[12] In 1996, Tal founded the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies at Kibbutz Ketura, an advanced academic program that brings together Israelis, Palestinians, Jordanians and international students.
[6] Between 2004 and 2015 Tal served on the international board of the Jewish National Fund (JNF), Israel's forestry and land reclamation agency, as an elected representative of the Green Zionist Alliance, in partnership with the Conservative Movement.
[18] In 2015, he joined Professor Uri Shanas as one of the founders of the "This Is My Earth - TIME" initiative[21] an international effort to purchase biodiversity "hot spots" as conservation sanctuaries through crowd sourcing.
[22] Tal has remained active in a range of environmental advocacy initiatives, including preparation of proposed biodiversity protection legislation and involvement in public interest litigation.
He was a plaintiff in the successful, 2014 class action suit following the massive oil spill in Israel's Ein Evrona nature reserve, that sought to cover the damage caused by negligence on the part of the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company.
After leaving the Knesset, in 2023 he accepted an appointment as a visiting professor at the Stanford University Business school where he continues to teach climate policy and is an Israel Fellow at the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies (2024, 2025).
Shortly thereafter, the Green Movement took legal action to prevent the appointment of Yoav Gallant as chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces, due to his seizure of public land next to his home and the filing of a false affidavit to the Supreme Court.
[31] During Tal's tenure, the party also initiated campaigns to save the Samar sand dunes, to prevent the privatization of national parks, to stop the development of highway overpasses in the Jerusalem Forest and to create a “Green New Deal” for Israel's economy.
[34] Six months after the elections, he stepped down as party chairman to complete his sabbatical at Stanford University, where he wrote his book: "The Land is Full: Addressing Overpopulation in Israel."
In 2019, Tal joined Benny Gantz's new "Kahol Lavan Hosen LeYisrael" (Israel Resilience) party and was placed 25th on the Knesset list;[35] following the merger with Yesh Atid he was ultimately placed 45th on the slate.
[38] During his first year as a parliamentarian, Tal was appointed as chair of the Knesset Subcommittee on Environmental and Climate Impacts on Health as well as Co-Chair of the Public Complaints committee.
Tal was recognized by Shakuf, an Israeli organization that promotes good government as one of the five most diligent members of the twenty-fourth Knesset and Israel's leading parliamentarian in bi-partisan initiatives.
Eventually economics, water resources, noise and the general dysfunction caused by the unbearable density will push Israel into a confrontation with advocates of large families and mass immigration.
Environmentalists should not be afraid to speak on behalf of the many natural treasures that will otherwise be decimated by the crowds; flora and fauna are the first to pay for human encroachment on shrinking habitat.
Tal concludes with the statement: "As a democratic country with an intelligent, patriotic citizenry that cares about the planet, Israel may yet rise to met its global climate change commitments".