Summery of the conference:

• Panel exploring what Judaism adds to our understanding and ability to respond to climate change
• Two rounds of workshops, each of which will provide concrete information about a specific way to respond to the threat of climate change and to connect with others
• Opportunity to speak with community organizations and businesses involved in environmental work
• Special workshop for teens and tweens
• Short wrap-up program highlighting what has been accomplished and providing a send off
• Facilitation of informal gatherings for dinner at nearby restaurants those who want to continue the conversations.

A schedule and descriptions of workshops and bios of workshop leaders can be found at http://www.jewishclimate.org/may-2015-conference.html

When: Sunday, May 17, 3-7 PM

Where: Hebrew College, Herrick Road, Newton
Registration: https://secure.hebrewcollege.edu/form/uncertainty-action-what-you-can-do-about-climate-change

Cost: $18 donation (optional); students are free.

Co-sponsors include: Hebrew College, Center for Global Judaism, Hazon, LimmudBoston, Shomrei Bereshit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth, and others.

Last chance to help us make Israel a greener, environmentally healthier land: Until the end of April you can vote online for the upcoming World Zionist Congress. The results determine, among other things, the division of power at the Jewish National Fund’s international board.

For the past decade I have sat on the JNF board, largely because of the support and intervention of the Green Zionist Alliance – a wonderful group of young environmentalists who decided to get involved and improve Israel’s environmental performance. This support has allowed me to represent them and pursue any number of important green initiatives which include:

· creating new sustainable forestry policies for the JNF,

· putting bike lanes on the organization’s agenda,

· creating a brand new “affirmative action” program to systematically reach out to Israel’s Arab minorities to finance environmental projects,

· increasing the organizational commitment to green building and solar energy,

· leading the fight to prevent JNF funding over the green line,

· expanding funding for forestry and agricultural research as well as river restoration projects, and

· fighting for good government and transparency.

There is a lot more that needs to be done. Whether or not I can continue depends on whether the “GZA” – or Aytzim as they call themselves these days gets enough votes. It only takes ten dollars to register and 3 minutes online to vote. (The polls close this Thursday April 30th). Here’s a link to Vote Green Israel: www.worldzionistcongress.org

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. And thanks to all of you who have already voted green for the support. – Alon Tal

(Considered by many to be the leading environmentalist in Israeli history, Alon Tal is a co-founder of the Green Zionist Alliance)

You can support the Israel you want to see. All American Jews can vote in the World Zionist Congress election going on right now. One of the most common questions, we get is why it costs $10 to vote. As Mirele Goldsmith, a Green Israel slate member answers: “The American Zionist Movement has contracted with an independent company to run the online election.  This is to insure that the election is fair.  The registration fee is being used exclusively to pay for the election.  It is not a donation to the WZO.  I wish there was no fee, but it is a small price to pay to make a real difference in the future of Israel.”

Green Israel Platform: Peace for All • Green Energy • Sustainable Development • Diaspora Relations • Air Quality • Ecological Ecology • Animal Rights • Food Justice • Water Conservation • Schmita • Recycling • Encourage Environmental Start-Ups

Green Israel Slate: Eli Bass, Ellen Bernstein, Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Karin Fleisch, David Fox, Matthew Frankel, Ilana Gauss, Brett Goldman, Mirele Goldsmith, Wendy Kenin, David Krantz, Frances Lasday, Evonne Marzouk, Hody Nemes, Morgan Prestage, Shira Rosen, Richard Schwartz, Jacob Schonzeit, David Sher, Garth Silberstein, Marc Soloway, Lawrence Troster, David Weisberg, Eric Weltman, Laurie Zoloth

Please vote Green Israel. Go to http://jewcology.org/2015/03/votegreenisrael/ or worldzionistcongress.org for more info.

About Eden Village Camp: Eden Village Camp aims to be a living model of a thriving, sustainable Jewish community, grounded in social responsibility and inspired Jewish spiritual life. By bringing the wisdom of our tradition to the environmental, social, and personal issues important to today’s young people, we practice a Judaism that is substantive and relevant. Through our Jewish environmental and service-learning curricula, joyful Shabbat observance, pluralistic Jewish expression, and inspiring, diverse staff role models, we foster our campers’ positive Jewish identity and genuine commitment to tikkun olam (healing the world). Our 3 acre educational farm and orchard are based on principles of permaculture, sustainable and organic farming. We produce annual vegetables, perennials, and tend educational gardens as well as animals.

About the Farm Educator Apprenticeship: This is a paid six-month apprenticeship for young adults seeking hands-on experience. In the Spring build your knowledge based on agriculture, farm-based education and Jewish community. In the Summer, work at our 8-week intensive summer camp as Jewish Farm Educators. In the fall, take ownership and integrate your new skills by diving deeper into independent projects.  Live on-site at our beautiful camp, one hour north of New York City. By joining the farm staff at Eden Village, apprentices will hold two main responsibilities – tending our growing spaces and educating in our all of our programming through the spring, summer and fall. Apprentices will also have an opportunity to dive deeper into one of four focus areas: perennials, annuals, animals, and educational gardens. In these specialties apprentices will gain a deeper understanding of certain aspects of farming and will take on leadership and special projects to booster their learning and the learning of campers and program participants.

Details: April 14th, 2015 – October 22nd 2015, Apprentices receive full room and board at Eden Village, as well as a modest stipend. Extensive experience is not necessary but experiential curiosity is required. We recommend you explore our website thoroughly to get more information about our apprenticeship, farm, camp, and more at Eden Village Camp.

More questions? Explore the FAQ page. For all other questions, contact farm@edenvillagecamp.org

Originally published in Shma: http://shma.com/2014/12/stop-now-shmita-and-climate-change/

Imagine that you’re a wealthy landowner in ancient Israel. You know the shmita (sabbatical) year is coming and what’s required: You must stop planting and let your land lie fallow for the year. You must forego a year of profit. Not only that: Over the past few years, you have lent money to your poor neighbors and now you must forgive their debts so that your neighbors can also let their lands lie fallow. If they were obligated to pay you back, they would not be able to participate. These laws are good for the fertility of the land and for your neighbor’s livelihood and dignity.  But observing shmita, and putting the community’s needs ahead of your own, requires a sacrifice from you. Would you do it?

Fast forward to today: You live in one of the world’s richest countries and you depend on cheap energy extracted from the earth for your livelihood and your lifestyle. In neighboring countries, though, people are poor. They use little energy and they have little money to invest in new infrastructure. Will you try to use energy more efficiently? Will you invest in renewable energy sources that don’t damage the earth? If you will, further warming of the atmosphere will be prevented. Your neighbors, more vulnerable than you because of their poverty, will be protected from rising seas, heat waves, and drought. But caring for their lives requires a sacrifice from you. Will you do it?

Shmita is the Torah’s prescription for environmental, social, and economic sustainability.  Today, climate change is the biggest threat to sustainability. Although the scale of the problems brought on by climate change were unimaginable in the time of the Torah, shmita addressed certain maladies of human society that have not gone away and that now threaten us with self-destruction. As in ancient times, self-interest, greed, short-term thinking, and unsustainable exploitation of people and the earth endanger our existence. Climate change is not a scientific or technical problem. The science is clear and the solutions are ready; it is an ethical problem. Will we, who have benefited from the burning of fossil fuels, take responsibility for the damage and make it right? There are at least three lessons we can learn from shmita.

First, shmita forces us to acknowledge that human existence depends on our relationship to the earth. In ancient times, almost everyone was a subsistence farmer. Agriculture depleted the fertility of the land and, so, it had to be limited. Today, we are all dependent on energy. And our energy system is unsustainable. The mining and burning of fossil fuels is poisoning fresh water, acidifying the ocean, warming the atmosphere, and disrupting the climate. Putting a complete stop to this destructive system seems impossible, just as it must have seemed impossible to our ancestors to stop planting for the shmita year. Shmita challenges us to look beyond the short-term hardship and imagine the future we can create if we act boldly to right this wrong.

Second, shmita teaches us that caring for the earth and caring for people are inseparable. Letting the land lie fallow cannot happen without also forgiving people their debts; in order for all to participate in shmita, the poor cannot be indebted to the wealthy. Those who have more have to make sure that everyone’s needs are met. Today, it is only fair that we who have benefited the most must take the largest responsibility for addressing the climate crisis. Individually, we can reduce our own energy use, purchase electricity from renewable energy suppliers, stop investing in fossil fuel corporations, and vote for leaders who will push for change. As nations, the United States and other wealthy countries must enact ambitious policies to replace energy from coal, oil, and gas, with solar and wind.

