Birding in Israel

by Lotan on 06/18/2013

birding june 2013

Kibbutz Lotan is part of the Israel National Birdwatching and Conservation Association.  Here’s the June newsletter with news about the Israel Government to Upgrade the Kibbutz Lotan Nature and Migratory Bird reserve and many other stories about bird behavior and conservation efforts.

Check out the Israel Birding Newsletter – June 2013 here: http://birds.org.il/SIP_STORAGE/FILES/4/2554.pdf

With blessings from www.birdingisrael.com!

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Climate Challenge

by Lotan on 05/17/2013

It’s a normal May day with the birds singing under cloudy skies.  Normal?  Every day this month has had clouds, and in the Arava that is far from normal in May.  Is this because of 400 ppm of Carbon Dioxide in the atmosphere?  I don’t know but it certainly makes one wonder.  What future are we riding into?

Instead of worrying about what Climate Change will bring, let’s take efforts to do what we know is right: reduce atmospheric pollution, reduce fossil fuel use and providing everyone with affordable shelter.  Nature will benefit along the way.

arkin climate ride straw bale

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BBC Travel to Israel Kibbutz

18 March 2013

08 March 2013 Kick back on a kibbutz InIsraelEco-tourism By Dan Savery Raz http://www.bbc.com/travel/feature/20130226-kick-back-on-an-israel-kibbutz  Sustainability in the sand The ultimate “eco-kibbutz” is Lotan, situated in the arid Arava desert, 51km north of the Red Sea resort town of Eilat. Guests can sleep in mud houses and learn about permaculture, sustainable building and geodesic domes on a [...]

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Gangsta Gardening in LA

14 March 2013

Ron Finley got fed up with watching people dying from the food they were eating and decided that his urban sidewalk needed to become a fresh food forest: Here’s some a summary of the talk using our favorites of Ron’s talk: Growing your own food is like printing your own money. I’m an artist. Gardening is [...]

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An URBAN view of Lotan

24 February 2013

URBAN Magazine     Graduate School of Architecture, Planning, and Preservation Making the Desert Bloom Posted on May 9, 2011 by urban Upon first encounter, the Arava Desert, located between the Dead and Red Seas on the border of Jordan and Israel, appears to offer little other than sand. So it’s surprising that this arid landscape, which receives summertime [...]

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Waterless Toilets

18 February 2013

Matt Damon is going on strike. A bathroom strike. Mr. Damon says “780 million people… lack access to clean water” and “2.5 billion people lack access to a toilet or basic sanitation.” Check out the new video from his non-profit water.org where he goes over some of the stats with a touch of humor. Then [...]

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Tu BiSh’vat Reflection

24 January 2013

A Tu BiSh’vat Reflection by Alex Cicelsky posted originally in Ten Minutes of Torah As a child growing up in Upstate New York, it was difficult to comprehend the connection between the snow piled up to my window and the Birthday of the Trees. The trees that I saw were either those surrounding our house [...]

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Something’s Sprouting at Kibbutz Yarok

24 December 2012

By Persephone Rivka and Sophie Vener - Graduates of the Kibbutz Lotan Center for Creative Ecology’s Peace, Justice and Environment College Semester, Green Apprenticeship Permaculture and Ecovillage Design Course in association with Living Routes, UMass Amherst and GAIA Education. In permaculture, Bill Mollison advises all gardeners and farmers to live in a tent on their land for a [...]

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Window Farms

19 October 2012

Mike Kaplin and our Permaculture Students have been working on integrating a new method of vertical gardening into the Center for Creative Ecology. A typical vertical garden is built in a narrow soil structure and is attached to a wall.  The newly developed vertical gardening style ditches the soil,  has a closed water circuit and is [...]

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Alumni Spotlight: Craig Sadur

23 September 2012

Craig Sadur is the manager of Chicago’s Benton House and a 2009 graduate of Kibbuts Lotan’s Green Apprenticeship program. Craig got the spotlight shone on him by our friends at Chicago’s Advocate for Urban Agriculture Coalition in their most recent news letter.  Check out how Craig is making this inspirational urban gardening project grow:  

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