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ISRAEL AND JGEN
JGEN's First Environmental Leadership Seminar 2003
| In November 2003, a delegation of 18 environmental leaders from across the U.S. and Canada traveled to Israel to meet with their Israeli counterparts in a first-of-its-kind study tour and seminar. Participants ranged came from a wide array of environmental organizations, university departments, and agencies, including: the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Sierra Club, Union of Concerned Scientists, the Center for Environmental Health, and more. |
The Jewish Global Environmental Network (JGEN), an initiative of COEJL—the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership, and the People-to-People Center of The Jewish Agency of Israel, sponsored the mission, |
JGEN Seminar: Israeli and North American participants at Kibbutz Ketura in the Arava Desert |
| which focused on bringing to light for the Jewish and environmental communities in North America the rather significant environmental challenges facing the State of Israel. |
| JGEN was formed in order to create a framework for joint environmental projects between Israelis and Jewish environmentalists throughout the world. The innovative ideas that emerged from these meetings have set the stage for an upcoming year of further dialogue and a series of projects that will get off the ground through working groups on topics such as: Public Health, Environmental Education, Energy, Internships/Students, a joint Jewish-Arab initiative on environmental justice, and getting environmental issues on the world Jewish agenda.
The North American environmental participants, all Jewish, met with environmental NGO directors and government policy-makers to learn in-depth about the a broad range of environmental problems prevalent in Israel—ranging from air pollution and loss of open space to polluted rivers, a growing water shortage and the dramatic shrinking of the Dead Sea. The delegation met with representatives of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel, the Israeli Union for Environmental Defense, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, Transport: Today and Tomorrow, the Jewish National Fund, and several other of the more than 100 environmental NGOs in Israel today. They also met with high-ranking government officials including the Director-General of the Ministry of the Environment.
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| Back in their respective countries, JGEN seminar participants plan to continue their relationships with their Israeli counterparts through a variety of activities. |
| For example, Bay Area delegates on the mission hope to sponsor public forums in the environmental and Jewish communities to educate people about the environmental challenges in Israel. Other participants are already engaging in international comparisons for models on “codes of environmental conduct” that could be replicated for future use in Israel. |
JGEN participants at an overlook in the Arab-Israeli village of Sakhnin, learning about environmental justice and the Arab sector. |
| In 2004, JGEN hosted a 2nd Environmental Leadership Seminar that extended recruitment to other Jewish environmental leaders in Europe, Australia, and South America in addition to North American participants. The seminar sought to expand upon relationships already formed between individuals and organizations and take them even steps further. In the summer of 2004, JGEN also led an environmentally-focused trip for students and young environmental professionals ages 18-26, “Towards a Sustainable Future for Israel”. |
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