Green Course, Israeli NGOs Hold Successful Events in Copenhagen

By Avidan Waldman

"Israel, what are you smoking?"

- Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org

Gil Ya’acov and his fellow non-governmental organizations’ representatives took part in many actions throughout the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen. They also planned their own actions to push the Israeli delegate and promote to the world the need for pressure on the Israeli government.

Happy Chanukah!

The eight days of Chanukah fell during the Conference creating a perfect opportunity to mesh Israeli culture and religion with environmental goals. This prompted the representatives of the Israeli NGOs to gather in song and light Chanukah candles. The Chanukah songs had a little twist. Using traditional Chanukah tunes, the NGOs altered the lyrics to give a different yet similar message: we were saved; now it is time for us to save ourselves. The songs focused on environmental issues and the need for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to take stronger actions. The translated lyrics are as follows:
“We light this candle for coal, and for cars – when will Israel have a [climate] plan?”
Bibi, adopt ambitions targets like a developed country
Bibi, stop the coal power plant
Bibi, promote public transportation and bicycles
Bibi, legislate separation of waste and recycling
Bibi, implement energy efficiency and renewable energy

Click here to see the video

“No to Coal” Campaigns

The NGO delegation held a very successful side event which highlighted the successful campaigns used to combat and postpone the construction of the coal power plant near Ashkelon. The overall lesson taught ways to organize a substantial opposition to an issue while using the coal power plant near Ashkelon as a case study. During the event, the representatives described and demonstrated different techniques in organizing successful actions against the plant near Ashkelon. The guest speaker was Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org, whose defining line during his speech was, “Israel, what are you smoking?”

"Israel has all the capabilities, resources and knowledge to lead the world in renewable energy," said McKibben, "This could be your gift to the world, and precisely why do you want to build a new coal-fired power station? What are you smoking? What are you thinking? Friends, what is happening? This is technology of the 20th century, not 21st century. Your country can demonstrate to the rest of the world how to use renewable energy and we will help, on the global level, as best we can."

McKibben acknowledged that the joint collaboration between the Israeli groups puts them in line with the leading NGOs in the world. It is an extremely big complement from an important world figure. He continued to praise Israeli NGOs for their response to the 350 campaigns and stated that, amongst all the countries in the world, Israel was one of the most responsive to the campaigns.

During the case study and discussion, another guest from Green Peace international joined in the discussions. He presented more examples of campaigns around the world that succeeded in cancelling or postponing coal power plants and the details of their struggles.

There was a lot of interest from around the world. Two specific examples were Slovenia and Canada who were inspired and wanted to take the examples home.

Urban Legend

Green Course and the delegation of NGOs arranged a screening of the film Urban Legend followed by a discussion with director MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz). The film recounts the courageous steps that various cities around the world have taken to improve the quality of life of their residents, while lessening the pressure they put on their environments.

Jaime Lerner is the former mayor of Curitiba – a city whose name has become synonymous with good, sustainable urban design. Today, Curitiba is a city with a 70% recycling rate, a network of expansive urban parks, zero traffic jams and an over 90% satisfaction rate among its citizens. One of Lerner’s most impressive achievements in Curitiba is the invention of a new form of mass transit, which later came to be referred to as Bus Rapid Transit (BRT). (Green Prophet)

Regarding Tel Aviv, Jaime Lerner comments:

“I think this city could be jewel. It is not difficult. Because it has everything, good waterfront, good street life – the only thing is the cars… When you give more importance to the car than people, it happens. They give the car the red carpet and we have to climb or go underground. But this could be fixed very easily.”

There was a great turnout for the screening. Many people were forced to stand off to the sides as all the chairs were filled. There were English translations for the movie, which is mainly in Hebrew, making it much more accessible to the visitors in Copenhagen. A discussion followed the screening with the Mayor of Ra’anana, Nahum Hofree, and the director of Urban Legends and now a Member of Parliament under Meretz, Nitzan Horowitz.

For more information on the film click here.

Click here for movie clips (Movie is mainly in Hebrew, click on the clip top left called - אגדה אורבנית)

Joined in the Fun

The representatives joined a huge demonstration in Copenhagen with over 100,000 people urging the leaders to make a significant agreement. The demonstration marched from the Parliament in Copenhagen to the centre of the summit. After the negotiations were evidently not fruitful, another rally was organized with several thousand upset people demanding better results. There was a great deal of media coverage projecting the disappointment to the world.

Everyday there was a ‘Fossil of the Day’ award. This award was given to the Country that most stood in the way of the negotiations on a given day. At the end of the conference, there was a ‘Fossil of the Year’ awarded to "the absolute worst country at the talks." Green Course joined the Climate Action Network (CAN) which gave Green Course a say in who received the awards. Gil Ya’acov was involved in the daily discussions for the ‘Fossil of the Day’ and part of the decision to name Canada as the ‘Fossil of the Year’.

Green Course representative, Gil Ya’acov, was vocal and active with many important global NGOs. He attended many side events and made many connections with youth organizations from around the world, “From looking and talking with other environmental youth organizations and from the reactions we received, Green Course is one of the leading NGOs in the way it operates and the way it influences compared to other student NGOs.” He continued, “Green Course has much more work to do in Israel, nonetheless, it makes me proud that other organizations are looking towards us for support and inspiration.”