Everything seemed to be going well. I had a great weekend with the Beit Shean kids and I had already written the feared blog. Yet again to my dismay, Amnon had done the unspeakable to me. The unforgivable to me. He gave me another blog to write. Though at least it wasn’t about an unfinished hydroelectric plant. At least it was about something interesting, relatively of course. We went to strangers on the Tel Aviv beach and interviewed them about Israel’s water situation. The first question: what comes to mind when you hear Israel and water. The second: what are sources of water that you know of in Israel. Third: how can Israel improve its use of water.
Through the various interviews, those in my group saw a very interesting trend, a contrast between the responses of the younger and older generation. It seems the older generation holds a more realistic and developed view on the current water situation in Israel, while the younger generation holds a patriotic and almost oblivious view. The older generation generally responded to the questions posed by talking about Israel’s struggle with sources of water, but were hopeful for the developing technology on salination. They realized that although Israel is the number one country in the world in the recycling and reuse of water, it still faces many challenges. In contrast, the younger generation answered the question with pride and a lack of perspective on the struggles all countries face. For example, everyone of the teens who we interviewed claimed that Israel faced no challenges regarding sufficient water sources. Furthermore, none of the teens knew anything about Israel’s progress in desalination process.
It seems that our icnext cohort has the upper hand over the non-observant younger generation in Israel. This trip and program has instilled in us knowledge that is possessed for the most part in the older generation. A knowledge that tells us Israel’s unfortunate lack of water sources has caused it to become the leading country in recycling and reuse of water. This knowledge that also tells us Israel is a leading country in desalination, a process that will allow Israel to be very comfortable with her current water situation. It should not be Israel’s water situation that the younger generation is proud of, but rather its innovation and ability to adapt to the many challenges it faces.