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Research implies that emphasis frames control preferences. Little is known, however, about how stakeholders frame water. How is water framed in decision-making and -shaping rooms? Therefore, we exp...

There is a fairly well-developed genre in the academic literature of edited volumes in which scholars consider the issue of water and conflict in the Middle East. The late Prof. Hillel Shuval and s...

To examine the impact of lactation on the recurrence rate of gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Retrospective cohort study performed in a single teaching hospital on data between 2009 and 2016. The study group consisted of women who had a diagnosis of GDM and breastfed exclusively for ≥ 1 month. The control group consisted of women who had a diagnosis of GDM and did not breastfeed or added formula

Like environmentalists around the world, Israelis concerned about climate change were despondent in November 2019 when President Donald Trump confirmed his intention to take the United States out o...

Israel’s agriculture is a success story, reflecting a continuous struggle to overcome unfavorable local conditions. Facing the prospect of food shortages, after its establishment in 1948, the country pursued an aggressive strategy of agricultural development. It almost tripled the lands zoned for agriculture and dramatically increased production, notwithstanding the saline soil, arid or semi-arid climate, scant fresh water supply and inexperience amongst many new immigrant farmers. Much of Israel’s agricultural success can be attributed to technological R&D and myriad innovations that revolutionised the way farmers cultivate, irrigate and protect crops from pests, producing steadily higher revenues for farmers. The country invested heavily in developing new sources of water, promoting wastewater irrigation and fostering close co-operation between farmers. This chapter elaborates on Israel’s key technological advances, incentive structures and institutional innovations. Perhaps, the most distinguishing feature of Israel’s agricultural production is the dominant role played by cooperative communities. After seventy years, three-fourths of the country’s total crop area is still overseen by kibbutzim and moshavim, farming collaboratives. During the mid-1980s, Israel undertook substantial economic policy reforms that also resulted in profound structural changes in the agricultural sector such as a decrease in the number of farms, expansion of farm size, diversification of cropping patterns towards high-value fruits and vegetables, as well as thriving, private enterprises serving agriculture. Together, these policies contribute to improved integration of the agro-food sector with global markets, even though the country no longer produces sufficient calories to feed its rapidly growing population. The chapter tells the story of how Israel grew increasingly technologically sophisticated, with ever efficient utilisation of resources and adoption of precision agricultural methods, while spawning an innovative and profitable agrotech ecosystem.

The effect of visits to the country&rsquo, s forests on environmental perspectives and commitments was assessed in a national survey of the Israeli public. As a highly urbanized country, visits to the country&rsquo, s dryland forests constitute an important national pastime across ethnic lines. We evaluated the impact that forest visitation had on the attitudes and perspectives of the visitors. A strong correlation was found between the frequency of visits to forests by individuals and a range of pro-environmental and pro-conservation sentiments. Of particular interest was the response of Israel&rsquo, s Arab citizens. Not only do Israeli Arabs visit forests more frequently, but they also support environmental policy positions more avidly than do Jewish citizens. The article argues that increasing accessibility to forests and natural sites by expanding public transportation lines should constitute an important component in conservation strategies.

Demographic stability constitutes a paramount global environmental objective. Yet, decades of efforts, highlighting the perils of overpopulation, have failed to slow the rapid global population growth. In considering an alternative strategy, insights from the field of positive psychology are explored for their potential to inform future demographic policies. After briefly reviewing sustainable advocacy efforts, different theories behind individual fertility decisions are presented. Following, key components of prominent successful family planning interventions are analysed using a ‘positive psychology’ perspective. Three ‘positive psychology’ strategies are explored for their potential to inform sustainable population: a “direct” approach that emphasizes individual benefits rather than indirect gains through mitigation of damages; an emphasis on the convergence between the collective and individual benefits of two--child families; and application of behavioral change theories in demographic policies to better facilitate sustainable individual fertility decisions. The paper posits that a positive psychology conceptualization offers a promising way to re-think the design of demographic policies and frame sustainable population interventions., Psychology; Overpopulation; Positive psychology; Family planning; Sustainability; Family size; Number of children, Sustainable development; Social sciences; Well-being; Demography; Environmental change

