Green revolution begins in schools
New environmental studies lesson plan formulated by Council for Beautiful Israel with participation of Education Ministry, Society for Protection of Nature, has students recycling bottles, growing organic foods as concern for the planet among Israeli youth grows
Every student in the Israeli education system will get to watch US environmentalist Al Gore's movie "An Inconvenient Truth" at least once throughout their studies, Education Minister Yuli Tamir declared on Wednesday, in hopes of raising students' awareness of the ecological threats facing the world and helping them learn more about ways to improve the situation.
Starting this coming school year, the movie will be screened before some 40,000 9th-12th graders whose schools have already decided to adopt the lesson plan which was mapped out by the Council for a Beautiful Israel.
Education Minister Yuli Tamir said on Wednesday that her ministry would lead and encourage schools to take part in the "Green revolution".
"The children are the ones who will have to face these needs in the future, and we will teach them how to preserve the world," Tamir said. "We view environmental studies as having the highest social significance and in the coming generations the struggle for social justice and a clean world will become connected vessels."
The beginning signs of the Green revolution can already be seen in Nitzanim, a kibbutz south of Ashdod, where the nylon bags and wrappers used for packing the children's lunches were replaced by plastic lunchboxes to be used repeatedly.
Ecological gardens can be found more and more in schools and students are growing their own organic vegetables, fruit trees and herbs. Tens of thousands of students are collecting and recycling bottles.
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'Students demonstrating sincere concern'
A new subject, "Geography and environmental development" which stresses preserving the environment for generations to come, will also be introduced into some schools.
As part of the program, students will clean shores and creeks and be asked to deal with environmental dilemmas such as inspecting whether the Barcelona Convention for Protection against Pollution in the Mediterranean Sea was being upheld in Israel.
Dalia Fening, inspector of the Education Ministry's geography section said on Wednesday that the Green revolution was evident in the fact that while in the past a teacher would have to force students to think about environmental and ecological issues, now the teachers were the ones asked for explanations on such matters.
"The students are demonstrating sincere concern and sometimes even anxiety for the fate of the environment," said Fenining. "They hear about glaciers melting and endangering seashores and want to know how true these things are."
The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel is joining in the project and operating in 250 schools throughout the country. As part of the program dozens of schools cultivate their backyards and even operate "Green" student councils.
Moti Zilberman, the society's CEO said that over the past few years there the number of students and schools interested in participating in the society's environmental studies has skyrocketed by hundreds of percent.
