Eco-Israel Newsletter Vol 5, September 2011

Welcome Eco7
Earlier this month, 15 young women and men from the US, Canada, Brazil and Sweden arrived on the Hava & Adam Eco-Educational farm. We welcome them as they embark on their 5-month journey of hands-on experiential learning in the fields of ecology, sustainability and permaculture.

We'd also like to welcome Hadas Yanay the newest member of the Eco-Israel staff. We are very excited to have Hadas join us because she is a graduate of the program and the first staff member to be an Eco-Israel alumnus. Hadas is stepping in for Elisheva Fried-Cohen. We wish Elisheva the best of luck and success as she ventures ahead post-Eco.

Shana Tova U'Metukah

Translation:

Bless upon us this year
This year
Bless all that we produce in goodness
And give a blessing upon the face of the earth

And let us be satiated from goodness and bless our year
As in the good years
And give a blessing, give a blessing
And give a blessing upon the face of the earth

Happy New Year!
Hava & Adam Staff
Hava & Adam Eco-Educational Farm, Modi'in

Edible Education 101: The Rise and Future of the Food Movement
As part of the 40-year anniversary celebrations of the founding of the trailblazing restaurant in Berkley, Chez Panisse, UC Berkley is offering and making available on YouTube an amazing course. The course is being co-taught by Michael Pollan, author of several books that have initiated countless people to the emerging food movement, and Nikki Henderson, executive director of People's Grocery, an anti-poverty nonprofit in West Oakland. These incredible classes bring the leading figures in the food and social justice movement to share their knowledge and experience. The first lecture is with Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International. The second lecture, which we cannot recommend enough, features director and UCLA professor Peter Sellars. Sellars has been promoting and pursuing art as social and moral action. New lectures are being posted as the courses progresses.

Social Justice Demonstrations and Permaculture
As promised from last newsletter, we have gathered some permaculture perspectives on the social justice demonstrations happening in Israel which have been the largest protests Israel has ever seen. Nadav pointed out that the demonstrations call for and exhibit the ethics of permaculture, which are expressed in the form of a triangle whose three points are: care for the earth, care for people and sharing surplus. Israeli society has seen all three points of the triangle disturbed over the past 3 decades. Itzik, founder of Hava & Adam, noted that sustainability must be broad-based and include people, plants, animals and mineral. The demonstrations are a call to expand the circle of success and wealth to include all the people and inhabitants of Israel. Hadas witnessed the inhabitants of the tent cities take responsibility for one another by starting compost piles to manage their waste. These are just snippets of what permaculture, ecology and sustainability have to offer in understanding and furthering social and environmental justice.