THE ROAD AHEAD
The SPNI's rapid ascent to an exalted position in Israeli society left it vul-nerable. Exciting initiatives were adopted that with time became an economic
Amotz Zahavi warns against the tendency to glorify the past, saying that “the first 80 percent is always the easy part.” Today's SPNI has far more employees and a far larger budget to focus on nature preservation than ever before, with two million shekels earmarked for activism.[187] Yet although the Society may be more professional than ever, it is also more ponderous. Its very size may have slowed its ability to adapt to the new rules of the game in the rough and tumble of current environmental con-flict. During the 1960s and 1970s developers were unprepared for Green campaigns, and government decision makers largely identified with the SPNI message. In today's conflicts, on the other hand, private developers and industry bankroll a stable of “environmental experts,” motivated by windfall profits. Money talks louder than ever in the game of government lobbying. A new level of professional sophistication is required that runs counter to an organizational culture where workers would rather be out hiking. And often there are just too many holes in the dike to plug.
In a retrospective survey it is always easier and perhaps more interest-ing to highlight failures. The many cases where natural resources were quietly preserved did not often make for good press. Sometimes the price of winning is discretion. All this makes the list of SPNI successes more im-pressive. Mistakes were made, but the overall record is dominated by en-vironmental victories. The map of Israel is literally dotted with lovely cor-ners and even a few species that would have long ago disappeared without the SPNI's uncompromising voice.
The Society has never played entirely by the rules. The positive results it gets by such tactics sometimes surprise even its own veterans. It is pos-sible that it can continue to play its complex game of parallel identities. It may succeed in running an inspirational educational empire and still play the environmental pit bull; it may be able to sit on State committees and enjoy substantial support from government ministries while holding their friends' feet to the fire; it may be possible to be both gigantic and nimble. But the organization may also have to make some hard choices.
Nature protection is a tough business. Veteran activists quip that “there are no real victories—only stays of execution.” For almost half a century the SPNI has been under fire in this rewarding but frustrating line of work. Many national treasures survive as a result. Whether they consti-tute “temporary stays of execution” or not depends on many factors, one of which is the continued evolution and influence of the Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel.