30 results for author: Jesse Glickstein

Coming Together

Writing a blog post for Jewcology is usually a fairly fluid process for me. Throughout the month I generally collect different articles and compile thoughts in a document that I then go back to when I am trying to figure out what theme I want to address in my blog. This month was different. It did not occur to me until last week that the blog I was going to post had a deadline of September 11th. Sitting in the passenger seat of my car, with the Hudson River to my right and my wife listening to NPR which is playing personal stories of families who lost loved ones on 9-11, I feel compelled to convey a story of hope that is also ...

Environmental Stewardship Can Be A Bridge

It is hard to believe that the non-profit organization I helped build has been closed for over a year. When my friend and I decided to form Faiths United for Sustainable Energy, we did so because we were frustrated with the level of engagement by religious communities in the public discourse related to energy, climate, and other environmental issues. While I was brainstorming on what I wanted to discuss this week on Jewcology, I began to think about the power of interfaith work focused on environmental stewardship and eco-spirituality. I decided to use my blog this month to relay a few stories and websites related to faith-based organizations ...

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. ...

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 ...

The Smaller Stories

Please Read First: 1. Diabetes is a Time Bomb in the Arctic Research Shows Pollutants linked to Type 2 Diabetes http://www.nunatsiaqonline.ca/stories/article/06667_diabetes_is_a_time_bomb/ 2. New Study Warns of Arctic Mercury Pollution: http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5g1c7x73hsUhq24krg1-3ceMSkLVg 3. Environmental Illness in Kids Costs Billions: http://www.medpagetoday.com/PublicHealthPolicy/EnvironmentalHealth/26306 So I know the above request seems like I am providing you a homework assignment, but these articles help give a bit of context to this post. The three articles above highlight a point that ...

May It Be Enough

May It Be Enough I have always loved the part of the Pesach Seder when we go through Dayenu. I think the fact that the prayer is so fun for children who get to take their voices from a whisper up to a roar makes it one of those moments every year that brings years of Pesach memories flashing back. However, as I have grown older I tend to focus on the word itself: Dayenu. I think the idea of being thankful for every step that the Jews took as they were able to leave Egypt, make their way towards Sinai to receive the Torah, and then into the Promised Land where the Holy Temple was eventually built, is important. It is a great lesson ...

Biodiversity Under Attack

Until a few years ago I would not have classified myself as an environmentalist. Further, my entrance into the world of environmental advocacy was related to my growing interest in energy issues. However, during my journey over the past few years I have come to understand that nothing can be a more obvious sign of our society’s disregard for the natural world than the rate at which we are killing off majestic creatures of creation. I recently read the following headline: “Without Intervention Lions Heading for Extinction.” In 1960, there were 400,000 lions living in the wild. Today, there are just 20,000.http://ww...

The Whole World In G-d’s Hands?

I read an article last week on NPR about a small nation call Kiribati, which is made up of 33 tiny islands, scattered across an area more than twice the size of Alaska. This nation is in danger of being engulfed by the rising Pacific Ocean that surrounds it. The tides have already started to shift, often ruining crops and personal property belonging to residents located fairly far inland. There is no clear evidence that this sea-level rise has anything to do with climate change, however, Kiribati illustrates the hardships that will arise, especially for coastal cities and island nations, as sea levels do rise over the next century due to ...

Keeping It All In Perspective

About two years ago while working at the non-profit organization I helped form, Faiths United for Sustainable Energy (FUSE), I made the decision to go to law school in order to pursue a career in environmental law. I just started my second semester of classes two weeks ago. The interesting thing about law school is that grades are not released until five to six weeks after final exams are finished. Therefore, despite already being back into the daily ground of second semester classes, I am still waiting for several of my grades from last semester (in law school 100% of a student’s grade is based on the final examination). This waiting ...

Getting Back to My Roots

Despair Like so many of the people I know who are deeply concerned with the rapidly multiplying environmental issues confronting our world, I recently became discouraged by the inability of our government to take meaningful action. This feeling slowly morphed into disgust, which turned into anger, which then changed into fear. I kept thinking, if our leaders cannot even address the big environmental issues that are occasionally covered by the media, such as climate change and alternative energy, then we are in real trouble when it comes to the hundreds of other environmental issues that are never discussed. Every day I read articles ...