by joe eskenazi
staff writer
All right, what color are most gardens? For those of you who answered “green,” that’s good. For those who didn’t — let’s just say you did. Because this year Israel in the Gardens will most definitely be going green, a deep verdant green.
To start with, revelers at this year’s festival won’t have to shlep their dripping bottles and cans all the way to Berkeley to find a recycling container. This year, there’ll be plenty.
What’s more, notes Ronit Jacobs, the festival’s director, food vendors have been asked to cut down on the non-recyclable containers.
But the greening of Israel in the Gardens has deeper roots than the ability to fling a spent bottle of Yoo-hoo into the proper bin. Environmental awareness is at the heart of this year’s Israel in the Gardens festival; you could say that blue and white make green.
“The common goals of Israel and America and the Jewish community are to reduce our dependence on oil and save the planet. We thought this would be a wonderful way to be part of the whole global environmental movement working toward that,” Jacobs said.
A trio of companies with greenish agendas will have a special display. Calcars.org will show off its modified Toyota Prius (how does 100 miles per gallon sound right about now?); PG&E will highlight its efforts to conserve power; and Carbon Neutral, a company that measures carbon usage (and waste) in homes and businesses, will have representatives on hand.
And don’t tell Ofira Avisar that newspaper hasn’t been a popular fashion accessory since the Depression.
The Israeli artist has designed an entire fashion line of clothes crafted form newspapers. Like most fashion lines, these clothes are not meant to be worn to the grocery store or out on the town. Unlike most clothes, they are a metaphor for renewable resources meant to push environmentalism through art. You can eye her line at this year’s fest.
Also featured will be the work of Israeli photographer Zvika “Ziggy” Livnat, who lives in Hawaii and has taken stunning shots of coral reefs. His books and DVDs will be available for public viewing.
Finally, nothing says grassroots environmentalism like taking a walk instead of a drive. This year you can do so while raising a few bucks for Israel. The “Walk a Mile for Israel” stroll kicks off at 10 a.m., prior to the festival’s 11 a.m. opening. And, yes, it really is just a mile (walkers trek from Yerba Buena Gardens to Fremont Street and back again).
Someday Jacobs envisions a full walkathon. In the meantime, a mile is a good start. And if you finish your bottle of water — hold onto it. There’ll be plenty of places to get rid of it at Israel in the Gardens.
To register in advance for “Walk a Mile for Israel,” visit www.israelcentersf.org/israelinthegardens/2007/walk/intro.asp
CopyrightJ, the Jewish news weekly of Northern California