When Al Gore visited Israel this week, he presented compelling arguments for Israelis to address climate change through serious economic and lifestyle changes. But how ready are Israelis to adopt more environmentally friendly behavior, such as car-pooling, and flying less? Or to pay more for gasoline to reduce the use of fossil fuels that emit greenhouse gases? How much do they even know about climate change and its causes?
Preliminary research conducted by Ben-Gurion University and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies this past December suggests that, in fact, Israelis are both informed and concerned about climate change. In a telephone poll of almost 300 Israelis, 87 percent of respondents claimed to have at least a basic knowledge of climate change, and 66.7 percent agreed that "major steps" need to be taken "very soon" to reduce the human activities thought to cause the phenomenon. Furthermore, a significant 84.7 percent agreed that this would require individuals to make lifestyle and behavioral changes.
These results may be surprising, but they are consistent with a November 2007 BBC World Service poll of 22,000 people in 21 countries, including China, Nigeria and France, which revealed that on average, 65 percent supported taking "major steps very soon." While Israel's yearly greenhouse gas emissions of 73,000 kilotons are tiny when compared to those of the United States and China, it is still ranked 29th globally in CO2 emissions per capita (10.8 tons), above most European countries. In fact, Israel is surpassed only by the Gulf States, the United States, Canada, Australia, Norway and the smallest of developed countries, such as Luxembourg and Singapore.
At least half these emissions derive from everyday activities of private citizens, including electricity consumption in residential and commercial properties, and transportation. This includes the 62 percent of working Israelis who regularly commute to work by car and the average office building, where cooling and heating contribute up to 70 percent of energy consumption.
Although the Israeli government has hardly made climate change a priority, these results suggest a highly favorable policy environment for seriously addressing the issue. They also suggests a likely rise in grass-roots activities to reduce emissions, even in the absence of decisive government action.
There is, however, a catch. For, while the survey revealed overwhelming support for "doing something" about climate change, Israelis are less enthusiastic about the more challenging aspects of what reducing emissions would actually mean. Only 24 percent, for example, were willing to fly less. Aviation is a significant contributor to the greenhouse effect: CO2 emissions at high altitudes make this greenhouse gas 2.7 times more potent, and planes release water vapor (contrails), another greenhouse gas. One round trip between Tel Aviv and New York emits two tons of CO2 per passenger, roughly a fifth of the average Israeli's total yearly emissions.
Furthermore, only half of the Israelis surveyed supported price rises for gasoline and electricity, a measure widely seen as the most effective means to encourage people to switch to less carbon-intensive and wasteful behaviors. This figure, however, would rise to 65 percent if price hikes were accompanied by tax cuts elsewhere, and to 68 percent if the revenue was used to fund renewable energy. It is also revealing that fewer than 30 percent of Israelis take easy but less obvious energy-saving measures, such as unplugging their unused cell-phone chargers. Even when not in use, a charger plugged into the wall continues to draw electricity from the grid, known as a "phantom load." Although the quantity for a single charger is small, when multiplied by Israel's reported 7 million mobile phone accounts, the energy wasted consumes the equivalent of 5,000 barrels of oil a year. Any appliance left on "standby" mode also draws a phantom load.
This gap between environmental attitudes and behavior is widely noted in research. Some argue that the popular media's portrayal of climate change has, in fact, frightened and guilt-tripped people into inaction. Instead, people are more likely to be inspired toward necessary lifestyle changes if these are presented as the means to a safer, healthier and fairer future.
The survey results also suggest that government policy must focus on education to prevent energy wastage. The survey illustrated that only 30 percent of respondents regularly used energy-saving light bulbs, which can increase efficiency by up to 80 percent, and that only 48 percent of respondents regularly put on more clothes when they feel cold, instead of turning the heating on or up. Policy must also focus on transportation and construction sectors. Taking a cue from Europe and the U.S., this could include market-based incentives such as promoting energy-efficient appliances and green building certifications.
Not only do such economic incentives reduce bills, but in the long term, taking action now will be substantially less costly than the eventual price of addressing the impacts of climate change in the future, such as extreme and unpredictable weather and sea level rises on the Mediterranean coast.
Admittedly, Israel's location will make it hard to address aviation emissions, although it should be noted that the ferry service from Haifa to Cyprus and Greece resumed this month, after a seven-year hiatus.
Let's hope that Gore's visit will be the catalyst for government and popular action toward mitigating this dangerous threat facing humanity.
Lucy Michaels is a doctoral candidate at the Desert Research Institute of Ben-Gurion University.
