Israel and Oil Spills?

As the world watches the disaster that is taking place in the Gulf of Mexico, there are a few events happening closer to Israel that are worth taking note of.

In the last week its been reported that there has been an oil spill in the Egyptian Red Sea that was not as contained as the Egyptian authorities initially claimed. While the spill does now appear to have been stopped, the Egyptian government has most likely not been entirely honest about the amount of oil spilled in the pristine coral reefs and marine areas of the Red Sea. With such close proximity to Israel this is an issue that should be of more concern to Israelis.

In recent years Israel has found enormous gas deposits in its northern waters. While a potential economic boon to the economy, I would hope that the Gulf and Red Sea spills would serve as a warning to the government about the potential ecological disasters that can happen. There needs to be strong safety regulations in place so that we don't have to read similar headlines in Israeli papers to those all over the US for the past few months since the Gulf spill began.

LeadEarth

Israel and Oil Spills?

The World Cup and Development

The World Cup is in full swing right now and as the world turns to South Africa to see the best football players in the world there is another, non-sports related, side to the global spectacle. South Africa has invested billions of dollars to prepare the country to host the event, and there are many long term benefits and potential drawbacks to this investment.

In Cape Town alone one stadium cost US 600 million dollars to build to international standards. Infrastructure projects have can have a positive impact on a country, but with the World Cup most of the money goes towards sports stadiums that have little impact on the country's economy after the event. Beyond that, in a country as poor as South Africa it can be easily argued that there is a better use of the money in a myriad of different projects.

The Olympics, not only the World Cup, has its detractors. Brazil will host the World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016. One third of Brazilians live on just more than a dollar a day and to think of the billions that will be invested can lead to a lot of second guessing as to how wise the money is being invested.

On the other side of the coin, there are many infrastructure projects that are performed that do have lasting impacts. Roads and transportation are built and improved. Energy projects are beefed up, and millions of money is poured into cities to clean them up. All of these things can improve the lives of the citizens in the long term. It is also difficult to measure the impact that the pride of hosting the World Cup has on a population.

The World Cup is no doubt an incredible event and the South Africans have put on a great show so far. These events are important for a country, but maybe there needs to be planning done to see how to maximize the event for the long term benefit and development of the host country, especially when countries in the third world host these events.

LeadEarth

The World Cup and Development

Social Entrepreneurship Sustainability

A few weeks ago on the roof of a building in Tel Aviv overlooking the entire city skyline a group a dozen former participants in Adam LeAdam's Backpackers program met for a reunion. The Backpacker's program is designed to give Israeli travelers in India a way to contribute to the communities they view primarily as a tourist. They spend a few weeks in Tamil Nadu helping the community through programs they in part design themselves, so that the volunteerism is more personal and meaningful.

 Adam LeAdam program participants

The reunion was a chance for old friends to meet up again, have a drink, watch a slideshow, but there was one other aspect I think was the most important part of the evening. At one point one of the participants asked Uri and Yarden, Adam LeAdam's founders, "what's next!?" One of the tenets of the program is sustainability and it wasn't clear to her what they're supposed to do now, having all returned to Israel, to continue and sustain the work they had done in India. One of the goals of the program is not just to set up program in India that the local communities can continue once the volunteers have left, but rather to have the Israeli participants continue to be social entrepreneurs back in Israel. Yarden and Uri went on to explain that they want the Backpackers participants to continue to meet in Israel and design their own sustainable social entrepreneurship program in Israel.

Tamil Nadu, India

It was a light bulb moment, where the participants realized that it was in fact their own personal growth, and not necessarily the the environment and educational projects they had implemented in India, that was the key to the Backpackers program. It will be interesting to see what the group implements here in Israel and what the LeadEarth participants are able to continue in their home communities upon returning. This social entrepreneurship sustainability is one reason that LeadEarth is really a step above in terms of innovation in the volunteer world.

Finally, John Wooden passed away yesterday. I grew up, and am still, a huge UCLA Bruins basketball fan, and have an enormous respect for the man and his accomplishments. Here's a very good article that touches at the core of who he was.

- LeadEarth

Social Entrepreneurship Sustainability