How should Israel respond to climate change? - opinion

It rarely rains in Israel in September, right? I recall in the early 1960s, after my wife and I made aliyah, seeing cars suddenly stop by the side of the road in October/November. Why? To put their windshield wipers back on during the first rains, after removing them for the hot dry summer months to save the rubber blades.

Things have changed. In the early morning hours of Wednesday, September 13, over 40 mm. (about an inch and a half) of rain fell in the Tel Aviv area. Rain also fell in the coastal plain and spread to Jerusalem.

Maayan Hoffman of The Jerusalem Post interviewed Amos Porat, head of climatic services at the Israel Meteorological Institute. He explained that the unusual rainfall was a remnant of Storm Daniel (Mediterranean storms now get names, like the US hurricanes do). Daniel dumped devastating rains on Libya, causing thousands of deaths from flooding; ravaged Greece, stranding Israeli tourists; and then weakened in Israel.

Only three times in the past century did a similar rainstorm occur – in 1909, 1932, and 1951. Climate change? It is here, and here to stay.

Let’s zoom out on the global nature of climate change, then zoom back in on Israel’s response to it.

Zoom out: Global warming

By burning fossil fuels, we have wrapped our planet in a warm blanket of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. Warm blankets are cozy on cool winter nights but are disastrous for our planet. In 1958, the Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawaii began recording carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere. It was 317 parts per million (ppm) then.

Today? Last year, 2022, it was 418.56 ppm. For the past 11 years, CO2 has risen yearly by more than 2 ppm. At that rate, when our now infant grandchildren celebrate bar/bat mitzvahs, it will be over 440 ppm. – and our planet will be hot and stormy.

Carbon dioxide is called a greenhouse gas because it retains the Earth’s heat caused by radiation from the sun. It causes two-thirds of the heating influence of all such greenhouse gases. We need the “blanket”; without it, we would freeze. But too much of it causes the planet to overheat.

One effect of CO2 is on the Earth’s oceans. Carbon dioxide dissolves in the oceans, like the fizz in a glass of soda water. When CO2 combines with water, it creates carbonic acid, raising the oceans’ acidity and wreaking havoc on coral reefs, fish, tides, and basically, on everything.

Is this really new? It is. Scientists drill into mile-thick ice in the North and South Poles and analyze air bubbles trapped in ice cores. During ice age cycles of the past million years, carbon dioxide in the atmosphere never exceeded 300 ppm. Before the Industrial Revolution, mid-1700’s, CO2 was only 280 ppm.

But in pre-history, three million years ago, global temperatures were between 4.5 and 7.2 degrees F. (2.5 to 4 degrees C.) warmer – and the sea level, as a result, was between 16 to 82 feet higher than in 1900 – enough to flood all the world’s coastal cities and drown them under deep water.

How long have we known about the impact of carbon dioxide on our climate? Would you believe 167 years?

A scientist named Eunice Foote published a scientific paper titled “On the Heat in the Sun’s Rays,” published in the American Journal of Science and Arts in November 1856. Her experiment involved two glass cylinders, two thermometers, and an air pump. She pumped carbon dioxide into one of the cylinders and air into the other, and then placed them out in the sun.

What she found was this: “The receiver containing the gas became itself much heated – very sensibly more so than the other – and on being removed, it was many times as long in cooling,” she says in her paper.

The higher temperature in the carbon dioxide cylinder showed Foote that carbon dioxide traps the most heat.

Carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases emitted by the energy, transportation, agriculture, and other sectors are a warm blanket wrapping the Earth. We have known it for a century and a half. But did nothing. This was indeed a crime against humanity – against ourselves.

What does the future hold? If global energy demand continues at the rate it is now, and if we continue to burn fossil fuels for our energy needs, atmospheric carbon dioxide will be 800 ppm. or higher by the end of the century. This level is life-threatening for existence on our planet. It is not a future we want to bequeath to our children and grandchildren.

Zoom in: Israel’s response

To understand how Israel is responding to the global climate crisis, I spoke with Prof. Ofira Ayalon, my Neaman Institute colleague and full professor at the School of Environmental Sciences, University of Haifa. Ayalon has done groundbreaking environmental research. My favorite study is her research, with a graduate student, on food waste – painstakingly sorting garbage to show that half the food we discard is edible.

Does Israel have a climate change policy – and is it effective?

Over the years, the State of Israel has made a number of government decisions on the climate issue, dealing with both mitigating emissions and preparing for climate change/adaptation. A number of government decisions were made in this area – each government slightly raises the targets and postpones the target year for implementation.

The State Comptroller’s report showed how far Israel is from the goals it has set for itself. Israel has very low and conservative goals compared to the other developed countries of the world.

Why should we all be concerned about this?

In these matters, it is important to emphasize that Israel is a small and non-industrial country; therefore, its contribution to total global greenhouse gas emissions is insignificant.

However, actions such as implementing technologies for energy efficiency, energy conservation, and the use of renewable energies will lead to a reduction in local air pollutants, which are emitted during the production of electricity from fossil energy sources (natural gas, coal, diesel, etc.). This reduction results in improved air quality and thus reduces damage to our health. That is a win-win situation!

Should we worry about greenhouse gases other than CO2? 

Emissions of greenhouse gases are not only emissions of carbon dioxide but also of methane and nitrous oxide- N2O. Methane, a greenhouse gas, is 28 times more active than carbon dioxide. It is emitted from waste deposits, livestock emissions, and from the natural gas supply chain. The Samuel Neaman Institute has been dealing with the issue of waste treatment for many years to study how the negative effects of this sector could be reduced.

What should Israel do to ready itself for climate change, which is already upon us? Are we doing enough to be prepared?

On the subject of preparing for climate change, it is important to note that Israel is a hot spot and has already warmed on average by 1.4 degrees Celsius (the global average is 1.1).

A recent study conducted by the Neaman Institute found that the cost of damage that may be caused to the economy of Tel Aviv-Jaffa if the area is not properly prepared for warming, owing to increased intensity and length of heat waves, could reach NIS 2 billion to NIS 4 billion per year by 2050.

On September 12, a Committee of Ministers approved a draft climate law for Israel. The draft law is not ambitious, and it has enough “holes” and ways of withdrawing from the progress of reductions and preparations, so that, unfortunately, the State Comptroller will still have a lot of work to do on this subject in future.

Should we be worried?

Planet Earth’s hourglass is running out fast. The point of no return of adverse climate effects is rapidly approaching. It is imperative that countries, organizations, investors, innovators, entrepreneurs, NGOs, and all mankind make a joint effort to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and take the crucial measures to adapt to these effects. ■

The writer heads the Zvi Griliches Research Data Center at S. Neaman Institute, Technion. He blogs at www.timnovate.wordpress.com.

The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.

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