Summary: In 140 characters or less, COEJL Governance Committee member Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb puts a modern twist on environmental messages from the Torah. Today the environment — God’s Creation, our one and only home — needs all the friends and all the help it can get. People of faith
Summary: A key aspect of successful greening initiatives is the presence of a Green Team. Rachel Jacoby Rosenfield, co-founder and former director of the Jewish Greening Fellowship, offers tips for success when creating a Green Team. A Green Team is a group of people who come together at least every
Summary: The American Jewish Committee (AJC) was the first national Jewish organization to have a LEED certified office building. Kenneth Bandler, the director of media relations at AJC, writes about their commitment to sustainability through continued green renovations and other office initiatives. Eight years ago, we set a goal to
Summary: Benjamin Kahane, an engineer who designs photovoltaic solar energy systems for SunEdison, outlines the current state of solar power and its potential as a transformative energy source. There are two major types of solar power technologies: photovoltaic and solar thermal. The United States has about 500 megawatts of operational
Summary: Dr. Mirele Goldsmith discusses natural gas and hydraulic fracturing, a new method of unconventional extraction, and weighs the risks and benefits of increased natural gas consumption. She stresses that even though natural gas emits less CO2 than coal, it is still a fossil fuel and its extraction comes with
Summary: Jen Singer, the founder and chair of the Green Committee at Ohev Shalom: The National Synagogue, explains how her synagogue became the first in the country to be recognized for energy efficiency, with Energy Star certification from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. It was my love of the environment
Summary: Most people spend the vast majority of their time in offices. Author of the book Mekor Hayyim: A Source Book on Water and Judaism, Rabbi Lawrence Troster provides a guide for making physical workspaces green in this article. Holiness can be created anywhere; it is not confined to the
Summary: The clash of rich versus poor is a concept going back to Talmudic times, but today it takes a new meaning in reference to the environment. Rabbi Jill Jacobs was recently named to The Forward’s list of 50 influential American Jews and to Newsweek’s list of the 50 most
Summary: For Bill McKibben, climate change is not only a practical problem but an ethical one. With its distinct moral legacy, the renowned environmental activist and founder of 350.org believes the Jewishe environmental movement is perfectly positioned to respond to the ethical dilemmas at hand. In the last 20 years,
Summary: Dr. Mirele Goldsmith explains the background, purpose, and stunning accomplishments of the first cohort group of the Jewish Greening Fellowship, a campaign of the UJA-Federation of New York to green Jewish institutions. The Jewish Greening Fellowship was designed, implemented and directed by [Rachel] Jacoby Rosenfield. A key decision was
By Rabbi Lawrence Troster Summary: Synagogues are important community spaces, but also important spaces for demonstrating a commitment to environmental values. Rabbi Lawrence Troster, the rabbinic director at J Street, provides detailed instructions on how to green your synagogue. It is often the case that many religious communities have an
By Rabbi Natan Levy During the 2011 riots here in London, teachers and social workers were said to have been among the looters. British Prime Minister David Cameron called them opportunistic criminals. Perhaps temptation simply got the best of them. Yielding to temptation may be pandemic in our culture. When
By Rabbi David Seidenberg “I have set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and the Earth.” (Genesis 9:13) Millennia before Kermit the Frog sang about the Rainbow Connection, the very first Rainbow Day marked the connection between God and all
By Al Gore I’m writing to tell you how excited I am by the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life’s plans for the Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign, how ready I am to help, and how much I encourage all of you who have been a part of COEJL’s mission
By Benjamin Kahane 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
By Naomi Lipstein and Dr. Alon Tal 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
By Rabbi Steve Gutow Inside and outside the pages of this guide, you will read and continue to read about bad things happening — to our Earth, to our fellow people, to our collective spirit — and, though we may wish it away, bad things likely will continue to happen
Summary: David Krantz, president and chairperson of the Green Zionist Alliance, shows how easy it is to go green at home. He offers up some interesting tips to help you get started! Compact fluorescent light bulbs use about a quarter of the energy of their traditional incandescent lighting brethren. Compact
By Joelle Novey Every Jewish community I have visited strives to honor the words of the Torah. Physically, we adorn the scroll beautifully, carry it carefully, touch it lovingly and read from it publicly. Spiritually, we pray that our hearts will open to its teachings, we study its words and
By Benjamin Kahane 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
