119 results for tag: Waste

Eco-friendly Summer

Summer will be here before you know it. One way to be a better guardian of the Earth and to follow the Jewish imperative of bal tashchit (do not waste) is to take some simple steps to keep your home naturally cool in the summer months. Here are a few ways to make that happen: -- Close your curtains: During the heat of the day, close your curtains or blinds. This blocks the sun’s rays so that less air conditioning will be needed to cool your home. -- Keep the oven off: As much as possible on hot days, use the microwave, toaster oven and/or the outdoor grill for cooking needs. Or, make cold soups and entrees when it is very warm out. ...

Clean the Land: Love It. Live It. Clean It.

It’s happened to each and every one of us. You’re at the beach in Tel Aviv, surrounded by white sand, blue sea, shining sun…and, of course, bronzed bodies. With the enthusiasm of a kid in a candy store, you run to the water and jump in. “This is just too perfect! This has to be a dream!” you think to yourself. You dip your head, envisioning yourself recreating one of those movie scenes where you emerge from the water with your hair slicked, basking in the Mediterranean sun. Unfortunately, when you break the surface, you find yourself donning a hat…an empty Bamba bag that somebody ...

Reduce Workplace Waste

Whether you own your own business or work for someone else, it is a good practice to be mindful of your energy use and use of office supplies during your work day. There are many simple practices that will allow you to use less energy and produce less waste. This pays off by helping the environment and lowering costs as well. Shut down your computer. According to a recent study by the Harvard Green Campus Initiative, computersare responsible for about 40% of the energy consumed by office equipment in the United States. One desktop computer left in full power mode for a year can result in 1,500 pounds of CO2 being released into the ...

Eco-Friendly Home

Many people may not think about common purchases made at the grocery or home improvement store and their impact on the environment. However, as Jews commanded to till and tend the Earth and not to waste resources, we need to be mindful of the environmental and health effects of many products we routinely buy. Here’s a list of some commonly purchased items for the home, with an eye toward the more environmentally-conscious option when shopping in a store or online: • Paper goods—Items such as toilet paper, paper towels and tissues are a staple purchase for many. Consider, however, that traditional brands may contain ...

A Jewish Environmental Proclamation

When God created the first human beings, God led them around the Garden of Eden and said: “Look at my works! See how beautiful they are – how excellent! For your sake I created them all. See to it that you do not spoil and destroy My world; for if you do, there will be no one else to repair it. - Midrash Kohelet Rabbah 1 (on Ecclesiastes 7:13) We are witnessing a time in which the future of the planet is at stake. The climate crisis is escalating, and it is upon each one of us to do what we can to change course. In the Torah it is written, “And you shall choose Life” (Deuteronomy 30:19). Today ...

Unwanted Old Things

(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's blog: http://blog.bjen.org/, dated February 22, 2012) When my son moved to NYC last summer, he took the furniture from his DC-sized area apartment to his Manhattan-sized apartment. And - unfortunately - discovered that it didn't all fit. So, like the native New Yorker he is, he put the excess furniture out on the curb. Three hours later, it was gone. I had earlier seen a man on the street stop, set his briefcase down beside my son's flotsam (or more properly, jetsam), call someone to describe his find to, all the while assuming that protective, this-is-mine-don't-even-think-about-it ...

Israeli Technology Turns Sludge Into Electricity

By TechIsrael Staff Photo by Sustainable sanitation It may look like mud, but sludge – the “leftover” semi-solid part of the stuff we flush down the toilet or pour down the drain, is a creature unto itself. Far more toxic than plain old mud, sludge has the potential to bust a city's budget, as it needs to be treated and disposed of. But it doesn't have to be that way; in the hands of Israeli startup Global Recycling Projects Ltd. (Ecoarrow), sludge pulls its own weight – providing “free” energy by turning sludge into – electricity! It's a neat trick that GRPL pulls off using solar ...

Maryland Legislative Environmental Summit

(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's Blog: http://blog.bjen.org/, dated January 25, 2012) Below is Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's presentation at the annual Maryland Legislative Environmental Summit, held January 24, 2012, in Annapolis, MD. We live in the midst of a 4-billion year old mystery, an on-going miracle that we call Earth. For all we know, no such miracle exists anywhere else. Whatever we may be skilled enough to find out there, there is likely not to be another Planet Earth, or another you, or another me, or another Bay or the parade of moonrises and sunsets, or the cascade of creatures that have filled our air ...

Recycled Paper (CJN June 2011)

This "Sustainable Jew" article originally appeared in the Canadian Jewsih News June 10, 2011 Recycle, reduce, reuse. Last month, my column discussed the challenge of recycling of paper on which Jewish holy words are written. This month, we will focus on some key considerations to help you make sustainable choices about what paper you use as well as how you use, and eventually reuse, that paper. The three actions mentioned above— choice, use and reuse—help influence what paper options are available in the marketplace. As such, the actions of individuals, organizations and corporations can have a profound influence on ...

Take Care Reproducing Documents (CJN May 2011)

This "Sustainable Jew" column originally appeared in the Canadian Jewish News May 12, 2011 We are now in “sphirat ha-omer,” the count-up to Shavuot—the time of the giving of our Torah. Our study and transmission of our Written and Oral Laws ("Torah Shebichtav" and "Torah Sheba'al Peh," respectively) has benefitted from technological advancement. We are known as the “People of the Book”—five books of Moses, 24 books of Tanakh, countless written commentaries—but many are beginning to find the content of these books moving from paper to electronic form, soon making us ...

