That’s why I am proud to be part of the Green Israel slate for elections of the World Zionist Congress.  If you care about the environment in Israel and have not yet voted in the election, your vote can make a difference in a greener Israel.  You can vote here: https://myvoteourisrael.com/

The vote costs $10, which pays for the cost of the election only.  All Jews are eligible to vote.  The election ends on April 30.

Here’s a little more information about the WZC and the Green Israel slate:

The World Zionist Congress exists to give Jews in the diaspora a voice in Israeli affairs.  Before 1948, the World Zionist Congress was the pre-state parliament of what would become Israel.  After Israel was established, most of its powers were taken over by the Knesset (Israel’s parliament).   But since all Jews have a stake in what happens in Israel, the WZC was retained to give diaspora Jews a voice.

The WZC retains considerable influence over several important institutions, including the Jewish Agency (which is involved in immigration), and the Jewish National Fund.  The JNF, which most people know as the organization that plants trees in Israel, owns 13% of the land in Israel.  Despite the identical name, the JNF in Israel is a separate legal entity from JNF in the United States.  It is the de-facto national forestry service of Israel.

Since its creation in 2001, with just a couple of seats, the Green Israel slate has passed seven laws at the Congress.  It has been able to use its position to appoint sustainability-minded members to the board of JNF in Israel, designate new nature preserves, quadruple the number of trees planted, and establish hundreds of miles of bike trails throughout the country.

You can see the slate platform here: https://vote.election-america.com/azm/bios/Green_Platform.pdf

And here is the Green Israel slate: https://vote.election-america.com/azm/bios/Green_Slate.pdf

If you care about Israel’s environment and would like to see it protected, please join me in supporting the Green Israel slate as the WZC election comes to a close.  Make sure to cast your vote by April 30!

contributed by all the organizations and initiatives on “the Map” http://jewcology.org/map-of-initiatives/

Here’s a quick bit of Sukkot Torah to start us off: “The four species of the lulav represent the four types of ecosystems in the land of Israel: desert (date palm), hills (myrtle), river corridors (willow), and sh’feilah, the lowlands (etrog). Each species has to be fresh, with the very tips intact – they can’t be dried out, because they hold the water of last year’s rain. Together, they make a kind of map of last year’s rainfall, and together, we use them to pray for next year’s rains.” I hope everyone enjoys the wonderful array of activities and ideas we are generating. We are a strong and beautiful network. Please add more to this list if you like: write to rebduvid86@gmail.com and I’ll update this page. I will also be updating the format and fixing the fonts — I don’t have time Erev Yom Kippur to do more than simply share this content. Thank you to everyone who shared, and g’mar chatimah tovah! Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org

Resources

from Judith Belasco, Hazon

http://hazon.org/educational-resources/holidays/sukkot/ Hazon also has an incredible array of resources on Shmita linked at: http://hazon.org/shmita-project/educational-resources/resource-library/

from the Religious Action Center

“Eco-Friendly Sukkot”  http://resources.rj.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1369

“Table Texts about Food Justice” http://rac.org/pdf/index.cfm?id=23602

from Max Arad and Rabbi Carol Levithan, The Rabbinical Assembly

“The Sukkah as Shelter: A Source Sheet” http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/sites/default/files/public/jewish-law/holidays/sukkot/sukkah-as-shelter.pdf See also: http://www.rabbinicalassembly.org/jewish-law/holidays/sukkot

 from Jeffrey Cohan, Jewish Vegetarians of North America

“Sukkot, Simchat Torah, and Vegetarianism” http://www.jewishveg.com/schwartz/hlydysu.html

from Rabbi Katy Z. Allen, Ma’yan Tikvah

Ushpizin for an Ecological Sukkot by Laurie Levy https://docs.google.com/file/d/0BzF1ISt_50TyVG9lWE0zOXJpd1k/edit

from Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Shalom Center

14 articles on Sukkot at: https://theshalomcenter.org/treasury/114 including “Reb Zalman’s Prayers for the Earth on Hoshana Rabbah” and “Spread over all of us a Sukkah of shalom, salaam, paz, peace!”   from Rabbi David Seidenberg, neohasid.org “How-to Build a Sukkah For Under $40” http://www.neohasid.org/sukkot/a_simple_sukkah/ more links at: http://neohasid.org/zman/sukkot/ including “Eco-Torah for Sukkot”, “Hoshanot, the Original Jewish Earth Prayers”, and “Egalitarian Ushpizin with a Prayer for the Earth”

 from Canfei Nesharim via Rabbi Yonatan Neril

resources can be found at http://canfeinesharim.org/sukkot/ and on Jewcology http://jewcology.org/resources/sukkot-shemini-atzeret-resource-and-program-bank/

 also from Rabbi Yonatan Neril, for Jewish Ecoseminars

http://www.jewishecoseminars.com/let-the-land-rest-lessons-from-shemita-the-sabbatical-year/

 from Nati Passow, Jewish Farm School

Two resource sheets for Shmita to be posted on Jewcology – look for them on Monday before Sukkot

 from Anna Hanau, Grow and Behold Foods

Recipes (meat): http://growandbeholdblog.wordpress.com/tag/sukkot/

Events

We have three big regional festival events going on, Sukkahfest, Sukkot on the Farm, and Sukkahpalooza, and lots more local events:

 from Judith Belasco, Hazon/Isabella Freedman

Oct 8-Oct 12, Sukkahfest at Isabella Freedman Retreat Center http://hazon.org/calendar/sukkahfest-2014/

 from Pearlstone

Oct 8-Oct 12, Sukkahpalooza http://pearlstonecenter.org/signature-programs/sukkot/

 from Sarai Shapiro, Wilderness Torah

Oct 9-Oct 12, Sukkot on the Farm, Green Oak Creeks Farm, Pescadero CA http://www.wildernesstorah.org/programs/festivals/sukkot/   local events and projects:

from Hazzan Paul A. Buch, Temple Beth Israel, Pomona CA

Our synagogue will break ground during Sukkot on a 1/2 acre urban farm on our property, in cooperation with a local NGO. The farm will be fully managed by the NGO at no cost to us, and all workers are paid a living wage. The produce grown will be available for purchase to our congregation and sold at farmers markets in the area. A portion will be dedicated to those who are food insecure. Question for everyone: Do you know of any other synagogues who have dedicated their land in a similar way?  Please note this is not an urban garden, but a functioning not-for-profit commercial project.