Finally, shmita sets a deadline for action. When the seventh year arrives, it has to be observed. Shmita teaches us that we cannot delay taking action until it is convenient or until we are convinced that there is no other choice. Fulfilling our ethical responsibility  is not optional. Even if it seems imprudent or extreme, every seven years we must rededicate ourselves to building a sustainable society in harmony with the earth.

Do we really need this deadline? We certainly do. The first congressional hearings on climate change were held in 1988. The Kyoto Protocol, the international treaty that the United States refused to ratify due to pressure from self-interested industries, was adopted in 1997. The United States has had more than 25 years to commit to stop burning fossil fuels and accelerate the transition to renewable energy, but it has not made nearly enough progress. Although individual cities and states are taking action, there is still no progress in Congress. Fossil fuel companies that care only for profits continue to confuse the public by claiming that there is no need to move away from fossil fuels and that renewable energy technologies are not ready. They hope to extract all of the fossil fuels they have in their reserves.

Each of us has benefited from the burning of fossil fuels that is harming the atmosphere. Each of us has the power to help prevent the worst projections of climate change. Now is the time to take action. The Torah’s wisdom is timeless. And human beings rise to the occasion when we are saddled with an intractable deadline. That’s why we need shmita.

World leaders will be meeting in Lima, Peru, on December 1-12, for the UN Climate Change Conference (COP20/CMP10). They’ll be working to establish the fundamentals of a strong, global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions – an agreement that we hope will then be finalized in Paris in 2015. These leaders need to know that we’re holding their work in our thoughts, meditations and prayers. As they start their work, join us in a vigil calling for meaningful progress toward a world safe from climate change.

Please send a representative to light a candle on behalf of your community or congregation. The candle is a symbol of hope that the negotiations in Lima will be carried out in a spirit of love, compassion, and caring.  To sign up to represent your faith community, please contact n.lorence2013@gmail.com andcatherineskopic@yahoo.com

Spread the word on facebook and announce this vigil in your newsletter and at your services.

Vigil on December 7, 2014 at 4:00 pm in Union Square

Thirteen Jewish organizations, under the umbrella of the Green Hevra, have issued the following joint statement today publicly calling on the U.S. government to reject the Keystone XL pipeline:

It has become abundantly clear that we are consuming far too many fossil fuels. In this Sabbatical/Shmita year, when the Torah calls for deeper gentleness toward the Earth, we are especially conscious of the dangers to the Earth from the drilling, transporting and burning of tar-sands oil. The resources that would be devoted to the Keystone XL pipeline should be devoted instead to initiatives in clean energy, a fast-growing field in which we hope the United States will take a leading position.

Climate change, worsened by burning more and more oil that the Keystone XL pipeline would permit, poses a grave threat to the security of the United States, Israel and the world.

Jewish tradition is not monolithic, and the issues around the pipeline are complex. But the Jewish community has consistently sought to take a stand in favor of creating a better world for all. It is hard for us to believe that building the Keystone XL pipeline could possibly do so.

This is not the first time that Jewish organizations have taken a stand against Keystone XL and we call upon fellow Jewish leaders to join us in encouraging President Obama and Congress to reject the Keystone XL pipeline.

Signed by the following members of the Green Hevra:

Amir

Aytzim: Ecological Judaism

Eden Village Camp

Energiya Global

Habonim Dror North America

Hazon

Jewish Climate Action Network

Jewish Farm School

Jews Against Hydrofracking

NeoHasid.org

Reconstructionist Rabbinical College / Jewish Reconstructionist Communities

The Shalom Center

Shoresh Jewish Environmental Programs

GreenFaith  (http://greenfaith.org/):  GreenFaith has an amazing fellowship program for faith leaders and certification program for houses of worship.  As they state on their website, “The GreenFaith Fellowship Program is the world’s only comprehensive program to prepare lay and ordained leaders from diverse religious traditions for religiously based environmental leadership.”  I highly recommend both the fellowship and certification program and encourage you to click on the link to learn more.   GreenFaith also took a leadership role in the recent  People’s Climate March in NYC, an event which garnered international attention.

Interfaith Power and Light (http://www.interfaithpowerandlight.org/):  A national organization that has chapters in many states.  Generally the various state chapters are very interested in collaboration and can be a wonderful resource in connection with environmental advocacy and education.

The Forum on Religions and Ecology (http://fore.research.yale.edu/): An excellent resource for both materials and learning opportunities.  As stated on the website, “with its conferences, publications, and website it is engaged in exploring religious worldviews, texts, ethics, and practices in order to broaden understanding of the complex nature of current environmental concerns. The Forum recognizes that religions need to be in dialogue with other disciplines (e.g., science, economics, education, public policy) in seeking comprehensive solutions to both global and local environmental problem.”

Evangelical Environmental Network (http://creationcare.org/blog.php?blog=1):  This group termed the phrase “Creation Care” which I personally love. Although the group is mostly focused on Evangelical Christians, the blog link I provided can be a good resource as the blog is updated and conveys various events taking place through the EEN.

Green Muslimes (http://www.greenmuslims.org/about/):  Mostly active in the DC area, this is a great website to learn how the Muslim community is addressing environmental issues.

 
Eternal God, You created earth and heavens with mercy, and blew the breath of life into animals and humans. We were created amidst a world of wholeness, a world called “very good,” pure and beautiful, but now your many works are being erased by us from the book of life.

Not by our righteousness do we plead our prayers before You, Holy One of All, for we have sinned, we have despoiled, we have destroyed.

And so we confess together our collective sins, and ask for forgiveness:

For the sin which we have committed before You intentionally or unintentionally;

And for the sin which we have committed before You inadvertently;

For the sin which we have committed before You openly or secretly,

And for the sin which we have committed before You knowingly or unknowingly;

For the sin which we have committed before You, and before our children and grandchildren, by desecrating the sacred Earth,

And for the sin which we have committed before You of going beyond being fruitful and multiplying to overfilling the planet;

For the sin which we have committed before You by putting comfort above conscience,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by putting convenience above compassion;

For the sin we have committed against You by believing we are doing enough,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by reaping the dividends of unsustainability;

For the sin which we have committed before You through fear of speaking out,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by eating and drinking without concern for Earth and its hungry and thirsty;

For the sin which we have committed before You by saying we don’t have time,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by staying alive beyond the boundaries of our allotted life span:

For all of these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

For the sin which we have committed before You by not pressuring our elected officials,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by gaining wealth through fossil fuels;

For the sin which we have committed before You by denying the impact of our white privilege,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by closing our hearts and eyes to injustice;

For the sin which we have committed before You by filling land and ocean with filth, toxins and garbage,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by extinguishing forever species which You saved from the waters of the flood;

For the sin which we have committed before You by razing forests and trees, rivers and mountains,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by turning the atmosphere into a chastening rod;

For the sin which we have committed before You by making desolate habitats that give life to every living soul,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by a confused heart;

For all of these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

For the sin which we have committed before You by thinking separately of US and THEM,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by using more than our share of Earth’s resources;

For the sin which we have committed before You by considering human life more important than other forms of life,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by being deceived by those with power;

For the sin which we have committed before You by not finding the courage to overcome the reality of the lobbies,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by wanting to act only in ways that will serve us economically;

For the sin which we have committed before You by failing to create sufficient local, green jobs,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by trying to convince people rather than drawing them in;

For the sin which we have committed before You by not thinking into the future when we act,

And for the sin which we have committed before You by living in relative safety and not being caring of others;

For all of these, God of pardon, pardon us, forgive us, atone for us.

And yet, we know that we can only achieve forgiveness from You, O G!d of All That Is after we have sought forgiveness from our fellow living beings, and so, in order to achieve atonement, forgiveness, and pardon,

Help us, Holy One, to enter into loving respectful conversation,

Help us to create deep conversations,

And help us to listen to people.

Help us, Merciful One, to become empowered to talk and to connect,

Help us to be creative in how we start the conversation,

And help us to use our sacred texts as a foundation for our conversations.

Help us, Compassionate One, to start where people are and transition to climate change,

Help us to use humor as a vehicle of engaging people,

Help us to start with experience of nature and end with responsibility of saving world.

