Today, the rabbis are on bikes and traveling along the Yarkon. The Yarkon used to be the most poluted river in Israel. Because Israel was created so quicky, and the factories just dumped into the rivers in the city, they did not deal with this waste. In the 1997, Maccabia, athletes from Australia fell after a bridge collapsed, and died because of the poluted water. Since, Israel has worked hard to rehabilitate the river. Still they have much work to do.
Parks have been established that allows some of the vegetation that grows was planted to help filter the water. The parks are packed on the weekends with Israelis coming to play and relax.
We ended the ride at the beach and had lunch overlooking the Mediteranean.
Off to Ahdod
In Ashdod we saw the Lachish river which is poluted because of the sewage being poured into the sea. Before the mayoral election, Zalul.org.il ran a campaign to encourage people to consider the environment in their votes.
Slowly, they are working at cleaning up the river. In partnership with Zalul, Israel is learning that the water issues are not only about having water but caring for it as well.
Back to Jerusalem.
Heidi
-- Post From My iPhone in Israel
Photo above is of CCAR Bloggers Heidi Cohen and Mark Kaiserman.
ReplyDeleteMark just wanted to make sure you all know who we are in case you see us around furiously typing on our iphones. Us bloggers can be kind of sneaky that way.
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