According to Haaretz, the Israeli army has decided to limit its activities in the Hermon Mountain nature preserve in the country’s North to give local animals and flowers a break.
We’ve written on these pages about the IDF’s bleak environmental record and its previous attempts to go green. A Hermon park ranger told Haaretz that the army’s move was important because in the summer, “the flowers no longer blossom and they start to dry up and spread their seeds…This is also a critical period for the animals. The reptiles, mammals, and birds who have come into this world now learn to manage on their own.”
At the end of the piece, the commander of the Hermon Brigade phrased the move in geopolitical terms:
“There’s a situation on the mountain in which two parties claim the same turf – the army and the nature preserve – and there needs to be a partnership there. There are no unilateral steps.”
Image Credit: www.padfield.com
Author: Daniella Cheslow
Daniella Cheslow grew up in a car-dependent suburb in New Jersey, where she noticed strip malls and Wal-Marts slowly replacing farmland. Her introduction to nature came through hiking trips in Israel. As a counselor for a freshman backpacking program at Northwestern University, Daniella noticed that Americans outdoors seemed to need to arm themselves with performance clothing, specialized water bottles and sophisticated camping silverware. This made her think about how to interact with and enjoy nature simply. This year, Daniella is getting a Master’s in Geography from Ben Gurion University of the Negev. She also freelance writes, photographs and podcasts. In her free time, she takes day trips in the desert, drops off compost and cooks local foods like stuffed zucchini, kubbeh and majadara. Daniella gets her peak oil anxiety from James Howard Kunstler and her organic food dreams from Michael Pollan. Read more at her blog, TheTruthHerzl.com. Daniella can be reached at daniella (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
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