Majoring in Aliyah: The truth is inconvenient in Israel too

Growing up, I was always taught to care about the environment. Going green is definitely a part of American popular culture. As a child, I watched "Captain Planet," a television show about a superhero who foiled the plots of polluters. "Litterbug" was the last thing you wanted to be called on the playground. The local government required that families separate paper, plastic and glass when they took out the trash. Everyone knows what the "recycle" symbol looks like, because they went to Earth Day assemblies in school.
 
Now, I'll be the first to tell you that America isn't an environmentalist's paradise. It's far from it; there's plenty of pollution of every kind. However, there's something to be said about the fact that recycling was so obvious that I was able to take it for granted. That is, until I made aliyah.
 
In Israel, all of the trash goes into the same tzfardeah (the Hebrew term for dumpster, which literally means frog because, ironically, they're all green). If you want to, you can bring plastic bottles to a specific place to be recycled, but there's no requirement to do so. Newspapers, glass, plastic and vegetable peels get mixed up in the garbage truck and taken to the nearest landfill. 

Bar-Ilan University, where I study, is two highway exits away from Hiria a.k.a. Mount Garbage. The landfill towers over Route Four, as a symbol of what may happen to the rest of the country if Israel doesn't clean up its act. By the way, Hiria is no longer in use, and is being turned into a park in memory of Ariel Sharon. Understand that however you may.
 
Now, one might expect university to be different. Universities are historically centers of idealism and political progress. I can't speak for all campuses here in Israel, but I know that Bar-Ilan is not very progressive when it comes to the environment. Here on campus, there's a student group called Megama Yeruka (Green Trend). For all I know, they could be collecting garbage off the highway every day, but their main problem is that I don't know. Megama Yeruka's only presence on campus is next to photocopiers, where the group posted recycling bins for paper and hung signs explaining how to print on both sides of the page in order to save paper. They also put stickers on toilets, encouraging people to use the smaller button and save water.* It's a good start, but in my opinion, there could be much more. Megama Yeruka could be raising awareness and organizing activities.
 
Those of us who aren't members of environmentalist groups (including myself) could say that there are more important issues, and that there isn't time to take care of everything. Some people are in Greenpeace, while others are in the army, and others work for education reforms. That's why, out of all the environmental issues plaguing Israel, I emphasized the issue of separating garbage.  If it was required in Israel, everyone would be able to recycle quickly and easily. After all, even if the environment isn't at the top of your priorities, it should be important enough for you and for Israelis at large to care.
 
No matter what your opinion is on Israel the state, it's hard to deny that the Land of Israel is beautiful. Within an expanse the size of New Jersey, one can find the deserts of the Negev, forests surrounding Jerusalem, and mountains fit for skiing in the Golan. These are things worth protecting, and I hope we start to do more, and soon.

* For my non Israeli readers: Toilets in Israel have a small button for a short flush, which uses less water, and a large button for a long flush.