Water and what you add to it

I haven't really talked about my work on this blog, but many of you know that my work is mostly in water governance: How do we improve decision-making about water (specifically, who decides, who gets to use it and how)? We ask these questions in hopes of improving or maintaining water quality and quantity, including access and affordability for all, on a continual basis. These questions can seem worlds away from an average day in the life of an average Westerner (where water of good quality is available on demand in most communities), but they aren't. As with many sustainability issues, the choices we make as individuals do matter.

Increasingly, the connections between individual behaviour and larger scale human-environment systems are being told through short (and digestible) videos. An example is this video funded by the European Commission that explains the link between pharmaceuticals and water. The big takeaway here is that choices we make about our personal health can affect us through ecosystem health. In this specific case, the advice is to seek out pharmaceutical support when necessary, but to be thoughtful about it (and disposal of pharmaceuticals) because taking pharmaceuticals has an impact on the larger human-environment system (and that includes you! not just the feminized fish). With slightly different reasoning, medical researchers are giving us the same message: respect pharmaceuticals because development of antibiotics (in particular) is a major undertaking (both in years and expense) and casual use of them increases the likelihood that bacteria will become resistant.

If you are reading this in BC and want to know about the provincial programme for return of medications check out the MRP.

What goes around, comes around

Fruit of the month - Mulberry

Apologies for the dearth of postings! It's been a busy week. And, I'm moving tomorrow because my friends are coming back to Jerusalem after 7 weeks away. It's been great housesitting, but I'm so glad they will be back!

All around the mulberry bush the monkey chased the weasel...

In Israel, mulberries grow on trees rather than bushes. The trees are tall and the fruit is often difficult to reach.

Looking up at mulberries

More ripe fruit, just out of reach

Closer up -- here's how the fruit looks on the tree. There are at least two varieties of mulberry in Jerusalem -- one has white fruits the other are red. (There is a black mulberry as well, but I haven't met it yet.) On the day of this fruit mission, we didn't get close up to any red mulberries.

Mulberries in situ

More white mulberries

The mulberry looks a bit like an elongated blackberry or raspberry, but more cylindrical. It doesn't have any seeds on the outside, but it has a long centre pithy bit that you can chew through or toss.

A white not-quite-ripe mulberry

A pair of perfectly ripe white mulberries -- just turning light pink

 As for the taste...Well, I am a bit of a berry lover and I can tell you the mulberry is not in my top 5 berries of the world. I wouldn't sit down to a bowl of raw mulberries with the same kind of delight I would reserve for a bowl of freshly picked blackberries or blueberries. The mulberry (both red and white) has a unique taste and it's a bit mealy. I've been told it makes excellent jam and I'm inclined to believe that the mulberry is best eaten cooked (pies, jam) or fermented (wine).  

Fortunately, mulberries -- if not the berries, then the leaves -- have one devoted species: the silkworm. According to our favourite reference (Wikipedia!) mulberry leaves are the sole food of silkworms. Talk about picky eaters!

The Forecast is for Summer

With the solstice imminent, the Israeli Meteorology Service has posted this weather forecast for the entire country. It's a bit of what you see/feel is what you get:

http://www.ims.gov.il/IMSENG/All_Tahazit/homepage.htm

One of my colleagues wrote me an email yesterday to say summer had arrived based on the stability of the temperatures: "No Significant Change." For Jerusalem this means daytime highs of 31C, evening lows of 21C, sunny skies, light breezes = No complaints from me!

Of Cars and Peace

The Jerusalem Post proclaimed the Formula 1 Event (aka the Peace Road Show) a success. Why? Because all the communities of Jerusalem (Arab, Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Orthodox, Secular) came out to see the event and there was no conflict. It was a "peaceful" event as people jockeyed for perches on sidewalks, fences, and garbage bins from which to view the cars. Of course it's great that the various communities of the city could gather together civilly. Still it strikes me as a long way from "peace".