from Becky O’Brien, Boulder Hazon

Oct 6, at 5:30 pm, family sukkot program, in partnership with the south Denver JCC Oct 12, at 4:00 and 7:00 pm, screenings of “Road to Eden”, co-sponsored with the Boulder JCC Oct 16, Sukkot Mishpacha, a program for young families at a local organic farm Rabbi Julian Sinclair stopped in Denver/Boulder on his recent book tour promoting Shabbat Ha’aretz; we hosted five programs with him earlier this month. We are leading a shmita hike for local staff of Jewish organizations to help them decompress from the hectic time of the high holidays. We expect that many shmita-related programs will arise throughout the year but we don’t yet know what they will be.

from Helen Bennet, Moishe Kavod House

Fri Oct 10, Shabbat in the sukkah Tues Oct 14, Sukkot Festival dinner, co-hosted with Ganei Beantown (Leora Mallach). Moishe Kavod is planning to run a series of learning and DIY sessions on shmita starting in November, with focuses on economic justice, food and ag system, and chesed/caring community principles.

 from Gail Wechsler, St. Louis Jewish Environmental Initiative (JEI)

Sun Oct 12, 4-6 PM, screening of the film “Fire Lines”, about joint Israeli and Palestinian fire fighting efforts during the Carmel fire of December 2010. The film includes environmental themes as part of the reason for the fire was overforestation of the affected area. The director, Avi Goldstein, will speak after the film.  In partnership with the Jewish Community Relations Council, Webster University and the JCC.

followed by:

Sun Oct 12, 6-7:30 PM, organic potluck Sukkot dinner. In partnership with the JCC and its Garden of Eden, a community garden that grows organic fruits and vegetables to benefit the clients of the nearby Harvey Kornblum Jewish Food Pantry. Both events at the Jewish Community Center Staenberg Arts & Education Building.

from Michael Rosenzweig, Boulder JCC

We have a great event each year called Sukkot Mishpacha, where we partner with a local farm so the children and families can learn about environmental issues, do fun arts and crafts projects, and pick their own gourds. http://www.boulderjcc.org/events/2249/2014/10/14/boulder-jcc-events-calendar/sukkot-mishpacha/ Note: I have not included narrative detail in general here, but I found Rhonda Ginsberg’s description so delightful to imagine and I just didn’t think I could condense it. So here is what she wrote to me, with some minor editing:

from Rhonda Ginsberg, teacher, Carmel Academy, Greenwich CT

For Sukkot we do a 4 year rotation focusing on different aspects of the holiday.  The first year of the cycle we invite the ushpizin and have the 7 species at a festive meal.  The second year we look at wind with kite flying as a major activity, the third at rain and water, and the last year at stars and shade. Each exploration is done both from the Judaics side with text study and from the science/experiential side. This year we are looking at water.  For the K to 3rd graders, teachers act out the story “Why Does it Rain on Sukkot”, MS. Frizzle (science teacher) comes to teach about rain & why it’s needed, then students rotate through stations that are led by 4th graders and teachers.  At the stations they investigate kosher tops for pipework sukkot, create rain sticks, have various water activities & races, sing songs & learn the dance “Mayyim”.  For the 5th to 8th graders, they start with an appropriate text study.  Then, the 6th through 8th graders become the instructors teaching the other grades about the aspect of water that they researched and created a project for.  6th graders look at the water cycle, which they present through posters, dioramas, etc.  They also perform a song and skit on the water cycle.  7th graders research water pollution – causes, effects, and possible solutions.  8th grade engineering students investigate flooding – causes, effects, how engineers have created solutions.  8th grade honors biology students investigate droughts, concentrating on trouble spots in the Western US, Israel & the Middle East, and Africa.  They also look at causes, effects, & possible solutions.  Then we have a Simchat Beit HaShoava – the biblical Water Libation ceremony which took place during Sukkot in Temple times, with students singing, dancing, juggling, filling pools with golden pitchers, etc.

Whatever your source of despair, whenever your heart shrinks from bold, firm action, remember atonement and returning to God means affirming hope. Remember the old joke about the man on the roof during rising floodwaters? Drown fear, squelch everything you know, grab the helicopter ladder, and be rescued.

Rabbi Judy Weiss lives in Brookline, MA with her husband Alan. She teaches Tanakh and volunteers with Citizens Climate Lobby.

The world seems a little topsy turvy these days. A plane missing. 223 girls kidnapped in Nigeria. 3 teen agers kidnapped and murdered in Israel. A plane shot out of the sky. Israel in Gaza. Rockets in Israel. Too many children killed in the streets of Chicago. Too many deaths. When does it stop?

In the Fox River Valley, Illinois, after a punishing winter of epic proportions, it is nice to be outside. Six congregations, part of the nascent Prairie Jewish Coalition, sponsored the Topsy Turvy bus.

What is a topsy turvy bus? It is a school bus, bright yellow, with half of another school bus on top, welded together and running entirely on used food oil. It is a project of Hazon to draw attention to climate change.

Draw attention it does. You have never seen anything like it. Part school bus, part RV, part camper, five  people (and two support staff) are driving this bus from Colorado to Isabella Friedman Retreat Center in Connecticut.  Inside the bus there are sleeping quarters, a kitchen, storage space and even a library!

Ben Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s commissioned the bus. The first tour raised awareness of wasteful spending at the Pentagon. Maybe this Topsy Turvy bus can bring peace! The second tour promoted the White House Organic Farm project. So it makes sense that on a sunny, Sunday afternoon, my congregation, Kneseth Israel, and Pushing the Envelope Farm have come together to host this event.

The residents, drivers, educators engaged all ages who turned out. There were yummy blueberry smoothies made by a bicycle blender. Even better vegan chocolate chip cookies made with three different models of solar cookers. This led to an interesting debate about whether you could use a solar cooker to cook a chicken for Shabbat.

The solar cooking and the bicycle smoothies remind me that I want to install a solar ner tamid, eternal light at our synagogue.  The brainchild of Rabbi Everett Gendler, one of the first Jewish environmentalists, Temple Emanuel of the Merrimack Valley installed the first one in 1978. It raises awareness about the power of the sun and the need to protect our environment, to be caretakers with G-d, in this glorious creation..

People could tour Pushing the Envelope Farm, owned by Rabbi Fred Margulies and his wife Trisha who built the farm from spare acreage on their Continental Envelope Company land in Geneva, IL. They are using it primarily as a teaching farm, with programs for schools, synagogues, churches and scout troops. With 14 acres, there is an organic CSA, various crops and farm animals.  A portion of everything they grow goes to the nearby Northern Illinois Food Bank.

The kids who came loved playing with the chickens and the goats. They loved making their own smoothies and solar cooked cookies. I loved seeing the signs in English, Hebrew, Spanish. And while the bees are critically important, to sustainability and our celebrations of Rosh Hashanah, I gave them a wide berth as I hiked by.

