Israeli researchers focus on 'an inconvenient truth'

Israeli researchers focus on 'an inconvenient truth'



If climate change wasn't already on the international agenda, then the decision to award this year's Nobel Prize for Peace to Al Gore and the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) has certainly placed the issue on the consciousness of the world.



Gore's persuasive Oscar-winning documentary, An Inconvenient Truth presents a wealth of scientific data to show that humans are largely responsible for global warming and also highlights some of the devastating consequences that this change in climate could bring.



While some skeptics have criticized the film as exaggerated, at least one Israeli scientist is thankful that Gore spoke out. Dr. Ilan Koren, a senior scientist in the department of Environmental Science at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovot, is one of several Israeli scientists and researchers who have been working for years on monitoring and evaluating the effects of the Earth's climatic shift.



"He did a very good job," said Koren. "[The film] will have the largest impact in the field of climate change, instead of the hundreds of detailed scientific studies. The film found the right balance between being a popular movie, and not exaggerating the evidence."



Koren's major area of research is studying the roles that clouds and precipitation play in the balance of energy within the earth's eco-system, and how they are both affected by smoke and aerosol pollution. He starts his research from the assertion that clouds are the only vehicle for bringing fresh water to land, and that any alteration to the precipitation will affect the water cycle.



"Clouds are involved in earth's radiation budget," Koren told ISRAEL21c. "Without them, more of the solar energy would be absorbed on the surface and there would immediately be a warmer atmosphere."



"Aerosols have always been emitted in the atmosphere. But since humans have been emitting smoke, gases, sulphites and carbon, by a much larger order of magnitude, the properties of clouds have changed, and there are more droplets with a different size distribution. This creates a different chain of feedback to the eco-system," he added.



Koren, who worked closely with the late Yoram Kaufman, a NASA-based senior scientist and Technion graduate, uses advanced technology to measure droplets in all types of cloud worldwide.



"Within a pristine environment, an ocean-covering cloud would have 200 droplets per cubic centimeter. In a polluted environment, it could have 2,000 in the same cubic centimeter," said Koren.



"The cloud will live longer, precipitate less, and give less solar reflection: this will affect the water budget and the energy budget of the atmosphere."



Having studied clouds in the Amazon for 20 years, Koren has found, and is publishing the evidence, that increased biomass burning is damaging the natural cloud cover over the region, loading up the clouds with smoke pollutant, and changing the annual precipitation patterns. Within the period 2000 and 2005, biomass burning increased 50% overall.



In 2006, scientific monitoring and government legislation dramatically reduced the man-made fires in the region. Koren is optimistic that using this data, legislation and cultural change can slowly improve human health, the rain forest and the climate system, locally in the Amazon, and then systemically, worldwide.



According to another key Israeli researcher in climatic change, Professor Pinhas Alpert, head of Tel Aviv University's department of Geophysics and Planetary Sciences, countries in the Middle East have already started seeing more extreme weather.



"Our data gathered from the last 40 years and with projections to 2050, show that winters here are becoming warmer, with much less precipitation annually, and these extreme temperatures, at the minimum and maximum ends of the scale, also show a greater fluctuation between them," he told ISRAEL21c.



Alpert has initiated several key research projects that encompass the entire Mediterranean basin, and link in with European scientists. One of these, the GLOWA Project, is in its sixth year of operation as a cooperative effort between Israel, the Palestinian Authority, Jordan, and Germany. Other work includes cooperation with the UK Meteorological Office, and as the head of the Israel node of the NASA Space Agency.



"We can now say, with much more confidence, gained from using the most modern tools available, that we can forecast changing weather patterns for this region," Alpert says. The worst scenario, he says, is A2, which includes rising sea levels, an increased number of extreme weather events, rising temperatures, and lower rainfall in some areas. The A2 scenario will occur, he explains, if there is no adherence to the Kyoto Protocol of 1997, and humanity doesn't change its polluting habits.



One of the clearest ways Israelis will notice the change, according to Alpert, is in the reduction of snowfall. "The snowfall that occurred in Jerusalem, at least once every three years, will disappear. People will be touched by this."



Alpert is slated to be on a panel defending Gore's film at a conference this month entitled 'Global Warming - fact or fiction and how to fix it?' at the Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.



"There are skeptics here," Alpert said, speaking of his upcoming participation, "but in general I feel Gore absolutely gets the message across."



The conference is planned to be both an academic debate, and a discussion between representatives of NGO's and government as to what the response to climate change has been so far, and how the development of the A2 'worst case scenario', as mentioned by Alpert, could be avoided through immediate legislation and social change.



With the Synthesis Report, the final part of the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report due to be published at a press conference on November 17, and many believing that it will contain evidence that indicates humanity is veering toward the A2 scenario mentioned by Alpert and demonstrated in the film An Inconvenient Truth, the research being conducted in Israel takes on even greater significance.

