Karnit Goldwasser is most commonly known as the widow of IDF soldier Ehud Goldwasser, who was abducted by Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement during the Second Lebanon-Israel War. Before that tragedy took place, however, she was busy doing things other than lobby for the release of her husband and his fellow soldiers. She was busy getting a Master of Science (MSc) degree in civil and environmental engineering from Israel’s renowned Technion Institute of Technology.
Her interest in the environment was placed on the back burner two years ago, in light of what happened to her husband Ehud, of course. But in dealing with the tragedy of Ehud’s abduction and publicly lobbying for his release, something happened. Karnit became a well known figure who had earned the respect and admiration of the Israeli public.
Now, after Ehud’s body was returned to Israel on July 16th, Karnit has decided to return to her environmental interests and use her celebrity status for the greater good. She will be hosting a television segment about environmental issues on an educational program.
Starting this November, she will be hosting an environmental segment on the show “Osim Seder”, which airs at 17:30 from Sunday through Wednesday on Channel 2. Her segment will appear on Sundays. Then in the beginning of 2009 Karnit will start hosting her own television program which will be entirely devoted to environmental issues.
Karnit considers this work to be part of how she thanks the Israeli public for their ongoing support over the past two years. Karnit said that “I consider this issue to be a type of mission, or activism, for the general public. And now, after the Israeli public supported us and moved us so much with their response – I will be happy to try to do my part in this important field.”
Here at Green Prophet we applaud her for bravely turning her celebrity status, which was associated with a tragedy so personally and nationally painful, into beautiful activism concerned with the greater good.
Author: Karen Chernick
Much to the disappointment of her Moroccan grandmother, Karen became a vegetarian at the age of seven because of a heartfelt respect for other forms of life. She also began her journey to understand her surroundings and her impact on the environment. She even starting an elementary school Ecology Club and an environmental newsletter in the 3rd grade. (The proceeds of the newsletter went to non-profit environmental organizations, of course.) She now studies in New York. Karen can be reached at karen (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