But maybe what I loved most is how this Topsy Turvey bus got all of us—from six congregations and from two years old to eighty, outside on a beautiful, summer day. It would seem that the world is not so Topsy Turvey. Maybe there can even be peace.

Rabbi Margaret Frisch Klein is the rabbi of Congregation Kneseth Israel in Elgin, IL, and the author of A Climbing Journey Toward Yom Kippur. She blogs as the Energizer Rabbi, at http://www.theenergizerrabbi.org.

A memory: Our newborn is up again. I turn to the clock. It’s 4:25 am. Less than three hours since she last awoke. My husband and I are exhausted, and we lie quietly for a few moments, willing our daughter back to sleep. But her cries are persistent. Who knows if she’s hungry, cold, or simply distressed and looking for comfort?

Regardless, we’ve reached our “give-her-a-moment” limit; there’s only so long one can ignore an infant baby’s cries. My husband grabs for his glasses, makes his way to the

nursery, and returns with our loosely swaddled howling bundle. He lays her beside me and her whimpers subside. She begins to nurse. We are calmed. At that moment, there is no more peaceful sound than the blissful rhythm of our baby sucking.

­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐-­‐

The calf is born. Cold and disoriented, its mother nestles close to provide warmth; she guides her baby’s mouth toward her udders. The calf suckles and then falls asleep by its mother.

The mother and child remain this way, comforted, nurtured by each other’s presence. The calf awakes and drinks more of the colostrum, or early milk, from its mother. This liquid gold is rich in antibodies, essential for the health and growth of the baby calf, but not fit for human consumption. Within 24 hours, the calf has done its job, drunk all the colostrum. The cow’s milk fills her udders. This milk, unlike the colostrum, is valuable and will be collected for humans.

It is time; a farmhand waits until mother and baby are sleeping side-by-side, lifts the baby to its feet and nudges it away. The unnecessary cost has been removed; this calf, like all the others on this farm, is separated permanently from her mother. This calf will never again drink its mother’s milk.

Neighbors awake. They hear strange noises: indescribably, inhuman, and unrecognizable. The sounds are clearly coming from creatures in distress. Between midnight and 7:00 am, at least four neighbors alert the police. Officers are dispatched to the dairy farm to investigate the source of the eerie, troubling sound. Assurances are given that all is well.

This is just business as usual. The calf must not drink the profits. The cow and calf’s time together has ended. But maternal-child bonds are not easily broken. The separation causes extreme anxiety and suffering. The bellows emanate from the mother cow lamenting the separation from her baby. Gates will be check to ensure she is securely penned. It is not uncommon for a mother cow to trek for miles in search of her calf. Sadly, this pregnancy, birth, separation, commercial milk production cycle which is forced upon the cows continues. Lactation will not occur otherwise.

Dairy products are suffused with the suffering of a mother and a child separated and unable to soothe one another. I hear their cries and cannot ignore them.

Diana G. is a plant based nutrition/cooking teacher with a BA in nutritional sciences from Cornell, and an MA in Education from Harvard. She is a mother of three and an animal rights advocate. Her article was inspired by this article and this book.

Now he’s 65 and
working on what he calls a very Jewish project, Jewish because it
comes out of ideas and values about having a vision and being a
dreamer that he picked up on his way to becoming a bald, goateed
senior citizen.

Bloom lives in Asia now working as a public relations writer and doing
his best as a climate activist to push a new literary genre to the
fore. He calls it “cli fi,” from the earlier sci fi term, and it
stands for climate fiction novels and movies.
It’s more than just a daydream or an idle thought. Cli fi is actually
catching on with the likes Canadian novelist Margaret Atwood backing
the idea and a host of newspapers and websites agreeing that its time
has come.

Wired magazine discusses it on page 33 of its December 2013 issue in the Jargon Watch corner edited by Jonathon Keats.

Post-Sandy and post-Haiyan, cli fi literature resonates as a literary
term, Bloom says, adding that promoting the genre is ”now my life’s
work, come what may.”

Earlier this year, two major news outlets in the U.S. and
Britain, NPR (National Public Radio) and the Guardian, ran stories
about the term. While some
commentators have said it is a new genre, others have said it is just
a subgenre of science fiction.

NPR put it this way: “Over the past decade, more and more writers have
begun to set their novels and short stories in worlds, not unlike our
own, where the Earth’s systems are noticeably off-kilter. The genre
has come to be called climate fiction — cli fi, for short.”

British writer Rodge Glass noted in his piece in the Guardian that the
literary world is now witnessing the rise of cli fi worldwide.

After the NPR and Guardian news stories went through the usual social
media stages of tweets and retweets, a literature professor at the
University of Oregon, Stephanie LeMenager, announced that she had
created a seminar that she will teach early next year titled “The
Cultures of Climate Change” using the cli fi theme as a main theme of
the class.

Bloom says that cli fi is a broad category, and it can apply to
climate-themed novels
and movies that take place in the present or the future, or even in
the past. And cli fi novels can be dystopian in nature, or utopian, or
just plain ordinary potboiler thrillers.

With carbon dioxide emissions in terms of parts per million (ppm) now
hovering at around 400ppm, cli fi writers have their work cut out for
them, Bloom says.

Post-Sandy and now post-Haiyan, there has never been a more opportune
time than now to
pay attention to the emergence of this newly-minted literary genre dubbed
“cli fi.” Not sci fi, but cli fi – for ”climate fiction” novels.

From Barbara Kingsolver’s “Flight Behavior” to Nathaniel Rich’s “Odds
Against Tomorrow,” and with over 300 novels already on a growing list,
including some that take a contrarian view of global warming,
cli fi novels are increasingly becoming a part of the literary
landscape. Short stories, novels, movies: cli fi is an apt term for
what’s coming down the road year by year as the 21st Century heads
towards the 22nd Century — in terms of coming to grips with climate
change and global warming issues, and from various points of view as
well.

In “State of Fear,” Michael Crichton’s 1994 cli fi novel, the author
used his story to criticize climate activists and dissed global
warming as a non-issue. Bloom says all points of view are welcome in
the cli fi stable, even though he himself does not agree with
Crichton’s thesis.

”Just as sci fi has had a variety of themes and practicitioners, cli fi
novels cannot be bundled into one convenient bookstore shelf. In fact,
like Al Gore’s documentary “An Inconvenient Truth,” cli fi novels will
also rest on authors’ individual perspectives, and not every author will toe the
line. That’s to be expected. Literature should be open to all.” he says.

But post-Sandy, and post-Haiyan, cli fi arrived in its own quiet way.
And the next
100 years, we will see more and more of this kind of
literature, Bloom says, adding that Hollywood movies will follow the
trend as well.

