Michael Sappir

In my latest piece for Local Call I tackle conscious consumption – the most prominent approach to combating climate change in recent years. I point out that even setting aside the costliness of environmentally-friendly products, it is rarely possible to choose them exclusively, and the information required to estimate what one’s best choice is for the environment is way beyond what consumers can figure out for every single product. I place this trend within the broader context of the neoliberal turn, and point out the deeply anti-democratic sentiment embedded in the idea that our consumer choices are an expression of democracy – one which excludes those with less time and money on their hands.

In my latest piece for Local Call, I review “green” tendencies in the far-right and other right-wing responses to the climate crisis. However, I argue, the right is already profiting from the destabilization of the climate in the global south by spreading fear of migrants and implementing essentially eco-fascist policies intended to keep the climate crisis from crossing borders in the global north. Meanwhile, the only realistic path to avert total climate catastrophe is the Left’s “Green New Deal” approach, unfairly maligned as “extreme” by the mega-rich who would apparently prefer eco-fascism to such equalizing measures.

In my latest column for Local Call I argue that while despair is quite a reasonable response to the current climate crisis impasse, the future is yet unwritten and the incredible climate movements rising rapidly in the past year give good reason for hope – and practical ways to help make change. Read the full piece in Hebrew >>

I wrote about the Nazi terror attack which took place in the neighboring city of Halle, for Local Call. Read it in Hebrew >>

A piece for Local Call about “overpopulation” – the murderous myth that refuses to die. Read it in Hebrew >>

In this report for Local Call, I reviewed the outlines for climate policy delineated by the 2018 IPCC report and the approach to climate policy put forward by the various parties running in Israel’s September 2019 elections. I found that most parties do not take this issue seriously, and even the few that do, fall short of meeting the IPCC report’s emissions targets. Read the full report in Hebrew >>

In this piece for Local Call I covered the political background of the increase in forest fires in the Amazon this summer, as well as the connection to animal agriculture and indigenous rights. Read the full piece in Hebrew >>