"You don't need another app to order sushi, you need to make sure there are fish in the sea"

This is what Prof. Yoav Yair, head of the School of Sustainability at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, tells his students in an interview on the Hidan website. Prof. Yair is optimistic and expects that a good agreement will be signed today because the atmosphere has changed and everyone recognizes the problem. The question is how they will put it into action

"I always tell my students that we don't need another app to order sushi, we need to make sure there are fish in the sea so we can make sushi from them." Says Prof. Yoav Yair, Head of the School of Sustainability at the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya. (see also: By the middle of the century there will be no fish left in the sea)
We spoke with Prof. Yair, who was interviewed a few days ago by "Zoit" under the title "Paris of hope” (the article was also published on the Hedan website), and said he was optimistic. I asked to find out if he is optimistic even a few hours before the end of the conference, when the road to agreements is still far away. "I actually came away quite encouraged by the reports from the conference. An agreement will be signed, in which the rich countries will support the poor countries and help deal with the expenses. In the framed article, if the vote was democratic, most countries would want a large reduction, but it is not. It will be difficult for the developed countries and the BRIC countries - Brazil, Russia, India and China - to agree to such a large reduction."

"Yesterday it was announced that China is going to reduce carbon emissions by 30% by switching to renewable energies. A month ago, the CEO of one of the largest wind energy companies in China - Gold Wind - was a guest at IDC. He said they have no choice but to switch to renewable energies because of the air pollution from the coal-fired power plants, and from the coal-based industry, the Chinese don't have oil and natural gas, they import everything.) They will switch to renewable energies even more strongly, they have no choice."

What does the agreement mean?
"The goal is to reduce emissions in order to prevent the average global temperature from increasing by more than 2 degrees, which will also have serious consequences. And there are even many who offer an ambitious proposal to reduce the damage to only one and a half degrees. If we continue with business as usual, we will easily reach an increase of four degrees by the end of the century. The climate system is not a predictable linear system. There are many influencing factors. First, even an addition of four degrees or a degree and a half, will not cause an increase in this rate anywhere in the world, there will be places where the warming will be much higher. Sensitive points are the poles and especially the continental glaciers in Greenland and Antarctica. Their melting will accelerate and this will happen suddenly. There are already studies that show that the ice in Greenland is melting rapidly."

What should Israel do to contribute to reducing emissions?

"Bibi gave an interesting and important speech in Paris. Israel is not a major player, our economy is not on the same order of magnitude as the developed countries in Europe and the USA. This is not Israel's role, because the country's footprint is small. It is indeed desirable that they use less coal and more gas mainly for reasons of air pollution, but a much higher use of renewable energy is required - especially solar energy. The government has set a target and we are not meeting it. I hope that the players - the Electricity Authority, the Electric Company and the Ministry of Energy and the government as a whole will reach some kind of agreement on a new mix of the Israeli energy economy in which renewable energies will make up a much larger proportion of the electricity output. Today, the use of renewable energies constitutes 4% of all electricity production. The target should be 20%. "
"Our real strength is in innovation and many problems can be solved with technology and with Israeli inventions, there really is a place for Israeli innovation here. I always tell my students at IDC we don't need another app to make sushi on mobile, we need to make sure there are fish in the sea, solve big problems and not deal with nonsense. If the startup companies were to turn to sustainability and the environment, they would also be hired because there would be a demand for these developments all over the world.
"There are many Israeli companies in the cleantech field, but it is not enough. The Chief Scientist should define this as a national goal and encourage Israeli companies to go in the direction of solving environmental problems in the fields of energy, water, food, and the preservation of the biological diversity. There are so many things to do.

"Since I assumed the position of dean of the School of Sustainability at IDC a little over a year ago, I encourage my students to think about solving big problems. In the first stage, they begin to look at what is happening on the Israeli field, but give them time - and they will spread their wings to solve problems in the world."

Why did the climate issue become a political issue since the science here is absolutely clear?

"It's a political issue because business lobbies of the oil and coal lobbies have been funding the American right since time immemorial. Here, too, there has been a change in public opinion in the US. After the Pope visited there, he said that it is a religious and moral issue to protect the earth and man's duty before God to preserve nature and protect creatures. So there was also a shift in the American right."
"The Obama administration is doing amazing things - the very fact that the United States is ready to sign is already progress. In Copenhagen they didn't sign and they didn't ratify the Kyoto agreement.. For the first time they are joining the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), the body that organizes the climate conferences since it was decided to establish it at the climate summit in Rio in 1992."

In conclusion, Prof. Yair says: "The Paris conference showed that the leaders are rising above politics this time and there is a sense of deep change. Time will tell when they have to break it down into action."

More of the topic in Hayadan:

• By the middle of the century there will be no fish left in the sea
• Prof. Yair at the "Threats to Science and Reason" event of the Hidan website (2011): a cynical and cunning effort was made by certain sectors and stakeholders to attack climate science 
• יAnd from Paris: final drafts
• We are all children of climate change

• Climate change does not hold a passport - Paris diary: the week of decision

• Paris of hope

• Paris Diary: Summary of the first week