Expect cli fi movies like Jewish director Darren Aronofsky’s “Noah,” set in the
distant past of the Hebrew Bible story and scheduled for a March 2014 release
and
expect literary critics and academics to turn cli fi into a
much-talked-about genre.

Does cli fi have a
future?

“Yes,” says the travelling PR man. “Yes.

Founding Members include:

 Articles and other Resources related to the Green Hevra

• Op-Ed: Jews should work to reduce fossil fuels, not ally with gas and oil companies (JTA)
• 2012-13 Slingshot List of the 50 Most Innovative Jewish Organizations in North America! (Slingshot Fund)
• Jewish Environmentalists Green the Slingshot 50! (Jewcology)
• Is U.S. Jewish green movement at a tipping point? (Haaretz)
• New Network Strengthens Jewish Environmental Collaboration (Yale’s Forum on Religion and Ecology)
• Jewish Environmental Movement Receives Funds for Collaboration and Strategy (eJewish Philanthropy)

The Green Hevra is currently administered by Hazon.

In the last ten years, the Jewish environmental field has seen exponential growth. Across North America, a vibrant Jewish environmental culture is flourishing, attracting young adults and inspiring many people — Jews and non-Jews — to live more sustainably. Today, the Green Hevra, a network of Jewish environmental initiatives, is proud to present the Green Hevra Report 2013, a study exploring the growth, scale, focus and challenges facing today’s Jewish environmental field.

This report, created by the Jewish environmental movement and based on Jewcology's Map of Jewish Environmental Initiatives, assesses 124 Jewish environmental initiatives to clarify and communicate the state of the field. How has the Jewish environmental field grown in the last decade? In what regions are Jewish environmental initiatives most active? How many individuals do they reach? What is the average budget of Jewish environmental initiatives in North America, and how are they staffed? What challenges are faced by this young and growing new movement in Jewish life? For example, the report finds that:

• Almost three-quarters of Jewish environmental initiatives are focusing on education, while significantly fewer organizations focus their attention on environmental improvements in Jewish institutions, grant-making or advocacy.
• The Jewish environmental field includes over 200,000 participants each year, and reaches nearly 700,000 readers with its communications materials.
• The total budget reported for the field was approximately $24 million.

This report complements and adds to the information base created by Seeds of Opportunity: A National Study on Immersive Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education (JOFEE), which assessed the impact on Jewish education outcomes from a specific set of immersive programs taking place within the Jewish outdoor, food and environmental education fields. The new report takes a more comprehensive view of Jewish environmental organizations, assessing the nature of this growing field, and providing a new set of data for practitioners, funders and researchers to understand the field as a whole.

View and print the report to learn more about the state of our field: http://www.greenhevra.org/gleanings-from-our-field-green-hevra-report-2014.html

It began in trickles, in private thoughts that I thought I could never share. It began with wondering: where do I want to be in ten years? If I continue the way I’m going, will I end up there? It began with wondering if there might be more that I could do, if I had the courage to make a move.

And for a time, those thoughts remained so secret I was embarrassed even to say them out loud.

After all, I’m a young Jewish leader. What do young Jewish leaders do? Clearly, as I’ve been taught, they start organizations and lead them.

Leaving might mean "failure." It might seem like quitting. At first, I wondered if I would ever be able to hold my head high inside a Federation building or synagogue again.

And it’s not as though my work as a Jewish innovator hasn’t been a great privilege and a gift. In the last decade I’ve had the opportunity to set the agenda for a small organization and use that platform to make a big wave of difference. Materials I’ve created or edited have reached tens of thousands of people. I’ve spoken in front of many hundreds. I’ve trained dozens of young interns. I’ve had young Jewish environmentalists see me at a conference and be awed into shyness because I’m one of their heroes. (I couldn’t believe it when it happened.) I’ve had the opportunity to interact with the leaders of my field and help shape the agenda for that field.

Most importantly, I’ve had the opportunity to raise consciousness about environmental sustainability, a topic I genuinely feel is the most critical challenge of our time, and to learn and teach a wide range of Jewish texts and commentaries about it – in an eleven year journey that has made a meaningful contribution to the Jewish community.

There is no off-ramp from that kind of work, or so it seems. Where is the Jewish program to teach young leaders when and how to exit, as if this too is a matter of leadership and innovation? Why would a person even want to step away from such an opportunity?

And yet the voice in my head started talking a bit louder. When I thought about my life, there were other things I still wanted to do, yet undone. Other identities to explore, in what could be a still-long career. I didn’t want to be here in ten years or twenty. And I feared if I didn’t stop now, I might be.

I began to wonder about the true meaning of leadership: if it might include knowing when it’s time to go.

I told my board president I was ready to conclude my term as director of Canfei Nesharim. We began the process of planning a transition. And it wasn’t long after that, miraculously, other dreams began to emerge. Thank G-d, I discovered soon after my decision that I’m pregnant and due (G-d willing!) at the end of June.

I still don’t know exactly where I will go, or who I will be next. I’ve always said that I would complete this journey with a crazy mishmash of skills and attributes, but they can be narrowed down: to project management, team leadership, writing, public speaking, website building. Jewish learning. Strong vision and clear values. My commitment to building a sustainable world. At least that’s a start on a curriculum vitae.

I'm so very grateful to the people who want to continue the work I've begun with Canfei Nesharim and Jewcology in the years to come. It's a reminder to me that I don't have to do everything by myself. Which is a good thing, because building a sustainable world is certainly going to take a village. I hope I'll get to be a meaningful part of it.

I’m proud that I started this journey, and proud that I’ve had the courage to complete it cleanly, with open eyes and without regret. And to all my friends, colleagues and partners, I wish you blessing and hope our paths with cross many more times in many years to come. I wish you success in all that you do. I wish that together, wherever we go, we will be a part of the great turning of this world toward integrity, responsibility and sustainability. I look forward to seeing you in that journey, whatever hat I’ll be wearing.

With my great devotion and appreciation,

Evonne

Monday, June 9 – Friday, June 13, 2014 at Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center

Join us for a week dedicated to renewing our relationship with the earth, gaining garden education skills, and studying eco-Torah. The Teva Seminar is the premier annual professional development opportunity in the field of JOFEE: Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education. Featuring leaders in the JOFEE field: Nili Simhai, Mordechai Leibling, Jakir Manela, Cara Silverberg, Brent Spodek, Arthur Waskow, plus a team of talented educators from Teva, Jewish Farm School, Eden Village, and many more.