While the environmental impacts of religious and secular holidays are increasingly characterized, interventions to reduce their effects are modest and poorly understood. Israel’s L’ag B’omer holiday has emerged as a major air pollution source due to the common practice of lighting bonfires. We implemented and evaluated an intervention amongst Israeli school children in which they were challenged to design and adopt alternative “environmentally friendly” celebrations that maintained the holiday spirit. The interventions were observed and a mixed method approach applied to study implementation involving, interviews with teachers, parents and students as well as an ex-post questionnaire answered by participants. Children supporting environmental celebrations displayed higher levels of environmental behavior, and environmental hope than those preferring bonfires. Those who voted for an environmental alternative, against the majority, also displayed higher levels of self-control skills. The study confirms the potential of well-designed, environmentally friendly holiday celebrations to replace environmentally deleterious ones.

Population growth (PG) is one of the main drivers of environmental deterioration. Understanding lay perception of PG is important for mobilizing public opinion and support for environmental protect...

The extinction of a single species from a local community may carry little cost in terms of species diversity, yet its loss eliminates its biotic and abiotic interactions. We describe such a scenario in the Arava desert, where different cultural and law enforcement practices exclude Dorcas gazelles (Gazella dorcas (Linnaeus, 1758)) from the Jordanian side of the border while protecting their populations on the Israeli side. We found that gazelles break the soil crust, formed in desert systems after annual flooding, thereby creating patches of loose and cooler sand that are used by pit-building antlions (Neuroptera: Myrmeleontidae). When we artificially broke the soil crust on both sides of the border, we found a significant increase in antlion density in these patches, but only on the Israeli side. On the Jordanian side, where no gazelles have been observed since the early 1980s, no antlions colonized either control or manipulated plots. Additional choice/no-choice feeding experiments, in which we offered antlions to lizards and birds, revealed that the effect of humans on gazelles cascades farther, as antlions serve as a palatable food source for both groups. Thus, the human-mediated loss of nontrophic interactions between gazelles and antlions cascades to the loss of trophic interactions between antlions and their predators.

Over the past few decades, the production and consumption of clothing has increased exponentially, leading to a dramatic increase in the negative environmental consequences produced by the fashion industry. Given the rising pace of global warming and the rising concern about the fashion industry’s contribution to the climate crisis and its exploitative social dimensions, decision makers, politicians and government officials have begun to promote sustainable fashion through public policy. This article reviews the main barriers facing a circular economy in general and the fashion industry in particular. It considers nascent regulations emerging throughout the world in the field of sustainable fashion, applying circular economic principles to the fashion industry. Four categories of policy proposals are evaluated: Command and Control Interventions, Educational Initiatives, Incentives and Certification, grading them according to criteria of effectiveness, sustainability, feasibility, equity and compliance. The ranking process was based on an elicitation of expert judgement among a panel with expertise in the areas of sustainable fashion from the business sector, academia and civil society. Findings suggest that while some policy options appear to meet all criteria successfully, when selecting an optimal strategy for promoting sustainable fashion, there are frequently trade-offs between different alternatives.

Wind power has emerged as the most dominant source of clean energy during the two first decades of the 21st century. As wind turbines became popular, complaints about annoyances from neighboring settlements has led to establishment of greater setback distances in some jurisdictions, due to noise, shadow flickers, and aesthetic considerations. The current study seeks to establish an objective basis for determining optimal setback distance from human settlements. It begins by characterizing the tradeoff between turbines' environmental externalities and energy potential across northern region of Israel, where proposed wind farms are now being considered. The analysis relies on GIS software, which allows for quantification of the energy potential along with impacts of noise and shadow flickers. Based on the geographical data, we compare six contrasting regulatory approaches to setback distance for limiting wind turbines, evaluating how they would be applied in Israel's northern region. The results reveal that at setback of 700–800 m, annoyance levels depend on site-specific conditions, which in some sites are marginal. Zoning restrictions of 1,000–1,200 m pose only negligible externalities to nearby settlements. Greater distancing decreases the number of potential turbine sites dramatically without significant reducing anticipated annoyance levels and can unnecessarily compromise natural areas.

