שתיל - שירותי תמיכה וייעוץ לקידום שינוי חברתי

As Environment Minister Gilad Erdan, of Likud, was sworn in last Thursday (April 2,) he was welcomed by a SHATIL initiative: mini articles by leading environmental activists laying out their hopes, agendas and advice. The initiative was a collaboration between Shatil and the web site, Hasviva (the Environment) http://hasviva.co.il/?p=5992. (The site is in Hebrew, but the activists' photos are worth a gander. It also appears on Ynet:  http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3696361,00.html.)

Among the 17 environmental leaders were MK's Ophir Pines Paz and Dov Khanin, Dr. Shmuel Brenner, former director of the Environment Ministry,  Yossi Sarid, former environment minister, university professors, heads of Haredi, Arab and general environmental organizations, and SHATIL's own Avi Dabush, director of our Environmental Justice Project. Dabush represented the project at the swearing in ceremony.

Dabush's piece, entitled "First among the Portfolios" began: "Congratulations on your appointment to the role of minister in a government office of the highest importance, but the least considered in the State of Israel…Act as though your portfolio is the most important…Open your heart and your door to civil society organizations. Israeli environmental organizations and activists represent an ideological, community, professional and value laden spirit. Bring all these to your work…"

The initiative is just the beginning of SHATIL and the environmental organizations' attempts to advocate for real environmental change with the new government.