Alon Tal is an environmental researcher and advocate. Presently chair of the Department of Public Policy at Tel Aviv University, his research involves environmental and water policy. He is a long-time proponent for stabilizing population in Israel an a co-founder of "Zafuf" the new Israel forum for Demography, Environment and Society . Tal was the founding director of the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, Israel’s preeminent environmental organization, where he initiated dozens of legal actions against polluters and the government for inadequate environmental commitment. He also founded the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, a regional Middle Eastern training program for Israeli, Jordanian, Palestinian and international students. From 2010 to 2013 he chaired Israel’s Green Party. In 2015, along with Uri Shanas he co-founded “This is My Earth”, an international initiative to use crowdsourcing strategies to acquire critical habitats for biodiversity protection. For twelve years, Professor Tal sat on Jewish National Fund’s international board of directors and chaired committee that oversees Israeli forestry policy. At age forty eight he was awarded a life achievement award by Israel’s Ministry of Environment. Professor Tal has been an adjunct faculty member at Harvard University, Stanford University and the University of Otago in New Zealand. He represented Israel at the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification. Among his previous books are Pollution in a Promised Land, Water Wisdom, All the Trees of the Forest and most recently – The Land is Full. Phone: +972528795754
Adaptive management has been championed as an effective strategy for designing water policy and i... more Adaptive management has been championed as an effective strategy for designing water policy and its implementation. An effective water management strategy, it is argued, must be adaptive and build in an ability to change management practices based on new experiences and insights. While such an approach was not part of official nomenclature, over the years, Israel’s water managers developed a nimble orientation, responding to available data, hydrological exigencies and emerging technological opportunities. This retroactive look at Israel’s water management history through this adaptive paradigm, identifies five distinct stages: Hydro-Socialism, Wastewater Reuse, Water Storage, Conservation and Demand Reduction. Although threats to a reliable supply remain, Israel’s water managers’ ability to adapt to numerous changes enabled a dryland country to flourish, with a highly productive agricultural sector and a plentiful and clean water supply for a rapidly growing population. Israel’s des...
With a short introduction by Paul Ehrlich (The Population Bomb) and Anne Ehrlich, Alon Tal's ... more With a short introduction by Paul Ehrlich (The Population Bomb) and Anne Ehrlich, Alon Tal's new book is a strong indictment against the rapid pace of population growth in the State of Israel and i...
While the environmental impacts of religious and secular holidays are increasingly characterized,... more 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. ...
Broad utilization of drip irrigation technologies in Israel has contributed to the 1600 percent i... more Broad utilization of drip irrigation technologies in Israel has contributed to the 1600 percent increase in the value of produce grown by local farmers over the past sixty-five years. The recycling of 86% of Israeli sewage now provides 50% of the country's irrigation water and is the second, idiosyncratic component in Israel's strategy to overcome water scarcity and maintain agriculture in a dryland region. The sustainability of these two practices is evaluated in light of decades of experience and ongoing research by the local scientific community. The review confirms the dramatic advantages of drip irrigation over time, relative to flood, furrow and sprinkler irrigation and its significance as a central component in agricultural production, especially under arid conditions. In contrast, empirical findings increasingly report damage to soil and to crops from salinization caused by irrigation with effluents. To be environmentally and agriculturally sustainable over time, wastewater reuse programs must ensure extremely high quality treated effluents and ultimately seek the desalinization of recycled sewage.
Sustainable fashion refers to efforts to minimize the fashion industry’s adverse environmental an... more Sustainable fashion refers to efforts to minimize the fashion industry’s adverse environmental and social impacts. This entry describes the industry’s entire production chain: from polyester production, cotton growth and wasteful fashion consumption patterns to landfilling, where so many clothes end up. The entry characterizes the drivers behind the industry’s poor record regarding sustainability and employee exploitation, as well as new policies around the world designed to improve the industry’s performance These include the Australian Modern Slavery law, the French law prohibiting the destruction of textile surpluses and the New York Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act.
Adaptive management has been championed as an effective strategy for designing water policy and i... more Adaptive management has been championed as an effective strategy for designing water policy and its implementation. An effective water management strategy, it is argued, must be adaptive and build in an ability to change management practices based on new experiences and insights. While such an approach was not part of official nomenclature, over the years, Israel’s water managers developed a nimble orientation, responding to available data, hydrological exigencies and emerging technological opportunities. This retroactive look at Israel’s water management history through this adaptive paradigm, identifies five distinct stages: Hydro-Socialism, Wastewater Reuse, Water Storage, Conservation and Demand Reduction. Although threats to a reliable supply remain, Israel’s water managers’ ability to adapt to numerous changes enabled a dryland country to flourish, with a highly productive agricultural sector and a plentiful and clean water supply for a rapidly growing population. Israel’s des...
With a short introduction by Paul Ehrlich (The Population Bomb) and Anne Ehrlich, Alon Tal's ... more With a short introduction by Paul Ehrlich (The Population Bomb) and Anne Ehrlich, Alon Tal's new book is a strong indictment against the rapid pace of population growth in the State of Israel and i...
While the environmental impacts of religious and secular holidays are increasingly characterized,... more 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. ...
Broad utilization of drip irrigation technologies in Israel has contributed to the 1600 percent i... more Broad utilization of drip irrigation technologies in Israel has contributed to the 1600 percent increase in the value of produce grown by local farmers over the past sixty-five years. The recycling of 86% of Israeli sewage now provides 50% of the country's irrigation water and is the second, idiosyncratic component in Israel's strategy to overcome water scarcity and maintain agriculture in a dryland region. The sustainability of these two practices is evaluated in light of decades of experience and ongoing research by the local scientific community. The review confirms the dramatic advantages of drip irrigation over time, relative to flood, furrow and sprinkler irrigation and its significance as a central component in agricultural production, especially under arid conditions. In contrast, empirical findings increasingly report damage to soil and to crops from salinization caused by irrigation with effluents. To be environmentally and agriculturally sustainable over time, wastewater reuse programs must ensure extremely high quality treated effluents and ultimately seek the desalinization of recycled sewage.
Sustainable fashion refers to efforts to minimize the fashion industry’s adverse environmental an... more Sustainable fashion refers to efforts to minimize the fashion industry’s adverse environmental and social impacts. This entry describes the industry’s entire production chain: from polyester production, cotton growth and wasteful fashion consumption patterns to landfilling, where so many clothes end up. The entry characterizes the drivers behind the industry’s poor record regarding sustainability and employee exploitation, as well as new policies around the world designed to improve the industry’s performance These include the Australian Modern Slavery law, the French law prohibiting the destruction of textile surpluses and the New York Fashion Sustainability and Social Accountability Act.
The effect of visits to the country's forests on environmental perspectives and commitments was a... more The effect of visits to the country'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'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'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.
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Papers by Alon Tal