Now in its 20th year, this multi-day, hands-on training program is designed for educators, camp counselors, community leaders, and anyone who is seeking training in the emerging JOFEE field. Participation in the Teva Seminar will enhance the work of your community ­– whether your organization is just getting started in this field, or you’ve been wanting to add goats to your camp’s nature center, take a field trip with your Hebrew school to the farm, or offer a kosher foodie series or farmer’s market at your JCC. Each workshop is accessible to people with all levels of experience in gardening,wilderness skills, culinary arts, and/or experiential Jewish education.

• Learn to infuse Camp, Hebrew school, synagogue, or JCC programming with JOFEE-based activities
• Build new skills in Jewish environmental education
• Get trained to lead hikes and outdoor games within a Jewish context
• Take home resources to use in your community

Use code WELOVEU50 for $50 off. Generous scholarships available.

Presented by Hazon, Adamah and the Jewish Farm School, in partnership with: 7Seeds, Baltimore Jewish Environmental Network, Canfei Nesharim, COEJL, Eden Village Camp, Ganei Beantown, Green Zionist Alliance, Jewcology, Jewish Farm School, Jewish Greening Fellowship, Moishe House International, Neo Hasid, Pearlstone Center, RAC, Reconstructionist Rabbinical College, Shalom Center, Shoresh, Urban Adamah, Wildnerness Torah, Yiddish Farm

We are blessed to live in a democracy like the United States, which gives us the power to influence our politicians by our votes. No matter how much money is poured into politics, it won’t rule the day if all citizens take their responsibility seriously, learn the issues, speak their mind and vote their conscience. Unfortunately, many of us have been cowed by confusion and perceived corruption, and distracted by entertainment and day-to-day pressures. If we give our power away, there are many who will be glad to take it from us.

I was fortunate to have the opportunity to express this view on Sunday, March 9 at the closing plenary of the 6th Annual Pearlstone Beit Midrash. We had spent the weekend learning Torah on each of the days of the creation of the world, including some explorations of our own opportunities for individual action. At the closing plenary, the continuation of action on “Day 8,” we took the next step by exploring our own advocacy potential.

We began with a dvar Torah from Rabbi Fred Dobb of Adat Shalom Congregation in Bethesda. Then, we looked at what makes advocacy seem hard, such as uncertainty about how and when to get involved, disagreement on specific issues within our communities, and the need to fight against other powerful interests. We also looked at why advocacy is so important, and realized that we can make a real difference if we join together as a community – but if we don’t claim our power, others will.

Joelle Novey, from Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light (GWIPL), explained the opportunity to become an ally community as part of other, broader campaigns. She invited participants to build relationships with other environmental organizations, such as Interfaith Power and Light, that are working in their local region, so that they will hear about the most important activities where their communities can make a difference. These ally relationships have the benefit of creating trust so that we don’t have to learn every detail about every single topic, or run our own independent campaigns, but be deployed in larger campaigns where our participation can make a meaningful difference.

I shared a story of my experience working with GWIPL in my local community in Silver Spring, MD, which spoke directly to this point. Here is that story, in part:

In 2010, I decided to create a “sustainability circle,” a group of people in my local Jewish community who care about the environment. It was a kind of book club where we would talk about different environmental topics – and a kind of support group for environmentalists. We learned about local recycling rules, composting, and community supported agriculture. We heard from local members who were raising goats and chickens. We formed connections with each other and created a place in the community for these dialogues. We also formed a relationship with the local Interfaith Power and Light, led by Joelle Novey.

One day in the fall of 2011, Joelle came to me and said we had this amazing opportunity. There was an important Offshore Wind Power bill in committee in the Maryland House of Delegates and our local representative, Delegate Ben Kramer, would play an important role in the committee vote. We just needed to use our existing community networks to encourage people to support wind power. We had a presentation from someone in the Maryland Energy Administration. We made calls at the key time. I was able to speak, representing our community, at a Town Hall Meeting. And then, in 2012, we sent Del. Kramer his first ever Tu b’Shevat card, thanking him for his support of sustainable energy. The news was even covered in the Washington Post. That year, Del. Kramer changed his position to supporting the bill. The next year, the wind power bill passed, and we’re on our way to having offshore wind in MD.

What I learned from this process is the difference that can be made when I build networks in my own community, and offer them as an ally community to be deployed as part of a larger campaign.

At the end of the session, Rabbi Baruch Rock of Gesher Jewish Day School in Fairfax, VA, facilitated an exercise in which each person recognized the difference that they have made through their actions. We realized that although sometimes we think it’s difficult to have an impact, we’re actually touching people’s lives and bringing goodness into the world with so much of what we do. If we’ve been able to do that without even trying, imagine what we could accomplish if we joined together!

I’m so grateful to the coordinators of the Pearlstone Beit Midrash, who welcomed the opportunity to begin the conversation about advocacy with participants who had spent most of the weekend learning Torah. It’s a recognition that while Jewish learning and action are very important, if we are truly committed to environmental change, we also need to be willing to think bigger. I hope this is a direction into which the Jewish environmental movement can continue to grow in the coming years.

Learn more about the Basics of Advocacy for Jewish Environmentalists, and sign up for our latest webinar on March 31!

Basics of Advocacy for Jewish Environmentalists: A Citizen Training Webinar

To build a more sustainable society, we need more than just individual action: we also need sustainable policies at the local, state and national level. Many Jewish environmentalists want to get involved with advocacy, but aren’t sure exactly where to start. The advocacy world can feel like a confusing maze. When should I call my representative? What kind of letter will make the most difference? How do you schedule a meeting?

Join COEJL, Canfei Nesharim and Jewcology for “Basics of Advocacy for Jewish Environmentalists,” an opportunity to learn about the basic tools of advocacy and how you can make a difference. We explored the challenges and opportunities of advocacy, tools to help you, and practice some specific skills to help you get started.

Next webinar: Monday, March 31 at 8:00-9:30 pm. Register here!

Want to hear about future opportunities? Let us know.

This training requires your active participation, so please plan to have computer, internet and telephone available and to be present for the full 90 minutes. Space is limited. This webinar is free, thanks to the generous support of our Year of Engagement sponsors.

It’s the end of the Year of Action! During the last twelve months, Jewcology has been pleased to host and share 24 actions to help you save energy and reduce food waste. Together, our community has taken action and saved resources, and demonstrated the difference we can make together!

It’s not too late to report your actions on Jewcology so that we can show the full impact of the difference we’ve made. In honor of Tu b’Shevat, please report your actions on your individualized savings page during the month of Shevat! **Can’t access this page? Simply log in to Jewcology and it will display for you.

Explore the full list of actions and our results in this campaign.

Become a partner in engaging your community this year!

