Green Course leads public activities on the topic of the climate crisis and building a strong and stable climate movement. We work to create, a sense of urgency and emergency surrounding the climate crisis among the public and decision makers and to motivate as extensive an audience as possible to take action on a large scale. With publication of the United Nation’s report at the end of 2018 and the realization that we are in an emergency situation, we have decided to focus on the immediate necessity to declare an emergency climate situation, and to push the government to take rapid steps to deal with the crisis and stop it.

Over the years we have led a number of campaigns on this issue:

• The struggle against the construction of a coal-based power station in Ashkelon:

One of the most recognized struggles of Green Course is the battle against the construction of a coal-based power station in Ashkelon. In 2001, the Electric Company’s plan to construct a third active coal-based power station in Ashkelon was approved. Green Course activists at the faculty in Rehovot and Achva College enlisted in the struggle with all their might in 2002, while creating a campaign that operated on several levels. On the local level, there was extensive community advocacy activity, while using the local elections of 2003 to put the issue on the local agenda. The leaders of the struggle initiated debates on environmental issues between mayoral candidates of Ashkelon, a debate which in hindsight, was one of the most significant moments of the elections, and brought about the election of a mayor who objected (at the time) to construction of the station.

At the regional level, a campaign headquarters was established, led by mayors of the affected region. In 2003, the campaign achieved a national level, when Green Course coordinated a coalition of organizations, that included Adam, Teva VeDin (Man, Nature and Law), Greenpeace, The Nature Protection Society and Haim Sviva (Life Environment). The activities at a national level included lobbies at the Knesset and government, many demonstrations in front of the National Infrastructure Committee and before the Knesset.

The highlights of the campaign included, among others, Earth Day 2004, where Beka VeNeka (hernia and sprain) were presented – the shadow figures of Sheka VeTeka (electrical socket and electrical plug) were presented. During that same year, the coal-based power station won first place at the derogatory Black Globe symbol, that was awarded at a ceremony to Beka and Neka, by the environmental organizations. In 2011, it was decided that the power station that was supposed to be primarily coal-based would be a station that functions on gas, with coal as a backup (today the policy of Green Course regarding gas has changed and we are against promoting it, just as we object to any other fossil fuel).

• The struggle against exportation of gas:

“Stop the gas robbery, leave the natural gas in Israel” – that is the main message of the struggle, that culminated in mass demonstrations in spring-summer of 2012, in broad public and online discourse, at the Knesset and in the media.

Green Course led, in cooperation with 12 environmental and social organizations and dozens of social activists, the struggle to demand that the Israeli Government stand strong in the face of the pressure from the gas companies. These companies were requesting permits to export the gas, whereas the struggle called to keep the gas in Israel for the people of Israel. The conclusions of the Tzemach Committee that were submitted in August of 2012, favored the entrepreneurs over public interest. The Committee recommended approving export of over half the gas that was mined off the coast of Israel.

We began with small protests of 4 people at intersections, in front of Teshuva’s home, we told the public they were being robbed, and within a few months, 700 people joined our protest at dozens of stormy demonstrations in front of the homes of Ministers, the Prime Minister and Teshuva’s home.

Because of the extensive public struggle, we succeeded in reducing the export quota by about 15%.

• The struggle against the oil shale project in the Adolum Region:

In July 2008, IEI was granted a drilling license in the Judean Plains, on an enormous area of 238 thousand dunam (58,811 acres). The company’s purpose was to perform a dangerous, experimental project to produce oil, in a method that had not been tested at a commercial level anywhere else in the world, and was even banned in the United States. The company wanted to heat the underground of the Judean Plains to hundreds of degrees, in order to turn material called oil shale into oil, in a process that would create massive air pollution, emission of toxic substances, and possibly even contaminate the ground water. Then, in 2009, IEI began survey drilling, under the false pretense of drilling for water – and a red light went on for the residents of the area, who recruited many entities to the struggle, including Green Course.

Green Course contributed to the struggle over the years, especially in the last stretch, the year before the district committee meeting that discussed approving the project. Starting September 2013, the Givat Ram Cell (of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem) joined the struggle. The cell did much to expose the project to the public, among other things, the members of the cell confronted Effi Eitam, who was the CEO of Genie Energy – the parent company of IEI.

The week before the Committee convened, Eitam used his political connections in order to hold one-on-one meetings with senior and influential people, such as Gidion Saar (then the Minister of the Interior), while at the same time the coalition against the project were not allowed to meet with these same people, until after the Committee convened. In order to expose the injustice, Green Course members shot a video in which Effi Eitam is seen arriving at the office of the Mayor of Jerusalem, a few days before the decisive District Committee meeting. Due to the exposure, Nir Barkat (the then Mayor of Jerusalem) agreed to meet cell members of Green Course and hear their arguments. The video that was circulated online received tens of thousands of views and was even presented on the television show Tzinor Layla, which brought significant exposure and public support for the struggle, mere days before the decision.

In September 2014, the District Committee decided, with a landslide majority of 13 versus 1, to stop the oil shale catastrophe in the Judean Plains.

• The struggle against oil drilling in the Golan Heights:

In 2014, Afek, an affiliate of IEI, was granted approval for unconventional oil drilling in the Golan Heights, near the sources of the Sea of Galilee. Green Course, together with other organizations and local residents, enlisted to the fight, which included Supreme Court and District Committee hearings, this in addition to infinite public activities and protests. During the period of the struggle, many malfunctions and leaks were discovered at the drilling site, due to the tight supervision of the struggle headquarters.

In February 2018, the company’s licensing drill expired. After 4 long years of an exhausting and frustrating struggle, we could breathe a sigh of relief – Afek, which conducted the experimental drillings in the area, packed up and went back to America.

The struggle to stop oil drilling on the Golan Heights, showed us the strength of a community that does not give up and does not allow harm to the natural resources of us all.

• Leading a Climate March that has become a tradition:

Since 2015, excluding the year of Covid-19, Green Course has led production and execution of the Israeli Climate March. The March, that has become a central environmental event on the Israeli calendar, grows from year to year, both in the number of participants and collaborations. Last year, over 15 thousand men and women participated in the March, with collaborations of hundreds of organizations, schools and other entities from all around the country. For the last two years, the March, which has taken place near the start of the International Climate Conference, has brought about important achievements in promoting environmental policies in recent years.