SPEAKERS GUIDE

Susan Kaplan

Chair
SAZ COEJL
(COEJL of Southern Arizona)

3255 N. Christmas Ave.,
Tucson, AZ 85716
Tel: (520) 323-7165
skaplan9@cox.net

Susan Kaplan became an active environmentalist when she joined SAZ COEJL in 2000. Prior to joining COEJL, her concern for and love of the environment was expressed in caring for it by gardening, recycling, being in the outdoors, and supporting environmental causes financially. After joining COEJL, her connection with both Judaism and the environment deepened to a level of passion and commitment to care for creation and stewardship of the Earth and the desire to deepen her knowledge of the relationship between Torah and the Earth.

Susan is a member of Congregation Or Chadash, a Reform synagogue in Tucson, AZ. She is active and influential in the Tucson Jewish community and in her synagogue. As a “young retiree”, she has devoted her time to serving the community, study and social justice projects.

Susan learned her love of the outdoors and of Judaism from her parents, who educated her as a Jew and who shared their passion for the outdoors by never going on vacations to Disneyland or places with big hotels. She has a master’s degree in public policy studies, and spent her “paid” working career in Federal natural resource management agencies, where she was a senior policy and budget analyst and manager at the Department of the Interior and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. She lived in Washington, DC for 25 years before retiring in 1999 and moving to Tucson (a very wise move!).

Susan describes her mission in life as to always be learning and doing. She is passionate about both her Judaism and her commitment to the environment, and credits her affiliation with and leadership roles in SAZ COEJL as deepening both of these commitments. She is particularly interested in helping children teach their parents about these relationships and in helping the children bring about lasting changes in care and consideration of the environment.

Topics on which qualified to speak:

• The Jewish Festival Cycle and Ecology
• Experiential Jewish Environmental Education
• Jewish Environmental Action
• Environmental Health and Justice
• Green Building / Sustainability

Types of Presentations available for:

• Jewish outdoor education programs for youth
• Jewish outdoor education programs for adults
• In-service training program for educators
• Synagogue speaker / sermon
• Campus speaker
• Conference speaker
• Day school / religious school speaker