Despite its kind nature, the Hoopoe apparently has some disgusting habits, and Stephen Colbert of the Colbert Report had a lot to say about it. He suggested that Israel adopt the Hoopoe’s defense tactics on the Golan Heights: squirting fecal matter at intruders. He also congratulated the Jews on a new addition to the kosher menu: giraffe. Yum yum.

While I admit that this is no flying car, the electric car will create cleaner air and lower our dependency on fossil fuels, a good thing considering the only oil Israel has is olive oil and it’s too tasty to be wasted on transportation.

Newsweek explains that 150 recharging stations aka ‘swaps’ will be built around Israel and will take the same amount of time to fill up as a traditional gas pump. You’ll also be able to recharge at home or the office for shorter distances. Drivers can pay for the recharging with monthly subscriptions, similar to a cellphone plan, and it should end up being cheaper than gas.

When these guilt-free and cheaper fueling electric cars become available to the public, I will definitely want one. But I ain’t getting on the roads until the national aggression level in Israeli drivers is lowered significantly. Where is Project Better Drivers? That is the real question here.

Shai Agassi, of Project Better Place, is speaking at the President’s Conference in Jerusalem this week, so hopefully we’ll learn of the latest status of the project and report it here on israelplug.

Or-gani

Or-Gani is an organic farm established by a group of friends who were “tired of eating chemical laden crap for vegetables.” In order to benefit from their service, you need to register as a member, and then you are supplied with vegetables on a weekly basis. The vegetables are picked and packed on the same day as delivery, and availability and variety are dependent on the seasons. Members don’t pick their vegetables, but get 11-15 different vegetables in their basket – it’s a veggie surprise!

However, the farm does state that certain “standard” vegetables, like tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, etc., will be available throughout the year. In order to keep track of which vegetables are available, the farm will publish a kind of veggie-calendar.

Or-gani’s organic status is granted by Agrior, one of the standards firms that has been licensed by IFOAM and Israeli’s Ministry of Agriculture.

Or-gani website

Ormat Industries

The two companies will embark on a three-year, $2m research project to identify lower-cost alternatives to soy and canola oil for biodiesel fuel. If this project succeeds, Ormat and Evogene will jointly market the crops. The project has been approved for a $1m grant from the Israel-US Binational Industrial Research and Development Fund.

David Rosenberg, Bloomberg, “Ormat, Evogene to develop biodiesel crops,” Jerusalem Post, July 26, 2007.

When done, the park will cover 6,000 acres of the desert and will include 1.2 million mirrors.

Meanwhile, Solel and Greenpeace in Israel are still working to overcome beaurocratic hurdles in order to begin a similar project in the Negev.

For a really interesting video that explains a little more about the new technology behind this, click here.

Amir Ben David, “Israel company to build largest solar park in world in US”, ynetnews, July 26, 2007

Since the 1950s and ’60s, the number of dunams that “rest” during the shmita year has increased from 1000 dunams to around 220,000 dunams. It is estimated that 400,000 dunams will lie fallow during the upcoming shmita year.

Serious financial loss can result to farmers who are willing to stop farming for a whole year. Some farmers are expected to gross $1.5 million for shutting down their operations. Diaspora Jews, particularly from the US, help offset these losses by raising money during the 6th year of the shmita cycle to support the farmers during this year of rest.

Michal Lando, “Mitzva makers”, The Jerusalem Post, July 24, 2007

A tiny wasp is the chagrin of many countries

The wasps subject Eucalyptus trees to continued attack, causing massive damage. An Israeli research team traveled to Australia where they identified Closterocerus. After extended research on the bug, it was released into Israeli forests. A substantial improvement was noticed there and there are reports that the bug migrated to Jordan, Egypt and Turkey.

Israeli experts have already traveled to Thailand and are soon to make a trip to South Africa.

Eli Ashkenazi, “Israeli researchers discover bug that saves eucalyptus groves”, Haaretz, July 24, 2007

Prof. Alex Levine and doctoral student Yehoram Leshem of The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, Israel, have been studying how plants react under salty conditions and why.

The results of their work, published in the Proceedings of the (US) National Academy of Sciences, show that through understanding the mechanisms by which plants deal with salty conditions and through genetic manipulation, it is possible to raise plants’ tolerance to what normally would be too much salt for survival.

Improving the salt tolerance of crops can be a life-save to many countries and societies.

Judy Siegel-Itzkovich, “New Worlds: Research produces more salt-tolerant plants”, The Jerusalem Post, July 21, 2007