170 results for tag: Conservation

Think Jewishly, Act Globally: Teva Ivri at RIO+ 20

Dear Friends, A few weeks ago , I traveled with the Israeli delegation to The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The conference, titled “The Future We Want,” was an opportunity to evaluate the global progress on environmental issues since the last summit in 1992 and to commit to future changes. An amazing cross-section of humanity – heads of state, tribal kings, medicine women, and ordinary activists like me – gathered from all corners of the earth to discuss how to reduce p¬overty, advance social equity and ensure environmental protection across the planet. ...

Action Alert! Tell the EPA: Support Strong Carbon Limits Today!

BACKGROUND COEJL and The RAC (Religious Action Center for Reform Judaism) are joining together to demonstrate the Jewish community’s support for our nation’s first-ever proposed limits on carbon emissions from new power plants. The proposed Carbon Pollution Standard for New Power Plants will prevent any new power plant from emitting more than 1,000 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt of electricity produced. With conventional coal plants currently emitting more than 1,800 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt, pollution controls setting higher technology standards are long overdue. Carbon dioxide is a threat to the health and ...

Immediate Action Required! Call your Senator for a Just Farm Bill!

As we speak, the Senate is debating the contents of the Farm Bill, which will substantially affect the next five years of US food policy. It is upon us to call our Senators and let them know that as Jews, we and our organizations support Farm Bill legislation that: reduces hunger and improves nutrition in the United States. promotes conservation and proper stewardship of the land. enables farmers in both the United States and the developing world to earn sustainable livelihoods. Every call makes a tremendous difference! The Jewish Farm Bill Working Group just delivered a petition of 18,000 signatures for a ...

Simply Awesome

I usually use this monthly blog as an outlet to voice my opinions about policies related to environmental issues. However, this week I read a really cool article that I wanted to share. The short article (produced below along with a link) illustrates how amazing nature can be and the importance of protecting and preserving as many species of living organisms as possible. Although I have never viewed a Gouldian finch, and it is quite likely I never will, there is no question that the world would be worse off if these birds were somehow wiped out. Now, there is nothing to suggest that these finches are endangered, but I am using this ...

“Esh, Esh Medura” (Fire, Fire, Bonfire)

by Einat Kramer, Director – Teva Ivri One of the most “Israeli” phenomena that I know is the bonfires of Lag B’Omer. Immediately after Pesach, even before the clean spring scent fades in the heat of the summer, the streets of our country are filled with children looking for firewood. They are everywhere; in forests, building sites, and among the garbage cans, they collect wood (or anything resembling wood), hauling it off in “borrowed” supermarket carts to their secret hiding place and guarding it fiercely until the holiday. Shortly after Independence Day, the energy of the firewood ...

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. ...

JEI Teen Group Native Plant Sale/Rain Barrel Raffle a Success

The JEI Teen Group organized its second annual Native Plant Sale/Rain Barrel Raffle on April 29. Over 100 plants were sold. Those attending also learned about the benefits of rain barrels as a way to reduce runoff and water waste. Thanks to Robinson's Rain Barrels for its wonderful rain barrel demo and for donating a rain barrel. Congratulations ton Fran Cantor who won the rain barrel raffle.

Trees, Bikes and Nature on Yom Ha’atzmaut

NEW YORK (April 26, 2012) — Falafel fests, movie nights, dance parties — Americans celebrate Yom Ha’atzmaut in many ways. But what do Israelis do on Independence Day? They head outdoors. Last year so many people jammed into the country’s de-facto national-park system, run by KKL-JNF, that parks were closed because they reached capacity. So, how many people was that, you ask? About one in every five Israelis — more than 1.5 million people — which is also about the same number of trees that have been planted in Israel since 2007 because of the work of the Green Zionist Alliance. That’s right, ...

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 ...

Cleaning and Greening Our “House” for Passover

In the days before Passover, Jews around the world traditionally spend time cleaning and checking our homes for “chametz” – leavened foods forbidden during the holiday. It is also traditionally a time for soul searching, for clearing out old “stuff” and ways of doing things. During this season of renewal, we at Teva Ivri are finding ways to check not only our homes but also our “houses of prayer.” Along with the Council for a Beautiful Israeland Green Now, Teva Ivri has just announced the first “Greenest Synagogue Contest” ever held in Israel. By launching the contest during the ...

Raising a Jewish Environmentalist?

This past weekend, I attended the Kayam Beit Midrash, an annual event at the Pearlstone Retreat Center in Baltimore. I was proud to attend for the second year with my family – my husband and my beautiful 7-year-old son. We spent the weekend learning about Shemittah, the amazing Jewish mitzvah to let the land rest every seven years. I really appreciate the Kayam Beit Midrash. Through their passions for Jewish learning, farming and agriculture, they manage to bring together a really diverse and interesting group of people. I got to see a lot of old friends, strengthen existing connections, and also meet new people. At some Jewish ...

