Environmental Action Hevra
And Adonai our God took and placed the human in the garden of Eden, to till it and to protect it.
(Beresheet [Genesis] 2:15)
Is Bottled Water Better?
Approximately 1.5 million gallons of oil-enough to run 100,000 cars for a whole year-are used to make plastic water bottles each year, while transporting these bottles burns thousands more gallons of oil. The growth in bottled water production has increased water extraction in areas near bottling plants, leading to water shortages that affect nearby consumers and farmers. In addition to the millions of gallons of water used in the plastic-making process, two gallons of water are wasted in the purification process for every gallon that goes into the bottles. Only about 10 percent of water bottles are recycled, leaving the rest in landfills where it takes thousands of years for the plastic to decompose.
The next time you feel thirsty, forgo the bottle and turn to the tap. You'll not only lower your environmental impact but also save money. And because the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standards for tap water are more stringent than the Food and Drug Administration's standards for bottled water, you'll be drinking water that is just as safe as, or safer than, bottled.
For more ways to go green, please click here.
BRIT ADAMAH
Covenant with the EarthGoal:
Our goal is to educate, motivate and empower Congregation B'nai Jeshurun to maximize environmentally sustainable practices by the synagogue and members of the BJ community and mitigate instances of environmental injustice in the New York area in coalition with local community organizations.
Objectives:
By September 2008, the hevra plans to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and wasteful resource consumption by 1) obtaining commitments from 400 households to adopt environmentally sustainable practices and ensure that these commitments are fulfilled, 2) to decrease BJ's institutional environmental "footprint" by advocating for the adoption of a long-term environmental plan, and 3) to identify and participate in an environmental justice campaign that enables us to work side-by-side with members of another organization and results in concrete changes in people's lives.
Join Us:
We meet on the second Thursday of every month. If you are interested in learning more about the Environmental Action Hevra, feel free to test the waters by joining us for a meeting-contact our co-chairs, Gil or Carol (see above) for more information.
Projects:
Our principal project for this year is "Greening" BJ, whereby the hevra has worked to reduce B'nai Jeshurun's burden on the environment, both as a synagogue and as members of a congregation, by minimizing the amount of greenhouse gases, wasteful use of resources, and other forms of pollution that we generate in our daily lives. We officially launched the campaign on Earth Day weekend 2007.
On the institutional level, we have worked, together with the Executive Director and staff, to maximize energy efficiency and thereby reduce the energy consumed in our sanctuary and offices to the absolute minimum. Thanks to our efforts, a professional energy audit was conducted and energy-efficient lighting has been installed throughout the synagogue. We have also promoted conservation of resources through maximizing recycling; use of recycled paper for the office, publications, and disposable catering items; and reducing pollution through use of environment-friendly cleaning products.
Brit Adamah
An equally important goal of the Greening BJ campaign is to encourage all the members of our congregation to make their own commitment to greening their homes and leading more environmentally sustainable lives. Last fall we took a survey of BJ members' environmental actions and practices, in which over 400 families participated, to establish a baseline against which to measure our impact at the end of the Greening BJ campaign.
Based in part on that survey, we created a list of ten simple but concrete actions that each member of BJ can take that will contribute to the health of our environment. We call this the Brit Adamah, or Covenant with the Earth. You may fill out the Brit electronically by
clicking here. Our goal is to get 400 or more members of the congregation to undertake and carry out these pledges. If we succeed, we will reduce our collective contribution to global warming by many thousands of tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.
To recognize and honor those who undertake these commitments, we have created a beautiful quilt in the form of an Etz Hayim, a Tree of Life, which is mounted in the foyer of our 88th Street sanctuary. The tree is now mostly bare, but as more and more members of the congregation commit themselves some of the actions included in the Brit Adamah, each we will honor them by adding a leaf to the tree. We hope soon to see our Etz Hayim covered with leaves representing our congregants' commitment to tikkun olam in its most literal sense: to repairing and cooling our overheated earth.
This has been a very active and productive year for the Environmental Action Hevra. As a result of our efforts to raise environmental awareness through the Greening BJ campaign, nearly 200 member families have so far taken the Brit Adamah pledge to green their homes and personal practices.
