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Daniel Orenstein

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Jun 21, 2018, 11:59 PM

50 Years on Planet Earth

One hot evening in the west San Fernando Valley of Southern California 50 years ago, a pregnant Jewish mother of two was sitting on the hood of a blue 1963 Chevy Bel Air. There was no air conditioning in...

Jan 6, 2018, 2:23 PM

Humans, Wild Asses and Ecological Disasters

Are onagers (also known as the Asiatic Wild Ass – but aside from the title, I’m sticking with onager) the hope for Israel’s Negev Desert or are they an unmitigated ecological disaster? That’s the opening line of a recent...

Sep 16, 2017, 8:31 PM

A climate change paradox: What’s a nice way of warning that we are about to drive off a cliff?

When you are a parent, you want your kids to know that things are going to be OK. They have enough stress in day-to-day life and enough adolescent worries to keep their minds occupied. They shouldn’t have to carry...

Jan 26, 2017, 3:55 PM

Donald J. Trump, Shooting the Ecological Messenger

The global environment has seen ups and downs over the last 10,000 years – due to both natural phenomena and human activities. But the environmental pressures of the last two hundred years, resulting from exponential population growth and similarly...

Nov 20, 2016, 12:05 PM

Mifal HaPayis ad campaign: That kid in the rainforest or a yacht?

It's bad enough to dupe the poor, but mocking the needs of children and the environment is too much -- ban the ads!

Sep 19, 2016, 3:00 AM

Is the Land of Israel Full? Read and Decide!

Nearly 50 years ago, professors of ecology Paul and Anne Ehrlich produced a powerful and provocative polemic, “The Population Bomb,” in which they claimed that the earth did not have the capacity to support the earth’s population along with...

Jul 10, 2016, 12:46 PM

The Commercialization of the Landscape

In Terry Gilliam’s 1985 dystopic future movie “Brazil,” intercity travel occurs within a corridor of billboards that simultaneously promote their product and block the view of the landscape. In Ridley Scott’s 1982 movie “Blade Runner,” humans and “replicants” go...

May 25, 2016, 1:55 PM

The Academic Boycott: Isolating Individuals and Burning Bridges

The American Anthropological Association (AAA) is going to the polls to decide whether Israeli academics will become personae non gratae in their organization. Proponents claim their very carefully crafted resolution does not target individuals but that they seek to...

Nov 10, 2015, 4:18 PM

What your boycott means to me

On efforts to hold Israeli academics (and only Israeli academics) accountable for their country’s actions

Nov 7, 2015, 3:35 PM

Don’t dry up Israel’s botanical gardens!

Slashing the budget for these havens of ecological wonder is a blow to Israel's biodiversity

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About Me

Daniel Orenstein is an associate professor in the Faculty of Architecture and Town Planning at the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology.