(“Polluted Sea – Bathing is Forbidden.”)
The outcome of Israel’s parliamentary elections weren’t a great surprise for many people living in this country of 7+ million people. But now that the coalition government wrangling among the larger parties has begun, the big question among environments is whether any of important “green” issues will be dealt with by either a Likud or Kadima party based coalition government. Judging by what is currently happening, with issues like security and the economy getting most of the attention during the campaigning, the question now is whether the many ecological and environmental problems Israel is immersed in will receive any serious attention at all.
Israel has several extremely serious environmental problems that need attending to, including heavy air pollution in the big cities (especially Haifa and Tel Aviv), a water pollution problem that is bordering on the brink of being irreversible, and a ticking hazardous waste ‘time bomb’ at the large Ramat Hovav hazardous waste disposal center in the Negev. Although some effort has previously been made to deal with environmental issues, including the creation of a Ministry for the Environment several years ago, overall governmental attention to these problems have been ambivalent at best and substandard at worst.
Most of us (I hope) recycle all the plastic bottles we use. But do you also recycle the many other small plastic containers you use daily, or do you just throw them away?
Usually the advertising industry is not considered to be a very ecological industry. Think about the amount of useless junk mail you get to your mailbox each day wasting tons of paper which most of it won’t be recycled. Think of all the huge advertising billboard posters on 
Over the past few months companies are joining Twitter or consulting advisors about joining Twitter in droves. If you haven’t heard of 
When shopping for gifts for people that we care about, we usually want the gifts to convey a variety of things – affection, devotion, a desire to make the other person happy, and also a demonstration that we care about the other person’s wellbeing. Giving a gift that is more environmentally friendly is one way to demonstrate that you care about your loved one’s wellbeing because it shows devotion to their present and to their future.
Consumption is, in general, not very green. It often involves the wasteful use of resources, fossil fuels for transportation, and non environmentally friendly materials. While a general reduction in consumption would be ideal, though, there will always be certain purchases that are necessary and there will always be people who are not willing to cut back. Which is where Tal Ater’s initiative – 
