As Earth Day approaches, here’s a look forward exploring the ways in which Israel is developing technologies to help our planet reach a better, brighter and greener future. Here are the top Israeli technologies that are addressing acute issues from the world’s declining bee population to dirty diapers and everything in between. PIKA easily cleans cloth diapers As any parent knows, bringing offspring into the world is not the most environmentally friendly thing you can do. We’re not talking about the future jet-setters’ carbon footprint (although that too is a thing), but about the more immediate, never-ending piles of disposable…
Author: zenger.news
The current U.S. hemp seed market is worth at least $1 billion a year. Into that ocean of opportunity, Israeli seed company CanBreed has launched a 3.5-acre licensed farm in San Diego County, California. The little farm could make an outsized impact by producing what CEO Ido Margalit believes are the world’s first fully stable, consistent hybrid hemp seeds for standardized medical-grade cannabis. “Our solutions will make a considerable disruption,” Margalit said. “Israel is an agronomic superpower, but it cannot compete with countries that have a much larger capacity for agricultural output. What we do compete in well, and offer…
SRINAGAR — “There is nothing one can’t achieve if one sets his mind to it,” 23-year-old Adil Teli told Zenger News after pedaling 3,600 kilometers (2,237 miles) from India’s northernmost tip Kashmir to the southernmost Kanyakumari. Nine years ago, when a teenaged Teli started spending hours cycling through the lanes of his home in the outskirts of Srinagar, the capital of Kashmir, his parents often “rebuked him for wasting time”. They wanted Teli to study well and get a government job to have a “secure future”. But the teenager had started dreaming about becoming a professional cyclist and breaking into…
SYDNEY — A prequel to the “Mad Max” film franchise starring Hollywood actor Chris Hemsworth will be filmed in the southeastern Australian state of New South Wales, pumping AUD 350 million ($272.17 million) into the state’s economy. “Furiosa” is slated for release in mid-2023, will employ 850 people, and is expected to become the most prominent film ever to be made in Australia. After having to leave Australia to find work in the United States, Hemsworth says it is a dream come true to film such an iconic project at home. “This will be my fourth or fifth film here in Australia,” he…
HINDMARSH, Australia — New home sales were nearly 40 percent higher in the first three months than during the same period last year. The Housing Industry Association‘s new home sales report found sales in the March quarter increased across all the nation’s five largest states. Overall, sales were 39.4 percent higher in the March quarter compared to the same quarter last year. Strong new home sales resulted from the Morrison government’s HomeBuilder program, record low-interest rates, changing population dynamics, and improving market confidence. “In December 2020, there was a near-record volume of new home sales as households rushed to finalize contracts…
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — New Zealand’s airports will be the scene of celebration and reunification with the opening of the trans-Tasman bubble. For the first time in more than a year, Australian travelers will, on April 19, be able to enter New Zealand without the need to quarantine for a fortnight. That handbrake on travel will mean thousands of Kiwis and Australians head across the ditch, welcomed by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. “It is truly exciting to start quarantine-free travel with Australia,” Ardern said. “Beit returning family, friends, or holidaymakers, New Zealand says welcome and enjoy yourself. The bubble marks a…
DARWIN, Australia — The unirrigated cotton growers of Northern Territory in Australia are set for a bumper harvest after a big wet season, with hopes their fledgling industry will become a major contributor to the Top End’s economy. It is only the third season the innovative rain-fed cotton method has been used in the Katherine and Daly regions, about three hours south of Darwin, the capital city of Northern Territory. Still, growers expect to triple production in the coming years. They are also building a local cotton-processing plant to keep more profit in the Northern Territory as they use the region’s proximity…
SYDNEY — Good Empire is among the dozens of start-ups that raise money on equity crowdfunding site Birchal. The company is developing a social app that will allow users to share activities — such as Earth Hour or Ice Bucket challenge — aligned with a United Nations blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable world. It hopes to tap into a growing corporate social responsibility market. This week, it went into a fundraising round. Like most start-ups, it expected most investors would typically be older, wealthy, and male. Instead, and to its surprise, it overshot the target — raising more than AUD…
MELBOURNE, Australia — Australians appear to be a content lot, even in the face of a major disruption to the Covid-19 vaccine rollout. Economic data this week will show whether the recent run of upbeat consumer confidence figures translates into retail spending. Last week, the monthly Westpac-Melbourne Institute consumer survey showed confidence soared to an 11-year high. “The survey continues to signal that the consumer will be the key driver of above-trend growth in 2021,” Bill Evans, chief economist at Westpac, said. Preliminary retail trade figures for March are due on April 21. Economists expect spending grew by a solid 1.0 percent in…
CANBERRA, Australia — Ordinary Australians made Anzac Day what it is, and public opinion will probably determine its demise sooner rather than later, as per the country’s leading war historians. Anzac Day is a national day of remembrance in Australia and New Zealand that broadly commemorates all Australians and New Zealanders “who served and died in all wars, conflicts, and peacekeeping operations” and “the contribution and suffering of all those who have served”. Professor Robin Prior‘s stark assessment of the future of our unofficial national day matches research showing fewer Australians intend to go to a ceremony or march this April…