Together, we will organize Jewish campaigns throughout the year to help you learn about opportunities to make a difference on key environmental issues at the national and state level, to get to know your elected representatives, and to engage your community.

How can Jewish environmental advocacy make a difference?

The Jewish community has a long history of championing support for Israel and social justice causes. For the last twenty years, we have been learning and changing our behaviors to protect our environment. To address this critical global challenge, it is now time for us to unite in support of sustainable policies that reflect our Jewish interests and values, to make a meaningful impact at the state and national levels and beyond.

Explore our current Year of Engagement Opportunities:

• Campaign #1: Wish Your Reps a Happy Tu Bishvat
  
• Basics of Advocacy for Jewish Environmentalists: A Citizen Training Webinar
  

Campaign #1: Wish Your Reps a Happy Tu Bishvat!

We are beginning the Year of Engagement with a simple but effective way to begin a conversation about environmental advocacy with your family, community, and elected officials.

For our first Year of Engagement campaign this year, we encourage you to send a simple letter to your representative to wish them a Happy Tu Bishvat and explain why our nation needs sustainable climate and energy policies.

On Tu Bishvat, many Jewish communities get together for seders and to learn about Jewish environmentalism. If your community has a shared event, invite them to join along with you in your letter.

To help you turn your Tu Bishvat into a policy engagement opportunity, we’ve created:

•Activity instructions (PDF),

•A template letter for your elected representatives (editable .doc file),

•An example letter to show you what it will look like (PDF), and

•some talking points to help you engage your community (PDF).

Each of these materials can be previewed below if you are logged into google. Or simply click the links to download the files.

We hope you’ll take this opportunity to begin to share your views with your elected representatives and your community. Let us know after you take this action!

Basics of Advocacy for Jewish Environmentalists: A Citizen Training Webinar

To build a more sustainable society, we need more than just individual action: we also need sustainable policies at the local, state and national level. Many Jewish environmentalists want to get involved with advocacy, but aren’t sure exactly where to start. The advocacy world can feel like a confusing maze. When should I call my representative? What kind of letter will make the most difference? How do you schedule a meeting?

Join COEJL, Canfei Nesharim and Jewcology for “Basics of Advocacy for Jewish Environmentalists,” an opportunity to learn about the basic tools of advocacy and how you can make a difference. We explored the challenges and opportunities of advocacy, tools to help you, and practice some specific skills to help you get started.

Recent webinars:

• Monday, March 31 at 8:00-9:30 pm. 
• Tuesday, January 28 from 12:30-2:00 pm. View the webinar here!

Want to hear about future opportunities? Let us know.

This training requires your active participation, so please plan to have computer, internet and telephone available and to be present for the full 90 minutes. Space is limited. This webinar is free, thanks to the generous support of our Year of Engagement sponsors.

Jewcology is partnering with the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life in 2014 for a Year of Jewish Policy Engagement on the Environment. This coming year, you’ll have the opportunity to:

• Get to know your elected representatives
• Engage your community to advocate for meaningful environmental change
• Learn about key opportunities to make a difference
• Act at the critical moment

Watch the video to learn more about our partnership!

Why are COEJL and Canfei Nesharim partnering in the Year of Engagement?

COEJL brings advocacy experience, skills and connections empowering Jewish individuals and organizations to take meaningful political action on energy and the environment. Canfei Nesharim brings experience with community organizing and a broad base of Jewish environmental activists across the Jewish and political spectrum.

Together, we will organize Jewish campaigns throughout the year to help you learn about opportunities to make a difference on key environmental issues at the national and state level, to get to know your elected representatives, and to engage your community.

At the end of this Year of Engagement, participating individuals, communities and organizations will have:

• A stronger understanding of the legislative and regulatory processes
• Relationships with their elected officials and community leaders
• Engaged in environmental action campaigns with a meaningful impact
• Learned to use tools and learning materials to help their communities understand the Jewish values that teach us to protect the environment.

How can Jewish environmental advocacy make a difference?

Jews have a long history of championing support for Israel and social justice causes, including successful mobilizations on civil rights, Russian Jewry, Darfur, and other issues. For the last twenty years, the Jewish community has been learning and changing our behaviors to protect our environment. To address one of today’s most important global challenges, it is now time for the Jewish community to unite in support of sustainable policies that reflect our Jewish interests and values, to make a meaningful impact at the state and national levels and beyond.

We want to know how Jewcology is making a difference to you — and what we can do to make it even better.

Please help by filling out
********Jewcology's Fall 2013 User Survey********

This survey was developed by a team of Jewcology leaders who are working to improve the site in the coming year.

We see this survey as the opportunity to begin a conversation with the Jewcology community. We'd love to continue the conversation with you! If you'd like to be part of the conversation, please enter your contact information when you fill out the form.

Thanks!

It’s the kind of thing that makes you proud.

I especially wanted to share about a recent event that I attended, the dedication of the new Vera Lieber Memorial Garden.

Vera Leiber was the preschool director at the school, in addition to other roles in the school, in the community, and in our county educational system. (She and her husband, Tsvi, were also supporters of Canfei Nesharim.) When Ms. Leiber died five years ago, she left behind so many people who loved and missed her. Now, her memory can be honored continually, through the dedication of Tsvi and his family and the hard work of staff at the Hebrew Academy, with a beautiful garden for preschool students.

Nancy Moses, the garden designer for the project, explained how the plan was made. The goal was to remove the candy-colored plastic play objects and create a multisensory environment for small children to interact with natural objects, learn where food comes from, and engage in creative play. Five new trees were planted ceremoniously in the garden. Artistic decorations in the garden were also made by the children.

The garden includes specific creative activity “rooms,” including a salad table, arbor, performance area, boulder areas for jumping and climbing, and an edible garden with herbs. The teachers can also integrate lessons about science, planting, and healthy nutrition in the garden.

At the dedication, educators showed a video of the children interacting in this new play area. A fallen tree had been transformed into play logs for the children to sit on, but because they were moveable, they became an active part of the children’s play.

Part of the stated goal of the garden is to help the children appreciate G-d’s world and the miracles of creation.

When I founded Canfei Nesharim more than ten years ago, the myth in the Jewish environmental world was that Orthodox Jews would never care about the environment. But things change. Now we see communities popping up with all kinds of creative and meaningful ways to educate themselves and their children about our connection to land, food, energy and the environment. It’s so rewarding to see!

Kol haKavod to the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy and the entire Lieber family.

Although these pictures were taken on a chilly autumn day, you can still see the beautiful flowers and the natural surroundings of this garden. May the garden grow, and may we see other versions of this model in Orthodox Jewish day schools across the country and the world!

