Environment peaces together differences

Author: Kaylen Baker

To those who believe the end of the world is looming near - a reverberation of war, energy waste, extinct creatures, pollution, and general nihilism for humanity - do not give up hope. It often appears that real answers to these problems are too small to cause change, but when combined, they make a big difference.

This is the concept behind the lecture "Environment as a Bridge to Peace in the Middle East," which was given by Rabbi Michael Cohen, director of special projects of the Avara Institute for Environmental Studies (AIES), on Friday, Feb. 13. The meeting promoted the school designed to bring together students interested in studying, training and researching to become environmental leaders in the Middle East. Because the environmental problems in our ecosystem stretch across country borders and pay no heed to race or religion, peaceful cooperation is not only important, but crucial for success.

Located in Negev, Israel, AIES enrolls 20 to 30 undergraduate and graduate students per year, with approximately one-third of the student body being Jewish (from Israel), one-third being Arab (from Palestine and Jordan) and one-third from the rest of the world.

Although this may not seem like such a radical institute, simply getting there is a problem for some of the students. Cohen explained that Jordanians in particular receive pressure from their parents, friends and teachers not to go, warning them, "You're going to be stabbed overnight in your sleep!" Interestingly, many Jordanians are actually Christian, not Muslim, yet the lack of interaction between Israelis and strong government policies fuels their fears and misunderstandings. Many Jordanians are even blacklisted by the government when they return from AIES. Yet this seems a worthy burden in exchange for the students' ability to change perceptions among family and friends when they discuss their time abroad.

Living together at Kibbutz Ketura with people of different religions, races and backgrounds is one of the five reasons why AIES truly builds peace.

"It's a community of cooperation," Cohen explained. "There is a communal dining room, a communal laundry. There is a tolerance in pluralism, in living in diversity."

The desert isolation helps. In such a remote and barren terrain, students are forced to become their own entertainment. Without a city to escape to, without buildings and crowds to blend in with, each student eventually learns to face their issues with others.

Being in the Middle East is a necessary component to facing these issues as well. According to Cohen, in many cities in the Middle East, "Arabs and Jews often go to the same university together, but as soon as school is over, they won't interact outside," but return to their people and their own ways of life. AIES encourages students to learn about the aspects of their own world that may make them uncomfortable.

Having students from the rest of the world attend also helps break social barriers. Introducing outsiders into a place struggling with historically bitter conflicts what many Middle Eastern people have always considered a two-man show broadens the Middle Eastern perspective on diversity. Americans, like Middlebury students, become "ambassadors of our own culture, providing for many Middle Easterners a different view of us than what they may see on TV," said Cohen.

Each student is also required to take the Irmgard Baum Peace-building and Environmental Leadership Seminar (PELS), which addresses "the camel in the tent, the Conflict," as Cohen dubbed it. This is a class that focuses entirely on peace studies and the relationship between the different political and social sphers in the present region. "There is usually an Israeli narrative and a Palestinian narrative," explained Cohen, "most people only know one side. Many times, students leave the class hurt, angry, and crying." It is a painful conflict to address, but because the students are there to attend school for a while, the seminar works. "What we have here is the luxury of time to work through issues," said Cohen.

The last key to peace-building centers on the environment itself. The state of the ecosystem is the same for Jews, Arabs and Christians. All of the students at AIES care about improving the polluted Jordan River, which flows from many countries into the Dead Sea.

To solve the environmental problems, coordination between countries - like unified rules on what can be dumped into the Jordan River - is necessary. Students are currently working on many different projects, including ways to improve air quality, renew and conserve energy and preserve biodiversity.

In the future, AIES hopes to attract more students and continue expanding its research, thereby providing trained specialists to solve cooperatively the region's ecological problems. AIES is a building block in the foundation towards a cleaner, more peaceful world. As the saying goes, why not kill two birds with one stone?