Alon Tal: Between Ruin and Restoration: Addressing Israel's Environmental Crisis

With air pollution levels that produce high cancer and asthma rates in Israeli cities, greenhouse gas emissions at record highs and water resource quality at record lows, the Dead Sea disappearing and biodiversity collapsing ¿ Israel's environment is in crisis. This talk, based on the new edited volume on Israel's environmental history (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2013) will review the causes of the present problems and describe what Israeli environmental activists are doing to restore the ecological integrity of the country.Alon Tal is a leading Israeli environmental activist, co-founder of the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies and the Green Zionist Alliance, and co-chair of the Green Movement political party.This lecture is sponsored by the Nicholas School for the Environment, the Duke Center for Jewish Studies and the Carolina Center for Jewish Studies.RSVP required to maggie.crumbo@duke.edu; lunch will be served.