KKL-JNF COMBATS DESERTIFICATION AND GLOBAL WARMING

KKL-JNF COMBATS DESERTIFICATION AND GLOBAL WARMING:
Israeli Research Has Worldwide Implications

GoNeutral Featured in JTA

JNF offers carbon offsets

The Jewish National Fund is launching an environmental awareness program that will propose offsetting carbon dioxide by planting trees in Israel.

In an announcement Thursday, JNF said its "GoNeutral" program is timed for Rosh Hashana... [read more]

Go Neutral Bootcamp - Learn How To Raise Environmental Awareness

In support of JNF GoNeutral, Jewish National Fund is excited to offer JNF’s Go Neutral Bootcamp, which will take place on Monday, October 15 in New York City from 4:00 - 7:00PM. This free program will provide you with the tools you need to go back to your community, and raise environmental awareness, encourage action by reducing and offsetting carbon emissions while learning about and supporting JNF’s work in Israel.

The JNF Go Neutral Bootcamp will include a panel of environmental experts to teach about the environmental issues we are facing, breakout sessions to learn how the program works, and tactics to engage those in your community.

Please save the date of Monday, October 15. For more information and to register for the program please email Debra Scher at dscher@jnf.org.

HEEB Magazine GoNeutral Ad

Check out our new ad which will be appearing in an upcoming issue of HEEB Magazine.

Jews Must Do More To Meet Obligation To Save Environment

Check out Jews must do more to meet obligation to save environment in today's JTA World Report.

OP-ED
Jews must do more to meet obligation to save environment
By Rabbi Steve Gutow

WASHINGTON (JTA) -- As the energy crisis and the ominous reality of global warming loom larger in the public's mind, there is little doubt the United States must immediately engage this issue head on. Fortunately the solution to both concerns require the same shifting of policies, the same courageous actions and the same discipline.

Carbon emissions that are destroying the earth of our children and grandchildren, and a world dependent on tyrants such as Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir are not realities in which Jews can safely relax.

The Jewish community, which has a particular stake in this race because of Israel's vulnerability to enemy nations whose power is derived from the flow of petrodollars, must do more.

Recently I sat with a group of 15 senators in Washington and presented the concerns of the Jewish community about energy and the environment. Among the key leaders on hand from leading Jewish organizations were David Harris of the American Jewish Committee and Howard Kohr of AIPAC. Harris made a presentation on Israel; Kohr presented on Iran.

The senators clearly saw climate and energy policy as a paramount concern of the day, and the responsible question is if our community is paying enough attention to these issues. Sadly, it is not.

The Jewish community is right to make Israel's safety and thwarting Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons top priorities, but energy independence and global warming are equally important in the long run and deserving of the same level of attention.

While our tradition may not favor a particular policy, it is hardly silent. Deuteronomy explicitly forbids destroying fruit-bearing trees when attacking a city. The verses ask the question: "Are the trees of the field human to withdraw before you into the besieged city?" Our tradition understands that trees are not able to act in their own self-defense and need even more protection than humans. The Torah and the Talmud say that Jews are not allowed to destroy or waste anything.

Unfortunately, this fundamental rabbinic mandate of "not destroying anything," known rabbinically as "bal taschkit," is not well known. It should be. In Psalms the Lord says that the Earth "is the Lord's and everything that is in it." As Jews, action in the world is a basic fabric of our theology and the most important proof of faith in God. Indeed, to be silent and dormant flies in the face of the fundamental nature of Judaism.

From a holistic standpoint there are two sides of the energy equation: We can use less oil and we must increase production of power from existing renewable sources. We must reduce our bloated energy consumption by tapping into the strength of our disciplined tradition and being more cognizant of what we consume. We must open our minds to the continuing dialogue of new and innovative solutions. We must also seek out alternative sources of energy such as wind power, solar power, bio-fuels and geothermal heat to address our current energy demands.

Investments in the use of these fuels are investments this country must make.

At home, in our synagogues and in our communities we can take substantive actions by reducing our energy footprint, making smart consumer choices, driving less and exchanging inefficient light bulbs for efficient CFL bulbs. As activists, you can make a difference by holding events, and calling and writing your senators, congressmen and other elected officials to tell them that you believe America deserves a smart, comprehensive energy policy.

We are in a battle for survival. Our physical world, our immediate and future security, even the air we breathe are at great risk. We are a people who from our history understand the need to engage. Energy conservation and reducing greenhouse emissions are not luxuries for those who just want to see a "better world," they are necessities and an obligation we have to the world.

After all, the Earth is really not ours; it is the Lord's and it should not be wasted or destroyed.

Discipline, innovation and investment will not wait for the next decade or even the next year -- they are needed now. Buckminister Fuller, a sage though not a Talmudic one, stated: "If the success or failure of this planet, and of human beings, depended on how I am and what I do, how would I be? What would I do?"

It is our call.

Rabbi Steve Gutow is the executive director of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.