Here's a little diddy I wrote about a Palestinian environmental group.
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Some Palestinian farmers still use DDT, water pollution in Gaza has caused widespread birth defects, people regularly burn their trash, and these are only a few of Palestine’s environmental problems. Even while Palestinians begin to suffer the effects of pollution, most internationals and Palestinians view ecological concerns as insignificant compared the region’s political difficulties. Yet for those at the Environmental Education Center (EEC) the environment is inseparable from Palestine’s political future.

“Everything is connected to politics,” says Dua’, an environmental educator at the EEC. Hoping to reach Palestinians mired in the conflict, the EEC often emphasizes the connection between environmental protection and politics.

An issue like water consumption and distribution in Israel and Palestine cannot be separated from the conflict. Per capita the average Israeli consumes about five times as much water as the average Palestinian. In the summer months water shortages in Palestine can cause variety of economic and health issues.

To help average Palestinians address this issue in a fruitful manner, the EEC launched a water conservation campaign. Targeting students, teachers, housewives, and industry leaders the EEC hosted educational workshops and sponsored informational radio advertisements and posters.

All of these activities promoted practical water-saving measures that encouraged small steps, like saving water every time someone flushed the toilet by putting a two-liter bottle in the water tank. Factories, which often use drinkable water for industrial purposes, were encouraged to harvest and utilize rainwater from natural reservoirs, which are too polluted for consumption as drinking water.

“We don’t just give (participants) recommendations and leave it at that,” says Dua’. Working with about 1,000 school children and 100 housewives every year, the EEC tries to invite many of the same people to participate in their various workshops. This enables participants to develop a relationship with the EEC and attempts to make environmentalism a part of their life rather than a five-day seminar.

Participants are encouraged to become environmental leaders within their community. Last summer, the EEC hosted a summer camps for kids on leadership and taught them how to establish environmental protection clubs at their schools. After a lecture for housewives on the benefits of compost piles, one participant managed to get almost everyone in her neighborhood to start one.

Despite some participants willingness to change, in a country where littering is socially accepted behavior the fight against damaging attitudes ingrained in the culture is often the biggest challenge. Many Palestinians simply don’t understand the consequences of activities like burning trash or hunting birds for sport.

“Palestine is being polluted in a big way by the locals and the (Israeli) occupation,” says Nida Al Sarras, one of two teachers at Dar al-Kalima School who coordinates school activities with the EEC.

Sarras admits that although many of her students are actively interested in ecological issues, it’s difficult to motivate every student to care about the environment. Sarras often emphasizes environmental damage caused by Israelis, such as the uprooting of trees to rouse the students’ emotions and then encourages environmentalism as a practical solution.

Although young people are generally the most receptive, Sarras says that even with students progress is slow. “(Change) is not a matter of a day or a year; it will take a lifetime,” she says.

Limited funding also impedes the speed of change. “We have the ideas, we just need the money,” laments Buthina, an environmental educator at the EEC. Located just outside Bethlehem and with a staff of only four people, the EEC can only afford to focus attention on the Bethlehem district.

Currently most of it’s funding comes from the Evangelical Lutheran Church, Church of Sweden, the Swedish International Development Agency, and several others. However, the EEC complains that many potential donors say they’re wasting their time on the environment when there are larger issues at stake in Palestine.

An incomplete display of animals from different regions of Palestine is covered in dust and cobwebs. With limited funding, the EEC had to put construction of this exhibit on hold. Down the hall the collection of over 2,500 specimens of fossils, rocks, and stuffed animals from Palestine is crowded a small room. Many of the specimens are kept in cabinets because there’s not enough space to put them on display.

The collection is used to teach children about the uniqueness of Palestine’s wildlife and why it’s something worth protecting. “Throwing stones is one way to fight the (Israelis), but another way is to love your country,” says Buthina.
Even with skepticism and funding challenges, those at the EEC remain passionate about what they do. EEC Executive Director Simon Awad says, “After all the suffering that the Palestinian people have endured through history, they deserve to live in a healthy and green environment.”