After years of neglect, the new Minister of Environmental Protection, Tamar Zandberg, herself an environmental activist, has decided to promote a bold move to assess the climate crisis.
Although at the global level, the way in which Israel conducts itself, good or bad, from an environmental point of view, is of no great importance.
China and India emit more carbon gas in one week than Israel emits in an entire year.
However, it is important to adopt responsible environmental behavior for other reasons: participation in the global effort, adopting the accepted norms in the countries to which Israel seeks to resemble, and of course maintaining the few beaches and green spaces that have not yet been blown up in dense construction.
These are the well-known reasons, but there are other reasons to place Israel as a pioneer in the field of sustainability and a circular economy. These are related to the fact that every crisis is also an opportunity and that many members of the Jewish people, throughout history, have been able to turn crises into opportunities. I will mention three opportunities that open up before us against the background of the Glasgow Conference.
First, despite the critic's harsh criticism published this week of Israel's unpreparedness for the process of climate change, the country has a technological and competitive advantage in a number of environmental areas essential to human existence. Israel has knowledge and experience in water resource management, irrigation with purified effluent water, and other advanced technologies in the field of the environment. Just this week, Israeli solar energy companies won huge tenders in the states of Indiana, Wisconsin and Missouri in the United States. The 21st (water, energy, security, agriculture, health), thus raising its status as a desirable partner in the global alliance market, means that the greener we become and invest resources in promoting environmentally friendly technologies, the better our political, economic and security status will be.
Second, Minister Zandberg rightly noted the importance of regional cooperation. The green initiative for the Middle East launched by Saudi Arabia this week is an opportunity for the State of Israel to cooperate that might not have been possible without the climate crisis. The countries of the region, even those that are not friendly to us, suffer from water shortages, fear water shortages and long for technological help. Israel has knowledge in areas such as liquidity prevention, seawater desalination, theft monitoring and water-efficient irrigation methods.
The third opportunity that opens up for Israel is the least talked about, but its importance is great. I intend to recruit Diaspora Jews in an effort to position Israel as a pioneer and leader in environmentally friendly technology. Sensitivity to the issue of sustainability is burning in the bones of millions of young Westerners, including tens of thousands of young Jews. The reasons why some of these young people are moving away from Israel have to do with Israeli policy in Judea and Samaria, which they find difficult to reconcile with their understanding of liberal values. But unlike human rights issues that polarize Jews and lead to controversy, preserving the environment can connect them and be a welcome bridge to joint activity. This field is currently an abandoned field and there is almost no real activity in it, so creative thought must be invested and an appropriate infrastructure and organizations must be established for joint Israel-Diaspora activities in the field of climate.
The potential exists.
The State of Israel will be spacious if it is educated to implement it.
The joint ventures can be expressed both in Israel, in countries neighboring Israel and in more distant countries in the Third World.
Past experience shows that any significant activity that brings young Jews together for a common mission that will happen to their hearts connects them and creates connections and commitment.
Progressive Jews, who have difficulty accepting Israeli policy in various fields, can also join joint Jewish projects to improve Bedouin agriculture in the Negev, to assist Palestinian farmers or to help needy populations in South America.
Radical peace activists from Israel and the Diaspora can also work together to set up solar systems for pumping water in power-less villages in Africa.
The climate crisis is a threat to all of humanity.
The Jewish people must join in activities to deal with it, and at the same time utilize it as a springboard to improve Israel's political and economic status and to bring distant Jews closer together.
