Sustaining Yourself Sustainably

Anat Barzialai passes her days working in her home garden, cultivating her passion for growing, preparing, and eating healthy, natural food. Despite years of traveling around Israel and learning hands-on about different methods of organic agriculture, working in her garden is virtually the only chance Barzialai has to put her skills to use. Unwilling to succumb to a mundane office job, she sporadically teaches cooking classes to pay the bills. Barzialai is, like many others, struggling to sustain herself sustainably.

Successfully sustaining oneself sustainably, for this purpose, is defined as being a healthy, social, productive and, yes, financially stable member of society, while being committed to working in an environmental field. Most of us eco-freaks have the first three bases covered: Healthy living is a core environmental value, as is an emphasis on community and partnership, which enable us to be social and productive. Financial stability, however, can be a great challenge. Finding paid environmental work in Israel at times turns out to be more of a game of chance and timing than the outcome of some strategic system, and many jobs, once landed, are either part-time or temporary.

In Tel Aviv, many young adults who want to work in a “green” field have to supplement their expenses with other work such as waitressing, stage production, or by toiling in the hi-tech industry. Others, such as Yossi Lampel, will not compromise their values. Lampel works as a garden therapist for people with ASD (autism spectrum disorders), earning minimum wage in the most expensive city in the Middle East. Despite the many hours he must work to sustain himself, he smiles when he says that he loves his work atmosphere, the people he works with, and that the feeling of making a difference is payment on its own.

As is typical in Israel, there are divergent perspectives on the challenges in sustaining oneself sustainably. Barzialai offers the explanation that “the smaller scale doesn’t have the resources, and there are not enough mentors and leaders on the big scale.” Lampel suggests that the environmental movement is still relatively new in Israel, and this is why there is not yet a strong support network.

“Only six years ago we were traveling around to different ecofarms in Israel, and there was almost no one doing that,” he says. “In the beginning, we have to try, fail, adjust, try again, fail again, adjust, and so on until something succeeds. Israel is still in this trial and error stage as far as the environmental movement is concerned.” It is precisely because the movement is so new that there is so much room in Israeli environmentalism for startups, as well as a lack of stable environmental careers.

While many “greenies” are struggling to sustain themselves, there are some that succeed. Many Israeli environmentalists who manage to maintain a steady income do so by starting their own business, which is fairly appropriate in this “Startup Nation.” Among these are businesses such as Gan HaSade and Hubeza, two of many organic farms delivering boxes of freshly harvested vegetables weekly to city dwellers, and Yaar Books, an ecological publishing company printing only on 100 percent recycled paper. But you would be hard-pressed to find a job at any of these places by typing the Hebrew equivalent of “Green Jobs” into Google.

You may be able to find a job listing like this, however, on the website for Shatil, a 25-year-old Israeli NGO working to promote social change. Their online job database (Hebrew only) provides a critical tool for Israelis looking for sustainable work. Shatil’s mission is to provide guidance and support to help strengthen and connect various organizations nationwide that are working on a wealth of social issues, of which environmental justice is one. Founded by the New Israel Fund, Shatil embodies a vision of hope and stability as well as practical tools for individuals looking for sustainable sustenance.

Sefi Major, another environmental entrepreneur in Tel Aviv, says he does not see the problem. “Any job can be a green job if you want it to be,” he says, explaining that he takes his trade of stage and sound production and uses it to work in festivals and shows promoting green living.

This optimistic perspective, when considered alongside the trial and error development perspective of the environmental movement, offers a glimpse of hope for the future for Israeli environmentalists. The environmental movement in Israel is wide open now for change through social entrepreneurship, and if we fail, we will just have to adjust and try again.