Seeds

(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's blog: http://blog.bjen.org/ dated January 6, 2012) In Genesis 1, on the sixth day, God creates man and woman after having created all the rest of Planet Earth. In a gracious effort to provide some guidance, some instruction to these bewildered, befuddled neophytes on how this novelty of life could possibly work, God says, "Look around. All this grandeur is there for you." 28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.&r...

Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment

Core teachings on 18 topics linking Torah and the environment were released between Tu b'Shevat 5772 and Tu b'Shevat 5773 as part of Jewcology's Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment, in partnership with Canfei Nesharim and a host of other organizations who shared materials across the Jewish community. The materials were shared at least 145 times on the web, in at least 99 social media postings, and reached over 51,000 people during the course of the year, as part of a Year of Jewish Learning on the Environment. The materials comprise the most comprehensive set of learning materials on Torah and the environment ever created, and are intended ...

New Food Packaging Made Of Natural, Fruity Repellents

New Food Packaging Made Of Natural, Fruity Repellents By TechIsrael Staff Photo by yumtan There are now seven billion people in the world, and as in the past, experts are wringing their hands over the possibility that Malthus could finally have his day. Malthus was the English philosopher who expected the world to starve eventually because of a lack of resources, and so far he's been wrong. But seven billion, now... that's a lot of people! All those people do have to be fed. So far, the world has been able to (more or less) supply its population with food, and in fact most people – even in many third-world countries ...

Greening Hanukkah

Hanukkah is a time where we celebrate the renewal of the eternal flame and rededication of the Temple. It is a great time to rededicate ourselves to the goal of preserving God’s creation, conserving energy and helping the environment. Here are a few things you can do leading up to, and during, the holiday to rededicate yourself to making the world more eco-friendly. Leading up to the holiday: · Buy gifts with a low carbon footprint—local stores that sell vintage, locally made or locally grown products are a great place to find these. · Consider offering the gift of time or one that ...

Israeli Engineers Come Up With Way to Recycle Industrial Sludge

By Aviva Grunpeter for NTD News Photo by Anat Markram, CDEGlobalTags: Environmental legislation and its enforcement require industrial plants to take care of the sludge created during the purification of their waste, which at times can be poisonous and dangerous. So far, disposal of the harmful materials in Israel included transfer to the southern, less inhabited part of the country, where they were burned and buried. “Ecology Serviced,” an Israeli plant, has readjusted an existing technology to work towards reducing the harmful substances and recycling another part of them. And the cost of treatment was ...

facebook and the dark side of computers

Dear Friends, I was in our local co-op yesterday and, as often happens, I ran into a friend. My friend started by saying, “you know, I’ve started to sign up for facebook three or four times, and then I realize it wants me to give over all of my emails… I’m just not going to do it. It looks innocent- but it’s all of my emails!” I said, “I know- I’ve been almost logging on to facebook too- and when I get to those emails- I’m out of there!” We talked there in the aisle, me holding my cereal and freshly ground coffee, one thing led to another and soon we had a full purging crank ...

Energy Unplugged

The Jewish Environmental Initiative held a workshop on “How To Make Your Home More Energy Efficient” on October 23rd. The speakers were Gary Steps, Founder and Chief Visionary at Butterfly Energy Works, and Kathleen Engel, a Certified Green Professional through the National Association of Home Builders who works for HomeNav and Home Green Home, two Green Home-related organizations. Here are some tips from the workshop. Following as many of these steps as you can will help reduce your energy bills, will help the environment, and will help reduce waste, furthering the Jewish principle of bal tashchit. • One of the simplest ...

My Zaide, Sukkot and Food Insecurity

As a child at Sukkot I recall my beloved Zaide Shaya Yosef Z”L eating meals and sleeping in the simple Sukkah behind his house. Zaide was a pious Jew who left his Polish shtetl, Checiny, in order to bring his wife and children to a better life in Canada. Stories my mother tells about Checiny describe a home not much more secure than Zaide’s fragile Sukkah. Access to food, especially fresh produce, was limited. The family was often hungry and malnourished. I wonder what Zaide thought and felt as he celebrated Z’man Simchateinu, the “season of our rejoicing,” and the harvest festival Chag Ha-Asif, the ...

Gadget attaches to faucet to measure each use of water

By NoCamels Team Photo by Joe Shlabotnik How many drops of water does it take to wash your hands, or a single glass? Bware, a new Israeli Patent by a2design, is a simple digital device to be installed on any faucet and can count in real time the amount of water in liters or gallons for every use. The Bware not only shows how much water you have used on the LED display, it can also also help detect different kinds of leaks, say its creators, Ariel Drach and Alex Sudak. The device, made from recycled materials, uses flow of water to generate enough electricity for the LED display. a2design is still looking for investment for the ...

Green Eggs and Us

(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's blog, dated October 18, 2011: http://blog.bjen.org/) We can learn a lot from Dr. Seuss, or a local CSA, or a child's coloring book. That is: there's a lot more variety in the world than we think. Not all carrots are orange; not all potatoes are white; not all watermelons are red; not all bananas are yellow. According to Plants for a Future, there are 20,000 edible plants in the world today. Yet, fewer than 20 species supply 90% of what the world eats. It seems that in our rush to be food efficient, we have stripped the grand diversity of nature down to a narrow, ...