When her vegan summer camp counselor explained to a fifteen-year-old Rachel how the dairy industry pollutes the groundwater in poor rural communities and causes global warming, there was no turning back. Her green fire lit, Rachel became increasingly passionate about the relationship between human societies and the natural environment, particularly about the systemic injustices associated with environmental degradation.
After snagging a B.A. in Peace and Justice Studies at the University of Maryland, where she wrote an undergraduate thesis on water injustice in Israel/Palestine and South Africa, Rachel was awarded the New Israel Fund/Shatil’s Rabbi Richard J. Israel Social Justice Fellowship to come and spread the green gospel in Israel for the 2009-2010 academic year. She currently interns for Friends of the Earth Middle East in their Tel Aviv office.
When Rachel is not having anxiety about her ecological footprint, carbon and otherwise, she can be found in hot pursuit of the best vegetarian food Tel Aviv has to offer. She also blogs about her experience as an NIF fellow and environmentalist in Israel at organichummus.wordpress.com.
Rachel can be reached at rachelbergstein (at) gmail (dot) com.
Israel has officially pulled out all the stops for water conservation: Last month, Israeli officials led by Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon sought to combat the country’s urgent water crisis by changing all the mezuzot in the Water Authority offices (Jews…
The Middle East is pretty thirsty right now. Headlines from all over the region chronicle the increasingly serious drought conditions affecting agriculture, industry, and health. Unfortunately, new research from the peer-reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology adds reason for even…
As the resting place of the Abraham and (unfortunately) a hot spot for conflict, the West Bank city of Hebron (or Hevron or al-Khalil, depending on who you ask!) is pretty notorious. Soon, this city will also become an important…
This week, executives of major oil companies met at the Cambridge Energy Research Associates (CERA) annual conference in Houston, Texas and (finally!) expressed a willingness to help combat global climate change. This is a major step, because these companies denied…
Yesterday Daniel wrote a sobering report on the increasingly serious drought conditions throughout the entire region. Israel, Jordan, the Palestinian Territories, Lebanon and Iraq have all reported water shortages that are sure to affect both the environment and international security….
As the dust settles on the recent round of violence between Israelis and Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, reports indicate that the environmental damage is another unfortunate byproduct of the war. The political situation aside, Gaza’s ecological conditions are already…
Fresh on the heels of Israel, Egypt, and the UAE, who have all recently made commitments for a renewable energy future, Jordan recently launched EDAMA, an initiative to help Jordan reduce energy demand, water usage, and protect the environment. EDAMA…
This past Friday we saw the conclusion of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Poznan, Poland. This two-week long conference brought together representatives from 189 countries for talks to lay the groundwork for Copenhagen in 2009, where the convention…
Over the past few weeks, Israel’s ongoing blockade of the Gaza Strip has intensified. Commercial crossings are now closed, preventing the transfer of natural gas and other essential resources for Gaza’s 1.5 million residents. We saw earlier this year, when…
For years I have been using Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap. I like the tingly peppermint smell, how clean it makes my skin feel, and the fact that the ingredient list is short and organic. Last weekend, at the annual Washington…