On December 10, 2007, the seventh night of Hanukkah, we held an environmental expo with more than 25 exhibitors purveying information and green products covering the full spectrum of environmental issues, keyed to the ten points of the Brit Adamah. Approximately 200 enthusiastic BJ members of all ages who attended the expo received inspiration and information to adopt greener lifestyles from the exhibitors. Many also bought recycled-cotton grocery bags imprinted with "BJ Recycles" and the BJ logo, which we produced to help reduce the deluge of plastic bags in our environment. You may order a BJ Recycles bag by emailing
BJGreenhevra@yahoo.com.
In the realm of environmental advocacy, we have been working, in partnership with the Natural Resources Defense Council, to mobilize support for the Electronics Recycling and Reuse Act (Intro 104) in the New York City Council. Intro 104 requires electronics manufacturers to take back and recycle, at their expense, all of their products at the end of their useful lives and mandates robust performance standards.
Solar Ner Tamid
In conjunction with the environmental expo, the Environmental Action Hevra's avidly pursued dream was realized when a solar-powered Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) was dedicated in a moving ceremony in our 88th Street sanctuary. We chose Hanukkah for the dedication because we see solar power as a modern-day manifestation of the original Hanukkah miracle, when a one-day supply of sacred oil burned for eight days. The use of solar power for the eternal light symbolizes B'nai Jeshurun's commitment to renewable energy and, more broadly, to environmental sustainability.How does it work?
We have installed on the roof a solar panel consisting of silicon cells. Sunlight striking the solar panel contains energy in the form of photons. When the photons hit the silicon solar cells, energy is transferred, which frees up electrons. These electrons move through the silicon to the nearest wires and create positive and negative charges. As the millions of electrons flow through the wires, they create electric power. The more intense the sunlight, the more electrons that are available and the larger the electric current that is produced.While the sun is a source of clean, renewable energy, it is only available for use during daylight hours. To provide power to the Ner Tamid around the clock, a high-capacity battery stores excess energy generated by the solar panel for use when the sun is not shining or the sky is overcast. In designing the system, a battery was selected to allow for 7 days of uninterrupted operation. The Ner Tamid's power consumption will drop from 9 watts to 2.3 watts by replacing the incandescent bulb with solid-state LED technology. In the unlikely event of a system malfunction, a voltage-sensing relay will transfer power to the Ner Tamid from the electricity grid, ensuring that it never goes out.
Links to other Jewish Environmental Organizations
- The Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) - www.coejl.org
COEJL is the leading Jewish environmental organization in the United States. Since its founding in 1993, COEJL has helped tens of thousands of Jews make a connection between Judaism and the environment. COEJL has put environmental protection on the agenda of the organized Jewish community and made the case to elected officials and decision-makers that protecting the environment is a moral and religious obligation. Today, COEJL represents 29 national Jewish organizations spanning the full spectrum of Jewish religious and communal life and serves as the voice of the organized Jewish community on environmental issues in Washington, D.C. and around the country. COEJL seeks to expand the contemporary understanding of such Jewish values as tikkun olam (repairing the world) and tzedek (justice) to include the protection of both people and other species from environmental degradation. COEJL seeks to extend such traditions as social action to environmental action and advocacy. COEJL is a program of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA). - Hazon - www.hazon.org
Hazon creates and supports a range of programs, especially focused on Jewish outdoor and environmental education, in order to bring joy and meaning to people's lives and thus to foster new vision in the Jewish community and the world beyond.- Outdoor Jewish education can include a bike ride, a hike, farming, canoeing, outdoor prayer, rock-climbing: anything that takes Jewish people literally outdoors, and creates a context in which to reflect on our relationship both with Jewish tradition and with the physical world around us.
- Jewish environmental education can take place in a classroom, a book club, a synagogue, a school, though we think it's often most powerful outdoors, or with a strong outdoor component. It's about drawing the links between contemporary environmental issues and Jewish tradition and communal life and sustainable communities in Israel.
- Hazon sponsors annual Jewish Environmental Bike rides in New York on Labor Day weekend, in which BJ sponsors a team.
- Hazon also sponsors Tuv HaAretz, community-supported agriculture programs around the United States, including one at Congregation Ansche Chesed on the Upper West Side.