Highlights:

• From the Director
• Defending Our Forests
• Tu B'Shvat 2000: A New Year for the Trees
• From the Field: Jewish Environmental Activism Around North America
• COEJL On Campus: College Students Connect to COEJL

From the Director
As we prepare to celebrate Tu B'Shvat (the New Year of Trees) on January 22, 2000, it is time to consider the fate of the planet's forests. In the following pages, you will find articles about efforts to protect forests, readings to use at your Tu B'Shvat seder, and suggestions about how both households and Jewish institutions can take action to protect forests.

Though tragically trees and forests around the world are at great risk, COEJL's roots and branches are ever stronger because of the work of many people.

I am delighted to introduce COEJL's new Board of Trustees (see below). It is tremendously affirming and encouraging to have so many distinguished individuals on our national board. It is a pleasure to bring together founders of COEJL, leaders of COEJL Affiliates, senior Jewish organizational leaders, and nationally recognized environmental leaders into a dedicated governing body to lead COEJL.

I also want to recognize the individuals who are leading COEJL Regional Affiliates and other grassroots Jewish environmental organizing initiatives. Superb programs are being organized by extremely dedicated volunteers with, in all but a few cases, a shoestring budget. The fact that outstanding programs are taking place is a testament to the commitment that COEJL activists have to COEJL's mission:

We need all who believe in COEJL's mission to provide financial support for education and action initiatives that bring Jewish environmentalism to communities across North America. With increased financial support, activities in the field will grow exponentially. Please use the enclosed envelope to give what you can.

May the coming year truly be a New Year for the Trees and a year of continued blossoming for COEJL and all of its Affiliates, activists, and supporters.

                    Mark X Jacobs

New Board of Trustees
Dr. Jeff Auerbach is the founder of the Jewish Environmental League in Ventura, CA.
Ms. Sharon Bloome is a founder of COEJL, the Northwest Jewish Environmental Project, and the Committee on Energy and Environment of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA).
Dr. Devra Davis is director of environmental health at the World Resources Institute.
Rabbi Fred Dobb serves Congregation Adath Shalom (Reconstructionist) and is a member of Shomrei Adamah of Greater Washington. D.C.'s Steering Committee.
Mr. Ted Eisenberg is co-chair of JCPA's Committee on Energy and the Environment and a founder of both New Jersey COEJL and Partners for Environmental Quality.
Ms. Terri Forman is director of development at Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco and a member of Bay COEJL's Board.
Mr. Terry Gips is president of Sustainability Associates and a Natural Step trainer.
Ms. Mirele Goldsmith, former director of professional development and accreditation for Hillel, is a consultant for non-profit organizations.
Dr. Stephen Jay Gould is professor of zoology and geology at Harvard University.
Dr. Arthur Green is professor of Jewish thought at Brandeis University.
Mr. Mark Jacobs is director of COEJL.
Mr. Fred Krupp is executive director of the Environmental Defense Fund.
Dr. Larry Rubin is a founder of COEJL and executive vice chair of the JCPA.
Dr. John Ruskay is a founder of COEJL and executive vice president of UJA-Federation of New York.
Rabbi David Saperstein is a founder of COEJL and executive director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.
Dr. Ismar Schorsch is a founder of COEJL and chancellor of The Jewish Theological Seminary of America (JTS).
Rabbi Steven Shaw is a founder of COEJL and former director of community education at JTS.
Mr. Arden Shenker is a founder of COEJL and former chair of the JCPA.
Rabbi Warren Stone, chair of the Central Conference of American Rabbis' Committee on the Environment, serves Temple Emanuel (Reform) in Bethesda. MD.
Ms. Jodi Sugerman-Brozan, co-director of the Roxbury Environmental Empowerment Project, is a member of Greater Boston COEJL's Steering Committee.
Rabbi Lawrence Troster, The Rabbinical Assembly's liaison to COEJL, serves Congregation Beth Israel (Conservative) in Bergenfield, NJ.

