A few weeks ago was the last meeting of the Galilee Fellows which wrapped up the first phase of the program. Fellows are now entering Phase II of the program, during which they will begin working on joint projects. Ofer Keren, a Galilee Fellow, brought his project idea to the Upscaling Hackathon which took place on February 7-8 . “Our initiative aspires to share simple solutions with each and every household in order to create energy and water-usage efficiency while also reducing consumption”, he explains.
“We consume so much more than what we really need. The culture of abundance in which we live in demands for a reconsideration of the household and family management. Ofer’s initiative is based on a strategy which he developed for household energy efficiency. “With our methodology, every household can reduce one third of their electricity and water bills, in addition to their food expenses. Today the initiative is being partly implemented in Shefar’am with the help of the regional council that trained local instructors to work with residents.”
Another current Fellow, a Heschel Sustainability Fellow in the current cohort, Sharon Barak, also brought an initiative which some of the other Heschel Fellows helped her develop. “The purpose of this initiative is to promote a simple and easy way to build and operate a household composter using materials that are easily accessible. The instructions are “open code” that everyone can build for themselves or for others.” Sharon’s idea takes on a variety of sustainability principles: First, a home composter maximizes a household’s ability to recycle. It therefore, serves an environmental, educational and economic purposes by reducing waste, educating families about the importance of reusing and recycling, and it saves money. It also shares the information free of charge and shows how simple it is to operate. Once awareness increases regarding the home treatment of organic waste, there will be less waste as a whole, serving humanity and reducing the effects of climate change.