If Not Now When?
A Statement from Jewish Organizations of North America to World Leaders and Delegates to the UN Climate Change Conference

 
To World Leaders and COP 15 Delegates:
 
Responding to climate change is one of the most significant moral and spiritual challenges facing humanity today.  As people of faith, we look to the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen with hope, and we urge world leaders to commit themselves to act courageously to protect us from the devastation of climate change.
 
Judaism teaches that when a life is in danger, the principle of pikuach nefesh compels us to set aside all other concerns and act to save that life.  Furthermore, we are taught that saving one life is equivalent to saving the entire world because every person contains the potential of future generations. Judaism has an ancient and wise environmental vision rooted in the Creation story and the Sabbath (Genesis1:1) and the ethic of "Baal Tashit, Thou Shalt Not Destroy." We therefore call upon the leaders in Copenhagen to remember that millions of lives, both today and for generations to come, depend upon their decisions.  
 
Jewish conceptions of justice also require that we recognize our responsibility to care for all of our sisters and brothers, including those in the developing world who have contributed least to the problem and will suffer the most from the consequences of climate change.  As citizens of industrialized countries, who have benefited the most from past models of development, we especially call on our leaders to commit to reduce our own greenhouse gas emissions and to provide financial support for developing countries.
 
As Jewish organizations in North America, we call on the world leaders and COP delegates meeting in Copenhagen to forge an agreement that addresses:
 
•    What industrialized countries will do to quickly reduce greenhouse gas emissions to safe levels;
•    What developing countries will do to limit the growth of their own greenhouse gas emissions;
•    How to protect tropical forests and other carbon-absorbing ecosystems around the world through sustainable development;
•    How to support the global development and distribution of clean, renewable energy technologies;
•    How good, green jobs can be developed to empower all people to take part in building a more sustainable society;
•    How to bolster the climate resilience of vulnerable countries and protect lives and livelihoods;
•    What finances will be made available for climate change adaptation and mitigation, since developing countries cannot be expected to act without support;
•    An effective institutional mechanism for disbursing funds for these purposes, and an equitable, accountable governance structure for these funds.

As Rabbi Warren Stone has written, "In a world where matters of faith so often and so tragically divide us, there is no issue that aligns all people of faith more deeply than our shared dependence upon and sacred responsibility to this tiny planet, enfolded within its fragile atmosphere, spinning in the vastness of time and space." 

As Hillel reminds us, now is the time to act; we must take steps, this year, to ease the impact of climate change upon our world community and to preserve our common future.

The organizations endorsing this statement include: Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal, American Jewish World Service, B'nai B'rith International, Canfei Nesharim, Central Conference of American Rabbis, Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, Eden Village Camp, Federation of Jewish Men's Clubs, Hadassah, Hazon, Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, Jewish Climate Change Campaign, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, The Jewish Farm School, The Rabbinical Assembly, Jewish Reconstructionist Federation, The Shalom Center, Teva Learning Center, Union for Reform Judaism, United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, Women's League for Conservative Judaism, and Young Judaea - the Zionist Youth Movement of Hadassah.