For years the sustainability community has been calling for the world to pay attention to our wasteful, self-absorbed, destructive lifestyles. \u201cWe need a new paradigm\u201d, we said – \u201cthis isn\u2019t working.\u201d The rich will get richer, the poor will get poorer, nature will diminish, more and more species will become extinct, and at some point, we will have bigger problems, if that\u2019s even possible\u201d. Climate change became a topic that scientists began to explore but not before late 2018* did we learn that we have an expiration date, a date after which we will hit the point of no return, and our warming planet will refuse to return to its regular temperatures, even if we say sorry and try harder to change our ways.<\/p>\n
2019 was a global turning point, when the world started listening, especially thanks to a teenage girl who received lots of social media attention and garnered increasing mass-media attention to the upcoming crisis.<\/p>\n
Suddenly, people started asking questions, realizing that the future they dreamed of might be different than what they had expected. Israeli decision makers on national and local levels approached the Heschel Center for advice – so what should we do? Can we do anything about this? \u201cBegin planning for 2050,\u201d we said. \u201cAnd start now.\u201d And they listened, but something else happened. Since change happens in a non-linear matter, as our chief educator Dr. Lia Ettinger always says, these past few weeks in the shadow of the corona virus have been the best way to show humanity that A. Life is fragile. B. Whatever you think, nature is stronger than we humans are. C. When we believe that our actions will save lives, governments are able to set rules that people will follow, no matter how drastic the change needs to be.<\/p>\n