In order to achieve atonement, forgiveness, and pardon,

Help us, Holy One, to acknowledge that we are all in this together,

Help us to celebrate the positives happening in the world.

Help us, Source of All, to build coalitions,

Help us to create partnerships where we see other people’s needs.

Help us, Eternal One, to organize local solutions,

And help us to recognize that ownership and collective action are important.

Open our eyes to see the majesty of Your creation! Then we will praise you as it is written: “How manifold are Your works, Holy One! You made them all with wisdom; the earth is filled with what you hold.”

Please, Source of All, protect all living beings, in the shade of your wings give us refuge. Renew the face of the earth, save the weave and fullness of life. Please, Mysterious One, remove the heart of stone from our flesh, and set within us a heart of flesh, that we may behold the Godly therein. Grant us wisdom and courage to heal and to watch over this garden of life, to make it thrive under the heavens.

Help us to realize that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Help us to realize that we are the ones we’ve been waiting for.

Adapted from the traditional Jewish High Holiday liturgy and works by Rabbi Lawrence Troster, Rabbi Daniel Nevins (which I found at neohasid.org), and, at the suggestion of Rabbi Judy Weiss, material from the Jewish Climate Action Network of Boston created with the help of Gary Rucinski.

Note: Hyperlinks above are to organizations that work to help the environment in ways that bear some relationship to the selected text. This is a work in progress, and I hope to add more links. If you have suggestions, please email them to rabbikza@verizon.net.

Rabbi Katy Z. Allen is the founder and leader of Ma’yan Tikvah – A Wellspring of Hope in Wayland, MA, and a staff chaplain at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. She is the co-convener of the Jewish Climate Action Network, a member of the Jewcology.org editorial board, a board member of Shomrei Bereishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the Earth, and the co-creator of Gathering in Grief: The Israel / Gaza Conflict.

I started with Jewcology while working with an organization called Faiths United for Sustainable Energy, which unfortunately had to close its doors a few years back.  Though that organization I was able to meet a wide range of people affiliated with various religious organizations who cared deeply for the environment.  Through FUSE, individuals from different religious backgrounds were able to come together and collaborate in an effort to be good stewards of the planet.  I think the same applies to Judaism as, which is a very large tent containing a wide range of viewpoints.  If we as Jews can come together in order to share and exchange ideas, thoughts, and experiences in connection with  environmental  advocacy, activities, events, and Jewish teaching, we can create an even stronger Jewish environmental movement, in hopes of passing down a more sustainable world to the next generation, like my new son.

Please feel free to comment on this post or send me emails directly and I am always happy to discuss.  After all, that is the entire purpose of Jewcology.

I wish everyone a happy and sweet New Year.

BEER SHEVA (May 22, 2009) — For almost a year now, the Israeli public has been the target of a highly effective public relations campaign by the country's Water Authority. Stark images of desiccated humans cracking like hardened desert soil, along with the more comely admonitions for abbreviated showers from supermodel Bar Refaeli, reinforce existing perceptions that Israel's chronic water scarcity is getting worse.

Click here to continue reading this article

Nuclear energy isn’t quite a fossil fuel, since unlike coal, natural gas and petroleum, nuclear is not powered by fuel that developed over millennia from pressurized dead organisms — but nuclear isn’t renewable, either, since it uses a finite non-renewable fuel source. Nuclear power also presents many environmental problems, such as how to handle its radioactive waste product, and, in extreme circumstances, is disastrous, such as in Chernobyl, Ukraine, and recently in Japan.

Click here to continue reading this article

There are two major types of solar power technologies: photovoltaic and solar thermal.

Photovoltaic solar power utilizes the photoelectric effect. A semiconductor material absorbs light and the photons in the light beam are routed through the semiconductor and harnessed in the form of direct-current electricity. The semiconductor cells are electrically tied together in what is commonly called a solar module. These modules can be used to power a direct-current source, such as a battery bank or a water pump, or more commonly the power can be converted into alternating-current power to be used in a home or fed into the electric grid.

Click here to continue reading this article

For hundreds of years, humans have used wind to pump water and grind grain, mostly with small windmills. Large, modern wind turbines are used to generate electricity for individual use and to feed into the electric grid. Wind turbines generally have three blades and, because higher altitudes yield higher wind velocities and lower turbulences, the turbines are mounted on tall towers to capture as much energy as possible. As the blades turn, the central shaft spins a generator to make electricity.

Click here to continue reading this article

Maybe Kermit was wrong — maybe it actually is easy to be green. Or, at the very least, it is pretty easy to start being green. There are many projects that you can do that will not just green your home, but will keep the green in your pocket, too.

Plant a garden

There’s no better summer treat than fresh fruits and vegetables grown in your own backyard. And no plot of land is too small for a garden, even if that garden is only a few potted cherry-tomato plants on your windowsill. Plant trees As long as you’re planting, plant big! Trees around a home can help cool a house in the summer and keep a house warmer in the winter. Specifically, trees on a house’s southern side only help cool a house if their shade extends over the roof, so it’s best to plant evergreen trees on the northern side of the house to help block cold winter winds, and deciduous trees (the kinds that lose their leaves in the fall) on the house’s eastern and western sides to protect the house from summer sun.

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We — Rabbis, Cantors, and other Jewish spiritual leaders —
call upon Jewish households, congregations, seminaries,
communal and denominational bodies, and other institutions:
Move Our Money to Protect Our Planet.

In the ancient tradition from Sinai, naaseh v’nishma: Let us act, and as we do let us listen and learn.

Let us act:

To Move Our Money and Protect Our Planet, we call on the Jewish community to:

• Move Our Money (household and congregational) away from purchasing oil and coal-based energy and moving instead, wherever possible, to buy energy from wind and solar sources.
• Move Our Money (household and congregational) away from savings and checking accounts in banks that are investing our money in Big Carbon, moving it instead to community banks and credit unions;
• Move Our Money (household, congregational, communal, and denominational) away from actual investments in the stocks and bonds of death-dealing Big Oil, Big Coal, and Big Unnatural Gas, and move it instead to investments in stable, profitable solar and wind-energy companies and in community-based enterprises that help those who suffer from asthma and other diseases caused by Big Carbon;
• Organize our congregants and members to insist that local and state governments similarly Move Our Money – often in large pension funds — from investments in death to investments in life.
• Insist that Congress Move Our Money — money we pay in taxes — away from subsidies to Big Oil, Big Coal, and Big Unnatural Gas, and instead to supporting research, development, and production of life-giving renewable energy.
  

Let us learn:

We are a world people who still bear the wisdom of indigenous farmers and shepherds, meditators and sages, cooks and city planners:

• Our festivals dance with the rhythms of Earth, Moon, and Sun;
• Our Shabbat points the way toward a sustainable rhythm of work and rest;
• Our kashrut points the way toward sacred limits and practices in consuming not only food but other gifts of Mother Earth;
• Our long long history of resistance to the pharaohs that oppress human beings, lift up idols to worship, and bring plagues upon the Earth gives us a reservoir of commitment and clarity in political action.
  

And when as a world/indigenous people we join words and foods in the Pesach Seder, we find twin powerful passages of the Haggadah:

In every generation, some new versions of “pharaoh” arise to endanger us.
In every generation, we ourselves must act to win our freedom from destruction.

In our generation, these Pharaohs are global corporations of Big Carbon that are bringing the Plagues of climate crisis upon all life-forms on Planet Earth — a crisis of a breadth and depth unprecedented in the history of the human species.

And in our generation, we can resist these new pharaohs by moving our money to places where it will serve life and heal our wounded Earth.

Moving from what is deadly to what is life-giving echoes the deepest transformation of our history: In the very process of freeing ourselves from Pharaoh, we learned to shape a new kind of society — Beyond the Red Sea, we moved to Shabbat and Sinai.

Half a century ago, the American Jewish community joined with other religious communities to challenge racism, and together we were crucial in taking a great step toward healing America. Today the Holy One and the Earth need us again to join with other religious, spiritual, and ethical communities to make ourselves a crucial part of the movement to heal our planetary climate.

As Rabbi Akiba taught, facing the dangerous Caesars of his day: “Which is greater, study or action? Study, if it leads to action.” (Kiddushin 40b)

So we — Rabbis, Cantors, other Jewish spiritual leaders, and students in these sacred callings — not only join in this Call but also undertake a campaign to bring this life-giving vision of Torah into the hills and rivers, streets and forests, newspapers and videos, homes and campuses, neighborhoods and synagogues, of our generation.