Some of you will know I am no fan of motor sports. (Thousands of litres of fuel burning up in whining race cars that occasionally take lives in gruesome ways: not a sport I choose to follow. Although to be fair, I don't really follow sport these days.) Anyway, since I could hear the cars from my house I thought I'd wander down to the "track" and see what was going on. I went to the intersection of Karen Ha-Yesod and King David. The cars were following the "track" in a counter-clockwise direction and my vantage point was at about 7pm (if you image the route as a very oval clockface).  There were tons of folks out, but I managed to get to the second row of the people behind the security fence. I did see cars go by but I didn't see a single Formula 1 car. I don't know the technical term for the cars I did see, but they looked somewhere between a Formula 1 car and a Nascar car. And, I failed to capture a single photo of a car so you won't be able to help me identify what I did see. Actually, none of the pix I took are particularly good. Anyway, rather than racing the cars I saw were definitely putting on a show, executing fishtails just in front of the grandstand down the hill from where I was watching.

Here's a few pix:

Crowds at Karen HaYesod and King David Streets

looking down Karen HaYesod

behind the crowds which weren't that big at this intersection

crowds

Contingency Planning: Israeli Paddy Wagon

Blocked streets; buses passing the Inbal Hotel on diversion

Parking at a premium -- sidewalks!

Take aways: Formula 1 is likely to come to Jerusalem again; the "Peace Road Show" could have legs as a bit of an industry. If you are in Jerusalem for F1 -- go to Jaffa Gate. It's a way better place to view the event from, you'll see the cars climb the hill along the west side of the Old City before they sweep left to Mamilla Mall and the tight intersection at King David. Or, go big and buy a ticket to sit in the grandstand.

Everybody who's an anybody

...is in Jerusalem tonight, celebrating Shimon Peres' 90th birthday. Everybody includes Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, Robert DeNiro, Barbra Streisand...and Sharon Stone (?).

The party was at the convention centre over by the Central Bus Station, but based on the number of media vans in the neighbourhood (I am living a stone's throw from Beit HaNassi (the President's House)) I think there may be an after party at Shimon's. Forget the convention centre, I want a ticket to the after party. Oh, the stories they could tell!!

But, since I don't have a ticket to the after party, I'll have to be content to listen to the hum of the generators and the night crews manning their cameras and vans.

Happy Birthday Shimon. The oldest living head of state in the world! There is talk that Bibi might try to extend Shimon's term so that he need not find a replacement for him. The field of potential presidential candidates is said to be thin; too many folks are too polarizing. Then, when Shimon's term is up, Bibi will slide from PM to Prez. It's convenient; the move from Balfour Street to Beit HaNassi is less than a kilometre, not to mention the improved job conditions. No more daily struggles in the Knesset! And from the outside Shimon's place looks to be far more palatial.

Jerusalem Grand Prix

Yes, you read that right. Formula One has come to Jerusalem this weekend for the "Peace Road Show." This is truly bizarre. It isn't a race, it's an exhibition for peace! I've planned a reconnaissance mission tomorrow and I'll report here what I learn.

At a cost of NIS 15 million (CAD 4.1 million today), plus two days of road closures (a la Obama's visit and the Marathon), your average Jerusalemite is none-too-impressed.  The route is a loop that runs along the west side of the Old City just above the Kidron Valley along the south side of the fancy Mamilla Mall, down King David (street where the fanciest, most-storied hotel in West Jerusalem, the King David commands the view of the Old City and American VIPs stay), along Karen Ha-Yesod to David Ramez (a road with a built in...I think it's called a chicane - I only remember this because some poor soul (mechanic or course volunteer) was killed at one of those in a Vancouver race years ago) out to Derech Hebron and back up the Kidron Hinnom Valley. Off the top of my head I can name at least 10 buses that run down just one street of the route. But, as usual, it isn't just the race route that is blocked. Leaving the uni today, I took the bus to the tram and Road No.1 (down the greenline) was blocked to south bound (city centre) traffic from fairly far north. No one was getting anywhere near the race site by car...there wouldn't be any parking anyway so there really isn't any point...but if, say, you wanted to get home, passing through the centre of the city, well, that wasn't an option either. Go around...no all the way around the west side!

On the tram with an Israeli friend, we noted that the tram was full of tourists, Israeli tourists. They looked the part, but it was confirmed when the tram took the corner at Damascus Gate and passed by the Old City...the parents implored their children "Look at the walls!"

