Full Breakdown
Literature’s Quiet Power to Shift Climate Perceptions in Israel
By Drooid · · How we work
In this breakdown
01
Literature as a Gradual Climate Catalyst
Professor Itay Marienberg-Milikowsky of Ben-Gurion University argues that the climate crisis—described as a “silent killer”—requires a cultural shift that unfolds slowly through literature and the arts. He contends that stories need not foreground environmental themes to influence readers; instead, subtle “easter eggs” revealing characters’ attitudes toward nature can gradually reshape societal norms, language, and eventually policy.
02
Historical Roots of Environmental Themes in Hebrew Literature
Marienberg-Milikowsky points to early 20th-century works such as Theodor Herzl’s *Altneuland* (1902), where protagonists notice heat and water scarcity as the first impression of the land, and S.Y. Agnon’s *Only Yesterday*, in which weather mirrors characters’ fortunes. He also highlights Talmudic anecdotes—e.g., Honi the Circle-Drawer’s drought prayer and the story of an old man planting a carob tree that will fruit for future generations—as early literary engagements with stewardship, even when the environment is not the central focus.
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Institutional Initiative at Ben-Gurion University
At the Center for Environmental Humanities in The Writers’ House, Beersheba, Marienberg-Milikowsky and archaeologist Dr. Michal Birkenfeld have helped launch an environmental-humanities framework within the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change and the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences. The initiative aims to bring humanities scholars into environmental discourse, encouraging interdisciplinary language that bridges literary analysis with natural-science research.
04
Implications and Outlook
Marienberg-Milikowsky acknowledges that literary influence operates on longer time scales than technological breakthroughs. He likens the gradual shift to changes in gender-related language observed in 1990s sitcoms, suggesting that repeated exposure to subtle environmental cues can eventually alter public conversation, policy priorities, and business norms.
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Verbatim Quotes
- “There has been very intensive research on the treatment of the environment in literature since the early 1990s, in Europe and in the United States,” — Itay Marienberg-Milikowsky