Well, Spring has sprung in Israel. The days are getting longer, the buds are appearing, new growth is everywhere and wild flowers are sprouting. Ain’t life grand. Ted Belman
HAARETZ
The Hiriya former waste dump is certainly an unlikely place for a Tu Bishvat (Israeli Arbor Day) planting ceremony, a holiday that symbolizes the rebirth of nature. Nevertheless, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will attend a festive planting event on the mountain of waste, as part of a widespread initiative towards environmental renewal.
During the visit, Environmental Protection Ministry officials will present the prime minister with an outline of plans to turn the site into a recycling park. Netanyahu’s visit comes just one day after the packaging recycling law was passed, aimed at reducing packaging waste and encouraging repeated use of packaging materials.
Tu Bishvat festivities will span over three days this year, metamorphosing from a tree-planting holiday into an occasion with wider environmental and social significance.
Tu Bishvat is a good time to get a campaign going to promote growing the wonder plant, HEMP on a large scale in Israel. Many of the products that can be manufactured from hemp are superior to those from wood. Then also, hemp has saved nations from starvation. It’s one of the oldest agricultural crops in history. Hemp is a cousin of marijuana, cannabis sativa, but without the narcotic, THC.
America’s history is rooted in growing hemp. It was Thomas Jefferson who once said, “Hemp is of greatest importance to our nation”. Today, healthy and sustainable hemp products are sold across the USA, but American farmers are prohibited from growing industrial hemp as a crop. Israel, acting in most cases as if it is the 51st state of the USA, probably followed suit.
Every family in Israel with a roof garden or a piece of land, should have a few hemp plants. It’s a way to sustainable living.
Enjoy! I am under about 10 feet of snow with temperatures dipping to close to minus 40 with the windchill this week.