By April 30, 2014, more than 70 Rabbis and other Jewish spiritual leaders have signed this Call.
The Initiating Signers are below; to see the full list of signers, please click to
<https://theshalomcenter.org/content/rabbinic-call-move-our-money-protect-our-planet >

Now we appeal to all members of the Jewish community to join in this effort. To do so, please click to:
<https://theshalomcenter.org/civicrm/petition/sign?sid=11&reset=1>

Initiating Signers:

Rabbi Katy Allen
Rabbi Phyllis Berman
Spiritual Dir Barbara Breitman
Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin
Rabbi Howard Cohen

Rabbi Elliot Dorff
Rabbi Nancy Flam
Rabbi Everett Gendler
Rabbi Marc Gopin
Rabbi Arthur Green
Rabbi Lori Klein
Rabbi Michael Lerner
Rabbi Mordechai Liebling
Rabbi Jan Salzman
Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi
Kohenet Holly Taya Shere
Rabbi Sidney Schwarz
Rabbi David Shneyer
Rabbi Ariana Silverman
Rabbi Ed Stafman
Rabbi Margot Stein
Rabbi Susan Talve
Rabbi Lawrence Troster
Rabbi Arthur Waskow
Rabbi Sheila Peltz Weinberg
Cantor Greg Yaroslow
Rabbi Shawn Zevit

___ Please add my name as a signer of this Call:
Sign online at <https://theshalomcenter.org/civicrm/petition/sign?sid=11&reset=1>

Climate change resulting from the use of fossil fuels poses a well-documented, grave threat to humanity and the ecosystems that support life. But in the United States, a real national response to climate change has been stymied by political inaction, cultural inertia, and the concerted effort of fossil fuel companies, which have funded propaganda and disinformation in opposition to limits on greenhouse gas emissions. Increasingly, environmental organizations have resorted to various actions meant to break this deadlock. One of these tactics is encouraging divestment from fossil fuel companies. 350.org, a leading climate advocacy group, has launched a nationwide campaign called Go Fossil Free (http://gofossilfree.org) which seeks to have institutions (like colleges, pension funds, cities, religious organizations) divest their stock holdings from fossil fuel companies.

GreenFaith (http://greenfaith.org/programs/divest-and-reinvest) is launching an effort to address these issues in a specifically religious context. With long ties to the Jewish community, GreenFaith is well aware that many Jews are very uncomfortable with the use of the term "divestment" because of its association with the BDS movement (Boycott, Divest and Sanctions) against the State of Israel. Even though Jewish organizations were in the forefront of previous divestment campaigns against South Africa for apartheid, Sudan for Darfur and even against companies that cut down old growth forests, today "divestment" is such a divisive word that its use in many Jewish circles would likely doom any associated effort from the start.

Ethical Investing and Traditional Jewish Ethics

However, the principle of ethical investing is already part of Jewish discourse and is part of traditional Jewish ethics. It is imperative that Jewish communities address the morality of investing in fossil fuel companies, whose fundamental operations imperil humanity and functional ecosystems. Even if it may not be possible to have a completely ethically pure investment portfolio, we should strive to have our investments reflect our Jewish values as much as possible.

There are sufficient Jewish sources to warrant our examining this complex issue. Two

particular issues bear closer examining.

• How does Judaism guide us to address products (like tobacco and fossil fuel) that are not illegal but are, clearly, harmful?
• To what degree is a shareholder morally responsible for the actions of a corporation in which they may have only a small share (or even more indirectly through shares in a mutual fund) which does not allow them to exercise any control on the actions of the company. Does this issue of indirect ownership distance us ethically from the actions of the corporation?

The following are Jewish teachings that address these questions and related issues.

The Theological Foundations of an Ethical Response

Ethics and Property Cannot be Separated

In Judaism one of the most fundamental concepts is that God created the universe and therefore one of its implications is that only God has absolute ownership over Creation (Gen. 1-2, Psalm 24:1, I Chron. 29:10-16). As such, humans do not have unrestricted freedom to misuse Creation, as it does not belong to them. We are in fact tenants and not owners. Since our ownership of any part of Creation is not absolute, we cannot divorce our use of our property from morality. Just because a product which we can purchase, own and use is legal does not make its use ethi

Creation's Structure and Order Serve God and Demand our Respect

Secondly, Creation is sufficient, structured, ordered, and harmonious (the rabbis called it Seder Bereshit, the Order of Creation). It exists to serve God (Psalm 148), and reflects God's wisdom (Psalm 104:24, Proverbs 3:19-20, 8:22-31). All of God's creations are part of this order, including humans.

Humanity as God's Agents

Thirdly, humans have a special place and role in the Order of Creation expressed in the concept of them being created in God's image, tzelem elohim (Genesis 1:28, Psalm 8). In its original sense, tzelem elohim means that humans are God's agents meant to actualize God's presence in Creation through godlike characteristics given to them, especially power over the other members of the created Order. Human beings are supposed to exercise this power to be wise stewards of Creation even as they are allowed to use it for their own benefit within the limits established by God (Genesis 2:14). This need for stewardship applies both to human society as well to the natural world.

Tzedek

Lastly, the concept of proper balance is expressed by the term tzedek, which means righteousness, justice and equity. The rules of tzedek, try to correct the imbalances, which humans create in society and in the natural world. The Torah has numerous laws which are concrete expressions of tzedek, which attempt to redress the power and economic imbalances in human society and Creation. (E.g. Exodus 22:24-26, Leviticus 25:36-37, Deuteronomy 23:20-1, 24:6, 10-13, 17). (For a more complete survey of these principles see http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rabbi-lawrence-troster/10-teachings-on-judaism-a_b_844973.html)

Ethical principles and Their Legal Expressions

Judaism sees a need for justice/equity in all aspects of life which include government and economic activity. As such there is no separation of ownership and liability. It has been long recognized in Jewish law that investments make us property owners. In Judaism, property owners have rights but also many responsibilities about how they utilize their property. These responsibilities include not only preventing immediate harm from occurring to others but also potential harm.

Jewish Ethics on the Responsibility of Shareholders

While biblical and classic rabbinic sources about property owners' responsibilities usually deal with single owners or small partnerships, for the last 500 years when stock markets and shareholder-owned corporations (like the Dutch East India Company in 1602) began to proliferate, Jewish religious authorities began to address the issue of shareholder responsibility.

Since a corporation – "a legally constructed entity which is independent of the people who own it," (D.B. Bressler, "Ethical Investment: The Responsibility of Ownership in Jewish Law, in: Aaron Levine & Moses Pava, editors, Jewish Business Ethics: The Firm and Its Stakeholders,1999, p. 179) – is created to limit the liability of its shareholders, it became a matter of great discussion as to who is or are the owner(s) of the corporations and are therefore subject to the classical rules of ownership responsibility. The problem lay in the issue of corporate control. Since most shareholders do not have power over the company's actions or policies and are therefore not "owners" in the classic sense – they cannot be held morally responsible for its actions. In recent years, the creation of investment vehicles such as mutual funds has further weakened the traditional sense of ownership.

One way that ethicists deal with this weakening of traditional ownership roles is to hold directors and executives morally responsible for a company's actions. But while some ethicists asserted that shareholders did not bear ownership responsibility, another opinion also emerged. Because collective shareholder action can cause a change in a corporation's policies, it has argued that all shareholders (even those in mutual funds) must be considered owners and therefore subject to ethical responsibility. (Mordechai Liebling, "The Jewish Basis for Shareholder Activism, The Reconstructionist, 69:2, Spring, 2005, p. 33-4

Ethical Responsibilities of Property Owners

If we accept that there is some ownership dimension to shareholding, then it follows that we should explore the ethical responsibilities of property owners, and consider how these relate to the issue of fossil fuel companies.

The classic ethical responsibilities of a property owner include not making a profit from prohibited activities such as theft or causing harm to another person's health. Even though the production of energy from oil, coal, and gas are not illegal (as in tobacco) it could be considered immoral from a Jewish activity because of the immediate damage it causes to Creation and human health. One is also prohibited from the harmful use of one's assets by others.