So, once again if you are a rider of the bus in Jerusalem you might be riding a storm of frustration when you are trying to shop tomorrow on the west side. The upside being that at least it's summer so the grocery stores don't close quite as early on shabbat, you might just get your weekly errands done. Of course, on the east side, they'll be trying to get to prayers just as the race gets going.

Posters advertising the exhibition

Mamilla intersection (King David at Agron) photo credit: E Gotfryd

And all this hot on the heels of the Jerusalem annual light show, which I attended last night. It's held in the Old City and it has a Hallowe'en cum summer fair atmosphere. It was a unique experience to walk through the Old City at night, down narrow alleys filled with people only to come upon a bottleneck where three juice stall hawkers were competing (at full volume) to move their stock. The light shows ends tonight.

A scene from the light show

After the light show, I walked home because my bus was stuck in this row of traffic that wasn't really moving.

Derech Agron. Traffic after the light show

Traffic in Jerusalem is unlikely to improve anytime soon. There just isn't an obvious way to improve the flow around the Old City and there isn't space to expand the roads by adding lanes. Cars are really expensive to purchase in Israel -- the taxes are extreme -- gas is (I've been told) the third highest price per litre globally, and there is no free parking or parking (really, it's a lot like Vancouver). But, still, Israelis want to drive. That has to be, in part, attributed to a transit system that makes you feel like you are in an abusive relationship: just when you think things are going well (buses show up on time, regularly) you get slapped in the face (you wait 30 minutes for what is normally 10 min service, you cram like a sardine into the bus, the driver lurches down the road playing the brake like a staccato note). You cannot rely on the bus to deliver you on time anywhere: some days you'll be delightfully prompt, other days you'll be hopelessly tardy.  Lucky for me, I have a flexible start time so on most days I don't have to worry. But, if I really have to be somewhere I always add in an extra half to 3/4 of an hour depending on how far the journey is. And, there is no accounting for a security concern (these happen on the tram) where someone forgets their lunch box or school bag at a tram stop and they have to stop the line and call the bomb robots in to blow up the bag. Um, Mom, I'm sorry, I left my laptop bag at the tram stop...!

On being a tour guide

This week I was touring around Jerusalem with friends who were on their first trip to Israel.

Some of things we did were repeats for me, others were new.  I've been wanting to see the Chagall Murals at Ein Karem Hadassah (specifically, at the hospital synagogue). Chagall made 12 murals -- each of which represents a tribe of Israel (a son of Jacob). But, it's only open during the weekdays so you have to make a real effort to get out there. So we did. And it was worth it.

From the hospital we walked to Ein Karem -- a walk I've done before -- but it felt new owing to the changed plant life (drying out with the summer heat). Plus, you cannot beat the smell of pine woodlands on a warm day. 

The view on the walk to Ein Karem

We also visited the Temple Mount early on Tuesday morning. We beat the crowds and were treated to a really peaceful visit. We wandered from the door of Al Aqsa

The door of Al Aqsa

Al Aqsa

... to the Dome of the Rock.

View from East side (little dome in front)

Trivia: When the Crusaders held Jerusalem they converted Al Aqsa into a royal palace, including stables for their horses. The Dome of the Rock was used as a church. Later when the Muslims took back Jerusalem they converted these two buildings back to their holy sites and lifted treasures from the Holy Sepulchre to "readorn" their buildings. In the result the Old City of Jerusalem is a study in borrowing, repurposing, and rededicating...and enduring sanctity. 

And, of course, we stopped in at the market - always an adventure. Since you've seen pix of Mahane Yehuda, here's a sound bite.

Sounds of Shabbat

Last night the shabbat horn went at about 7pm.  The horn blows for about 3 minutes and signals that it is time to light the candles -- shabbos has begun. The Haaretz newspaper website has an interactive page where you can hover over your city in Israel, or other cities worldwide to find out when shabbat comes in and goes out.  It goes out tonight in Jerusalem at 820pm (after 3 stars have been seen, usually about an hour after sunset). The buses and stores will open up about an hour later.

I'm housesitting my friends' apartment in a neighbourhood up the hill from where I used to live. You can really hear the horn up here. Here's a little segment: