Taken from ‘Hidden Connections, a Science for Sustainable Living’ by Fritjof Capra, Harper Collins Publishers 2002. This excerpt highlights the common sense of sustainability in the clash between economics and ecology.

Today a major clash between economics and ecology derives from the fact that nature’s ecosystems are cyclical, whereas our industrial systems are linear. In nature, matter cycles, continually, and thus ecosystems generate no overall waste. Human businesses, by contrast, take natural resources, transform them into products plus waste, and sell the products to consumers, who discard more waste when they have used the products.

The principle ‚waste equals food’ means that all products and materials manufactured by industry, as well as the waste generated in the manufacturing processes, must eventually provide nourishment for something new. A sustainable business organization would be embedded in an ‘ecology of organizations’, in which the waste of any one organization would be the resource for another. In such a sustainable industrial system, the total outflow of each organization – its products and wastes – would be perceived and treated as resources cycling through the system.
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As this new century unfolds, there are two developments that will have major impacts on the well-being and ways of life of humanity. Both have to do with networks, and both involve radically new technologies. One is the rise of global capitalism; the other is the creation of sustainable communities based on ecological literacy and the practice of eco-design. Whereas global capitalism is concerned with electronic networks of financial and informational flows, eco-design is concerned with ecological networks of energy and material flows. The goal of the global economy is to maximize the wealth and power of its elites; the goal of eco-design to maximize the sustainability of the web of life.

These two scenarios – each involving complex networks and special advanced technologies – are currently on a collision course. We have seen that the current form of global capitalism is ecologically and socially unsustainable. The so-called ‘global market’ is really a network of machines programmed according to the fundamental principle that money-making should take precedence over human rights, democracy, environmental protection or any other value.

However human values can change; they are not natural laws. The same electronic networks of financial and informational flows could have other values built into them. The critical issue is not technology, but politics. The great challenge of the twenty-first century will be to change the value system underlying the global economy, so as to make it compatible with the demands of human dignity and ecological sustainability. …

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Israel’s Green Movement-Meimad

This article was a great find, and an entertaining first exploration into aspects of Judaism relating to environmental issues.

“Preventing climate catastrophe is an ethical responsibility rooted in the fundamental values of our religious tradition. Like not doing unto others as we wouldn’t want them to do unto us. Like not stealing the resources of the future for our wasteful enjoyment today. Like not destroying God’s creation without regard to others who may want to use it. This isn’t tree hugging; it’s Torah.”

Read more: Thinking Green: It’s Not Just a Virtue — It’s Your Jewish Duty

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Israel’s Green Movement-Meimad

Based on a conversation with a member of the Noar HaOved Bogrim.

The saying ‘It takes money to make money’ seems just as true in the realm of fundraising as it does in business. Without building awareness, the needy just don’t exist. Getting their message across requires two kinds of currency – cash and clout.

These days, school administrators have become marketers; consumed with dialing for dollars and romancing donors. And the donors want to get behind feel-good projects they can identify with. Wealthier communities, especially those with connections in the USA, are acquiring the support they need for pet school projects. It’s not that these projects aren’t worthy, they are, but what becomes of other deserving groups lacking the connections to stir up donor sentiments?

The challenge is to create an equal educational opportunity for Israel’s youth across the board, especially raising the standard in disenfranchised communities; including new immigrants, Mizrachim, Religious Jews, Women, Arabs and Druze. This must be an ongoing effort, and not simply dependant on sporadic fits and starts of donor funds for the most ‘popularized’ projects.

Once one of the most equal societies in the world, Israel is now considered one of the most unequal. It has an income gap between rich and poor that places it close to the top on the table of inequality in developed nations. Inequality is also rampant in our education system: with High School success and access to higher education directly correlated to income and ethnic background. Donor funding and other vital resources for education should be centralized and allocated in a more democratic manner to insure educational justice for all.

But this kind of social solidarity cannot survive in Israel’s current political climate. We need a government that puts a premium on education; understanding that education is the cement that binds us as a society, not simply an item on the balance sheet of government spending. The entire perception of education must be revamped in order to create a system that truly values teachers and students. Our children seem to be growing up in a shallow, counterfeit society. Only through education can we build them into contributors towards a cultural identity that espouses equality, viability and social responsibly.
Israel’s Green Movement-Meimad on education

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Israel’s Green Movement-Meimad

Hi, I’m Marie Orian, marcom manager and content writer on the clock, prolific creative scribbler off the clock. I studied commercial art and advertising in the USA many moons ago, and have spent over 25 years engaged in marketing communications activities for a range of industries and high tech enterprises in Israel. I’m new to both political activism and blogging; however I feel strongly that many critical issues ailing our country can no longer be put on hold.

Israel’s Green Movement-Meimad