JGEN's 2nd Annual Environmental Leaders Seminar was held in Israel December 12-19, 2004. The focus of the trip was on environmentally sound development practices, known in the U.S. as Smart Growth. The twelve North American participants, representing government, non-profits, academics, and green business owners, met and worked with dozens of their Israeli counterparts. The touring and learning aspect of the trip was coordinated by JGEN's Israeli partner, the Heschel Center for Environmental Learning and Leadership and included meetings with government officials, the Jewish National Fund, city employees from Haifa and Tel Aviv, and an array of non-profits and private developers. Over the course of the week, the North American participants, many of whom had no significant previous experience in Israel, came to understand the nature of the environmental problems that are present and by the end they were able to work with their Israeli colleagues to formulate action plans for how to address them. Less than a week after the trip’s conclusion, joint American-Israeli action committees have been formed and have begun to work on agreed-upon goals which include: · supporting smart growth development in Israel, · strengthening dialogue between Israelis and North American about sustainable planning in Israel, · promoting equity in the physical, social and environmental structures of Israel, and · increasing political support, in both the US and Israel, for smart growth in Israel. Steps already being taken include the creation of a JGEN listserv to provide an easy and accessible forum to discuss and find answers to issues of smart growth/sustainable planning in Israel and the planning of open roundtable discussions between Israelis and North Americans to be held via conference call every other month on issues related to smart growth.
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