Green News and Tips for the Holidays

One generation goes and another generation comes; but the Earth remains forever. (Kohelet 1:4)

On November 3rd, Windsor Castle (home to the Queen of England) hosted a vegan, interfaith conference on the environment called “Many Heavens, One Earth: Faith Commitments for a Living Planet.” Included with the 200 guests, leaders of the many world religions, was Boulder’s very own Reb Zalman Schachter-Shalomi. The conference was intentionally scheduled soon before the International Climate Change talks to be held in Copenhagen in December.  The conference’s goal was to help each religion to come up with a seven year goal for advocacy, education and action on climate change.

Here are links to two good online articles about this event:

• The rabbi who created the rainbow tallit from the London Jewish Chronicle – an interview with Reb Zalman.
• And from JTA.org: Can Jewish tenets be a model for a more eco-friendly world?

We live in a fast -paced life. Jobs, kids, organizations. Fast pace can also mean FAST CONSUMPTION! We consume, we throw away, we buy more. To an extent, we must consume to survive, but the quantity that we consume can be reduced. And of course what we consume and how it is packaged can make huge differences in carbon offset and thus climate change.

Not everyone can afford solar panels or a Prius. We can make changes in our own way. We can all try to change our habits and work on our own plans for action against climate change. We can make a change by recycling, composting, walking or riding our bike to the store, taking the bus or just changing a light bulb. Can just one bulb help? Check out the video “This Bulb” from National Geographic (2 of the 3 women are Jewish).

Baby steps. One step at a time to a goal for the future of this beautiful planet.

We all make our own Jewish paths. Each of us is unique in our way of looking at G-d and Judaism. We should all be unique in the way we look at this wonderful Earth we live in as well and our way of conserving it.

Think about signing the petition for the Jewish Climate Action Plan.  We each can make our own seven-year plan, just like the leaders at Windsor Castle.

Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkai used to say, ‘If you have a sapling in your hand, and someone should say to you that the Messiah has come, stay and complete the planting, and then go to greet the Messiah’.  Avot de Rabbi Nathan

Getting ready for holiday celebrations? Here are some Zero Waste Event Tips:

1. Chinette Bowls and Plates that are uncoated are compostable and available at COSTCO.
2. Buy regular garbage bags and empty them into the compost bin. They can be reused.
3. You can now buy compostable straws.
4. When choosing to recycle or compost paper, use this rule of thumb: When the paper is clean, recycle it because it will be made into more paper and save trees. When it is dirty with food waste, compost it.

What are your zero-waste tips for the holidays? I look forward to hearing from you!