 
Transitions
COEJL bids farewell to Shira Kandel who ably served as COEJL's communications coordinator. Thank you, Shira, for your steadfast efforts on behalf of the environment and the Jewish community.

 
Defending Our Forests
"The protection of roadless forest areas coincides with our religious beliefs as Jews. For years, we have watched with dismay as many of God's creatures have been driven to extinction. largely due to the loss of key habitats. As Jews we are commanded to preserve and protect Creation. As the Divine told Israel, 'The land is mine. You are but my tenants.'"
Rabbi Warren Stone, chair of the Environmental Committee of the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR)

Only a Remnant Remains
The majestic ancient forests that once covered our continent have been reduced to a small remnant. The United States has already lost 96% of its old growth forests. The wild forests that remain are refuges for thousands of threatened creatures and plants, and are vital to the protection of clean water sources for tens of millions of North Americans.

Wild forests also serve as refuges for the human spirit, places where we can witness the Creator's majesty, reflect upon the mystery of life, and hear the small, still voice within. While generations past took these experiences for granted, how many people alive today have ever stood in an ancient forest?

• Only 20% of the world's old growth forests remain intact.
• Every year, at least 16 million additional hectares fall to the ax, torch, bulldozer, or chain saw.
• Over 377,810 miles of roads--enough to circle the Earth 15 times--crisscross the U.S. national forests.
• 25% of mammals, 20% of reptiles, 25% of amphibians, and 34% of fish are in danger of extinction. The destruction of forests is a leading cause.
• The average American's appetite for paper products has nearly tripled in three decades--to 700 pounds annually.
• We have the technology to reduce our wood consumption by 75-90%.

SOURCES: Heritage Forests Campaign (http://www.ourforests.org/), Rainforest Action Network (http://www.ran.org/), World Resources Institute (http://www.wri.org/)

COEJL's Position on Protecting Forests
Our religious heritage calls on us to serve as protectors and defenders of God's magnificent creations. In a brief moment in the life of our planet, we have destroyed all but a remnant of the ancient forests. It is our duty--as people of faith, and citizens of our nation, our world, and our biosphere--to safeguard and weave together this patchwork of remnants as best we can as our legacy for generations to come.

In order to fulfill this obligation, COEJL believes that the federal government should establish a system of interconnected, strictly protected biological preserves on land, in fresh water, and in the sea.

COEJL believes that public lands should be managed to preserve and restore biological diversity, and that government should not subsidize logging, mining, or grazing on public lands. Furthermore, we believe such activities should be immediately suspended in all old-growth forests and other threatened habitats on public lands.

The protection of roadless areas is a necessary step in achieving these objectives. COEJL has actively supported the end of logging in roadless areas in national

forests, the end of subsidies for roadbuilding in national forests, and strict enforcement of the Endangered Species Act to protect endangered forest habitats on both public and private lands.

For more information on COEJL's public policy positions, see www.coejl.org.

Building a Jewish Movement
It is no coincidence that Jews are playing a prominent role in forest preservation. The Tree of Life is one of Judaism's most powerful images--symbolizing the inter-connected nature of Creation, the Torah (our most cherished inheritance), and the Divine. And planting trees has been a widely observed Jewish practice, particularly in this century.

Jews playing a leadership role in protecting forests include: Heritage Forest campaign director Ken Rait, urban forestry pioneer Andy Lipkis, Agriculture Secretary Dan Glickman, Home Depot CEOs Bernard Marcus and Arthur Blank, Save America's Forests director Carl Ross, Assistant Attorney General Lois Schiffer, and Senators Barbara Boxer, Frank Lautenberg, Joseph Lieberman, and Paul Wellstone.

This Tu B'Shvat (the Jewish New Year of Trees), COEJL invites all Jewish individuals and institutions to join the movement to defend the forests.

Judaism teaches that we have a sacred obligation to the Creator, to Creation, and to future generations to safeguard and protect Earth's ecosystems.

