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Jewish Environmentalists Gather in Washington, DC to Advocate Environmentally Sound Energy Policy 

(Washington, DC – Feb 27, 2001) Amidst an intensive national debate on energy policy, 150 Jewish environmental activists from 19 states and 2 Canadian provinces wrapped up three days of meetings at the Mark and Sharon Bloome Jewish Environmental Leadership Institute with visits to Capitol Hill to advocate an environmentally sound national energy policy.Sponsored by the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), the conference took place alongside the Jewish Council for Public Affairs’ Plenum and Hillel Spitzer Forum.

“The Jewish community is becoming an important player on the environmental scene,” said Mark X. Jacobs, executive director of COEJL. “Individuals and organizations across North America are speaking out as Jews about our moral obligation to protect the environment in the U.S., Israel, and around the world.” With 13 Regional Affiliates across North America, COEJL is organizing thousands of Jews to engage the Jewish community in environmental education, action and advocacy rooted in Jewish tradition.

 Building interfaith partnerships to address issues of global warming and energy policy was the primary focus during the three days of meetings. Phil Clapp, president of the National Environmental Trust, told the group that global warming and energy is the most ambitious undertaking of environmental groups. “No one is demanding that decisions be made on a moral ground,” Clapp told the group. “COEJL has the vision and power to do this and this is where the debate will be won.”

 COEJL delegates went to Capitol Hill as part of a delegation of 1,000 individuals from the three conferences to advocate that the Bush Administration and 107^th Congress adopt a national energy strategy that employs clean energy technologies and energy efficiency. Over the coming months, COEJL and its affiliates will be launching a national campaign to address global warming and long-term energy security.

The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, a coalition of 29 national Jewish organizations spanning the spectrum of Jewish religious and communal life, serves as the voice of the organized Jewish community on a wide array of environmental issues. COEJL is the Jewish member of the National Religious Partnership for the Environment.

COALITION ON THE ENVIRONMENT AND JEWISH LIFE

INSTITUTE QUOTATIONS

From the Participants

After attending the Institute I feel more energized and confident about my ability to make change. I realize that I’m not alone. I am part of a larger Jewish and environmental community.

- Becky O’Brien, Boulder, CO

For me the environment is a moral issue. COEJL allows me to connect my moral beliefs with my activism.

- Issac Elnecave, Lansing, MI

This Institute confirmed what I knew in my heart. The Torah is the original environmental primer. This Institute encouraged me to take the mantle of leadership on environmental issues that the Torah has charged us with.

- Rabbi Steven Simenowitz, Readsboro, VT

I came to the Institute with a personal and scholarly hunch that environmental issues are central to what it means to be religious. It was inspiring to see this in action. I found the participants to be hungry for knowledge on the connections between religion and the environment. This was an unexpected pleasure.

- Rebecca Kneale Gould, Professor, Religion and Environmental Studies, Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT

From the Presentations

We must take up the cause for a more just life. We must broaden our understanding of what is creation. It includes the heavens and the earth. For God so loved the world, not just men and women.

- The Rev. Dr. Angelique Walker Smith, Executive Director, The Church Federation of Greater Indianapolis

We must judge ourselves on actions not intentions. An energy plan that intends to reduce greenhouse gases but does not – is a failure.

- Rabbi Daniel Swartz, Executive Director, Children’s Environmental Health Network

If we create in the present the seeds of the future, the future is more likely to come.

- Rabbi Arthur Waskow, Founder and Director, ALEPH / The Shalom Center

Emissions are rising and we have a President who wants to step on the accelerator. As an energy policy this is anti-policy.

- Jonathan Lash, President, World Resources Institute

Global warming and energy policy is a religious issue because it digs deep into the principles we share together. It is a survival issue, a justice issue, a lifestyle issue, and an intergenerational issue.

- Rev. Richard Killmer, Director of Environmental Justice, National Council of Churches