to do a new version of “Big Yellow Taxi,” you can use my idea without credit.

Kibbutz changes

I’ve always been a sucker and romanticized kibbutz life, probably because I’ve never lived it. But I have enduring admiration for the kibbutz pioneer types, whether of the present or yesteryear, whether they’re building plastic pipe fittings, growing algae or creating alternative educational centers.

That said, things have been changing in the kibbutz for some time, and probably for the better. In fact, it’s really a matter of seeing what works in the new century of cooperative living rather than holding on to what used to work.

So here’s some interesting kibbutz research from the University of Haifa. According to their recent surveys, some 72% of all kibbutzim are now converted to the ‘renewing kibbutz’ model, which means members are paid differential wages. Over the course of the last year, five more kibbutzim converted to the model, and, Dr. Shlomo Getz, head of the Institute for the Research of the Kibbutz and the Cooperative Idea, believes that by the end of 2012, there will be more kibbutzim switching to some alternative model.

Just to review, there are three kibbutz compensation models these days. The collective kibbutz/kibbutz shitufi, in which members are compensated equally, regardless of what work each member does; the mixed model kibbutz/kibbutz meshulav, in which each member is given a small percentage of his salary along with a basic component given equally to all kibbutz members; and the renewing kibbutz/kibbutz mithadesh, in which a member’s income is solely comprised of his individual income from his work and sometimes includes income from other kibbutz sources. You can call that the capitalist kibbutz.

Since the end of last year, 188 kibbutzim (72% of all kibbutzim) have become renewing kibbutzim, while just 9 are mixed model and 65 still maintain the original, familiar model. But there are changes taking place even in the old, familiar collective kibbutzim. Eighteen of them offer different forms of payment for work carried out beyond the members’ regular jobs, such as rotation duty in the dining room or kibbutz services on Shabbat. And on some of the collective kibbutzum, members have partial ownership of kibbutz businesses or their homes. Finally, in at least half of the collective kibbutzim, members must pay to eat in the central dining room.

(That must mean much less schnitzel eaten on a regular basis. Then again, I would pay to eat kibbutz schnitzel.)

 

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