Peace-building through environmental diplomacy provides a spark of hope for our shared future.

In a time when headlines are dominated by division and despair, it can be difficult to imagine cooperation across political and cultural lines, let alone sustained partnership. Yet that is exactly what the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies has been quietly modeling for three decades.

In December, its executive director, Tareq Abu Hamed, visited and met with multiple faith, environmental and civic groups in the Monterey Bay area. His visit was not about offering easy answers. It was about bearing witness to what becomes possible when shared human needs – clean water, sustainable energy and a livable environment – are placed at the center of our work together.

The Arava Institute, located in Israel’s Arava Desert, brings together Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and international students to study environmental science while participating in a semester-long dialogue and peace-building program. The premise is simple but profound: Climate and environment do not recognize borders, and neither can the solutions to the challenges it faces. Water, the most basic human need, sits at the heart of the Institute’s work, not as metaphor, but as shared reality.

It is applied science paired with lived diplomacy.

The work of the Arava Institute is not symbolic. It is applied science paired with lived diplomacy.

Like many institutions committed to international cooperation, the Arava Institute now faces real challenges. The loss of USAID funding has resulted in budget reductions. Tuition is $10,000 per student, and when funding allows, students from across the Middle East receive full scholarships.

Abu Hamed spoke candidly about leading the Institute through the aftermath of Oct. 7, 2023. While violence and fear rippled across the region, students from across divides made the courageous decision to remain together on campus. Scientific research continued. Dialogue continued. Relationships endured. That choice, made under extraordinary pressure, stands as a powerful reminder that cooperation is not naïve. It is disciplined, demanding, and necessary.

Those who want to understand this work more deeply have an opportunity to join Arava Voices Circles, now forming nationwide, bring together small groups of people in support of environmental diplomacy. Circles can become a place to build trust, learn together, and discover what shared action can look like across differences. Circles take many forms, like organizing a bike ride or a drumming circle, coordinating an environmental project, hosting public conversations, or exploring other ways to support environmental peace-building.

We often speak about the need for light in dark times. Light, however, does not arrive fully formed. It begins as a spark, a conversation, a willingness to listen, a decision to remain in relationship when it would be easier to walk away.

The Arava Institute reminds us that cooperation across divides is not only possible, it is already happening.

MINDY GLICKMAN lives in Monterey and serves on the board of Friends of the Arava Institute (arava.org). Reach her at mitzvahmamas@gmail.com.