By Ayala Or-el, Contributing Writer, "Jewish Journal"

While visiting from Israel last week, Gil Yaakov got a lesson in Los Angeles' generosity.

"The city gives away free trees to residents, which is great in fighting air pollution and at the same time helps with shading and beautifying the city," said Yaakov, director of Green Course, a student environmental organization in Tel Aviv.

He said that this concept of giving away green items, such as ultralow-flush toilets, energy-efficient refrigerators and energy-saving lightbulbs is unheard of in Israel.

"Israel can't think in the long run," added Sagit Rogenstein, national project director of Israel's leading environmental nonprofit, Zalul. "They see such an investment as an extravagance, an unnecessary investment. We need to change this way of thinking. The [Department of Water and Power] (DWP) calculated that they have saved more money than they put into this project."

Yaakov and Rogenstein arrived in Los Angeles on March 2 to address an awakening among American Jews to the environmental threats to Israel. The two were among a group of 18 academics, environmentalists and politicians participating in the Friends of Israel's Environment exchange program.