IN THIS ISSUE:

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: A Light Among the Nations aka How Many Jews Does It Take to Change a Light Bulb? - A Jewish Response to Global Warming
TAKE ACTION: Having Our Say on Protecting the Environment; Support New Bills to Reduce Global Warming Emissions
CELEBRATE: Make Yom Kippur a Car-Free Day
LEARN: Inspiring Words for the Days of Awe
IN THE FIELD: Spotlight on Allan Tweddle, COEJL's West Virginia Affiliate
GO GREEN: Kosher, Organic Fruit of the Vine

CAMPAIGN UPDATE

A Light Among the Nations - A Jewish Response to Global Warming

COEJL is lighting the New Year one CFL at a time! As more and more of you join the climate change campaign, we are beginning to answer our own question of how many Jews it takes to change a light bulb! 

The campaign is taking off in synagogues and Jewish institutions nationwide. So far we have received requests for 45,000 campaign brochures in 30 states and Washington D.C.  Participants are from the Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, Reconstructionist, Jewish Renewal, and Chabad communities as well as several University Hillel Houses. Help us get the word out during the High Holidays at your synagogue. Request that your rabbi speak from the bimah about how our actions are wreaking havoc on our planet and how we all need to become more “energy observant.” Click here to join the campaign, for more information, or to order campaign brochures which include CFL order forms, or contact climatechange@coejl.org or 212-532-7436.
Together we can change how American Jewry responds to the daunting environmental problems confronting us and future generations. The engagement of the entire Jewish community is critical.

Click here to read about how some communities are taking action.

Having Our Say on Protecting the Environment
The Bush Administration is holding a series of "listening sessions" across the country to gather input on cooperative conservation projects. Because the Administration may use input from these sessions to promote changes to environmental laws, it is vital for a strong conservation message to be part of this effort including a message from the faith community. The Administration is accepting written comments to a Department of Interior email address. Click here to email your comments to the DOI. Please take 60 seconds to make a difference and do this today!!!  And please share this alert with others.  All comments should be emailed to DOI by September 30, 2006.  THANK YOU for standing up for fragile wildlife, wild places, and our own environment!

Urge Congress to Support New Bills Aimed at Avoiding the Worst Effects of Global Warming

In June 2006, Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) introduced a bill (H.R. 5642) that would gradually reduce global warming emissions by 80 percent, the amount needed to have a good chance of staying below the threshold set by scientists. In July 2006, Senators Jim Jeffords (I-VT) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) introduced a similar bill in the Senate. Please urge your congressional delegation to protect our planet by co-sponsoring these critical science-based global warming bills.

Click here to take action on this issue.

Click here for more on a car-free holiday.

Inspiring Words for the Days of Awe
Following is an excerpt from Rabbi David Greenspoon's High Holiday message - Congregation Knesset Israel, Pittsfield, MA:

No matter what our politics, no matter what our religious or spiritual inclinations, appropriate environmental stewardship is vitally, critically important to us and the generations to come. All of us have a vested interest in a cleaner, healthier Earth. All of us can and must do something to make a difference today, if there is to be a viable tomorrow. No matter what else we can do, all of us can start by changing at least one light bulb in our homes. If our Jewish identity means anything at all to us, then for God’s sake, for the Earth’s sake, for our own sake, please change at least one light bulb to a CFL.

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb of Temple Adat Shalom in Bethesda, MD, wishes us all a warm (but not too warm) New Year’s greeting.  Click here to read four pieces of liturgical commentary noting the environmental connection to the Yamim Noraim, Days of Awe.

Rabbi Lawrence Troster, COEJL’s Rabbinic Fellow offers an “Environmental Confession for Yom Kippur.”

Spotlight on Allan Tweddle, COEJL’s West Virginia Affiliate 

Allan Tweddle was featured in the Charleston Daily Mail regarding his personal and public efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions. Tweddle, unlike a reported 34% of individuals aged 65 and older, is a senior who believes that climate change is occurring and is due to human activity. He is also a person of action. Aside from promoting COEJL’s West Virginia affiliate, he serves on the West Virginia Environmental Council, where he works for stronger environmental legislation in the state and for adoption of alternative, clean energy production. This is no easy task in West Virginia, where, according to Tweddle, 30% of the State's revenue comes from coal severance taxes. He has also completely retrofitted his house for energy efficiency, from the light bulbs to the windows and, with several colleagues he has already seen to it that his congregation, B'nai Jacob Synagogue, will be changing all of their conventional light bulbs to CFLs. "I have wonderful grandchildren and am doing all I can to bring about change in energy and pollution so they will have a clean and cool planet to live upon."   

Click here to read the article.

Kosher, Organic Fruit of the Vine

Looking for a wine that suits your Jewish and environmental demands? Try a wine from Four Gates Winery in the mountains of Santa Cruz, California. Benjamin Cantz is growing grapes and turning them into Chardonnays, Merlots, and Pinot Noir (and others) on his small, 3.5 acre farm. His grapes are certified organic by California Certified Organic Farmers, and his wines are certified Kosher (not Mevushal). Benjamin writes on his web site: “I do nearly all the work of the vineyard myself, except the harvest, which is often a very sweet community event.

Also, the wine is estate bottled. This means that one person has overseen the quality of both the growing of the grapes and the making of the wine. The winery is likewise a one-man operation. Far from being a modern computer-monitored factory, it's more like an old fashioned one-room school house with me teaching all the grades; all the various pieces of equipment and barrels sit around the room like children of different ages waiting for their turn.”  Support family-owned, organic Kosher wines this season.  Four Gates wines can be purchased directly from the winery. Information for purchasing can be found at Four Gates Winery.  For two stories about Benjamin and the genesis of Four Gates Winery, click here and here.