Environmentalism in Gaza

"As Plato (or possible Aesop) said, necessity is the mother of invention. Despite the almost total lack of research facilities (al-Azhar University’s Agriculture faculty and the Islamic University’s laboratories were bombed in 2009), a highly-educated population dealing with severely-restricted circumstances is a recipe for innovation. I have seen ever more elaborate (and waterproof) buildings constructed from compressed earth, with two small factories now producing cheaper and more durable blocks. I have visited a laboratory – more of a kitchen, really – where an organic pesticide (BT) is being produced so effectively that the owners sell it to municipalities for a tenth of the price it costs in Israel. That knocked mosquitoes on the head throughout Gaza; they are now working on producing the variant which attacks the dreaded tomato pest mentioned above (bane of my summer, and that of 3,500 tomato farmers)." (thanks Mouin)