ABSTRACT
This book closes with an account of a focus group consisting of members of the Kibbutz Hulata on Lake Hula in Galilee, Israel. It was chosen because it exemplifies how people and their environments need to be understood as one. The story of Lake Hula illustrates the broad expanse of ecological theory and its ideas. Lake Hula was originally composed of marshlands and a shallow fishing lake. The lake has been mentioned throughout history, dating from the 14th century BC, and attracting human settlement as early as the prehistoric times. The area has long been a trade route for agricultural products and a migratory path for birds along the Syrian–African Rift Valley. Water buffalo were introduced to the area in the eighth century, and the grounds were often used to hunt wild boars, leopards, and panthers. Fishermen later trawled the lake. Carp were known to be 3 feet long. By 1948, there were 35 settlements in the Hula Valley, including the Kibbutz Hulata.
