By Dr. Orr Karassin

COPENHAGEN (Dec. 20, 2009) — The earth is already getting hotter. Climate change is a known fact. This already had been determined by the report of a panel of international climate scientists in 2007. Since the industrial revolution, the earth has become more than 0.5º C hotter. Even if the countries of the world were to commit themselves to the most ambitious reduction goals, the earth will still heat up by another 2º C by the year 2050. The influence of quantities of carbon in the atmosphere is suspended momentarily due to their continuous cycles, but eventually their influence will be felt. It is important to understand that the forecast of a rise of global warming of "only" 2º C is the most optimistic scenario and the chances of that being realized are slim. The probability of comprehensive, effective, dramatic action by the international community is not high and the absence of declared commitments of both the developed and developing countries could lead to global warming of at least 4º C, according to forecasts presented by senior scientists from Oxford University.

Although formal discussion at the conference, especially those dealing with financing and exchange of technologies, already had addressed adaptation to climate change — in particular the desperate need of several countries to be prepared — this subject largely was ignored by many politicians who appeared to be in denial or concerned that even talking about adaptation may divert attention from essential efforts to reduce emissions or mitigate the damage of global warming.

Of the Israeli environmental organizations and Knesset members who understood these problems, some had adopted a similar stance, ignoring the need to allocate immediate resources to prepare for climate change. The tactic is obscure but the ramifications may be catastrophic. In what seemed like a solitary voice, with the support of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, KKL-JNF emphasized at the start of the conference the need to reduce emissions wherever possible but simultaneously prepare for global warming.

Scientists are united in the opinion that we must prepare for climate change, develop capabilities, minimize damage and act for the long term. But, it seems, Israeli politicians do not want to hear about this.

Preparing in time will prevent loss of life. It also will prevent economic loss, the increasing social gap and payment of the primary economic burden of global warming by the weakest sectors of society. Signs of the future already can be seen in Israel, with the burden of the water crisis being placed on those beneath the poverty line who are being taxed for water, a basic commodity that they may not be able to afford.

The bitter truth is that Israel will not overcome the climate crisis, but rather the country will be overcome by it if the government does not act to combat it. Israel will suffer from decreasing water reserves; rising sea levels may flood its coastal cities and collapse the coastal cliff; and an extreme worsening of its already arid climate may lead to further desertification. This message, however, does not necessarily have to be pessimistic. It is still possible to avoid the worst results of global warming if we prepare ourselves now. The example of Indonesia can provide us with inspiration. The installation of natural-disaster early-warning devices along Indonesia's beaches resulted, over the past year, in reducing casualties to a minimum. Israel already has the technological capacity, the accumulated experience and the social abilities to prepare for climate change, which is not the case for many countries with similar climatic conditions to ours.

If Israel prepares in time and in the proper manner, it will not only save itself, but also could become a resource center, transferring information and technologies to developing countries to enable them to prepare for climate change.

We refer to creating a system to identify weaknesses and vulnerability of each sector of the population to anticipated changes. Such farsighted public policy must create its incentives for the essential behavioral, technological and structural changes. The scope of necessary adaptation is enormous but if correctly undertaken we are able to contribute to the quality of life and the environment in Israel — particularly by implementing the necessary steps for reducing emissions. For example, the time has come to build housing in styles that are adapted to the climate, to enable a reduction in the use of air conditioning. A multi-year development plan for the water economy must be promoted immediately, taking future lack of water into consideration. The future of Israel's agriculture and open spaces in times of water scarcity must be replanned. Building and development for areas near the coastal cliffs must be reexamined.

These are only some examples of what the government must do in the very near future to ensure that Israel's standard of living remains stable. Preparing for climate change will be translated into accelerated technological development, enabling Israel to transfer technologies and advice to developing countries. For this reason, KKL-JNF joins the call of the minister for environmental protection, Gilad Erdan, and the chief scientist of the Ministry for Environmental Protection to establish a national center for adaptation to climate change in Israel. We should not forget that in fields such as water recycling and afforestation in arid and semi-arid areas, protecting the land and creating local cooling pockets, Israel already has achieved noteworthy prominence.

The time has come for our leaders to tell us what scientists have determined long ago. The time has come for our leaders to tell us the truth, which is that today we must begin to pay the price of climate change and the sooner we start paying, the better it will be. We must demand that our leaders fight global warming without compromise, but at the same time, prepare for global warming as though the struggle may fail.

Dr. Orr Karassin is a former Green Zionist Alliance representative to the board of directors of Jewish National Fund in Israel and an advisory-board member of Aytzim: Ecological Judaism.

Aytzim advisory-board member Dr. Orr Karassin — a former Green Zionist Alliance representative on the KKL-JNF board of directors — led the KKL-JNF delegation to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 15/MOP 5) Dec. 7 — 18, 2009 in Copenhagen. In 2007 she headed the KKL delegation to the United Nations Conference on Climate Change (COP 13/MOP 3) in Bali. In preparation for the conference in Copenhagen, Orr spearheaded the KKL-JNF position paper and successfully shepherded it through KKL-JNF approval.

You can read the position paper here:

KKL-JNF Position Paper on the Agenda of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

And Orr's dispatches from Copenhagen are available here:

• Hopenhagen: A City in a Cloak of Hope
• KKL-JNF Sharing Knowledge about Adaptation to Global Warming
• The Overlooked Aspect of the Copenhagen Conference: The Critical Need to Prepare for Climate Change
• The Future of the Globe after COP15

In 2004, KKL-JNF adopted the policy of sustainable management for all its lands and projects throughout the country. KKL-JNF will update this policy in the light of global changes and Israel's effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. KKL-JNF will consolidate a detailed study to explore the effects of afforestation, land preparation, pastures and water projects, in accordance with advanced principles for preventing soil erosion and increased carbon sequestration in those open areas under the administration of KKL-JNF; and will make this study available to organizations that administer lands in Israel.

Since climate change is unavoidable, KKL-JNF will formulate the policy for administering forests and open areas in view of recent predictions regarding climate change, particularly anticipated changes in types and amounts of precipitation, the effect of extreme weather conditions, extended dry periods and the increased likelihood of fires and floods.

As the largest green organization in Israel, KKL-JNF will develop an ambitious voluntary strategy to reduce carbon emissions, setting goals for its gradual reduction through green construction in KKL-JNF offices, the development and implementation of alternative energy sources, economizing on energy, water and employee transportation, reducing waste and separating refuse at the source. In addition, KKL-JNF will change employee behavior through education and advocacy.

KKL-JNF's research divisions will consolidate all research methods funded by KKL-JNF in the academic sphere, the sphere of agricultural research and development and the sphere of administrative research of land development, to formulate recommendations on how to prepare for climate change and reduce global warming. R&D will focus on narrowing gaps in professional information, developing technologies and the interface between essential projects i.e. water, land and afforestation projects.

KKL-JNF will act to disseminate its acquired information, experience and technology to organizations in Israel and worldwide, particularly to developing countries with similar arid and semi-arid climatic conditions in order to further enable such countries to contend with climate changes, to develop their economies and to maintain environmental sustainability.  KKL-JNF will enlist the support of Diaspora Jewry and friends of Israel worldwide to promote its policies of adaptation to climatic change and its projects for reducing emissions.

KKL-JNF will promote the acquisition of offsets (the balance of carbon dioxide emissions) for the thousands of visitors who fly to Israel through KKL-JNF and will systemize "climatic responsibility" for tourists visiting Israel in plans which will be made available to tourist organizations.

KKL-JNF supports the initiative of the minister for Environmental Protection to consolidate reduction goals and operational plans for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Israel. KKL-JNF believes it is extremely important for the government of Israel to act as soon as possible to formulate, finance, and implement an ambitious and comprehensive program to reduce emissions.

In light of the complex threats facing Israel as a result of both present and expected climate changes, KKL-JNF calls upon the government of Israel to adopt a comprehensive policy of adaptation to climate change based on the latest predictions of its effects and to begin financing and implementing this policy immediately.

KKL-JNF supports the initiative of the minister for environmental protection to establish a center for international information in Israel that will bring together technologies, research and experience in the field of climate-change adaptation. KKL-JNF calls for the allocation of the required national resources for the establishment of this Center and will cooperate in its establishment. KKL-JNF is prepared to share with such a center, all the information and practical experience it has accumulated on the administration of open areas, afforestation and associated research.

Since KKL-JNF considers that it is essential for the State of Israel to join the Adaptation Fund Committee and the GEF, it is committed to providing whatever assistance is required.

By Dr. Orr Karassin

COPENHAGEN (Dec. 14, 2009) — In honor of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change, the city of Copenhagen had an especially optimistic ambiance. Despite the optimism, it could be said that the conference planners miscalculated in bringing the world's policy makers and the decade's most important conference on global warming to the Danish frost. Situating this conference in the Sahara desert may have resulted in a less amiable conference — but a more effective one.

While the heated, official discussions stopped for a break on Sunday, life in the city continued to bustle in an especially environmental way. For the Danes, the largest political conference in their country provided an opportunity to turn their capital into a display of advanced environmental technologies, particularly in the field of transportation. In the city center, electric car manufacturers, assembled in an open-air exhibition, complete with manufacturers' explanations.

Shai Agassi's Israeli corporation Better Place exhibited near Copenhagen City Hall illustrating how the world is creating different variations of the electric-car movement. One interesting example is the Move About company, which is among the first electric car-sharing initiatives in Europe, aiming to reduce toxic emission by simply reducing the number of cars on the road.

The BMW Hydrogen Seven, defined as a commercial vehicle, is fueled by liquid hydrogen cooled to -253ºC. When driven it emits only water. One hundred such cars already have been manufactured and distributed in several countries. Andreas Klugescheid, BMW spokesperson, said that "there are still technological hurdles that the company will overcome to produce a commercial car on a large scale in three to five years, such as the hydrogen fuel tank, which is made of cast metal rather than plastic; the insulation of the liquid hydrogen from the rest of the car; the accumulated pressure in the fuel tank which must be released every few days; and the deployment of hydrogen fuel stations."

Visitors to the city center may choose to experience a "conference cab" — a multi-wheeled round bicycle that enables those cycling on it to converse on a sort of roundtable while traveling. One may imagine that it is difficult to cycle in circles, but it is certainly a very social option for those who feel solitary when cycling.

The Greenpeace ship also arrived in Copenhagen, anchoring in the famous Nyhavn Canal next to many old fishing boats that regularly anchor there and, despite the large poster between its masts warning about global warming, the ship blended rather well with the local scenery.

The city offered several open-air art exhibitions on themes of sustainability, environment and climate.

The city of Copenhagen is now decked in the hope that the world leaders will negotiate until the forthcoming global agreement on carbon-emission cuts is completed. Only an ambitious and binding agreement will give the world the hope it so desperately needs.

Dr. Orr Karassin is a former Green Zionist Alliance representative to the board of directors of Jewish National Fund in Israel and an advisory board member of Aytzim: Ecological Judaism.