Reviews

Photo by Zak Bennett

As if Tel Aviv doesn’t have enough sand, dust and smog storms already.

Looking out my bedroom window one can see a luscious landscape spanning with five miles of sandy beaches, which will lead, in one direction, to the oldest port on Earth, the Arab municipality of the Jaffa Port.

If one looks in the other direction they will see a giant smoke stack called the Reading Power Station, which is approximately five blocks from my apartment- where public access is limited due to the nasty hazards associated with production.

As if Tel Aviv doesn’t have enough sand, dust and smog storms to deteriorate its air already.

The Station consists of four units with only one working today. The other three have been shutdown slowly but surely since 1967.  The reason for these shutdowns is that over the year’s environmental groups similar to Green Equations have accused the Station of causing severe pollution to the airs of Tel Aviv, which is home to approximately 2.3 million inhabitants.

In 2006 this Station was completely shutdown due to the failure to meet environmental requirements, which resulted in the Stations shift from using fuel oil to natural gases.

The Israeli national government is the force behind this mess of a structure in the center of Tel Aviv. The government wants to increase the Station’s output and then, after, reduce its environmental footprint and keep it where it is.  I wonder how quickly those reductions will take place.

The city of Tel Aviv wants this structure rebuilt outside of the city limits. So the question is, why would a country that cares for its people, in the 1^st-world, want to keep a power plant, knowingly, in a place so harmful for city inhabitants.

These are the questions that continue to boggle the informed.

A country, like Israel, that already spends so much on its inhabitants through military protection, can afford to sprinkle a little more money on the long-run and protect the health and happiness of its citizens.

I say they shutdown Reading Power Station, and turn it in to one giant club, the one thing Tel Aviv may know how to do correctly.

No doubt the current Olympics has and continue to dazzle people with the drama (some outside of the venues) but somehow lost amongst the sports accomplishments remains the face that Vancouver touted this Olympics as the Greenest ever. It seems that China also made that claim a couple years ago. Instead of getting into a comparison of this green aspect versus that sustainable item, we took a look at the Vancouver Convention Center West, which marks the World’s First Convention Center to Achieve LEED Platinum Rating.

Yes, we’ve discussed our feeling about the LEED label and how we would like seeing more money going toward sustainable aspects versus a LEED plaque but nonetheless they built an impressive structure, which currently hosts the international media for the Olympic games. When the Olympics pack-up Vancouver will still have the dazzling sustainable structure. (more…)

Honestly, I researched small sustainable home building options for three years and was not sold on a yurt until I realized the fabric kits are the least expensive and fastest way to build a home. That was 2008 August. Architectural plans, finances, property construction, etc. caused me to store the yurt until I moved in 2009 April. My new home was erected in three days. This is 2010 February (almost a year of yurt dwelling) and I just recently completed this fabulous book.

Read rave reviews on Amazon Books from people who may have never stepped into a yurt. They express how wonderfully written this book, YURTS Living in the Round by Becky Kemery, is. I’m here to tell you it is also excellent from an existing yurt dweller’s perspective. (more…)