On Tuesday, many Israeli cities will be holding Municipal Elections. In the run up to the Beit Shemesh elections, Sviva Israel was asked by Life & Environment, running the national Green Now campaign, to place the environment high on the agenda of all the Mayoral candidates.
Working together with local environmental groups Shemesh Yehuda and Be’er Hatikva, Sviva Israel organized an Environmental Watch Group which prepared an environmental policy paper for the city and invited all three mayoral candidates – Shalom Lerner (B’yachad), Moshe Aboutbul (Shas) and Daniel Vaknin (Likud) – to respond to it in a public forum.
The campaign is featured in today’s Jerusalem Post.
Mayors in most Israeli cities would do well to consider the most pressing environmental issues raised in the Beit Shemesh policy paper – and see if they apply to their own.
- Air Pollution and the need for a comprehensive Health Survey of all of the factories in the region.
- Preservation of open spaces.
- Cleaning and Maintenance of the city’s streets, commercial centers and public spaces.
- Recycling – Establishing a comprehensive infrastructure for recycling household and commercial waste.
- A long-term plan for environmental education for youth and adults.
Tamar Wisemon is the Media and Community Relations Director of Sviva Israel.