Given the magnitude of China’s economy, the newly drafted Environmental Protection Tax Law of the People’s Republic of China is among the most ambitious forays into green incentives ever attempted. The law’s provisions are evaluated as part of the country’s layering orientation, where the gradual ratcheting up of government regulation is considered an effective and durable strategy. By making a transition from “taxes on good activities” to “taxes on bad activities” the new statute expands the polluter pays principle embedded in China’s present environmental fee system into a broader suite of corporate and individual decisions. China’s existing pollution charge system suffers from inappropriate exemptions and pricing levels. The proposed law does not offer clear solutions to these systemic problems. Pollution sources from agriculture, wastewater treatment and waste disposal, major sources of pollution in China, are exempted from the new environmental tax. Statutory language is vague regarding inter...

Es wurde erkannt, dass Kunststoffe und andere Formen von Verpackungen das Potenzial haben, die Umwelt in vielerlei Hinsicht zu gefährden. Eine davon ist, dass sie in die Ozeane gelangen und das Ökosystem stören. Zu solchen Störungen gehören das Verfangen von Tieren, aber auch das Verschlucken. Ist das Material erst einmal aufgenommen, besteht für die Tiere, je nach Abbaubarkeit des Materials, die Gefahr des Todes. Ziel dieser Arbeit ist es daher, ein Verständnis dafür zu erlangen, welche Korrelationen zwischen der Anwendung von Umgebungsbedingungen, wie sie in Tiermägen vorkommen, wie z.B. niedriger pH-Wert, mechanischer Stress und Pepsin, und abbaubedingten Parametern, wie z.B. Gewichtsverlust und optisches Erscheinungsbild unter dem Mikroskop, gefunden werden können. Diese Arbeit basiert auf den Ergebnissen von Experimenten, die im Labor der FH Campus Wien mit Reagenzgläsern und einem Steintumbler durchgeführt wurden. Nach diesen Experimenten war es klar, dass die Beschränkungen des Projekts, vor allem Zeit und Ressourcen, es schwierig gemacht haben, Schlussfolgerungen zu ziehen. Es wurde jedoch abgeleitet, dass mechanischer Stress eine Rolle bei der Beschleunigung der Degradation spielen könnte. Diese Erkenntnisse müssen durch weitere Wiederholungen untermauert werden, um eine solche Behauptung mit Sicherheit aufstellen zu können. Diese Arbeit legt den Grundstein für die Fortsetzung dieses Projekts. Übersetzt mit www.DeepL.com/Translator (kostenlose Version) It has been understood that plastics and other forms of packaging have the potential to pose a threat to the environment in many ways. One of which is by their leaking into the oceans and disturbing the ecosystem. Such disturbances include animal entanglement, but also ingestion. Once the material is ingested these animals are at risk of death, depending on the material’s degradability. Therefore, this thesis aims to gain an understanding of which correlations can be found between the application of environmental conditions like the ones found in animal stomachs, such as low pH, mechanical stress, and pepsin, and degradation-related parameters, such as weight loss and visual appearance under the microscope. This thesis is based on the results from experiments run at the FH Campus Wien laboratory using test tubes and a rock tumbler. Following these experiments, it was clear that the limitations of the project, primarily time and resources, have made it difficult to draw conclusions. It was deduced, however, that mechanical stress might play role in accelerating the degradation. These findings need to be backed up by more repetitions to confidently make such a claim. This thesis lays the ground for the continuation of this project. Abweichender Titel laut Übersetzung der Verfasserin/des Verfassers Masterarbeit Wien, FH Campus Wien 2020