Jewcology is sharing this idea because we know there are some Jewish environmental leaders out there who could use $1000 to make a big difference.

Here are some details:

• The proposals are accepted on a rolling basis, but the final deadline is December 6. Eligibility guidelines here.
• If the idea meets the Terms and Restrictions, it will be featured on the #MakeItHappen website and be eligible to receive one of the micro grants.
• Between October and December 2013, up to 50 ideas will be selected to receive a micro grant of up to $1,000. Five ideas could receive up to $5,000.

What are you waiting for? Submit your idea here by filling out a short form describing what you'd like to do.

Join the conversation by sharing #MakeItHappen with your friends, fans and followers on Facebook, Twitter, etc. You can also browse ideas that have already been chosen and offer to get involved with them. See selected projects here.

Go straight to the site and get your microgrant today!

Thanks so much to everyone who contributed. Your generosity made a big difference! Stay tuned for more details as we continue our Year of Action and move toward the Year of Engagement in the coming months.

This campaign is complete, but we're still accepting donations to support the Year of Engagement! You can give here.

Thank you so much for your support!

If I’m going to try to save the world, I don’t think I can be satisfied until the whole wide world is fixed. I’ve always thought that was virtuous, but now I’m realizing it might simply be a recipe for banging my head against a wall.

Here are some of the numerous environmental problems that I’ve recently confronted:

• Prenatal Exposure to Pollution Raises Risk of Autism in Kids
• Meet the Town that’s Being Swallowed by a Sinkhole
• Fukushima leak is much worse than anticipated (in which we learn that 75,000 gallons of irradiated water pouring into the Pacific EVERY DAY may be an underestimate).
• And don’t even get me started about the mercury polluting our oceans and contaminating our food.

With these issues, I’m not even talking about climate change, which I agree with other environmentalists is the greatest challenge of our time. (And it is… but are we letting all of these other challenges build up unnoticed while we struggle and fail to deal with greenhouse gasses?)

It’s enough to make me cry. Which I’ve done. Several times, while thinking about the futility of it all.

Tomorrow we celebrate the anniversary of the March on Washington, when bold activists and the engaged public stood up for something that really mattered to them – their freedom. Those people made a true difference for our nation. But even their work wasn’t permanent. It requires constant vigilance, as we learned from the Supreme Court this year.

Or as Rabbi Arthur Waskow once said to me, “Every generation needs to take out the garbage.”

If Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and his entire movement couldn’t fix the world permanently, how can I possibly expect to? And if I can’t, is there a point to my efforts to try to make a difference?

Usually at this point in the conversation, someone brings up Pirkei Avot 2:21, about how it’s not our job to complete the work but we also can’t desist from it. I feel pretty sure that the rabbis in the Mishnah weren’t referring to saving the environment, but it’s a good message.

Still, it’s a struggle. How do we ever know that what we did is enough? And if we’re type A leaders, driven to results, how is a world of perfection to be pursued without burning out completely, feeling we never got there?

How can we ever feel we “got there”?

I’ve been thinking that somehow, the only answer is that the world is OK as it is. There is no “getting there,” there is only “being here.”

Hard as it is for me to imagine, hard as it is for me to confront, this is the world we have. It’s not a match for my values, but it is exactly what it is – not some other world that I imagine, but this world that we have. The fact that it doesn’t match my values gives me the golden opportunity to try to express my values, to aim to bring the world a little closer to the picture I hold dear. And that’s one of the greatest gifts of life.

As an activist, as a human being, how have you dealt with the question, how much is enough? I want to know. Please tell me what you think in the comments.

MAKE AN ELUL DONATION TO SUPPORT JEWCOLOGY NOW!

With your support, in 2014 Jewcology and COEJL will partner on a "Year of Jewish Policy Engagement on the Environment," which will provide tools to help Jewish environmental activists and local leaders become more involved in environmental action at the policy level. COEJL will provide advocacy guidance and connection with mainstream Jewish institutions. Jewcology will provide our active audience of grassroots Jewish environmental activists.

It's a match! All donations in this campaign will be matched by a grant from the ROI Community, up to $5000. Now is the perfect time to support our work!

You can follow the success of the campaign, and share this exciting opportunity with your family and friends, at http://igg.me/at/engagement

Watch this short video to learn more from the Jewcologist and COEJL-er:

Continuing with the Year of Action, we're now pleased to share the fourth action to reduce food waste! You can also see this action in the full list here.

Food Waste Action #4: Put on My Plate ONLY What I will Eat.

Eyes bigger than your stomach? Once that food is on your plate, it’s either going in your mouth or in the trash. Prevent food waste with these tips:

1. Find out what is available first.

2. Start with small samples, especially if there are choices you've never tried before.

3. Take less than you think you're going to eat. You can always go back to get more.

4. Teach your children to try a small portion first. Encourage them to finish what they have before taking more food.

(Credit: Sarah Rebecca Bedder)

Online Tool: Here’s an interesting campus activity to try.

Report your action as part of the Year of Action! Your savings will be added to the combined total savings for our community this year. Note: You must be logged into Jewcology to report your actions.

The Year of Action is a project of Jewcology, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim and in coordination with the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), along with many other Jewish environmental organizations and initiatives, and with the support of the ROI Community.

As a Jewcology community, we feel that the more Jewish environmental leaders who apply to this event, the more likelihood that the conversation will include challenges of sustainability. We encourage you to apply for this event. The deadline to apply is this coming Monday, July 15.

To apply, visit http://2030.nathancummings.net/

Here are the details from The Nathan Cummings Foundation:

In a time of significant national and global transitions, religious communities, faith leaders and those on a spiritual journey will play a central role in determining the future of our country, with global implications. We believe when individuals and communities articulate and embody their personal religious and spiritual values in the public arena this country is best able to fulfill its promise as a refuge for the outcast, provider of opportunities and mobility for all, and fulfill the promise of a robust democracy where power is held in the hands of the many.

Challenge we are seeking to address: In a rapidly changing world, where faith is as often a force for inspiration as well as polarization, how might we as people of faith, support individuals and communities connected to their religious and spiritual identities, to amplify their voice, vision and public leadership?

Is this a challenge that resonates with you or keeps you up at night? Would you invest four days of your life to wrestle with this challenge with a diverse group of leaders?

If yes, we invite you to complete an application to join us for the 2030 Challenge gathering application due on by Monday, July 15, 2013. If selected, travel, food and lodging will be covered by the Nathan Cummings Foundation. Below you will find the articulation of the broader context in which we are locating this challenge, our belief in the importance of a strong religious and spiritual voice in the public arena, information about outcomes, methodology, profiles of potential participants, and a Frequently Asked Questions section.

