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Exchanges fostering a green future

 

greenXchange is a program enabling the exchanging of information and insights on how to save the environment among young environmentalists in Germany and in Israel.

 

“Saving the world”. This and nothing less is the objective of the participants in greenXchange.  To achieve this lofty goal, the participants strive to find ways of better conserving and employing resources. The exchange was launched nearly five years ago by the Jewish National Fund – Keren Kayemet LeYisrael  (JNF-KKL), which is Israel’s most important environmental organization.

 

Since then, greenXchange has become a platform for encounters between students and other young environmentalists from Israel and Germany. For most of the 50 years of the German-Israeli relationship, the environment was somewhat of a “back burner” issue. Since having been founded, greenXchange has been changing that by providing links – formed by the relationships among the 90 participants from Israel and Germany – that enable the melding of efforts to protect the environment and to facilitate societal change in sustainable ways.

The program’s thrust is a ten-day seminar. It is staged either in Germany or in Israel. Each seminar features visit to venues at which innovative environmental or other projects are being implemented. During these seminars, participants come up with concepts for hands-on projects. These are then undertaken, along with JNF-KKL, in Israel. One such project featured a feed-in to Israel’s power grid. This was the final product of a concept whose inceptions came in 2011 – at the first greenXchange seminar. The project comprised the placement by Solaris Synergy, an Israeli start-up, of a field of floating photovoltaic modules in the Eshkol reservoir.  The financing for the project stemmed from JNF-KKL and from the office of Israel’s chief scientist. greenXchange facilitated the compilation of the project’s plans and the reaching of decisions.

The fourth of greenXchange’s seminars on sustainability was staged in August 2014. It was held in southern Germany, and was attended by 30 young persons. The venues of their visits were the office of Freiburg’s mayor, the state of Baden-Württemberg’s environmental ministry, the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy, and the Stuttgart 21 major-scale project of urban reconstruction. “I am going to do something making a difference, something of  value, something with a positive and lasting impact,” is how Oded Sharon, a student of environmental management in Haifa, explains his motivation to participate in greenXchange. Eva-Maria Waltner is from Konstanz. She prizes greenXchange’s ability “to first compare solutions compiled in Germany and Israel, and to then turn these comparisons into fresh approaches to problems. These are then worked on by interdisciplinary groups.”

 

greenXchange’s range of activities goes beyond the annual staging of seminars. It helped stage May 2014’s German-Israeli Future Workshop. Held in Berlin in May 2014, the Workshop considered the issue of “the agendas of Germany and of Israel at the negotiations on the climate”. The Workshop was kicked off by Professor Uriel Safriel, Chair of Science and Technology and Israeli Focal Point at the United Nations’ Convention to Combat Desertification. At a “fireside chat”, Safriel discussed this topic with representatives of Israel’s environmental ministry and of GIZ – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit. This was followed by presentations by NGOs from Germany and Israel, by initiatives, by ministries and and by universities. Participants considered at a workshop on ideas the features requisite to achieve a truly sustainable future. “Climate Change – I change“ was how Maya Hausfater of the University of Tel Aviv summed up the the result of the workshop. She added: “Israel’s forté is coming up with innovations moving the world. Coupling this with a bit more German sustainability would do us a lot of good. This insight is what I got out of the Workshop.”

 

Climate change has all of the key features of an issue to be addressed by greenXchange. Since this deterioration of the climate is affecting the entire world, it encompasses both Israel and Germany.  This process is also highly complex. This means that handling it requires international-level exchanges of expertise. These characteristics are one reason by Barbara Hendricks, Germany’s minister of the environment, is so excited about this program of German-Israeli exchange. She has agreed to become in 2015 the honorary head of greenXchange.

The interest in getting to know the other country from a new – and a green! - perspective is strong, especially among young environmentalists. This is why greenXchange is kicking off 2015 – a year of anniversary – by attending Green Ventures. This platform for entrepreneurs who are active in the energy and environmental technologies sectors will be held in Leipzig from January 27-29, 2015. Its organization of a discussion on “smart cities” has made greenXchange in this year of the sciences a partner in the “Cities of the Future” initiative of Germany’s research ministry. The tender is now being staged. Parties are hereby encouraged to enter their applications.

A further seminar will be organized by greenXchange in Israel. It will be held in autumn 2015. At it, participants will be briefed – via the presentations of a variety of projects - on the challenges faced by the environment in Israel. The seminar’s agenda includes a visit to the Eshkol reservoir and a meeting with key players in Israel’s ministries of the environment and foreign affairs, in the Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Initiative, and in the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research.

 

The alumni of greenXchange will meet on November 21-23 in Berlin. The meeting will look at 2014’s accomplishments and at plans for 2015.

Find out more about the activities and conditions of participation of greenXchange

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Email: greenXchange@jnf-kkl.de

The speech given by Barbara Hendricks, Germany’s environmental minister

Insights into the work being done by the JNF-KKL in Israel and into greenXchange

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Dear ladies and gentlemen,

This is the archived content of official bilateral website that was founded by the German and Israeli government on the occasion of the Jubilee Year 2015. This website contains the articles of the bilateral website, but will be static and will not be maintained. It serves as documentation of the multi-faceted cooperation between Germany and Israel We hope you enjoy exploring 50 years of German-Israeli relations!

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