Examining Durban: How Will the Last Climate-Change Talks Impact Jews, Israel and the World? Wednesday, February 29 at 1:00 pm est. Click here to register! What happened at the climate negotiations in Durban? And how can we be involved as a Jewish community? Join a discussion about the recent U.N. Conference on Climate in Durban. Environmentalists Dr. Orr Karassin, Michael Schut and David Turnbull will present Jewish, Israeli and interfaith perspectives. Presenters: Dr. Orr Karassin, Green Zionist Alliance Michael Schut, economic and environmental affairs officer of the Episcopal Church David Turnbull, former director of the Climate Action Network Co-sponsored by the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), Green Zionist Alliance (GZA), American Zionist Movement (AZM), Hazon, Jewcology, Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism (RAC), and Siach. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/306233278
COEJL is holding a series of informative training webinars for participating Jewish organizations who have signed onto the Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign declaration. The first webinar is on “How to Create an Energy Reduction Plan” and will be on Wednesday, February 22. It is not too late to participate in this webinar! Please call us for more information at 212-532-7436 if your organization is thinking about signing the declaration. Introduction to the Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign A diverse group of Jewish leaders is supporting the Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign by signing the Jewish Environmental and Energy Imperative Declaration. Lead by COEJL, this campaign will galvanize the Jewish American community to stand together with one voice, take concrete action and make tangible change, as well as serve as a model for other communities. With this commitment to action, awareness of sustainable environmental responsibility will become part of the daily life of Jewish homes, communities and institutions. Read the complete introduction of the Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign.
This month we celebrate Tu b’Shvat, the Jewish new year for trees. Building on this ancient celebration of nature, American Jews are, increasingly, expanding their observance by honoring our entire planet. Tu b’Shvat has become a time to reflect on Earth’s fragility, its dwindling resources and humankind’s impact on water, air and land, as well as on the people, animals and plants that dwell here. Read the complete article in The Jewish Week.
The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) invites you to the official signing ceremony of the “Jewish Environmental and Energy Imperative” declaration, part of its Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign. Two days before the Jewish celebration of Tu B’shvat, the New Year for trees, leaders of the Jewish community will set the community-wide goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions 14% by 2014. Who: On behalf of a broad spectrum of national Jewish leaders, Rabbi Steve Gutow, president and CEO, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and co-chair, COEJL; Rabbi David Saperstein, director and counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism; Rabbi Julie Schonfeld, executive director, the Rabbinical Assembly; Sybil Sanchez, director, COEJL; and, Stephen Hazan Arnoff, executive director, 14th Street Y. Additional speakers to be announced. When: Monday, February 6, 2012, 11:00 a.m. Where: 14th Street Y 344 East 14th Street (between First & Second Avenues) New York, NY 10003 (Note: All visitors are asked to show photo ID cards to enter the building, may be asked to open bags and may be subject to search.) Challenge: Commit to reducing your energy consumption RSVP: Sarah Levinson, 212.532.7436, Please RSVP by February 1 Media Contact: Vicki Stearn 301.656.1054, About COEJL 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 relations agencies, COEJL, an initiative of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), is mobilizing the Jewish community to address today’s energy and climate change crisis. For more information, visit http://www.coejl.org.
We are pleased to unveil our brand-new website at www.coejl.org! The redesigned site is packed with new content and Jewish information on energy, sustainability, and climate change. We hope you will take a look. Brand-new features include: Updated features and news up front on our home page. A News & Views section detailing what Jewish communities are doing, and should be doing, and providing Jewish and interfaith perspectives on sustainability, climate change, energy independence and other environmental issues. An Issues Archive of policy statements, sign-on letters and action alerts. Advanced search for Resources on advocacy and policy, Jewish thought and texts, and Jewish life and programs. For those who are fans of our COEJL SEEDS Program Bank, it’s been reincarnated on the Resources page on the right hand column on the page. If you can’t find something that you previously used, please contact us. We hope you will come back frequently to www.coejl.org and be inspired to do your part to galvanize a diverse American Jewish community to stand together with one voice and take concrete action on sustainability, energy and climate change.
BACKGROUND: Despite clear scientific evidence of the harm being done to our air, land, and water, by greenhouses gases, Senators and Representatives have introduced a barrage of bills that would roll back the Environmental Protection Agency’s enforcement of Clean Air Act safeguards. The Energy Tax Prevention Act of 2011 (H.R. 910/S.482.) would allow polluters to continue to spew unlimited amounts of carbon and other pollution into our air. These safeguards are already saving lives and improving the health of millions of Americans. Congress must not halt EPA’s work in its tracks. “Dirty Air” bills like this put the interests of America's biggest and dirtiest polluters ahead of the health of each of us, our kids and families. A vote on these issues could come in the Senate as soon as tomorrow! JEWISH VALUES: From the earliest verses of the Torah, Jewish values teach us to be good caretakers of our earth and all its resources, valuing the life and health of all people as key priorities. Polluting our air and warming our earth by burning fossil fuels debases these values. Attacks on efforts to clean our air violate the mandate of Genesis that we ‘till and tend’ the earth and run counter to COEJL’s principal mission of ‘Protecting Creation, Generation to Generation’. We must work to assure the continued health of our environment for all people and for future generations. TAKE ACTION NOW: Urge your members of Congress to vote against any bill that would block or repeal the EPA’s ability to continue to regulate the nation’s biggest polluters. Click here to write your Senator or call the Capitol Switchboard at 202.224.3121. For more information, please contact us at .
