Today is Earth Day. I will be making no changes to my lifestyle…. but obviously I’ll still be driving my electric car!
Yesterday I met the deputy mayor of Jerusalem, Naomi Tsur at her office for a chat about her Green Pilgrimage conference. I’ve posted about it over at the Times of Israel. Sharon covered the opening event with pictures yesterday.
There is no doubt Jerusalem is one of the most important tourist destination cities in the world. It is absolutely central to the Christian and Jewish religions and descriptions of Jerusalem appear throughout the scriptures of both. I once had an amazing conversation with a Christian woman on her way back to the UK after her first visit to Israel. She spent one hour describing every variety of tree she saw and the chapter and verse from the bible in which it was mentioned. This kind of connection through descriptive detail occurs with trees, buildings, ruins and all aspects of Jerusalem and Israel.
When all is said and done, this is just about careful stewardship of a very small city which matters disproportionately to way more than a couple of billion people. It’s one city with many faiths and since the end of it’s breif division and illegal Jordainian occupation it’s become a tremendous place to visit.
That is the success story of Jerusalem and the utter failure of Israel’s detractors. Making Jerusalem an even better place to visit and making it even more of a jewel in Israel’s crown is the goal and I’m impressed with those who are running it today.