May we embody these teachings in our actions as individuals, in our synagogues and schools, and in our workplaces. And may we have the courage to organize around these teachings so that our society, through its public institutions and private businesses, defends and restores, rather than degrades, Creation.

Urban Forests: Healing our Cities
By Andy Lipkis, founder and president of TreePeople
People plant trees in cities hoping to improve the quality of urban life by spreading some of the forest's goodness. Trees alone can do a lot of good, and they can accomplish multiple additional benefits when they are planted and cared for as components of an urban forest.

Not merely a collection of city trees, urban forests can be designed to produce multiple benefits. For example, trees can shade buildings, lowering air conditioning energy requirements and lessening air pollution. When planted to replace impervious surfaces such as asphalt and concrete, and when their leaves and branches are collected and used as mulch instead of being thrown away, trees can help prevent flooding, erosion and stormwater pollution.

This new urban forestry represents one of our best hopes for making large cities sustainable.

As this kind of urban forestry is not yet being practiced in most cities, it is a wonderful opportunity for Jewish environmentalists to join together with other community groups to get involved in hands-on work as "citizen foresters" and to advocate positive solutions to urban environmental problems.

Individuals and groups can plant and care for trees in neighborhood streets, parks. schoolyards, parking lots and historic watersheds. As citizen foresters, "adopt" the trees you plant and make a commitment to establish the trees by providing their water, food, and protection for their first 5 years. You can also make sure your city has an urban forestry program with an adequate budget. Trees and urban forests need advocates to speak up for them to ensure they thrive. Be a voice for the trees.

RESOURCES: To learn how to organize a successful urban forestry project, read The Simple Act of Planting a Tree, A Citizen Foresters' Guide to Healing Your Neighborhood, Your City and Your World (available from TreePeople at 818.623.4848 or www.treelink.org). Work with a local non-profit tree group. To locate one in your area: log on to www.treelink.org or contact your State Department of Forestry.

 
Tu B'Shvat 2000: A New Year for the Trees
What is Tu B'Shvat? Tu B'Shvat, the New Year of Trees, falls on the fifteenth day of the month of Shvat (from sundown on Friday, January 21 to sundown on Saturday, January 22, 2000). Tu B'Shvat is the beginning of a new cycle for the tithe on fruit trees. Before the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in 70 C.E., ten percent of all produce was set aside for the support of the priestly class and the poor. Tu B'Shvat (which means "the 15^th of the month of Shvat") marks the beginning of a new fiscal year for tithing.

Although the Temple is no longer standing, the principles that lie at the foundation of the practice of tithing are eternally relevant. According to Jewish tradition, the earth is the Eternal's and all that it holds (Psalms 24:1). The Land must not be sold beyond reclaim, for the land is Mine (Leviticus 25:23). The land is not ours to do with as we please. We must be responsible stewards of both the land we inhabit and its produce.

According to the biblical tradition, this requires sharing the bounty of the land with those in need, allowing the land to rest during the Sabbatical year (every seventh year), redistributing land every fifty years (the Jubilee), and maintaining the integrity of the land so it will sustain future generations.

Though Tu B'Shvat no longer serves its original fiscal function, Jewish communities have continued to celebrate the New Year of Trees as a minor festival. In the 1600s, Kabbalists (Jewish mystics) in Safed created a Tu B'Shvat seder modeled after the Passover seder. Participants eat four different categories of fruit and drink four different combinations of red and white wine or grape juice, symbolizing the four seasons and the mystical "four worlds."

The early pioneers of the State of Israel celebrated Tu B'Shvat by planting trees. This practice continues today. In recent years, Jewish communities around the world have begun to celebrate Tu B'Shvat as a "Jewish Earth Day"--organizing seders, tree-plantings, ecological restoration activities, and educational events, all of which provide an opportunity to express a Jewish commitment to protecting the earth.

RESOURCES: COEJL web site. www.coejl.org