Seeds Of Peace: Botanical Gardens To Connect Jews And Arabs

Seeds Of Peace: Botanical Gardens To Connect Jews And Arabs By Hanna Szekeres The Botanical Gardens in Jerusalem, Israel is a 30-acre oasis where you can see, smell and even taste over 10,000 species of flowers from around the world. But the educational department of the gardens also focuses on another type of seed: “the seeds of peace.” Five years ago the department started a project called “Coexistence” that brings together nine- to 11-year-olds from the city’s Jewish and Muslim schools and teaches them about the production of spices, olive oil and herbal remedies in the gardens. The project consists ...

Photo Slide Show of Samar Sand Dunes

SAMAR SAND DUNES, Israel — A barbed-wire fence runs along the edge of the dunes here, but it's not to protect them — it's to keep people from accidentally walking across the country's border with Jordan. Not that Samar hasn't needed the protection — the government was poised to raze the dunes and turn them into concrete for hotels and sidewalks. But barbed wire would not have been strong enough to hold back bulldozers. No, the bulldozers were stopped by something far more powerful: You. Thanks to the efforts of the Green Zionist Alliance, our partners in Israel and all of our supporters — ...

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 ...

Take an online, college-accredited course on Judaism and the environment!

Introducing an online, college-accredited course on Judaism and the environment! The course, ‘A Jewish Perspective on Environmental Sustainability,’ relates to contemporary environmental issues from the lens of Jewish teachings. The units covered include the Garden of Eden and a stewardship paradigm; Jewish sources on agriculture and globalized food production today; and the Torah’s injunction not to waste in regards to food and energy waste in modern society. The course is being offered by the New York-based Theological Research Institute, and has been accredited by the national PONSI accreditation agency in New ...

Are We There Yet?

(reposted from Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin's blog: http://blog.bjen.org/ dated February 1, 2012) "We used to teach technology as a subject. [Today,] it's no longer the 'something' that we teach; it's the platform on which we deliver information." Shaindle Braunstein-Cohen on iPads in Jewish Day Schools, by Rabbi Jason Miller (quoted from eJewish Philanthropy) This is true with so many fundamental tasks of life: walking, reading, writing ... The techniques that we once labored so hard to master ultimately become merely platforms upon which we build creative worlds. So too with sustainability. We teach ...

Bittersweet Victory: Most of Samar Saved

SAMAR SAND DUNES, Israel (Feb. 5, 2012) — Nestled in the Arava Valley, in between Israel’s Eilat Mountains and the Edomite Mountains of Jordan, a tragedy and a victory sit side by side. Part of Samar — a square-mile patch of sand dunes home to scores of animals, some near extinction — has been stripped of its sand in order to make concrete. But next to the wasteland, a victory: More than two-thirds of Samar has been saved, due to the efforts of the Green Zionist Alliance and its partner organizations in Israel. On a recent day here the Samar sand dunes were tranquil and serene. The scorched earth where the dunes ...

Those Who Plant in Joy – Tu b’Shvat and the Social Justice Protests

A.The Israeli media has recently been occupied with the six-month anniversary of the past summer’s social justice protests, in which scores of young activists (me included) declared themselves the “New Israelis.” “We are the New Israelis,” we called from the stages and street marches, “and we have a dream – to live in this land, to build our homes here, to raise our children here, and to weave our life story out of it.” This is how we “New Israelis” feel – a new generation not locked into stereotypes, one that refuses to view current reality as predestined…a new ...

Celebrating Tu B’shvat… By Living Up in a Tree?

Jewish camp directors spend week aloft in a redwood “tree-sit” In preparation for Tu B’shvat, my husband and I lived this past week 150 feet up in the air into an ancient and endangered redwood tree in northern California. We cooked, slept and made Shabbat in the over-200-year-old trees as part of an environmental protection action, called “tree-sitting”, to keep the trees from being cut down. Our grove included 50 redwoods connected by ziplines; these trees would have been cut down three years ago were it not for the continual presence of “tree-sitters” living high up in them. Redwoods are the tallest ...

Israeli Winery Conserves Water (CJN October 2011)

This "Sustainable Jew" article appeared inthe Canadian Jewish News on October 6, 2011 I recently had the opportunity to spend a few hours with Alex Haruni, the owner of the Dalton Winery. While in Toronto, Alex was promoting the sales of the kosher wines Dalton produces in the Upper Galilee. While we were talking, Alex was monitoring the progress of his grape harvest back in Israel. What I found interesting is how the Dalton Winery produces its million bottles of wine in a sustainable manner. One of the important factors required to reduce the amount of energy consumed in wine production is the proximity of the production ...