Somewhere between juggling appointments with potential Prime Ministers in-waiting, Israeli President Shimon Peres (pictured with shovel) found time to get his hands dirty in Kfar Saba recently, which has been awarded the title of Israel’s first “green city.”
During the visit to the town 15km north east of Tel Aviv, Peres received a gift himself, a home composter to recycle organic waste at the President’s official residence in Jerusalem.
Last year Green Prophet reported on a number of green building projects in Israel, including the REAL Housing in the Negev desert, sustainable housing in Jerusalem and Kfar Saba’s plan for what it calls Israel’s first “green neighbourhood.”
Since then, however, precise details of progress in Kfar Saba, like the fate of Peres’ compost bin, have been thin on the ground.
In any case, people in Kfar Saba are getting exciting about the President’s support for the city’s new green masterplan [a development plan which virtually every settlement in Israel has].
“The plan is coming in to promise the commitment to sustainable development at the personal, local and national levels. Environmental education is flowing at all levels, both formal and informal,” said mayor of Kfar Saba, Yehuda Ben Hamo.
“Our goal is to be a leading city in every issue of protecting the quality of the environment in Israel. The construction of neighbourhoods, including infrastructure is based on the green building standard. Kfar Saba is the only city in the country where the green building standard is a requirement.”
Author: Michael Green
Born into a family of auto mechanics and engineers in east London’s urban sprawl, Michael bucked the trend and chose a bicycle instead of a car. A relative newcomer to Jerusalem, he works as a freelance journalist writing for the Jerusalem Post and other publications. Before moving to Israel, he worked for an environmental NGO in England where he developed a healthy obsession with organic vegetables and an aversion to pesticides and GMOs. Michael’s surname is pure coincidence. Michael can be reached at michael (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
