206 results for tag: Advocacy and/or Policy


I Can’t Convince You

As an environmental activist, human being, and as a Jew I have worked to mitigate the effects of climate change. I have planted gardens, taught classes, composted my own trash, as well as the trash of my neighbors, relatives, and friends. However, the more time I spend thinking about climate change and reading scientific articles pertaining to climate change, the more I realize that there is nothing we can do to stop it. Climate change is a reality. The Earth’s temperature is rising. Sea level is rising. Endangered species are disappearing. Habitat is being irrevocably lost. And cultures are fading. It is a sobering realization, but it is ...

I am not an Environmentalist

My name is Noam Dolgin. I am environmental educator, activist, organizer, advocate, campaigner, crusader, agitator, professional, and I aspire to someday play the role of envrio-guru. But I am not an environmentalist! I do not ascribe to a ‘distinct doctrine’ known as environmentalism. It is not my ‘belief’ that I exist due my relationship with the Earth, I know it to be true. The fact is, each of us breaths eats and drinks from the Earth. We utilize Earth’s minerals, fossil fuels, and land in every moment. Our carbon footprint, our waste, and the resources we extract from Earth are not beliefs, they are an ...

The Israeli Summer: Tent Cities, Bombs, Boycotts and Herzl’s Dream

NEW YORK (Aug. 22, 2011) — If you thought Theodor Herzl’s dream was fulfilled with the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948, think again. Thousands are camping out in Israel’s cities, demanding social change. Thousands more around the world, angered by the Palestinians’ situation, seek to boycott Israel. Meanwhile, Egypt, Israel and Gaza volley bombs and rockets in escalating attacks and counterattacks. Which brings us back to Herzl. His dream wasn’t simply the creation of a Jewish democratic state, but the creation of a model state — a place that would protect its environment, a place powered by ...

On Jews and Gold

As the global economy continues down the tumultuous path toward financial meltdown, the value of gold has correspondingly skyrocketed. From a value of around $300 an ounce in the year 2000, the price of gold today sits at $1,784. The price of silver has had even more of a meteoric rise during this same period. Very likely this move toward the precious metals is a reflection of investors fears regarding the fiat money system itself and the reserve-banking ponzy scheme that is destabilizing governments worldwide. What, you might ask at this point, is a blog post about currency and gold doing on a Jewish Environmental website such as Jewcology? ...

Bill McKibben Calls for Civil Disobedience Campaign in Washington DC in August 2011

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow Bill McKibben and several other leaders of the USand world-wide movement to prevent climate disaster have called for a wave of nonviolent civil disobedience at the White House gates between August 20 and Labor Day. The action will focus on convincing President Obama to withhold permits for the so-called ‘Keystone XLPipeline’ from Canada’s tar sands to flow to Texas refineries, thence to add enormously to planet-scorching CO2. Below you will find McKibben’s letter. More than 1100 people have signed up already. I am intending (God willing & the creeks don’t rise, or ...

4 Jewish Summer Camps Sell “Fracking Rights” that Endanger Drinking Water, Food, Health, & Climate

By Rabbi Arthur Waskow (7/14/2011) The Forward, the leading national Jewish weekly, on July 14, 2009, reported that four Jewish summer camps in Pennsylvania have signed leases with gas exploration companies to allow “fracking” –- the hydro-fracturing method of pouring tons of highly chemicalized water to smash shale rocks into releasing natural gas. The four are Starlight’s Perlman Camp, which is owned and operated by B’nai B’rith; Camps Nesher and Shoshanim, which share a property in Lakewood and are owned and operated by the New Jersey Federation of YMHAand YWHA; and Camp Morasha, an independent camp in Lakewood. The Forward reports ...

The Tar Sands, Hydro-fracking, and Climate Reality

After the failure of the climate negotiations in Copenhagen 18 months ago, it seemed to me that the environmental movement was taking a long pause, trying to figure out how to engage the American population in the greatest challenge of our time. It seems to me now that this pause has ended, with a flurry of new activity that I’ve seen recently encouraging action on energy and climate change. There are three campaigns that I’ve recently become familiar with, and I will mention them with an eye toward what they are fighting and the difference they hope to make. The first campaign is the Tar Sands Action, which ...

UN Climate Summit

The Interfaith Declaration on Climate Change (www.interfaithdeclaration.org) is working to convene leading world religious leaders at the United Nations Conference on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa in November, 2011. Invitees include the Pope, the Dalai Lama, the Greek Orthodox Patriarch, the Archbishop of Canterbury, and other Christian, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, and Jewish religious leaders. The presence of some of these religious leaders at the conference will encourage both religious adherents and political leaders to act on climate change. We plan to hold press and other events inside and outside of the UN climate change confere...

Lessons for Israel from Ghana

SEFWI WIAWSO, Ghana — About six years ago the Ghanaian government brought a delegation of Jews from the Israeli town of Dimona to Accra, Ghana’s capital, to speak about the importance of local agricultural production and consumption. But even though Ghana has a long way to go on its path to becoming a developed nation — becoming part of the so-called “First World” — there's a lot that Israel can learn from Ghana. For example, here in Sefwi Wiawso, a small town in southwestern Ghana near the country’s border with Ivory Coast, the synagogue — the only one in Ghana — is lit at night by ...

