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Climate Action: How to engage students in environmental activism?

Shir Horovitz
National Union of Israeli Students

The environmental movement is the largest social movement in Israel, with about 100 different organizations as members. However, it was found that only 10% of the activists are young (under 30)[1]. A limited number of organizations operate within the institutions of higher education - among them the Green Course, Fair Trade and Students for Climate.

According to the study carried out in 2011, the main challenge faced by environmental organizations in Israel is fundraising. Other challenges faced by over a quarter of the responding organizations are applying political pressure, recruiting new members and volunteers, and establishing an organizational structure.

In the current case we will learn about a national student organization in Israel which is an umbrella organization for all students that are environmental activists, who act within the framework of environmental organizations or independently.

Similar groups operate in Sweden[2], Kenya[3], the Netherlands[4] and Uganda[5]. In addition, in August 2020 the international Climate Students Movement[6] was founded. According to its website, they organization works to mobilize, organize and strengthen student groups, networks and organizations in their work to push higher education institutions to become climate leaders in their societies



[1] טל, א., ליאון זכות, ש., פרנקל אושרי, ל., גרינשפן, א., עקוב, ש. (2011). התנועה הסביבתית בישראל: מגמות, צרכים ופוטנציאל. The environmental movement in Israel: trends, needs and potential. מוגש לקרן JMG‎.

[2] https://klimatstudenterna.se/

[3] https://www.facebook.com/ClimateKenya

[4] https://www.studentenvoormorgen.nl/

[5] https://www.facebook.com/GreenlyfNetwork

[6] https://climatestudents.com/

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