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June 29, 2005
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COEJL Community E-bulletin #26 |
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Coalition on the Environment
and Jewish Life
Help support COEJL's programs like our advocacy in Washington, DC:
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IN THIS ISSUE:
TAKE ACTION: Action Updates on Pesticides; Climate Change
CELEBRATE: Something Old, Something Pristine; Something Borrowed, Something Green
LEARN: What's Jewish About Community Supported Agriculture?
GO GREEN: Green Mitzvot
ISRAEL'S ENVIRONMENT: Threats to the River Jordan
SPOTLIGHT ON THE FIELD: Jewish Community Briefing on Energy Policy and Climate Change
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TAKE ACTION
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Action Updates on Pesticides; Climate Change
Washington, D.C. (June 29, 2005) - Earlier today, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) offered an amendment to the Interior Appropriations bill that would prohibit the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from accepting, considering, or relying on the results of human pesticide tests. The amendment would also prohibit the EPA from funding such tests during the next fiscal year. Without this provision, the Federal government could have relied on data from pesticide experiments conducted on pregnant women, infants, and even fetuses in utero.
Thankfully, the U.S. Senate passed the amendment today by a vote of 60-37. The support of the religious community was crucial to its passage and COEJL played a lead role in organizing this effort. Please contact your Senators and thank them for their support (yea) of the Boxer amendment, or, if necessary, let them know that you are disappointed with their vote (nay). Click here to see votes.
Last week, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution in favor of mandatory greenhouse gas controls. Click here to read COEJL's statement on the Senate climate change debate and votes.
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CELEBRATE
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Something Old, Something Pristine; Something Borrowed, Something Green
It's wedding season again! When you choose to spend your life with someone and create a home with him or her, you have a special opportunity to put your environmental values into action. You can set guiding principles and household rules to care for yourself, your family, and the Earth. To read more about environmentally friendly wedding choices, see "Under the Huppah" from COEJL's booklet Caring for the Cycle of Life: Environmentally Sound Life-Cycle Celebrations. Click here to order the full publication. For more green wedding ideas, check out: www.felicite.com, www.greenfeet.com, or www.organicweddings.com.
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LEARN
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What's Jewish About Community Supported Agriculture?
Summer is officially here and naturally our minds and taste buds turn to sustainably farmed fruits and vegetables. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) programs are a way to support farmers while helping people in urban and suburban communities connect with the land, understand how their food is grown, and relate to the farmers who grow it. And, if the farm is organic, you can greatly reduce your exposure to unnecessary chemicals. CSA farmers often diversify their seed selection and offer many crop varieties including heirloom produce such as Purple Calabash and Green Zebra tomatoes - both flavorful and colorful. Enjoying the array of available fruits, vegetables, herbs, and flowers gives new meaning to these biblical words:
Mah rabu ma'asecha Adonai! Kulam b'hochmah asita, malah ha'aretz kinyaneha (How many are your works, God! All of them You created in wisdom; the world is filled with your possessions.)
Click here to learn more about CSAs. Read about Tuv Ha'Aretz, the first ever Jewish CSA project piloted by the Jewish environmental organization, Hazon. COEJL plans to integrate the Tuv Ha'Aretz program into our Greening Synagogues initiative in New Jersey.
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GO GREEN
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Green Mitzvot
Have a simcha coming up? Give the gift that keeps on giving: a donation to COEJL in honor of or in memory of someone.
One way to donate to COEJL is to collect and recycle computer print cartridges, cell phones, and PDA's from your home, synagogue, or office. Call (888) 628-3639 or visit www.usrecycleink.com. Click "non-profit," and then click "contact a program director." Provide your contact information and list COEJL as the non-profit group you are supporting. U.S. Recycling will send you shipping labels and a tax-deductible receipt.
Wild opportunity! Long-time COEJL activist Barak Gale, co-owner of Wild Lily Cabins Bed & Breakfast, is offering a stay for a fellow COEJL activist at a magical place in the woods on the Skykomish River, 1.5 hours northeast of Seattle in the Cascade Mountains. He will contribute half of the proceeds to COEJL. For more information, visit: www.wildlilyranch.com.
If you have other Green Mitzvot ideas, please email Barbara Lerman-Golomb.
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ISRAEL'S ENVIRONMENT
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Threats to the River Jordan
With the River Jordan in danger of disappearing, high-ranking Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian officials met in March under the auspices of Friends of the Earth Middle East (FoEME). The three parties urged their governments to move quickly to save the river before the damage becomes irreversible. The biblical river -- a holy site for Christians, Jews and Muslims -- could dry up altogether during the summer season and be reduced to a meager flow during winter because of water diversions to Israel, Jordan, and Syria. "We have placed the future of the River Jordan on the public agenda in each of the affected lands," FoEME Israeli director, Gidon Bromberg, said afterwards.
Click here to learn more about Israel's environmental challenges and the Jewish Global Environmental Network.
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SPOTLIGHT ON THE FIELD
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Jewish Community Briefing on Energy Policy and Climate Change
COEJL co-hosted a Jewish community roundtable on energy policy and climate change in Washington on June 23. Jewish community leaders representing over a dozen national organizations attended the event. The program included briefings on national energy policy from Reid Detchon, executive director of the Energy Futures Coalition and Sara Hessenflow, national security and climate policy analyst at Environmental Defense. Paul Gorman, executive director of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment, and Joe Goffman, legislative assistant and counsel for Sen. Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), led our discussion of climate policy.
Finally, we considered the proposed U.S.-Israel Energy Cooperation Act. This legislation, which COEJL helped develop, would provide $20 million in new U.S. funding for energy and environmental technology projects in Israel. Don MacDonald from the office of Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA), the lead Democratic sponsor of this bill, discussed the importance of the bill, along with Sarah Stern, director of governmental and public affairs for the American Jewish Congress.
Other event sponsors included the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Jewish Council for Public Affairs, American Jewish Committee, and American Jewish Congress.
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