Reform Representation at Copenhagen UN's COP 15
Rabbi Warren Stone serves as rabbi of Temple Emanuel in Kensington, Maryland. Nationally known for his leadership on religion and the environment, Rabbi Stone is co-chair of the National Religious Coalition on Creation Care and founding chair of the Central Conference of American Rabbis' Committee on the Environment. He is representing the Reform Jewish Movement at the Copenhagen Climate Talks.As we prepare for lighting the Chanukah lights in early December, I am also preparing to attend "COP 15," the United Nations Climate Change Conference, in Copenhagen, Denmark. I am honored to be representing the Union for Reform Judaism, our Religious Action Center, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the National Religious Coalition on Creation Care, which I co-chair, and the Earth Day Network. Our Reform Movement strongly supports our need as Jews to work diligently to cut CO2 emissions, to rapidly develop alternative energies, support reforestation and support the developing world in this process.
The United Nation's COP 15 serves as the follow up to the 1997 Kyoto Conference. In 1997, I served as the Jewish NGO at the Climate UN Summit in Kyoto, Japan and as part of the UN session, blasted a Shofar in Kyoto's largest Buddhist Temple. The Shofar will go to Copenhagen as well, as we share our Jewish symbol of awakening to the dangers and challenges of climate change facing generations. I am excited to share our Jewish ecological wisdom and our movement's commitment to social justice.
Although a singular world treaty may not be a likely outcome from UN COP15, smaller treaties are likely to be developed and targets set by developed and developing nations. Copenhagen will serve as a world stage for the next step in responding to climate change. We need to shift the way we live and our mindset toward more sustainability. Our common future demands nothing less. With Rabbi Eric Yoffie's vision and our Religious Action Center's lead, we are actively involved in greening our own movement. The greening of our Toronto Biennial and the new food initiative is an example of our growing awareness of these issues.
The abstract I authored for the United Nations, "Climate Change: Thinking Outside the Box," will be included in the United Nations Copenhagen Climate material and was presented to the International Congress of Scientists last March in Copenhagen. It states that the climate debate cannot be left to diplomats, scientists, environmentalists and lobbyists alone. It is critical that the world's religious community shares its wisdom and bold voices so that we may help to bring a shift in culture to foster the greening of religious institutions, government institutions, universities and schools. So too, all of our diverse disciplines - leaders in the media, visual and dramatic arts, journalism, law, medicine, academia, engineering, writers and poets all - must play a part in moving us in the desired direction. Legislation, badly needed as it is, will not be enough.
And yes, Chanukah will soon be here. Its legends remind us that when the Maccabees recaptured the ancient Temple, they found only a small cruse of oil - the energy resource of their day - to light the ancient Temple's Ner Tamid, its eternal light. This small amount miraculously lasted eight days. So, too, we are called upon to make a miracle. As Jews, we must use our resources wisely and inventively. We must move forcefully to bring our creativity, intelligence and foresight to the challenges of climate change and seek world cooperation on this issue critical to our own generation and all those which follow. As our URJ Biennial resolution testifies, responding to the effects of climate change has become one of the most significant moral and spiritual issues of our times.
Let our Chanukah lights inspire us with the realization that we have overcome many grave challenges in the past. With God's help, we have the power, the spirit and the might to overcome those that face us now.
The abstract I authored for the United Nations, "Climate Change: Thinking Outside the Box," will be included in the United Nations Copenhagen Climate material and was presented to the International Congress of Scientists last March in Copenhagen. It states that the climate debate cannot be left to diplomats, scientists, environmentalists and lobbyists alone. It is critical that the world's religious community shares its wisdom and bold voices so that we may help to bring a shift in culture to foster the greening of religious institutions, government institutions, universities and schools. So too, all of our diverse disciplines - leaders in the media, visual and dramatic arts, journalism, law, medicine, academia, engineering, writers and poets all - must play a part in moving us in the desired direction. Legislation, badly needed as it is, will not be enough.
And yes, Chanukah will soon be here. Its legends remind us that when the Maccabees recaptured the ancient Temple, they found only a small cruse of oil - the energy resource of their day - to light the ancient Temple's Ner Tamid, its eternal light. This small amount miraculously lasted eight days. So, too, we are called upon to make a miracle. As Jews, we must use our resources wisely and inventively. We must move forcefully to bring our creativity, intelligence and foresight to the challenges of climate change and seek world cooperation on this issue critical to our own generation and all those which follow. As our URJ Biennial resolution testifies, responding to the effects of climate change has become one of the most significant moral and spiritual issues of our times.
Let our Chanukah lights inspire us with the realization that we have overcome many grave challenges in the past. With God's help, we have the power, the spirit and the might to overcome those that face us now.