Sue Surkes

Sue Surkes is The Times of Israel's environment reporter.

View of the oil refineries and the industrial area of Haifa Bay, October 28, 2008. (Chen Leopold/Flash90)

September 29, 2022, 1:06 pm

Bazan Group indicted for pollution for 5th time in seven years

Israel’s biggest oil refinery and subsidiaries, fined nearly NIS 7.3 million for offenses over last 5 years, is now accused of 15 air pollution events at 10 facilities in 2017

By Sue Surkes

Chaco landscape in South America. (Valerio Pillar, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons)

September 28, 2022, 9:39 pm

Planting trees in drylands unlikely to curb global warming, Israeli study shows

Researchers find that while forests planted on arid lands reduce heat by absorbing carbon, those gains are often lost to heat radiation caused by the so-called albedo effects

By Sue Surkes

Vegan cheeses produced by Vgarden and marketed in Israel under the name Mashu Mashu. (Courtesy, Vgarden)

September 28, 2022, 3:07 pm

Israeli plant-based vegan food company to build production facility in Australia

Vgarden, known in the Israeli market as Mashu Mashu, is five-year-old firm based at northern kibbutz already supplying global pizza companies, other large stores and food companies

By Sue Surkes

Violetta Ryabko (far left, with hat and sunglasses) and husband Vasily Yablokov (standing, second from right), join lawmaker Alon Tal (standing on right), Greenpeace Israel director Jonathan Aikhenbaum (seated, center), and other activists, at a Greenpeace protest against Israel's policy on natural gas in Jerusalem, on September 20, 2022. (Greenpeace)

September 25, 2022, 11:50 am

How to do the holidays with zero waste, with an online guide

Violetta Ryabko, author of Greenpeace-produced brochure, who moved to Israel from Russia: ‘I want to contribute something good to this country’

By Sue Surkes

Investigating a pile of industrial waste mixed with charcoal on Slaves’ Hill, Timna Valley. (Courtesy of Erez Ben-Yosef and the Central Timna Valley Project)

September 23, 2022, 11:28 am

Wood cut to fuel King Solomon’s ancient mines caused environmental collapse – study

Tel Aviv University research finds Iron Age use of so many trees and shrubs in southern Israel for charcoal caused irreversible eco-damage, made industry too costly to maintain

By Sue Surkes

A woman stands on the dry Po rice paddy riverbed next to the Becca Bridge in Linarolo, near Pavia, Italy, June 27, 2022 during Italy's worst drought in 70 years. (AP/Luca Bruno)

September 23, 2022, 10:29 am

Government must incentivize climate tech companies to stay in Israel, say investors

Venture capital executives say climate tech will have more local opportunities than other tech sectors to market products to oil and gas operations, utilities, manufacturing

By Sue Surkes

Activists demonstrate in favor of closing the Central Bus Station in Tel Aviv on April 24, 2018. (Melanie Lidman/Times of Israel)

September 22, 2022, 2:00 pm

Tel Aviv bus station declared a pollution hotspot

Environment minister’s move under Clean Air Act will force city hall to produce detailed plan to deal with diesel emissions within six months

By Sue Surkes

Design for Israel's pavilion at the UN's COP26 climate conference in Sharm el-Sheikh in November. (Environmental Protection Ministry)

September 22, 2022, 3:01 am

Israel to promote ‘blue and white’ climate tech at its first COP27 pavilion

Ten companies chosen at Tel Aviv confab to be part of delegation to United Nations climate conference in Egypt in November

By Sue Surkes

A surfer enters the Mediterranean Sea off the coastal city of Netanya on January 5, 2018, as the worst storm of the winter hits Israel. (AFP Photo/Jack Guez)

September 20, 2022, 10:49 pm

Global sea levels set to rise higher than previously predicted — research

Experts predict potential 2-meter rise by 2100 and 5 meters by 2150, if global warming gas emissions continue to climb

By Sue Surkes

A sea turtle entangled in a polypropylene sack. (Shai Feldman)

September 18, 2022, 11:17 pm

Plastic waste responsible for 1 in 3 turtles brought to treatment center

Numbers point to ‘no less than an environmental emergency,’; all dead turtles subjected to autopsy had plastic in digestive tracts

By Sue Surkes

Former UK Prime Minister Theresa May addresses members of the United Synagogue at a memorial ceremony for Queen Elizabeth ll ,held at St. John's Wood Synagogue, northwest London, on September 15, 2022. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)

September 15, 2022, 2:59 am

‘Always a spark about her’: Ex-PM May shares Queen stories at Jewish memorial event

May offers a series of warm insights, and then stresses, above all, that Elizabeth II ‘believed in the importance of faith, and recognized the value of other faiths’

By Sue Surkes

The proposed site for the amphitheater, next to Selina's glamping site. (Courtesy, Lev Hamidbar)

September 14, 2022, 8:56 pm

Desert council again seeking to build amphitheater in Ramon Crater

Mitzpe Ramon Council issues new tender for project in popular stargazing area, despite past opposition from green groups, nature authority and ministries

By Omer Sharvit and Sue Surkes

A chameleon on an avocado tree. (Courtesy, Milopri farmers)

September 13, 2022, 8:12 am

1st-of-its-kind rewilding project links disused farmlands in eco-corridor

Ability of insects, small animals, plant species to migrate safely between areas is expected to boost biodiversity, benefit avocado orchards, meet EU eco-agriculture standards

By Sue Surkes

The Ashalim Stream, after it was polluted in June, 2017. (Georgi Norkin, Israel Nature and Parks Authority, File)

September 12, 2022, 8:47 pm

Scientists find way to recycle fertilizer industry’s phosphoric acid wastewater

Wastewater from Israeli phosphate mining company caused lasting environmental damage at Ashalim Stream, near Dead Sea, after evaporation pool wall collapsed in 2017

By Sue Surkes

Power lines next to Moshav Bnei Re'em in central Israel, April 26, 2010. (Nati Shohat/ Flash90/ File)

September 12, 2022, 8:04 pm

Government asks business, academia to find way to cut power line radiation

Environment ministry one of first to use new national challenges portal to reach out for solutions to complex problems

By Sue Surkes