Please review the required preparation and questions and please submit the completed application online by 11:59pm EST on Monday, July 15, 2013. Please send questions to 2030challenge@nathancummings.org.

Timeline

Monday, July 15: Application deadline

Thursday, August 8: Selections announced

September 2013: Prep work (3-4 hours total)

October 7-10: Gathering in Garrison, NY

From the first moment I heard about the WaterHackathon (an exclusive event at the Tel Aviv University that brought together dozens of engineers, program developers and other professional, who worked for three full days on solutions to problems in the water field) it was clear to me that I will take part in it.

The reason was obvious, this special event brings out the three biggest advantages of Israel: The trial and understanding of material, infrastructure, and water resources management – derived from years of water shortage; the successful hi-tech industry; and the creativity and achievement hidden deep inside the Israeli DNA.

As a member of the group that won the first place at the event and dealt with the development of a product designed to be used as a preliminary alert to floods, it was an amazing opportunity to take part in this important industry and help to reconstruct the StarTau success (the entrepreneurial center at the Tel Aviv University) that has taken the responsibility to organize the event and has done so successfully.

The group which I incorporated included Yigal Mushnik and Eden Cohen from Intel and Ran Biton from Aviv Engineering Management. We had a connection-at-first-sight, very spontaneous and flawless, and created a mosaic of an idea mosaic into one clear picture in less than 48 hours. We chose to deal with the challenges of floods which constitute the world’s deadliest natural disaster. If you are not convinced, just think of the tragic floods in Thailand these past weeks.

The idea which we developed and wanted to promote focused on the attempt to create an online system that can alert in “real time” about floods around the world using aggregations of reports being received on social networks in general and on Twitter specifically. Today there are already some GIS based hydrological models which can predict the behavior of the floods, but these systems are naturally based on weather forecasts and not on any “real time” information.

All along the activity we imagined a rural isolated village in a third world country. According to the scenario which we worked on, we assumed that the village has limited resources and our mission was to maximize the efficiency of cheap solutions in order to save lives. In other words, we understood that we have to do more with less and thus decided to leverage the available cellular infrastructure (it is important to point out that 75 percent of India’s population is connected to cellular networks) in order to alert in real time on the rise of water level, using text messages on one side and social network scans on the other.)

WaterHackathon is an international “marathon” of brainstorming and programming, where software developers and designers collaborate to create new tools for solving water problems facing developing countries, such as: access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation, flooding and drought (i.e., climate change issues), irrigation and watershed management and environmental pollution.

Via www.nrg.co.il

Photo by ER24 EMS (Pty) Ltd.

This article appeared on www.nocamels.com

I know that the goal of Jewcology is to “build a multi-denominations, multi generational, regionally diverse community of Jewish environmental activists who are learning from one another and from an expanding set of Jewish-environmental resources, how to educate their communities about our Jewish responsibility to protect the environment.” However, I hope we can also find inspiration to seek out and collaborate with other faith groups in our own communities when we are planning an event related to the environment, whether it is a Tu B'shvat celebration, a panel discussion on water conservation, or a themed movie night focused on sustainability. There are so many issues that can highlight the differences between different faiths, but environmental stewardship is an issue that can unite communities and help form a foundation of trust for discussions on other topics where common ground may be harder to find. On a broader scale, I also believe that faith communities are in a unique position to set an example for politicians around the world who are having trouble setting differences aside, and finding a way to work together to solve pressing environmental issues. I urge you to click through these links and spend a few minutes on each site.

I have also posted one of my favorite Hebrew songs below, titled "Kol Ha'Olam Kulo Gesher Tzar Meod," which translates into "The Whole World Is A Narrow Bridge," because I believe that environmental stewardship can act as the bridge between both faiths and nations in building a world that is not only more sustainable, but also more compassionate and understanding. As the song states, "the main thing is not to be afraid at all," which in this context means reaching out to our brothers and sisters of other faiths in an effort to build bridges with environmental stewardship.

Fasting to help save environment:
http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/fasting-to-help-save-environment-1.851133

Evangelical Environmental Network: http://creationcare.org/

Interfaith Power and Light: http://interfaithpowerandlight.org/

GreenFaith: http://greenfaith.org/

Interfaith Environmental Network: http://www.interfaithenvironment.org/

Interfaith Environmental Initiative of Alabama: http://www.interfaithenvironmental.org/

Alliance of Religions and Conservation: http://arcworld.org/

Environmental activism of nuns profiled:
http://cjonline.com/life/connected/2011-08-13/environmental-activism-nuns-profiled

KOL HA'OLAM KULOGESHER TSAR ME'OD

THE WHOLE WORLDIS A NARROW BRIDGE

Kol Ha'olam kulo
Gesher Tsar me'od
Gesher Tsar me'od
Gesher Tsar me'od -
Kol Ha'olam kulo
Gesher Tsar me'od –
Gesher Tsar me'od.
Veha'ikar – veha'ikar
Lo lefached –
lo lefached klal.
Veha'ikar – veha'ikar
lo lefached klal

The whole world
is a very narrow bridge
a very narrow bridge
a very narrow bridge
The whole worldis a very narrow bridge –
A very narrow bridge.
And the main thing to recall –
is not to be afraid –
not to be afraid at all.
And the main thing to recall –
is not to be afraid at all.

.

From: http://www.hebrewsongs.com/song-kolhaolamkulo.htm

The Partnership 2Gether South Africa Co-Chairs, Moonyeen Castle and Madeleine Fane, together with Tamar, met with principals in the Cape Town Herzlia schools and the Johannesburg King David schools who expressed an interest in joining the program this coming year.

Eli Rudolph, Partnership 2Gether South Africa National Director, helped run the first Eco Connection workshop at Torah Academy,in which the students learned about the 3R’s – Reduce, Reuse and Recycle – and received repurposed friendship bracelets and personal letters from the 7th graders of Ulpanat Ahavat Yisrael in Ramat Beit Shemesh. Eli helped the students make their own friendship bracelets from deconstructed sweaters, and took part in the joint poster signing that has become a trademark of the Eco Connection.

The students, and their new friends in Ramat Beit Shemesh, are looking forward to videoconferencing together later this year, to learn more about how they can care for the world together.

While in Johannesburg, Tamar, who was a participant earlier this year in a the US State Department IVLP Media Literacy program, gave a luncheon presentation on Media Literacy, hosted by the Israel Center for Jewish community professionals from a number of different organizations. Using examples from the Eco Campus, Tamar described how we can use online media to reach out and connect to our community audience.

The original of this article may be found at http://blog.ecocamp.us/2011/07/31/eco-connection-launches-in-south-africa/