Israeli Presidential Conference Includes Environmental Content This Week

Israeli President Shimon Peres has been keeping busy lately with all of his environmental advocacy.  Last year he launched Tel Aviv’s Earth Hour by powering down the lights in the Tel Aviv City Hall and Azrieli towers, then he inaugurated Israel’s first “green city” – Kfar Saba, this year he unplugged Jerusalem for Earth Day 2009, and just last month he launched an Israeli Clean Energy Forum.  And he’s not tired yet.

In his Presidential Conference taking place this week in Jerusalem (October 20-22), a portion of the discussions will be devoted to various aspects of the global environmental crisis.

The environmental section of the conference will take place on Wednesday, October 21st and address several ecological concerns and issues.  The various environmental sessions will include:

Looking at Tomorrow – Turning Crises into Opportunities: This session will examine whether some of the current global environmental crises can be transformed into opportunities and starting points for a better future.  The panelists (which include Professor Ruth Gabizon, Bernard Henri Levy, Dr. Javier Solana, and Raymond Kurzweill) will provide a general outlook about the various crises.

How Much Does the Ecological Crisis Threaten Our Tomorrow: This session addresses many of the concerns that will be discussed in the Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen in December, and asks whether Israel is acting efficiently in order to deal with the ecological threat.  The discussion will be lead by Israel Klabin (head of the Brazilian Foundation for Sustainable Development), Israel Oman, Miriam Hern, Robert Watson, and Rafael Toniaca.

Cities of Tomorrow: How to Build Functional and Sustainable Cities: The panelists will try to describe their vision for the cities of the future and answer various questions.  Some of these questions include whether there is a limit to the growth capacity of a city, whether 21st century cities will be able to maintain proper waste disposal, civil order, and educational services, and whether municipal leadership will constitute the most significant leadership during the 21st century.  Panelists will include Nir Barkat, Shai Agassi, Robert Watson, Jaime Lerner, and Jeanne Mullgrav.

Ministers’ Discussion: The Green Challenge: This session will bring together environmental protection ministers from Kazakhstan, Israel, Hungary and Brazil to discuss their role in dealing with global environmental concerns.  Panelists include Nurgaly Asimov (Kazakhstan), Gilad Arden (Israel), Chave Molnar (Hungary), and Carlos Minc (Brazil).

Read more about other recent environmental conferences::

The Israeli Clean Energy Forum Launched Yesterday

UNESCO Conference in Lebanon Stresses Media’s Role in Environmental Change

Hazon Hosts Jewish Food Conference in California