But our ethical responsibility extends even further. The general principle of the obligation to save and preserve life is called in Jewish legal sources, <em>pikuah nefesh</em> (see Leviticus 18:5 and its rabbinic interpretation in Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 74a). The extension of this principle forbids us from knowingly harming ourselves (Leviticus 19:28), mandates the proper disposal of waste and that noxious products from industrial production must be kept far from human habitation (see for example, Deuteronomy 23:13-15, Mishnah <em>Baba Batra</em> 2:9). The law of the parapet (Deuteronomy 22:8) is also used as an example of a general principle which requires us to prevent potential harm not only immediate harm (Moses Maimonides, Mishnah Torah, Laws of Murder, 11:4).

One of the most relevant principles to shareholder responsibility is the application of the law in Leviticus 19:14: not putting a stumbling block before the blind. This law was not only to be taken literally but since ancient times also understood as a moral principle: not intentionally giving bad advice to someone and not to assist someone in a wrongdoing. Maimonides used this principle to forbid the sale of weapons to people who may use them for violence or robbery (Mishnah Torah, Laws of Murder, 12:12, 14). Some would utilize this principle to apply to investments; others see a more limited applicability. (See Liebling, p. 33 & Bressler, p. 185-190)

Beyond the Letter of the Law

Even if we were to accept only the limited view of shareholder responsibility and say that investing in carbon-based energy companies does not strictly violate Jewish law, there is another important principle which would call upon us to act. The principle is called Lifnim m'shurat ha-din, "[going] beyond the letter of the law." It is based primarily on Deuteronomy 6:18 (but also by some interpretations on Leviticus 19:2) which says: Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord. As Elliot Dorff has pointed out:

…Jewish law itself recognizes that justice sometimes demands more than the law does, that moral duties sometimes require reshaping the law itself so that in each new age it can continue to be the best approximation of justice. (Elliot Dorff, To Do the Right and the Good: A Jewish Approach to Modern Social Ethics, 2002, p. 118)

Therefore, even if we can claim that our investments are technically not immoral, the Jewish tradition calls upon us to go beyond technicalities and act in a higher moral capacity. We must not only act legally but also act right.

Final Thoughts

The philosopher Hans Jonas showed that one of the central problems in dealing with the environmental crisis was the inability of classical ethics to deal with issues that are distant in time and space. In pre-modern times one's ethical relationships were with people who were physically and temporally close. Our actions today, through the power of modern technology, have an impact on people and non-human life that may be on the other side of world and distant from us in time. Jonas says that we must create a new ethics of responsibility in response. (Hans Jonas, The Imperative of Responsibility: In Search of an Ethics for the Technological Age, 1984, p. ix-x, 1-24) The carbon we emit today will remain in the atmosphere for about a hundred years and future generations will be dealing with the results of climate change. More than ever, we must seek to reduce the ethical distance between our actions and their impact. One way we can do this is through the ethical investing in sustainable energy and divesting from carbon-based energy companies.

Lastly, there is a moral imperative not only to act but to speak out. A rabbinic text says:

All who can protest against [something wrong that] one of their family [is doing] and does not protest, is held accountable for their family.[All who can protest against something wrong that] a citizen of their city [is doing and does not protest], is held accountable for all citizens of the city.[All who can protest against something wrong that is being done] in the whole world, is accountable together with all citizens of the world. (Babylonian Talmud, Shabbat 54b)

(This originally appeared at: http://greenfaith.org/programs/divest-and-reinvest/religious-and-moral-resources-on-divestment-and-reinvestment)

For hundreds of years, humans have used wind to pump water and grind grain, mostly with small windmills. Large, modern wind turbines are used to generate electricity for individual use and to feed into the electric grid. Wind turbines generally have three blades and, because higher altitudes yield higher wind velocities and lower turbulences, the turbines are mounted on tall towers to capture as much energy as possible. As the blades turn, the central shaft spins a generator to make electricity.

In the United States, total wind power constitutes a little more than 1 percent of the total country’s energy output — about 40,000 megawatts as of 2010. The 1,020 megawatt Alta Wind Energy Center, in California’s Tehachapi Pass, is currently the largest onshore wind farm in the world. Offshore wind power is even more promising since the winds over the oceans are more consistent and less turbulent than over land. Currently, most of the world’s offshore wind farms are in Northern Europe, but there are groups in the United States fighting to build offshore wind farms here as well. It is estimated that by 2020, worldwide capacity for offshore wind farms will reach 75 gigawatts.

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Benjamin Kahane is a utility scale project engineer at SunEdison, where he designs photovoltaic solar energy systems. He has provided engineering support for the development of more than 100 megawatts of ground-mounted photovoltaic projects across North America. Kahane previously worked as a project engineer developing photovoltaic installations at Conergy. He earned his master’s degree in sustainable energy engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.

The Jewish Energy Guide presents a comprehensive Jewish approach to the challenges of energy security and climate change and offers a blueprint for the Jewish community to achieve a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by September of 2014, which is the next Shmittah, or sabbatical, year in the Jewish calendar.

The Jewish Energy Guide is part of COEJL’s Jewish Energy Network, a collaborative effort with Jewcology’s Year of Action to engage Jews in energy action and advocacy. The Guide was created in partnership with the Green Zionist Alliance.

Sign up here to join the Jewish Energy Network and receive weekly articles from the Jewish Energy Guide.

The ability to harness energy has been essential to life since the start of humanity. This ability, of course, has come in many different forms and has gone through massive transformations over the centuries. In the 18th and 19th centuries, coal fired the steam engine — arguably the most vital technology of the Industrial Revolution. It was the discovery of oil that allowed the revolution to flourish even further in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, in essence altering civilization. Today, there is little we do without using some form of energy. Energy is necessary for the production of food and water. Energy moves us from place to place — be it by car, train, airplane or other modes of transport. In the form of electricity it heats and cools our homes, it provides our light, it turns our machines on and it allows for instant communication between people on opposite ends of the globe with a push of a computer button. In short, it powers life as many people in the world know it. There is increasing evidence, however, that the era of cheap, easily available energy is coming to an end; it may be time for another transformation that will harness new forms of energy to power our lives.

Most of the energy the world consumes comes from non-renewable fossil fuels. Although we can never know the precise quantity of fossil fuel reserves that remain, and although estimates of available reserves of each type vary greatly, it is clear that it has become more difficult to locate and to access previously undiscovered reserves of oil, and it is generally believed that we are nearing or already have reached “peak oil” — when the global production of crude oil peaks. As resources are depleted, extraction costs will become higher, and production will gradually decline to zero. With demand for energy projected to increase significantly, it is vital that new sources of fuel be found.

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Naomi Lipstein recently completed her master’s degree in environmental studies at the Albert Katz International School for Desert Studies at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, where she wrote her thesis on energy security and renewable energy policy in Israel. Previously she worked as director of marketing and communications at the Jewish Federation of Central New Jersey and as a producer, editor, and writer for television stations and networks, including ABC News and Fox News Channel.

Dr. Alon Tal co-founded the Green Zionist Alliance, the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies, the Israel Union for Environmental Defense, EcoPeace / Friends of the Earth Middle East, and Israel’s Green Movement party, which he currently chairs. A winner of the Charles Bronfman Prize and the Henry Ford European Conservation Award, Tal also serves as one of the Green Zionist Alliance representatives on the board of directors of the Jewish National Fund in Israel. He served as chairman of Life and Environment and as a consultant to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. A faculty member at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Tal also has taught at Harvard, Stanford, Tel Aviv University and University of Otago in New Zealand.

The Jewish Energy Guide presents a comprehensive Jewish approach to the challenges of energy security and climate change and offers a blueprint for the Jewish community to achieve a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by September of 2014, which is the next Shmittah, or sabbatical, year in the Jewish calendar.

The Jewish Energy Guide is part of COEJL’s Jewish Energy Network, a collaborative effort with Jewcology’s Year of Action to engage Jews in energy action and advocacy. The Guide was created in partnership with the Green Zionist Alliance.

Sign up here to join the Jewish Energy Network and receive weekly articles from the Jewish Energy Guide.

Nuclear energy isn’t quite a fossil fuel, since unlike coal, natural gas and petroleum, nuclear is not powered by fuel that developed over millennia from pressurized dead organisms — but nuclear isn’t renewable, either, since it uses a finite non-renewable fuel source. Nuclear power also presents many environmental problems, such as how to handle its radioactive waste product, and, in extreme circumstances, is disastrous, such as in Chernobyl, Ukraine, and recently in Japan.