On Technology and Faith

I have worked myself up into a state of near-frenzy lately, driven by my concern for the state of the world and its inhabitants. Despite my best efforts to remain calm, it seems to me that Chicken-Little’s call of, “The Sky is Falling” rings truer every day. From widespread environmental destruction to pending economic collapse to illegal and unconstitutional U.S. military aggression, the future of the humanity is looking gloomier on a daily basis, headed, it seems, for a catastrophe of biblical proportions. This is perhaps an appropriate feeling for this time in the Jewish calendar, as we have just entered the period of ...

A Sense of Place

Modern American culture doesn’t have much to say about the importance of place. Of course, we have landmarks: the Statue of Liberty, the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, to name a few. But what is important about those places is what is there, or what once happened there. It’s not the place itself that claims us. It’s a combination of monument and memory. As Jews we are more likely to have a real sense of what place means. We’ve been to Israel, a land that has been a part of our history for millennia, and that today represents all sorts of dreams and magic and meanings. A land infused with holiness. ...

Mayim

Last weekend I was about to board a plane when I decide to buy a magazine in an airport store. As I was glancing through the mountain of options, the cover of a magazine called Fast Company caught my eye. I don’t usually stray from my favorite two or three magazines (especially in the airport where they are so expensive), but the cover of Fast Company had a picture of Matt Damon on the cover that stated “Matt Damon And His Global War For Water.” I was intrigued because although I have heard people say often that the wars of the next century will be fought over water, I really know very little about this subject area. ...

What is Sustainability?

  In 1983 the Bruntland Commission formally defined sustainable development as, "development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Many hard-core environmentalists and deep ecologists reject this definition because it presupposes development as the foundation for sustainability. However, many free-market capitalists think this definition goes too far and encourages unnecessary government oversight of global markets. Given the opposing viewpoints sustainable development can be considered a compromise between environmentalism and capitalism. Many ...

Where Is Our Revolution? A Call for a North American Sustainable Spring!

Spring is in the air. The youth and working class of Egypt and Tunisia have overthrown their repressive regimes while Syria, Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and other Arab nations are experiencing civil unrest. In Europe, a focus on economic austerity at the expense of the youth and working class has led to clashes in France and Greece. Indigenous peoples of Bolivia, Peru and other South American countries have been working to block mining, drilling and transportation across the Andes and Amazon basin. In these parts of the world, citizens have begun to recognize their collective power, and they are showing their deep distress at the status quo. ...

What is Jewish Sustainability – Jewish Agency for Israel Assembly Session

Introduction & celebration Hello, My name is Einat Kramer. I am the founding director of Teva Ivri - an organization promoting Jewish sustainability in Israel. I am here with my friends & colleagues from the environmental movement in Israel that will facilitate the round tables sessions. Together, we are part of a far-reaching movement - the Jewish environmental movement. This movement is spread all over the world and getting bigger every day. This movement is made up of thousands of individuals from all streams of Judaism, from Israel and around the world, from a variety of professions. All these ...

What we learn from our teens

JEI has a teen environmental group that has been making waves (figuratively). Although only in existence for two years, this group of young people has educated others in the Jewish community on important issues such as how to green your synagogue, the dangers of polystyrene and the benefits of using rain barrels and native plants. When the next generation speaks passionately about these issues, people listen and learn. Many thanks, JEI teens!

Playing Politics With The Environment

Following politics can be frustrating, to say the least. Whoever said that ignorance is bliss may have hit the nail on the head when it comes to ordinary citizens and their choice whether to take an interest in elections and the decisions that our elected leaders make in regards to policy. This is especially true when there is a leader who gains your respect because he/she bucks their party (either Democrat or Republican) and makes a decision based on both the information presented and on that elected officials set of values. It seems to be me, that more often than not, the environment is an area where politicians who have taken a stand ...

Saving Samar: Together We Can Protect the Last of Israel’s Sahara

Israel's Samar sand dunes — and the unique animal species that live there — may be destroyed. (Photos courtesy of Taal Goldman of the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies) NEW YORK (May 26, 2011) — Picture a desert and you'll probably envision rolling hills of sand like those traversed by the nomadic caravans of the Sahara. Yet, even though the majority of Israel is desert, almost none of it is like the Sahara except for a small section near the southern tip of Israel in the Arava Valley: the Samar sand dunes. Originally about five square miles in size, today less than one square mile ...

Three (Jewish) Communal Actions with Impact!

Fair Food Network is excited to be partnering with Hazon on the following three calls to action. You can learn more about all of these issues by reading Oran Hesterman’s Fair Food: Growing a Healthy, Sustainable Food System for All. Together, we can move from being conscious consumers to engaged citizens and transform our food system! The first call to action is in your kitchen. Make a commitment to spend an additional $10 per week on food the source of which you can trace and trust. It may be $10 at the farmers’ market where you’ve just had a discussion with the grower; it may be $10 toward a buying club or a CSA. This ...

Tell the E.P.A.: No more methyl iodide

Cross posted in Environmental Tip of the Week and Foodiscovery I did not write this message; it's just the copied and pasted "email your friends" message from after signing a petition of sorts. Dear Friend, Methyl iodide is a nasty chemical. It is a known neurotoxin and endocrine disruptor, and scientists in labs handle only small amounts using special protective equipment because it is so toxic. But do you know where else it is used? As a pesticide on strawberries and other food crops. The battle against methyl iodide is being fought on several fronts. Last summer, Washington state banned the use of ...