Rich Americans Buy Greenhouses for Palestinians

$14 million has been raised to compensate Jewish settlers in the Gaza Strip who give up their greenhouses to the Palestinians. The donors are American and are techincally giving the money to the Aspen Group who will then redistribute the funds. Many Palestinians rely on jobs provided in the greenhouses, some settlers originally planned on disassembling the greenhouses because they felt that the Isreali government wasn’t giving them enough compensation.

The deal, brockerd by the former World Bank president James D. Wolfensohn, will ensure that the greenhouses stay and the Palestinians can contiune working in them. Ownership of the greenhouses will be transffered to the Palestinians which means that the greenhouses have the potential to become a large contriubution to the Palestinian economy.

Harry Potter the Environmentalist

This is somewhat old news, but it is still good news.

Raincoast Books is the company that is publishing the Harry Potter books for Canada is very eco-conscious. The books have been/continue to be printed on 100% post-consumer recycled paper. 30,000 tress may be saved as a result. BoingBoing has more info.

From the link:

Raincoast isn’t the only publisher seeking to put a green tint on the wildly popular Potter books. Publishers from Germany, Italy, Britain, and Israel also comitted to printing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on large percentages of recycled paper and/or “ancient forest friendly” paper.