Nuclear power is sometimes confused as a sustainable or renewable power. It is not, simply because there is a finite amount of uranium and plutonium on Earth. Nuclear power does not create any greenhouse gasses or expel any other environmentally harmful gasses into the atmosphere. However, fossil fuels are used in the mining for uranium, the uranium enrichment process, transportation of the nuclear fuel, and of course the erection of the power plant. It is difficult to quantify the fossil fuels burnt for nuclear power, but so much power can be extracted from the fission process that the power generated dwarfs the amount of harmful gasses emitted into the atmosphere compared to a coal or natural gas plant.

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Benjamin Kahane is a utility scale project engineer at SunEdison, where he designs photovoltaic solar energy systems. He has provided engineering support for the development of more than 100 megawatts of ground-mounted photovoltaic projects across North America. Kahane previously worked as a project engineer developing photovoltaic installations at Conergy. He earned his master’s degree in sustainable energy engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park.

The Jewish Energy Guide presents a comprehensive Jewish approach to the challenges of energy security and climate change and offers a blueprint for the Jewish community to achieve a 14% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions by September of 2014, which is the next Shmittah, or sabbatical, year in the Jewish calendar.

The Jewish Energy Guide is part of COEJL’s Jewish Energy Network, a collaborative effort with Jewcology’s Year of Action to engage Jews in energy action and advocacy. The Guide was created in partnership with the Green Zionist Alliance.

Sign up here to join the Jewish Energy Network and receive weekly articles from the Jewish Energy Guide.

“We praise President Obama for proposing the Energy Security Trust and prioritizing our nation’s response to the threat of global climate change,” said JCPA President and COEJL Co-Chair Rabbi Steve Gutow. “The President has highlighted his understanding of the moral urgency of reducing our contribution to the climate crisis. We hope to see regulations that enable us to achieve our national goal of a 17% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from 2005 levels by 2020.” COEJL is leading the Jewish community in an effort to reduce our Jewish energy use by 14% by the fall of 2014, the start of the next Shmittah cycle on the Jewish calendar.

“Reducing our nation’s reliance on fossil fuels would reduce serious environmental health risks, especially within our nation’s poorest communities, and ensure a cleaner and safer world for our children and future generations. As reflected by the President in his inaugural speech, we have a moral responsibility to ‘preserve our planet, commanded to our care by G-d,’” said Sybil Sanchez, director of COEJL. “In terms of next steps, we urge stronger implementation of the Clean Air Act, for example a limit on carbon emissions from existing coal-fired power plants. Further, while continuing to focus on energy independence, we hope that all steps toward clean energy prioritize environmental protection. Further, sufficient safeguards and regulations must be applied in the production of natural gas and all other forms of energy in order to protect groundwater sources, surface water sources, air quality, human and animal health, infrastructure and ecosystems."

For the full response, please visit: http://coejl.org/2013/02/jewish-environmental-response-to-the-state-of-the-union/

Vist us at www.coejl.org for more information COEJL's activities.

The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life deepens and broadens the Jewish community’s commitment to the stewardship and protection of the earth. Through a network of 27 national organizations and 125 community agencies, COEJL is mobilizing the Jewish community to address today’s energy and climate change crisis. COEJL is an initiative of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs.

Dear Friends,

We are facing a Climate Cliff, and we are calling upon religious and spiritual leaders, other believers and all people of good will to join us to address its danger by participating in “A Pray-in for the Climate” in front of the White House on Tuesday, January 15, 2013.

Super-storm Sandy, the drastic droughts in our corn country, record-breaking Arctic ice melt, and unheard-of floods in Vermont, let alone disasters in Australia, Russia, Pakistan and Africa, all warn us: the disruption of our planet will not wait for our “normal” political paralysis to end.

We are inspired by the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., whose 84th birthday we celebrate on January 15th:

“We are confronted with the fierce urgency of now…. Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations are written the pathetic words: ’Too late’.”

If we go over the Climate Cliff now, our grandchildren will live in misery and suffering.

Fifty years ago, our country faced a crisis of racial inequality in the USA that was a basic threat to justice and democracy. Religious communities and others acted, and we made a difference.

Today’s deepest crisis is the danger facing the web of life upon our planet, including the human race – especially the poorest and most vulnerable. We are especially concerned by the effects on local communities and our planetary future of destructive, extreme energy extraction: mountaintop removal, fracking, Arctic and deep sea offshore oil drilling and tar sands mining.

Out of our moral commitment to protect and heal God’s Creation, our religious communities need to be calling for a set of first-step changes that will sow the seeds of greater change, by committing the President and Congress to vigorous action. And we should pose those demands in such a way that we are addressing not only our government, but also religious communities throughout the country.

What can we do? When can we take the next careful steps back from the Cliff? One time and place will be mid-day on Tuesday, January 15th in front of the White House. Interfaith Moral Action on Climate (IMAC) is planning “A Pray-in for the Climate.”

IMAC is a collaborative initiative of religious leaders, groups and individuals that came together in 2011 in response to the pressing need for more visible, unified, prophetic action to address the climate crisis. As people of faith and spirituality, we feel compelled by our traditions and collective conscience to take action on this deeply moral challenge.

Please note that some participants may feel called to risk arrest by nonviolently disregarding the conventional regulations and assuming positions of prayer in the area near the White House fence.

We expect to be joined by survivors of Super-storm Sandy and their religious leaders from communities like the Rockaways and Staten Island in New York.

January 15th is close enough to Inauguration Day (January 21) to make the connection with what the President should be doing in his second term, and far enough away that the action won’t drown in the media swamp.

And, it is the actual birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The action will be carried out in the spirit of his work. We will gather at 11:00 am at New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, a few blocks from the White House. At noon, we will walk there in a religious procession and join our voices in a prayerful vigil. We will be praying that President Obama and all of us find the strength and wisdom to lead our country and world away from the Climate Cliff.

What will we be urging that the President do to meet the needs of this critical hour in planetary time? He must break the silence by taking necessary actions, such as these:

1. Permanently refuse permits for the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, because tar- oil is among the most dangerous of the planet-heating forms of carbon

2. Call a National Summit Conference on the Climate Crisis that includes leaders of business, labor, academia, religious communities, governmental officialdom, science, and other relevant bodies

3. Publicly support and advocate for a carbon fee that will generate hundreds of billions of dollars, with provisions to ensure that working families and the poor are not harmed by higher carbon prices; for an end to subsidies to the coal, oil and gas industries; and for substantial subsidies for research, development, and use of renewable, sustainable and jobs-creating clean energy sources.

We invite and urge you to join us on January 15th at the White House.

To our President and Congress we address the prophetic words of Dr. King spoken at another moment of crisis:

“This is a time to break the silence!”

With blessings of shalom, salaam, pax, paz, peace,

Members of the IMAC Steering Committee

Rev. Tom Carr, Senior Pastor, First Baptist Church, Hartford, CT, Interreligious Eco Justice Network, CT
Rev. Terry Ellen, Executive Director, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice in the National Capital Region
Ted Glick, Chesapeake Climate Action Network
Cynthia Harris, Interfaith Moral Action on Climate
Dr. Mark Johnson, Fellowship of Reconciliation
Fr. Paul Mayer, Climate Crisis Coalition
Ibrahim Ramey, Muslim American Freedom Society
Karen Scott, Center for Liberty of Conscience
Lise Van Susteren, MD, Center for Health and the Global Environment, NWF
Rabbi Arthur Waskow, The Shalom Center, Philadelphia, Pa.

Questions? – Please contact The Shalom Center at Office@theshalomcenter.org, look at "Climate Policy" on http://www.theshalomcenter.org

Contact the IMAC Steering Committee through Cynthia Harris at cynthiaharris4930@gmail.com

A new report just released this week says the ice sheets are melting five times faster than in the 1990’s and occurring more rapidly than scientists believed in 2007 (http://science.time.com/2012/11/30/climate-change-polar-ice-sheets-melting-faster-raising-sea-levels/) . At the same time climate discussion occurring over the last week in Doha have been unfruitful and hope that a meaningful agreement can be reached is fading (http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/doha-talks-after-6-days-no-consensus-yetclimate-issue/494234/). At the same time meaningful discussion is starting to take place in the Northeast regarding whether to rebuild in coastal areas destroyed by Sandy (http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324595904578120962784383982.html), and to what extent New York City and other major metropolitan areas need to build infrastructure to prevent similar destruction in future storms (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-11-09/billions-on-flood-barriers-now-might-save-new-york-city-l.html and http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/bloomberg-questions-aid-protect-flooding-ny-subways-article-1.1210855).

