An account of the proceedings in a traffic court in Safed clearly defining the casual way the judges deal with traffic violators, reducing or cancelling their fines; and suggestions by Pamela Peled of how to change the system.

Tony Benjamin and Ron Acker highlight the struggle to save the beauty of the area of Harish, near Wadi Ara, which is destined to become a metropolis to house thousands of ultra-orthodox families, displacing the mainly secular and mixed present community.

At its monthly meeting, ESRA Kfar Saba-Hod Hasharon chapter invited as their guest speaker, veterinarian Dr. Bernard Hurwitz who illustrated his talk with animals he brought with him – a raccoon, a coatimundi, a dwarf goat and a boa constrictor.

Aviva Zuller went into culture shock upon arriving in Israel and discovering that re-cycling here isn’t what she experienced back in the USA. Having being totally involved in a most effective environmental watch group there, this self-proclaimed recycling queen went to work to change things here by helping “Adam Teva V’Din”.

A joint multi-disciplinary project – Migrating Birds Know No Boundaries – is run in 300 schools in Israel, 30 in Jordan and 30 in the Palestinian Authority, shows how through cooperation and education, birds can serve to bring children together and progress towards common goals.

Naomi Ariel gives us some more tips on how to conserve water. Just turning a tap on with a slow flow of water and not leaving the tap running when cleaning vegetables are two of the points she makes.

Face-off with a cop. Judy Shapiro finds “a different mindset,” as she argues with a cop about a familiar road that was suddenly off limits. Tempers flared as she refused to accept this new law, but she learned something about herself as well.

“Hiking in the Ashes of the Carmel” with Hilary Lavi, recounts her participation with a group who hiked to the destination of the mega-fire on Mount Carmel. They walked through the mosaic of black, ash, gray and green areas and discoverd some patches that had been miraculously untouched by the fire.