The effect of the production of polluting fuels does not end with the emissions that exacerbate the climate crisis, it doesn’t even begin there. In various cases, polluting industries are close to residential areas – which is completely unacceptable, pollutes the air we breathe and causes diseases, including cancer. We at Green Course believe that clean air is not a luxury, but a basic right.

Over the years we have led several campaigns on this matter:

• The Struggle to Rehabilitate Haifa Bay

Years ago, when we began our fight against the polluting industries at Haifa Bay, we were seen as dreamers. But over time and with a stubborn struggle, we have achieved much, first and foremost, curbing the expansion of Oil Refineries Ltd. (Bazan).

The struggle has proven in recent years, time after time, our ability as a public, to organize and affect our reality and change it.

In 2015, the Planning Administration approved a plan to expand ORL, despite the ongoing air pollution excesses and the harm to the residents of Haifa and the surrounding area. Following a public struggle, in January 2017, the Chairman of the National Council made the decision to revisit certain conditions of the plan to expand the premises of the refineries. In fact, this was the first time that a decision of the National Planning and Construction Council was reopened for review. However, in June 2017, the National Planning and Construction Council approved the refineries’ request to expand. A few months later, the Ministry for Environmental Protection issued ORL an administrative order with detailed requirements to reduce the excesses, but these continued and were not that irregular anymore. Following approval of the plan, we, together with Adam, Teva VeDin (Man, Nature and Law) and the Coalition for Public Health submitted and appeal to the supreme court.

Another significant step in the struggle took place on February 4, 2019, International Cancer Awareness Day. Together with the Coalition for Public Health, The Environmental Research Center and the Community to Clean Up Haifa Bay, we held a march in Haifa against ORL, with a demand to shut down the polluting industries and adopt a policy of using alternate energy. There were hundreds of protestors at the demonstration and it marked the beginning of a new dawn. A time where people believe that you can not only prevent the expansion, but actually eradicate the excess morbidity in Haifa and close down the refineries.

In July 2019, the Supreme Court accepted the appeal we submitted, and ruled that expanding the premises of ORL would stop until a detailed plan is constructed of the environmental consequences of the move. In addition, the Court ruled that if the plan is not amended within 12 months, ORL premises will not be expanded.

In addition to stopping expansion of the premises, we brought about the shut-down of the ammonia tank; we turned the local authorities from being against us to collaborators and even brought about a plan to close the polluting industry and rehabilitate Haifa Bay. Because of these achievements, the struggle for the rehabilitation of Haifa Bay won the Nehama Rivlin Award for Sustainability in 2019.

In recent years, there has been a change in the direction of the discourse and it seems that clearing out and shutting down the industry is common talk among politicians. Our role at Green Course is to ensure that the evacuation and shutdown happen as soon as possible, in a manner that will take care of both the residents and employees.

>>To the Current Struggle Page

• The Campaign to Reduce Air Pollution in Tel Aviv:

Over a thousand people die every year in Gush Dan from diseases linked to air pollution. However, for years, the authorities in Israel preferred to treat these figures as a decree from heaven.

In 1999, the Tel Aviv cell of Green Course decided that the time had come to lead a determined struggle against the municipality, to reduce air pollution in the city. The activity included: going out at night and putting up posters with the words “Tel Aviv, a City with Bad Air”, and distribution of postcards to the general public, addressed to the mayor. Hundreds of them were sent to Ron Huldai steadily throughout the year. Subsequently, we created a giant graffiti wall mural at the intersection of Arlozorov and Ibn Gvirol.

Haim Feldman, a leader of the struggle, and a group of activists spray-painted a family wearing gasmasks and added giant writing. The culmination of the campaign was The March of Soot, where activists were covered in soot and wore gasmasks, that reached the doors of the Tel Aviv City Hall, and they even entered a meeting. Members of Green Course made sure to participate in City Hall meetings to clarify their position, and occasionally chocked with mysterious coughing attacks.

Due to the ongoing pressure, in 2001 Tel Aviv Municipality approved a city bylaw that the Green Party initiated, which states that any car that passes through the city and exceeds the permissible level of air pollution, must be fined. Also, it was decided that City Hall vehicles would transfer to natural gas instead of oil-based gas. But no less important than this, since the struggle and approval of the bylaw, air pollution in Tel Aviv is one of the central issues that interest the residents of the city and the public figures as well.

Green Course is also currently leading struggles in the matter of clean air around the country. Join us!