It seems to me that Sandy has shifted both attitudes about climate change and the conversation itself. Not only is Sandy making believers out of those who may have been on the fence regarding “climate weirding” but based on the fact that any sort of agreement is unlikely both here at home or internationally in terms of meaningful emissions reductions, adaptation is starting to take center stage. After all, if we can’t agree on what is causing climate change we can at least now all agree that the climate is changing rapidly and without steps towards adaptation there will be Sandy-like consequences that become the norm.

Obviously we must continue to fight for a shift away from a fossil fuel economy and towards the use of renewable energy because the risks associated with climate change are not only to human beings, but to the natural environment itself. However, this shift will likely occur too late as time may have already run out in terms of sea level rise, ocean acidification, and other climate related consequences. Therefore, while we must continue to work for climate mitigation, we should work with those who are now on board with climate adaptation, even if they are skeptical about its cause, because the climate is changing and those who will be most impacted by a lack of preparedness will be the working class and poor (as witnessed in Katrina and Sandy). It is our job to make sure they have a voice at the table.

It is important to note that this is not a reason to give up fighting against those who refuse to support renewable energy and are clearly in the pockets of Big Oil (http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/climate-skeptic-group-works-to-reverse-renewable-energy-mandates/2012/11/24/124faaa0-3517-11e2-9cfa-e41bac906cc9_story.html). Even if certain impacts from climate change are irreversible, the degree of those impacts is yet to be determined. If the world continues to burn fossil fuels until the supply is diminished and refuses to shift towards renewables, I fear adaptation will be unachievable. So at the same time we continue to work towards mitigation, we must work with those willing to deal with adaptation, even if they continue to be skeptical that human beings are the main cause of climate change.

But I can't feel smug about using my battery powered lawnmower, because I know I'm also polluting the earth. It takes roughly 10 cents of electricity to recharge the battery which helps to reduce my carbon footprint, thereby reducing one of the main sources of climate change. But the sources of that electricity are a combination of nuclear, wood, hydro, and wind. And those non gasoline sources of electricity all have their own impact on the environment.

For rest of text go to: http://www.vpr.net/episode/54517/cohen-lawnmower/

ANNOUNCING COEJL’S JEWISH ENERGY NETWORK!

Webinar on Becoming a Jewish Energy Champion in Your Community

Tuesday, October 16 at 2:30 pm est

Reserve your Webinar seat now at:

https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/487930350

Learn about COEJL’s new Jewish Energy Network and how you can take action on renewable energy and energy efficiency in your Jewish community. Hear about successful Jewish environmental initiatives. Panelists will share their insights on how to achieve energy goals while also meeting the needs of your synagogue or organization.

This webinar will help you brainstorm energy projects to initiate in your Jewish community, and provide information on COEJL’s upcoming community organizing training in Washington, DC.

Panelists:

• Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation (Bethesda, Maryland)
• Rabbi Marc Soloway, Congregation Bonai Shalom (Boulder, Colorado)
• Gail Wechsler, Jewish Community Relations Council of St. Louis

The Jewish Energy Network is a newly developing forum for individuals from around the country who are motivated to take action on renewable energy and energy efficiency in their Jewish communities.

Save the date! COEJL will convene a community organizing training for Jewish Energy Network members on March 13-14, 2013 in Washington, DC.

by Judith Feldstein

My Lord, You sent us not a burning bush, but Your flaming water;
a fire that lives in gas and is not drowned in H2O,
with flames that are not quenched, and danger not consumed until we
hear and live your will and love Your home as part of You.

Last year You gave us Elul with the kiss and aftermath of Your Irene's
with all the might of ordained winds and rains and floods.
You offered us tsunamis to remember as the earth was shaken,
and our towers crashed and crumbled while our people fled or died.
Our forests burned, our wildlife trapped in Your inferno met a scorching death.
All this as icy continents with lands of snow and glaciers melted by Your will
and slipped into adjoining seas, becoming salty tears of grief in witness of neglect
as polar bears, Your beasts of white bewildered watched and waited
as we watched and waited and did nothing and did not enough.

Our forms of peor and asherah with our golden calves were once Your gifts
which we in recklessness and without thought have turned to idols as we did in Sinai,
while we burn Your treasures in our homes and use Your wealth to run our cars
without regard to You while we feed our bellies irresponsibly.

It seems we have amnesia for the memory of Mt. Sinai held on high and overhead by You.
It seems that we have missed or disregarded, then blocked out Your signals now and then
so that perhaps in our denial we are now awaiting Purim.

This month in retrospect and prophecy, we hear Your will for us through Moses
and review the stories of his life and ours,
from burning bush as invitation and Your call to us;
through mizraim with its plagues and detox;
Death and outstretched arm at midnight;
Your splitting seas and closing them;
Your sustenance as manna, dew,and springs, and fowl;
Your clouds of glory and Your pillar of fiery light;
and so much more.
Do we recognize our gallus now or have we chosen to remain in Egypt?
Are we here to choose the blessing or the curse and will we cross the Jordan
to the Promised Lands our earth as healed and living as Your home?

When we turn our faucets on tonight will we ignite the flame from our ignited match?
And when will we remember all this comes from You?
We are friend or foe of earth, Your dwelling place and ours, but are not both.
Today, tonight and from now on may we all hear Your shofar call us to Your burning bush,
Your will and love and care to help us repair earth so that Your rivers, seas and lakes

are fired by Your love alone and nothing more.

*Gasland is the name of a documentary on fracking.

Judith Feldstein is a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology, a Certified Hypnotherapist, a Neurolinguistic Programmer, an Eriksonian Hypnosis practitioner, a Sacred Plant Medicine apprentice, and practices Sacred Circle Dance. She is also an Appalachian Mt. Club trail adopter, an Appalachian Mt. Club trail information volunteer, and enrolled in Rabbinical Seminary International. She is a hiker, walker, runner, student and teacher of A Course in Miracles, a student of Buddhism, a student of Gnosticism and mystic paths, an eldercare provider, a wife and a “mother” of several canine rescues (currently Shepherd and Neufy).

Tonight there is a great Midwestern thunderstorm in the sky. Lightning bolts are flashing, and the rain is pouring down. This has put me in a mood of wonderment at the awesome power of the Heavens, and has 'sparked' my curiosity regarding the relationship between electricity (lightning) and water (rain). While there can be rain without lightning and lightning without rain, the combination of the two is a fairly common occurrence lately, and provides a 'striking' illustration of the connections between these two powerful forces that are so critical to human existence. Unlike in thunderstorms, where water and electricity happily co-exist, humans current methods of energy production often use vast amounts of water, a rapidly dwindling resource. Let us take a look at some forms of energy production, and the water useage associated with each. We will then take a look at Jewish tradition for perspective on how water and energy are connected, and for guidance on how we should treat these precious resources.

Beyond thunderstorms, hydroelectric dams are another obvious symbol of the connections between water and energy. Hydroelectric dams use gravity to convert water into energy, by using the fall of the water to turn electrical turbines (engines). Hydroelectric dams, however, have the negative environmental side-effects of flooding arable lands and blocking the natural course of rivers, which upsets fish migrations. Hydroelectric dams also produce significant amounts of carbon dioxide and methane, and in some cases produce more of these greenhouse gases than power plants running on fossil fuels. For example, a 1990 study found the greenhouse effect of emissions from the Curuá-Una dam in Pará, Brazil, was more than three-and-a-half times what would have been produced by generating the same amount of electricity from oil. This is because large amounts of carbon tied up in trees and other plants are released when the reservoir is initially flooded and the plants rot. Then after this first pulse of decay, plant matter settling on the reservoir's bottom decomposes without oxygen, resulting in a build-up of dissolved methane. This is released into the atmosphere when water passes through the dam's turbines. Thus while hydroelectric energy does not destroy water in the way some other energy generating technology does, it still requires large amounts of water in order to function, and has other negative envirnomental consequences.

Thermoelectric power generation requires the use of vast amounts of water, through the use of steam-driven turbine generators. Production of electrical power results in one of the largest uses of water in the United States and worldwide. In 2005, about 201,000 million gallons of water each day (Mgal/d) were used to produce electricity (excluding hydroelectric power). Surface water was the source for more than 99 percent of total thermoelectric-power withdrawals. Thermoelectric-power withdrawals accounted for 49 percent of total water use, 41 percent of total freshwater withdrawals for all categories, and 53 percent of fresh surface-water withdrawals. U.S. power plants use seven times as much water each day as all home uses combined. And the largest single users of electricity? The nation's water treatment plants and water pumping stations. Thus, electricity and water are intimately linked in ways that we typically ignore.

