Israel is known, among other
things, for centuries of conflict. It is for that very reason that I want to
learn about environmental studies in Israel. At the Arava Institute, students come from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, the United
States, and around the world to work together, create conversation about the
tensions, live together, and even innovate. In spite of the regional
tensions, the Arava Institute seeks to spread environmental solutions across
borders (just as environmental problems spread across borders). I care deeply about sustainability and I
believe learning from the Arava (as well as at Allegheny) will help prepare me to
make a positive contribution to the sustainability movement in my lifetime. I
started to see the importance of communication in Sustainable Development on
the Northern Europe EL trip and I want to pursue the opportunity to study and
expand upon this principle in a dedicated way. What better place could there be
to study communication?
I firmly believe there is much to
learn from an Institute that teaches harmony and innovation in the midst of
extreme challenges. Social and political challenges aside, this area of the
world faces extreme environmental challenges. The Arava is situated in the
Negev Desert (on Kibbutz Ketura, near Eilat, and very close to Israel’s border
with Jordan).
A desert anywhere is a harsh in
environment for ecosystems and has scarce resources, but general land and water
pollution is more common in this part of the world and in the past months,
millions of liters of crude oil were spilled in the area. The oil will have
terrible effects on an already fragile ecosystem. I don’t think I’m alone in
the group of four going to the Arava this spring in feeling better about the
situation, in this crisis at least, we will be able to help.
The idea of growing palm groves in
the dessert; overcoming what seemed to be impossible is what drew me to the
Arava, in the first place. My
family and I spent about ten days traveling around Israel for my little
brother’s Bar Mitzvah, about six years ago. When we were driving through the
Negev Desert, on our way to Eilat, we drove past a palm tree grove in the
desert. I was astonished. My mom told me it was the Arava Institute. I was
fifteen then, and I have been remembered it ever since.
Though
I’ve travelled to many places and from a young age, spending time abroad for an
extended time and studying alongside open-minded non-Americans will, I hope,
make me a better citizen of the world. Kelly Boulton, Allegheny College’s
sustainability coordinator and Allegheny-Arava alumni, said she came back with
a new perspective on the preciousness of resources. Like previous Allegheny-Arava
alumni, I hope to come back with an understanding of what life is like and what
environmental pressures (as well as other pressures) mean to people on the
other side of the globe.
The
perspective I will gain at the Arava Institute will be entirely different from
anything I could gain here in America or Northern Europe. I want to see
firsthand how the students from Israel, Palestine, Jordan, the United States,
and around the world can create conversation, work together, and even innovate
in the midst of such polarizing conflict. As Allegheny’s learning objectives so
articulately say, I want, to “know, enjoy, and participate in [this] human
accomplishment”, as well as hone the skills I will need to “think and act in a
morally, ethically, and socially responsible way”. Studying at the Arava would
contribute to my efforts, here at Allegheny, to become a more educated person,
while, simultaneously allowing me to continue studying subjects related to my
major and passions.
