- Maya Shafir and Horacio the Co-General Secretaries of Kibbutz Yotvata came to meet with Sharon and myself about the development of academic study track a the Arava Institute in cooperatives and sustainable communities.
- Dr. Eli Kalmazon - an environmental educational consultant who is going to help the institute with the Research and Visitors Park.
- Professor David Firestone from Vermont Law School who wanted to discuss cooperation between the Arava Institute and his school.
- Yoel Levin - an experienced environmental builder who introduced me to the concept of earth ships - http://www.earthship.net/
- Rafi Goldman - Director of International Projects for Negev Institute for Strategic Planning and Development to talk about cooperation with the institute on a variety of projects including the Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands and the development of an academic track in cooperatives and sustainable communities.
- Dr. Uri Shanes - A faculty member at Oranim College, an Arava Institute research partner and also a Board member of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel (SPNI) who wanted to talk to us about cooperation between SPNI and the Arava Institute on programs for students from abroad.
No shortage of interesting people who came to visit that week. In addition to visitors, other events:
- Hevel Eilot Regional Council Chair, spoke to the students about regional development and envrionmental challenges. Udi discussed controversial issues such as the planned building of a Hotel in Timna Park and the planned mining of the Samar Sand Dunes.
- The Steering Committe for the Center for Sustainable Development in Arid Lands had its first meeting with representatives from the Dead Sea Arava Science Center and the Southern Arava Agricultural Research and Development Center. Dr. Shmuel Brenner led the discussion which was very productive. The next step is finalizing at vision paper.
- Eitan Amiel and Amer Sweity, to Arava Institute alumni now studying at Sde Boker hosted a group from the Hornstein School for Jewish Professional Leadership at Brandeis University for a hike where they learned about the Arava Institute and about how to eat and drink from wild desert plants.
- The Center for a Healthy Environment in the Arava (Sababa) Steering Committee met and discussed alternatives to the proposed site for the Hotel in Timna. Sababa is formulating its own stand on this issue. In addition, Sababa will propose creating a public park in Ber Ora.
The week of the 17th through the 22nd:
- The week started with an impressive evening of presentations of the students independent study projects and Masters research. The following is a quote from my e-mail to the staff and students congratulating them on the event:
- In my opinion, last night's AIES night was the best so far. Every semester, the program improves but last night really was an incredibly professional and aesthetic evening. The students did an exceptional job presenting subjects in an interesting way, speaking confidently, not reading the slides showing real scientific thought and methodology. The poster session was very impressive, informative and showed us how scientific knowledge can be presented succinctly and in a way that non-scientists like me can get it. The food and the set up of the evening was also exceptional. It is not surprising that this evening took place in our thirteenth year, the year, at least according to Jewish tradition, when a child becomes an adult. I had a real sense of the maturity of the institute. I want to thank all of those who were involved in making the evening a special one (I am sure I will have forgotten someone so please forgive me if I have mistakenly left your name off):
Clive, Suleiman, Amit, Lauren, Dane, Alison, Michelle, Moishe, Judy and Ronit.
I also want to thank the bakers: Sharon, Roee, Shira, Yonatan, Uri N., Abby, Alison and Yair. I want to thank all of the mentors/advisors who helped the students to produce great work.Finally, I want to thank the students for giving us an educational and enjoyable evening, one that we can all be proud of. AIES Night Program - In the middle of the week, we had an unexpected event - an extreme weather event. A storm hit the entire region and brought down about 20 milimeters of rain in our area. This may not seem like a lot of rain but we are generally average 2.5 milimeters of rain annually in our area. Take a look at this video clip by a local photographer - Mori Chen. Arava Flood
- Finally, today at Keren Kolot we are we are sadly saying goodbye to Alison, Michael, Roee and Shira. It has been fun having them here and we will miss them very much. We wish them a soft landing back in the US and look forward to their next visit.
David Lehrer
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