Office Manager / Executive Admin Assistant The National Religious Partnership for the Environment seeks an experienced, versatile, Office Manager / Executive Administrative Assistant (EAA) for its new office in Washington, DC. The Partnership, founded in 1993, is a highly respected, national alliance of four major independent faith groups (the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the National Council of Churches of Christ, the Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network), which undertake programs for environmental sustainability and justice through education, congregational outreach, leadership training, communications, and public policy initiatives. The Partnership’s Board of Directors recently appointed a new Executive Director (ED), Matthew Anderson-Stembridge, who comes to NRPE from his post as Founding Director of the Creation Care Fund. Some of the EAA's responsibilities include: answer phones and direct phone calls; place calls; set-up conference calls; edit, proof and format documents and correspondence for ED; provide research; make travel arrangements; schedule meetings; coordinate Staff meetings; assist with Board meeting logistics; maintain office file system; order office supplies; handle in-coming and out-going mail; maintain NRPE’s database; monitor Partnership's general email; maintain / update NRPE’s website; take and transcribe meetings notes; maintain office equipment; recommend latest technology; keep office organized; other administrative and programmatic duties as necessary. Position provides off-site administrative support to Director of Finance and Administration (DFA) in MA office as needed. The EAA reports to both ED and DFA. Qualifications and Skills: Requires administrative experience in non-profit world; excellent written and oral communications and inter-personal skills; strong organizational skills; versatile computer skills (Microsoft Office in MAC environment); ability to be very flexible and prioritize multiple tasks; high standards of productivity; ability to complete tasks for active, traveling ED with equanimity, wisdom, loyalty, and humor. Must find serving in a support role rewarding. We offer a competitive salary commensurate with experience and a full benefits package. Application Deadline: March 10, 2011 Position begins: April, 2011 Send, email or fax resume, thoughtful cover letter, references and salary history to: Kimberly Foster, Director of Finance and Administration; National Religious Partnership for the Environment, 49 S Pleasant St., Suite 301, Amherst, MA 01002 Email: ; Fax: 413-253-1414 NO PHONE CALLS, PLEASE ~ An EEO Employer ~
PROTECT OUR HEALTH – STOP “DIRTY AIR” BILLS FROM PASSING BACKGROUND: Despite clear scientific evidence of greenhouse gases harming our air, land and water and contributing to climate change, some Senators and Representatives are attacking the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to enforce Clean Air Act safeguards. These safeguards are already saving lives and improving the health of millions of Americans and in 2007 were mandated by the Supreme Court as part of the EPA’s responsibility. We must tell Congress not to halt the EPA’s work in its tracks especially now when environmental protection is more necessary than ever. These ‘dirty air’ bills would allow polluters to continue to spew unlimited amounts of carbon and other pollution into our air endangering our health and future conditions for our children. JEWISH VALUES: From the earliest verses of the Torah, Jewish values teach us to be good caretakers of our earth and all its resources, valuing the life and health of all people as key priorities. Polluting our air and warming our earth by burning fossil fuels debases these values. Attacks on efforts to clean our air violate the mandate of Genesis that we ‘till and tend’ the earth and run counter to COEJL’s principal mission of ‘Protecting Creation, Generation to Generation’. We must work to assure the continued health of our environment for all people and for future generations. TAKE ACTION: Urge your members of Congress to vote against any bill that would block or repeal the EPA’s ability to continue to regulate the nation’s biggest polluters. The Capitol Switchboard can be reached at 202.224.3121 or you cansend an e-mail by clicking HERE. For more information, please contact us at Javascript must be enabled to use this action. Loading data, please wait …. In order to address your message to the appropriate recipient, we need to identify where you are. Please enter your zip/postal code: We could not find this street in our database There are multiple districts in this zip code.
BACKGROUND: The LWCF was established in 1965 to protect America’s Great Outdoors, using royalties paid by oil companies to the government to fund the conservation of natural resources. Yet, since its inception, the Fund has never received sufficient appropriations. Even though there's been more than enough oil revenue for the LWCF at no cost to the American taxpayer, Congress has failed to use that money for its intended purpose (its recent low in appropriated funding was just $138 million, less than one-sixth of what it could be). Over the years the Fund has been shortchanged by some $17 billion – a huge loss for our communities, and for Creation. Fortunately, this July, the House of Representatives passed the Consolidated Land, Energy, and Aquatic (CLEAR) Act, which includes full funding for the LWCF. Now we are waiting to see whether it will also pass in the U.S. Senate. We need your Jewish Energy to push for continued inclusion of full funding for the Land and Water Conservation Fund as the bill moves forward by taking action today! JEWISH PERSPECTIVE: COEJL works with numerous Jewish agencies and all major denominations with this notion as its mission: “protecting Creation from generation to generation.” As part of Creation, our land and water have the capacity to nourish or to vanquish each one of us, regardless of how we vote. We humans (Hebrew adam) come from and are dependent upon the land (adamah), and the ‘living waters’ (mayim chayim, as Jeremiah calls them). That is why we urge safeguarding our precious public lands and water resources, by having Congress dedicate full funding for the bi-partisan-supported Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF). TAKE ACTION: Urge your Senators, Congressmen and President Obama to support full funding of the LWCF now. The Capitol Switchboard can be reached at 202.224.3121, or you can send an e-mail by entering your zip code below. For more information, please contact COEJL Program Director, David L. Marks at 212-532-7436 or . Thanks for your Jewish Energy and for making a difference. Sustainably Yours, –The COEJL Team
