Yes, There is Snow

This blog focuses on the environment. Today, saw the first real snow for some years in Jerusalem. Schools were closed; so many families spent a day together. The traditional snowman was built, the clothes were dried out and the family gathered together to watch a video. More snow is forecast for the next day, possibly two so the ritual will continue.

Here on the Carmel Mountain in Haifa, we are probably not quite high enough for snow but the storm gave a friend of ours a great opportunity for photographing of the waves lashing the coast. We have had quite a bit of rain and we have heard the Sea of Galilee has risen 5 cm but we need that almost every day for the month of February to give us a fighting chance of avoiding rationing in the summer

Improving the environment is now the internationally stated gaol. However, words are not enough, there needs to be action taken.

A great new project has started in over 20 schools in the Bet Shemesh ( situated between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv ) to educate children on the issue of the protecting the environment, by giving them the tools to calculate their own and their school’s ecological footprint.

The organization “Sviva Israel” introduces the concept of the three “R”s, - reduce, reuse and recycle to the children to understand the role they can play in improving their lifestyle. The lesson plan gives the example of three children who drink 10 half litre bottles of coke a week. One decides to reduce the quantity he drinks to two bottles, the second buys 5 litre bottles instead of the 10 half litre bottles, the third continues to drink the 10 half litre bottles but pledges to recycle them

The web site www.svivaisrael.org has a questionnaire to allow you to calculate your personal ecological footprint. I did it – the results are quite frightening. If everyone lived my lifestyle, we would need 3 earths to meet the need.

We all really need to think about our life patterns