What were your doing on 09/09/09 at 9:09?  I was watching workers of Kibbutz Lotan's Center for Creative Ecology in Israel's southern Arava Desert install insulated roofing panels on to their new education building constructed from earth plastered straw bales.  The building is super insulated because of the bale walls and the special roof design which shades it from the sun.  Dana, a young woman who graduated from Lotan's Permaculture and Ecovillage Training program was the contractor for the wall and plaster work.  The Center needs to raise funds to install solar PV panels on the roof to produce clean energy for the building.

The Kibbutz is on the border with Jordan, about half an hour north of Eilat and Aqaba.  More information is on their website www.kibbutzlotan.com.