This week my wife and I are on Hornby Island, on the coast of beautiful British Columbia. It’s here, on the edge of the Pacific Ocean that I feel most in awe of the natural world and all its creatures.
A walk on the beach is a lesson in nature’s complexity. Whitecaps give way to waves churning onto the shore, where winter storms have deposited a year’s worth of driftwood and sea weed. Seals and sea lions maintain an ongoing truce as they patrol their respective aquatic territories for fish, and eagles soar and dive against a ever-changing ...
You might not expect it, but winter is a busy time for Jewish environmental educators like myself. While the garden rests frozen under a blanket of fresh Chicago snow, Tu B'Shvat is right around the corner. This holiday, which celebrates the New Year of the trees, is perhaps the most natural holiday to think about Jewish values of environmental preservation and appreciation. As in years past, my 6th grade students will be leading the rest of the religious school in the Tu B'Shvat seder. There's a lot they will need to learn to get ready, I'm hope ...
