Profile of Everett Fellow Avi Cohen: Connecting Environmental and Social Issues

Researching pollution in Eilat for a university tourism seminar, Avi Cohen saw something that changed his life.

"I love nature, I love to hike," said Avi, 28. "When I saw these crimes, I said, ‘Something has to be done.'"

The crimes Avi saw: "Enormous hazardous waste sites, many illegal dumping grounds, damage to nature reserves and other natural sites. It pierced my heart...I saw that these crimes happen, people get small fines and those same contractors then get big contracts from the municipality. I knew it wasn't simple; that it involved more than just reporting and expecting change. But I knew change was possible and I decided I wouldn't rest till it would happen. That's why I went to study urban planning."

Avi had gotten his B.A. in geography and was studying for his M.A. in urban planning at the Technion when he applied for Shatil's Everett Social Justice Fellowship, a program that places 50 university students a year in internships in social change organizations and provides them with training and scholarships.

If he was a determined environmental activist when he reached Everett and Shatil, that year-long experience caused Avi to connect the dots and changed his life even further.

"Before my involvement with Shatil, I was mostly involved in environmental issues," he says. "Through the Everett program and my internship at Shchenim (Neighbors), I saw a whole other world - not just environmental organizations but social organizations that focus on the social gaps. I saw many connections between environmental and social issues - the human effect of policies that don't take everyone into account. Today, I'm more knowledgeable about social and economic gaps in society.

"Since Everett, in every project I work on, I emphasize this connection."

Today, Avi works on transport planning for Lerman Architects and Town Planners, a Tel Aviv firm.

"Everywhere I work, including here, it's important for me to see how the connection between environmental and social issues get expressed - to make sure public transportation and bicycle trails are accessible and suitable for all, for example. Israel is years behind where it should be and I hope to have an influence on planning policy in general."

At his work at Shchenim, an NGO that brings Galilee Jews and Arabs together around issues of planning and design, Avi was involved in initiating cooperation projects between twinned Arab and Jewish towns and villages. He began by gathering material and interviewed engineers in the towns to create a community profile in order to see where they could cooperate.

"The communities are very different from one another, but our research revealed similarities: half the population is children and we realized one of the bases of cooperation was education and leisure activities for the children," Avi said. "The Jewish villages were too small to warrant institutions but if they combined their needs with those of a neighboring Arab village, things could happen. Parents in both communities want the best for their kids. I made presentations to groups in both villages that showed them what they really had in common and what the real data were - which was different from what they hear in the media. I could tell by people's questions and comments that their prejudices were coming into question." The groups are continuing to meet.

"Through Everett I also got to meet people that don't get their share of representation in the media and when you do see them on TV or in the newspapers, it's superficial and often distorted. The media doesn't give you the whole picture regarding the Bedouin population in the Negev, for example. We met them and heard from them about their needs and problems.

"I learned a lot from this - that you can research in the library all you want but hearing from the people themselves is critical for planning."

Avi said it was important for him to meet social activists working in NGO's - including the other Everett Fellows -- part of the program's enrichment component that includes retreats (see following story.) "It was one of the most powerful aspects of the program," he said.

"It was inspiring to meet people who care and do something about it -- who really make a change, a difference in people's lives. I wasn't aware how many such people there are in Israel. It had a far-reaching influence on me."