Building a Sustainable Society: Israel through the Eyes of the Heschel Center

Water, Agriculture and Community Activism Dr. Nadav Davidovitch is an epidemiologist, who also holds a Ph.D. in History and Social Science. He shared three case studies which illustrate the complex interrelationships through which environmental and sustainability concerns translate into human health challenges. (1) Dr. Davidovitch first talked about flouridation of public water supplies. Such water treatment is almost axiomatic in developed countries. Flouride has known benefit - it can reduce dental caries by 15%, and is particularly beneficial in poor communities which do not have access to dental care. Through a Heschel Center discussion group, however, he has begun to re-examine the effectiveness of this intervention. Only 1% of the water being treated is consumed by humans. He has begun to ask if there are more direct ways to approach this problem, which may have lesser environmental impact. (2) Many of Israel's 100,000 Bedouin citizens live in unrecognized villages and areas under the control of regional authorities (similar to counties in the U.S., but only overseeing the rural areas). These villages receive no water or electricity. Infant mortality and spread of infectious diseases are much higher than in municipal areas. Recently, the World Health Organization declared access to water to be a basic human right. A full re-examination of Israeli policy of discouraging settlement in certain areas by not providing water to the residents needs to be undertaken. (3) The final case study centered on the badly polluted Kishon River. IDF Navy Seals trained in the river - until a high cancer rate focused public attention on the levels of toxins in the river. It was only when the elite group of divers came forward that the investigation began to look at the health problems of the fishermen who worked the river waters. In the case of the divers, a Supreme Court judge found legal causality in the connection between the pollution and the divers' cancers. The ensuing activity caused a profound shift in public understanding of the link that environmental issues form between social, ethical and legal concerns. He credits the Heschel Center with being the "honest broker" and common ground where people from established NGOs, universities, activists and government ministries can come together to discuss issues and responses.