ESTH visits the Israel Cancer Association
September 29: Embassy ESTH office visited the Israel Cancer Association (ICA) headquarters in Givatayim. In addition to housing the administrative and technical offices of this non-governmental organization, the facility also contains meeting rooms for training and support groups and a hostel for cancer patients in need of outpatient treatment but who live too far from a hospital with an oncology center to make a frequent commute.
ICA organized more than 1,000 activities in 2008 alone and expects a similar total at the completion of 2009. The ICA’s efforts in breast cancer awareness, quality assurance of mammography machines, and its mobile mammography unit have helped make Israeli women 68% compliant overall with recommended mammography screening based on individual risk group. ICA also recently won an international award for its public service announcement warning of the dangers of hookah (nargila) smoking. The programs for cancer patient assistance and quality of life support are too numerous to mention, but include hospice, financial assistance, tutors for school-age children, family therapy, and post-illness support. ICA also awards grants for science research on cancer; ICA research funding amounts to five to six times the annual sum available for cancer research from the Israeli government. The ICA’s annual budget of approximately US $15 million is funded entirely by small donations generated, in large part, by schoolchildren participating in a yearly door-to-door campaign for the organization. http://www.cancer.org.il/english/
The 34th graduating class of the International Master of Public Health Program.
September 14: ESTH and American Corner Jerusalem attended the graduation ceremony of the thirty-fourth class of the Hebrew University-Hadassah Braun School of Public Health and Community Medicine International Master of Public Health Program. Almost 30 students from around the globe spent a year working together in a demanding curriculum aimed at developing skills in community-oriented primary care, health care administration and reform, research methods, environmental and occupational health, family planning, nutrition, and epidemiology. Their overflowing enthusiasm for the program and their profession will bring direct benefits to thousands of people as they return to government service, an NGO, a hospital, or other workplace in their home country. Since the program was established in 1971, nearly 700 students from a total of 85 countries have obtained their masters degrees through this program. Drawing on available donor support, students from developing and transition regions are accepted into the program with a scholarship that covers virtually all expenses associated with studying and living in Israel. For more information about the program, please visit the website: http://publichealth.huji.ac.il/eng/
Environment 2020 conference in Tel Aviv March 30: Ambassador James B. Cunningham addressed the 800 attendees of the third annual Environment 2020 conference held March 30 in Tel Aviv Port. The Ambassador underscored the US commitment to reaching a strong post-2012 international agreement at the climate change summit to be held in Copenhagen this December, and noted the potential for innovations in the environmental sector to help lay the foundation for economic recovery. The one-day conference covered environmental policy and regulations, both in Israel and globally, and gathered government, business, academic and environmental group leaders. Other speakers included Ambassador Liselotte Kjaersgaard Plesner of Denmark, Ambassador Ramiro Cibrian Uzal of the European Union delegation, and Ophir Pines-Paz, Member of the Israeli Knesset, each voicing support for international efforts to reduce the impact of greenhouse gases on the environment while maintaining global economic growth. Remarks by
Ambassador James B. Cunningham
Environment 2020 Conference
Monday, March 30, 2009
Tel Aviv, Israel
Astronaut Reisman, President Shimon Peres, and Rona Ramon at Beit Hanasi (President’s House)
January 25-February 1: A week of activities surrounding the 4th Annual Ilan Ramon Space Science Conference began with a visit by the Ramon Family, a visiting NASA delegation, and representatives from the Israel Space Agency and the US Embassy to Israeli President Shimon Peres’ residence and concluded with a graveside ceremony in honor of Ilan Ramon. Ramon was the first Israeli astronaut, who died with his crewmates in the Space Shuttle Columbia accident in 2003. Full Text
From left to right: Noah Miller, Dan Perry, Gil Agmon, Minister of Environmental Protection Gideon Ezra, Ambassador Cunningham.
December 18: Ambassador Cunningham, along with Israeli Environment Minister Gideon Ezra, presented the Ford Conservation and Environmental Grants at a ceremony held at Delek Motors outside Tel Aviv.
They were assisted by Ford Israel Marketing and Sales Manager Noah Miller, SHELI Foundation representative Dan Perry, and CEO of Delek Motors Gil Agmon. The ceremony marks the 9th year that Ford has awarded conservation grants in Israel, having donated over $1.5 M to 125 organizations and individuals in the previous 8 years. This year the total funding for 23 projects reached $100,000, the largest sum to date and $33,500 more than last year’s total. ESTH Officer Paul Rohrlich attended the event and was very pleased with the expansion of the program, stating, “This underscores the importance of grassroots organizations in addressing environmental concerns. It is heartening to see increased support for these organizations, which can play such an important role in reversing damage to the environment.” The fully independent awards committee was composed of experts in the fields of nature, environment, conservation, academia, education, history, and the arts. Beneficiaries included community groups and individuals voluntarily engaging in ongoing projects for conserving the environment who have demonstrated dedication to execute planned programs and services. The awarded grants included proposed work in educating children about sustainability, building shelters for wild animals, planting public gardens, conserving water, and preserving historic and natural sites.
Thank you for your gracious introduction and warm welcome.
It is a great pleasure to join you here today at Tel Aviv University.
