Fresh Updates from RAC

Today, Jews worldwide are celebrating the “New Year of the Trees,” Tu BiSh’vat. Historically, Tu BiSh’vat was established as an agricultural festival, marking the coming of spring. This year, with all the holidays arriving early, it’s hard to see the light of spring when many of us throughout North America are still in the midst of a brutally cold winter.

Yet, with the rise of the Jewish environmental movement, Tu BiSh’vat has taken on more than its historical significance. Today, Tu BiSh’vat is considered the “Jewish Earth Day” and has expanded from being merely a celebration of trees to being a celebration of the whole natural world and an opportunity for us to recommit ourselves to environmental stewardship. Today, we reflect on our relationship with the earth, our impact on the planet and our responsibility to combating the threat of climate change. Further, Tu BiSh’vat is a commemoration of the first of many days devoted to honoring the environment. Read more…

A number of resolutions were adopted at the URJ Biennial Convention in San Diego in December, including one on hydraulic fracturing, a controversial method of extracting natural gas that involves drilling wells deep into the ground and injecting water, sand and potentially dangerous chemicals at a high pressure to rupture the earth.

While the actual process of hydraulic fracturing, also referred as “hydrofracking” or just “fracking,” has been around since the 1940s, the dramatic increase in fracking sites across the country have led to divisive conversations amongst the energy sector, politicians, environmentalists and public citizens. Read more…

Climate change policies at the forefront this year as deadlines for certain provisions of President Obama’s Climate Action Plan approach and various pieces of legislation move forward in Congress. But what all these policies have in common is that they will all face a certain amount of push back.

As directed by President Obama, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will roll out a historic final rule limiting carbon pollution emissions for new power plants in June. Leading up to this announcement, many lawmakers and industry groups will have the opportunity to weigh in on the matter. Tell the EPA, you support strong carbon pollution standards for new power plants! Read more…

As we close the book on 2013 and turn to welcome a new year, the 2013-2014 Eisendrath Legislative Assistants are wrapping up their first four months at the Religious Action Center, filled with challenges, successes, new adventures, numerous trips to Starbucks and a lot of fun! Looking towards the next weeks and months, a new year, the LA’s compiled a “wish-list” for what they hope our nation can achieve. Stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow.

Sarah Greenberg

In 2014, it is my wish that all women around the world can access a safe, legal, and affordable abortion if they so chose–we must repeal the Hyde Amendment, bans on abortion after arbitrary periods in gestation, restrictive parental notification laws and all other laws on waiting periods and preliminary steps before an abortion (even if they aren’t cost-prohibitive, are certainly time-prohibitive.) In practice, these laws disproportionately affect low-income women who cannot afford the procedure, nor take time off of work. Reproductive freedom is not only a “woman’s issue, ”but rather it is an “everyone issue”–decisions around family planning are about families, a woman’s self-determination and her equality. Read more…

Greetings from the Holy Land!  A land flowing with…environmental engineering and solar energy?

This past week, I had the incredible experience of seeing a leader in Israel’s green innovation: the Reform Movement’s Kibbutz Lotan, situated in the heart of the Arava Valley.

At Kibbutz Lotan, I enjoyed a Reform Shabbaton and had the opportunity to tour the impressive EcoCampus, with the Center for Creative Ecology’s director of Research and Development, Alex Cicelsky. The work Lotan is engaging in to explore the intersection of Judaism, the environment and ecology with the participants of the “Green Apprenticeship” program under Cicelsky’s leadership is unparalleled. Read more…

Why should we care about the planet? Because it’s our home.

The Jewish concept of bal tashchit, do not destroy, is found in Deuteronomy 20:19-20: “When, in your war against a city, you have to besiege it a long time in order to capture it, you must not destroy its trees, wielding the ax against them. You may eat of them, but you must not cut them down…Only trees that you know do not yield food may be destroyed.” We have the obligation as inhabitants of the Earth and as Jews to repair the world, by taking action to conserve the environment.

Read more…

Hungry to learn about food justice and Judaism? At the URJ Biennial on Friday, December 13^th, New York Times columnist and author of How to Cook Everything Mark Bittman will satiate your appetite for the updates on the most pressing issues for our contemporary food system.

After having struggled with weight and heart disease, Mark Bittman has become a major proponent for healthy food that is both good for you and the environment. In this forum, Bittman will discuss how Jewish tradition intersects with sustainable agriculture, hunger, health and nutrition. Read more…

Imagine a world where summers are warm but not scorching and winters are cold enough to double up on socks. Imagine a world where extreme weather patterns and rising sea levels are largely a thing of the past and where the skies are clear and the air, fresh. Imagine a world where climate change is neither a threat nor a reality.

On September 20^th, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced federal limitations on carbon emissions from new power plants after receiving comments on a proposed rule in the spring of 2012. These standards would prevent any new, large natural gas-fired plants from emitting more than 1,000 pounds of CO₂, small natural gas-fired plants from emitting more than 1,100 pounds of CO₂ and coal-fired units from emitting more than 1,100 pounds of CO₂ per megawatt-hour. These limits are a fairly significant reduction, considering conventional coal plants currently emit more than 1,800 pounds of carbon dioxide per megawatt-hour. Read more…