Nuclear energy, too, is a huge user of water resources. One typical U.S. nuclear power plant uses 30 million gallons of cooling water an hour. The whole city of New York uses 46 million gallons of water an hour, so a single nuclear power plant needs water flow that would support a city of about 5 million people (about as many as live in the Washington metro area). And the U.S. has 104 nuclear power plants–more than any other country, a quarter of all plants worldwide. Water is one of the hidden, rarely discussed environmental costs of nuclear power plants. Water, in the form of steam, is typically what's used to turn the heat from the nuclear reaction into energy–with a turbine. Nuclear power plants also use water to help shield the reactor core from the rest of the facility, and the rest of the world. This is because water cannot be made radioactive. It simply won't absorb the waves of neutrons being put out by the reactor cores. It's in part why nuclear power plants use water right inside the reactor. It's why "spent" nuclear fuel is typically stored immersed in pools of water. The water keeps the fuel cool, but equally valuable, it is a great radiation shield.

Hydro-fracking is another water intensive means of generating energy that has rightly attracted the condemnation of environmentalists. Slick water hydrofracking is different from conventional natural gas drilling in a couple of ways. First, slick water hydrofracking uses significantly more water than conventional drilling, as well as a “slick water” mixture that is pumped into the shale to fracture the rock and release the gas. Second, there is an increased potential for toxicity and its long-term impacts. Finally, there is the environmental impacts of the drilling: surface and subterranean damage including forestland loss, multiple well sites, groundwater and surface water contamination, habitat and species disturbance, and likely an increased number of access roads to the well sites. Slick water hydrofracking involves a process that utilizes 6-8 million gallons of freshwater per fracking (though this varies with the depth of the shale and the gas deposits), and sand or other lighweight “proppants” (substances used to prop open the fissures caused by the well bore to allow the gas to seep through the pores in the shale). Following the injection of both the water and the proppant, several chemical-based additives are used to create a more efficient and economic process. Some of the chemical additives frequently used include: diesel fuel, biocides, benzene (an additive to gasoline and industrial solvent), and hydrochloric acid. Companies employing this method of natural gas extraction have resisted efforts to require disclosure of what chemicals and in what amounts they use, only assuring us they these chemicals are used in “small amounts”. However, “small amount” is generally unspecific, and some of these chemicals (especially benzene) are harmful at any level of exposure, even toxic at an exposure level of only parts per trillion. This matters because if any of these chemicals were to mingle with the water table, under which lies the shale with a layer of bedrock in between, it is likely that the water table would become contaminated, causing huge health consequences. Additionally, how companies are containing the slick water post-fracking varies from company to company, sometimes with a great potential for soil and groundwater contamination. It is pretty obvious that hydrofracking is an extremely water-intensive method of energy production. As I have written about previously, Israel is facing a critical juncture regarding whether or not to allow hydrofracking on its land.

You might think that solar power (being a 'green' and renewable energy source) would be a good source of energy that doesn't require large amounts of water. You would be wrong in this assumption. In fact, some of the most widely used and economical solar-energy technologies require significant amounts of water; as much as or more than the coal, natural-gas or nuclear power plants the solar projects are meant to replace. The sites most attractive for solar power plants — the wide open plateaus and deserts, are also some of the hottest, driest parts of the world. We can now see that the needs of human civilization for energy are inherently connected to the finite resource of water. Simply put, without water, we wouldn't have life or energy.

In fact, it is wind energy that uses the least amount of water than almost every other form of power generation technology. Other water-friendly forms of power generation include PhotoVoltaic solar power and wave power. These forms of energy production, while showing enormous growth and potential for future growth, are however still too new and small in scope to be able to provide for all our current energy needs.

Our Jewish tradition, in its infinite wisdom, recognizes water as the indispensable medium that connects humanity to the G-dly realm (of infinite energy). The Shema prayer (quoting Deut 11) reinforces the idea that if we act properly, we will be rewarded with rain (in the proper times and amounts), but if we disobey the commandments, we will be punished by a witholding of rain. The words of Torah are likened to water in Isiah 55:1, as it is written, "O all who thirst, come for water." Jewish tradition also equates the thirst of the Jews for water while in the desert of Shur to a lack of connection with the Torah, and thereafter instituted the tradition of reading the Torah on Mondays, Thursdays, and Shabbat, so that the Jewish people should never go more than 3 days without reading the Torah (Babylonian Talmud, BavaKama 82a). Additionally, when the Romans forbade Torah study after the defeat of the Bar Kochbah rebellion, Rabbi Akiva continued to teach Torah at the risk of his life. When a fellow Jew Papus asked him why he put himself in peril, Rabbi Akiva answered with a parable:

A hungry fox, standing on the riverbank, called out to the fish, "Fish, why do you subject yourself to such a dangerous existence? Don't you know that a little further down there are fishermen just waiting to catch you? Join me on the river-bank and you will be safe." Replied the fish, "What you say about the fisherman might be true. But if I am not immersed in the water, then surely I will die. My only chance to live is if I am in the water despite its peril."

Just as fish cannot live without water, Jews can not survive spiritually without Torah. Jews need Torah as much as humans need water. By cherishing and sustaining Torah learning, we develop a connection to the divine realm. Similarly, water can be used to create energy. However, water is limited in abudance unlike Torah study, which is unlimited in its vastness. We must therefore only use water carefully and sparingly in energy production if we are to insure our water and energy needs for future generations. We must therefore cherish, protect, and preserve our water resources in order to physically survive on the Earth, just as we must retain our connection to Torah as the source of our spiritual survival. For if we continue to forsake our dwindling freshwater supplies in order to generate energy (aka 'power'), we would be as foolish as the fish in Rabbi Akiva's parable, had he listened to the tempting but deceitful promises of the fox. For true power comes only from the ultimate divine source, and not through selfish energy consumption that destroys our most precious gift of life-giving water.

One final fact that blows my mind – two teams of astronomers have discovered the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever found in the universe. It’s 12 billion light years away, and holds at least 140 trillion times the amount of water in all the Earth’s oceans combined. Perhaps Earth is only a drop in the cosmic bucket. Nevertheless, I don't think its likely we will be accessing that water anytime soon, so we would do best to treasure the water we have been given here on earth. L'Mayim!

While solar energy companies throughout the world are competing for the relatively few vast land areas required to house solar farms, Israeli startup Solaris Synergy has found a new terrain to use. Instead of a land-based solar system, the company decided to develop a water-based technology. In other words: a floating solar power plant.

The company’s founders say they realized that the large lands required for thousands of solar panels are nearly impossible to find, especially in a small country like Israel. Solaris Synergy’s Business Development Manager, Dr. Elyakim Kassel, tells NoCamels: “In many countries there is a competition between land for construction and land for large solar farms. Our system comes as a solution to use water surfaces instead of using valuable land.” According to Solaris Synergy (http://www.solaris-synergy.com/home.html), any fresh, salt or waste water surface can be turned into a solar energy platform.

Solaris Synergy’s flagship product is a floating concentrating photovoltaic (CPV) system – a system that concentrates a large amount of sunlight onto a small area to generate electricity by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity. The system features a modular design that supports power output ranging from several kilowatts to dozens of megawatts, depending on size. (To see video, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pl8dfRuR10s&feature=player_embedded)

According to the company, their solar-on-water solution dramatically lowers the cost of renewable energy production since the water surface is also used for cooling the solar panels. This cooling system keeps the silicon elements used as semiconductors at a low temperature and therfore increases their power generation efficiency and extends their lifespan.

Solaris Synergy was founded in 2008 and awarded an R&D grant from Israel’s National Infrastructures Ministry. The company is also backed by private equity funds in the United States. They recently got a permit from Israeli water company Mekorot to build their first facility near the city of Netivot.

The company says they are currently negotiating pilot projects with companies in the United Kingdom, France, South America and India.

Kassel addresses the challenges his company faces. “The main challenge, at the moment, is lowering the costs. People will not use our technology if it is not cheap enough.” He also admits that “as a small company, if we want to spread our technology around the world, we will have to join a global company.”

Kassel says they are not the only company focusing on energy on water. “The competition is good for us since it proves that we have a good idea. We just have to show that we are the best.”

This article appeared on www.nocamels.com