TAKE ACTION: Urgent Alert on the Energy Bill!
CELEBRATE: A Radiant Hanukkah
LEARN: Environmental Reflections on Hanukkah
GO GREEN: Green Gift Guide
SPOTLIGHT ON THE FIELD: SAZ COEJL Cleans Up

Urgent Alert on the Energy Bill!
A vote could be held as early as today on an energy bill that is loaded with tax breaks and subsidies for the oil, gas, coal, and nuclear industries. While its contents are disturbing, even more so is the lack of any meaningful vision or steps toward reducing America's debilitating addiction to oil and other fossil fuels. It weakens clean air and clean water protections, opens up more of America's coastline and beaches to exploitation, contains no standards for the purchase of renewable energy or higher fuel efficiency, and does nothing to address the crucial issue of global climate change. This legislation is environmentally detrimental, economically destructive and morally bankrupt.

The miracle of Hanukkah serves as a reminder of the need to conserve the earth's precious resources. NOW, remind your Senators and Congressmen of that need by calling, faxing, or emailing them and telling them to do whatever is in their power to stop this bill. Let them know that as a constituent and an active member of the Jewish community, you care about this issue and will be watching to see if they are listening to those they represent. Remind your elected officials that COEJL and our partners at the National Religious Partnership for the Environment (NRPE) recently gave them a copy of the "Let There be Light" letter, signed by 1,200 national religious leaders, including many in their own home states. This letter outlines the moral and religious imperatives -- including concern for the protection of creation -- that should be part of our national energy policy.

Come light the menorah!
Unlike Shabbat candles which are supposed to illuminate our way through the first dark moments of the Sabbath, Hanukkah candles are to be viewed rather than used. This may feel counter-intuitive for today's environmentalists -- how can we take resources (wax, tallow, oil, cloth) and literally burn them (producing small amounts of hydrocarbons, no less!) just for ritual's sake?! But the shammas, the helper-candle which lights the others, is kept alight for that very reason: since we're allowed to make constructive use of its brilliance, we can enjoy the radiance of the whole menorah as a bonus. This Hanukkah, consider the role of enjoyment and aesthetics in our lives, alongside ecological concerns. Use recycled materials or common household items for an art project with the family. Find candles without lead in their wicks to light your way in the winter months ahead. Use the Go Green list below to purchase environmentally friendly gifts for your loved ones. For more ideas on how to celebrate a green Hanukkah, click here.

The Darkness of Winter
Hanukkah, sometimes called the festival of light, comes when we need it most. It always falls near the winter solstice, when the northern hemisphere receives the least sunlight; it also falls over Rosh Hodesh, the start of the lunar month, when our nights are filled with the least moonlight. So the week of Hanukkah contains the longest and darkest nights of the year -- and we respond to darkness best not by cursing it, but by creating light. These well-timed Hanukkah candles should help us avoid seasonal affect disorder, and restore our sense of hope. Can they also be symbols of nature's cycles, rather than markers of how we've tried to tame those cycles? Ebn Leader considers some classical Jewish texts to make just that point. His trenchant analysis concludes: "May we all be privileged as we watch the Hanukkah flames to let go of our need to use the world, to relinquish our imagined authority over life and death, and to be strengthened by the beauty of the course of the world with its light and darkness." Click here for the full text of "The Darkness of Winter: Environmental reflections on Hanukah."

I'm Dreaming of a Green Hanukkah
Out of ideas for eco-friendly Hanukkah gifts? Try these online finds!

• Earth Creations - clay-died hemp clothing
• Novica - handmade, fair trade gifts direct from Peru, Africa, Bali...
• Earth Speaks - organic fashion blends of hemp, wool, yak, and more
• Just Soap - affordable handcrafted all natural soap, blended by bicycle!
• Under the Canopy - upscale natural giftware and eco-fashion apparel
• Natural Play - The best toys are natural toys!
• Nature Crunchy - organic, vegan, eco-friendly, cruelty-free and environmental activist products
• Good Humans - low prices on earth, animal, & human friendly products

SAZ COEJL Helps Clean Up Mt. Lemmon
The Southern Arizona Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (SAZ COEJL), sponsored by the Jewish Community Relations Council and in partnership with the Volunteer Center of Southern Arizona, is sending a volunteer work crew from the community to help clean-up private debris surrounding a privately owned cabin which was destroyed in this summer's Aspen fire on Mt. Lemmon in the Santa Catalina Mountains just outside of Tucson. One work crew of about 20 people will spend the morning of Sunday, November 23 cleaning up a site of about one acre in size. For more on SAZ COEJL's tikkun olam project, click here.