I have always enjoyed my visits to schools and universities – both in the United States and around the world – because they provide me with opportunities to speak directly with the leaders of tomorrow. Full Text
Rieger Scholarships Awarded
September 25: The Embassy's ESTH Officer attended and spoke at the awarding of 26 scholarships from the Rieger Foundation of Santa Barbara, California, at Tel Aviv University on September 25. The Rieger scholarships are awarded annually to graduate students in Israel who are pursuing research in the sciences that will contribute to improving the environment. This year's winners included students from Tel Aviv University, Hebrew University, Ben Gurion University, Bar Ilan University, the Weizmann Institute, and the Technion, and contributes US$5,000 to each student's education. Research topics ranged from lifeforms in marine biology to particulates in air pollution, and included one scholar studying the chemical and biological consequences from mixing water from the Red Sea into water from the Dead Sea -- a subject of great interest given proposed projects to refill the shrinking Dead Sea. This was the tenth year that the Rieger scholarship has been awarded; it was founded by Norbert Rieger, a German-born pediatric psychiatrist who lost his family in the Holocaust and resettled in California.
Geography for Sustainable Development
Israeli participants in Tunisia stand beside Ambassador Robert F. Godec, American Ambassador to Tunisia
From August 11-15th, a group of select science and math teachers from Israel attended a workshop for professional development titled “Geography for Sustainable Development” in Tunisia sponsored by the OES Bureau and run by My Community, Our Earth (MyCOE). They learned how to use GPS and GIS to address environmental and sustainable development issues and how to integrate these lessons into their curricula.
Video Conference on Environmental Education to commemorate Earth Day 2008
Deborah A. Sliter, guest speaker at the video conference on environmental education
On April 15, The Environment, Science and Technology and Health Office in cooperation with Public affairs Office, American Embassy in Tel Aviv hosted five Israeli panelists and a diverse local audience of environmental educators for an online dialogue on environmental education with guest speaker Deborah A. Sliter, Vice President Programs, National Environmental Education Foundation, Washington, D.C. The video conference was timed to coincide with the National Environmental Education Week (EE Week) the week before Earth Day (April 22) 2008.
The theme this year is Carbon footprints. Ms Sliter mentioned that NEEF had launched the Zerofootprint carbon calculator to encourage school students to measure their own carbon footprints and develop ways develop to develop creative ways to reduce the carbon footprint. She showed how America has many ways to encourage environmental awareness, such as National Public Lands Day (last Saturday in September) or developing a program to help television/radio meteorologists promote environmental issues relating to climate and weather, and training doctors to help identify environnmental factors affecting human health matters. She concluded by strongly recommending that the panelists and audience read "The Last Child in the Woods", by Richard Louv, which is about the growing separation between youth and nature.
Deborah A. Sliter has over 20 years of experience in public and private partnerships and program design and development. She has served for nine years as the Vice President for Programs at the National Environmental Education Foundation developing innovative environmental education programs for adult professionals in the areas of business, health care, meteorology and natural resource management. She also served as the Executive Director of Renew America, a national non-profit environmental organization; and Development Director of Citizen Action.
The National Environmental Education Foundation was created by Public Law #101-619, the National Environmental Education Act of 1990. It is a private 501(C) (3) non-profit organization established to promote and support education and training as necessary tools to further environmental protection and sustainable, environmentally sound development. It provides the common ground upon which leaders from business and industry, all levels of government, public interest groups, and others can work cooperatively to expand the reach of environmental education and training programs beyond the traditional classroom. The Foundation supports a grant program that promotes innovative environmental education and training programs; it also develops partnerships with government and other organizations to administer projects that promote the development of an environmentally literate public.
Electronic Resources
The website www.america.gov offers extensive information sources on environment, science and technology, and health-related topics. The American Center library in Jerusalem and the American Corners in Beersheva, Yafo and Karmiel offer Internet access to library and Corner patrons.
Science Attache visits GLOBE Schools in the North of Israel
Standing by a 5-ton granite sculpture representing glogal warming: From left to right - Farid Hamdan, National Coordinator in Israel GLOBE Program; Rhonda Brown, Assistant to Science Attache; Paul Rohrlich, Science Attache; Suleman Khatib, Principal, Albi
April 10: The Science Attache was guest of honor at two GLOBE (Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment) schools in the North of Israel, an elementary Druze school in Yanuh Village, and Ibn Rushid Education House in Makr Village.
The meetings were organized by Farid Hamdan, National GLOBE Coordinator in Israel, Ministry of Education.
GLOBE is a worldwide hands-on, primary and secondary school-based science and education program. GLOBE's vision promotes and supports students, teachers and scientists to collaborate on inquiry-based investigations of the environment and the Earth system working in close partnership with NASA and NSF Earth System Science Projects (ESSPs) in study and research about the dynamics of Earth's environment. In Israel there are currentlty 129 participating schools.
Science Attache, Paul Rohrlich speaks at the FIRST Overdrive: 2008 FIRST Robotics Cometition in Israel
From left to right: Yael German, Mayor, Herzliya; Moshe Lichtman, President, Microsoft R&D Israel; Dean Kamen, Founder USFIRST; Paul Rohrlich, Science Attache, American Embassy, Tel Aviv; Avihu Ben-Nun, Former Head, Israeli Airforce; Efraim Cohen, former
Paul Rohrlich, the Science Attache at the American Embassy in Tel Aviv, delivered an address at the opening 2008 FIRST Robotics Competition (FIRST Overdrive), a two-day event organized by FIRST Israel, taking place on March 24 at the Yad Eliyahu Stadium, Tel Aviv.
FIRST Israel is the Israeli branch of USFIRST (“For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”). USFIRST is a U.S. non-profit organization dedicated to building programs to motivate young people to pursue opportunities in science, technology and engineering. It was founded in 1992 by inventor and entrepreneur Dean Kamen to help young people discover the excitement and rewards of science and technology. The program is now in its third year in Israel. Thirty six Israeli high school teams and fifty middle schools representing the Jewish, Arab and Druze sectors participated. Each team consists of 30 school students, along with teachers and mentors from local science and technology related businesses.
