YES: I believe that the Jewish People can and should play a distinct role in responding to climate change and fostering sustainability between now and September 2015 (the end of the next 7-year sabbatical cycle in the Jewish calendar);
YES: I call on all Jewish organizations, small and large, to create Green Teams that will draw up seven-year goals to effect change and specific steps to get started this year;
YES: I believe we must integrate education, action and advocacy. So I commit every month to learn more about the environment and about Jewish teachings on sustainability; to act by making more sustainable choices; and to advocate for generational change by speaking up to friends, family members, colleagues and opinion-leaders;
YES: I’ll write to my elected representatives “I call on you and our government to build a more sustainable global economy; to support the creation of green jobs; to prioritize protecting vulnerable populations; and to ensure that the UN Climate Change Conference creates the strongest possible framework to ameliorate climate change.”
YES: I hope 600,000[1] Jewish people join me in signing this pledge. Please add my name to the list.
Why Now?
The task at hand is to rally Jewish communities worldwide to make a difference on climate change in a way that strengthens Jewish life and helps make a better world for all.
On November 2nd 2009 The Alliance for Religions and Conservation , ARC, hosted a program for the world’s faiths to present their plans for generational change. Hazon to managed the program for the Jewish faith and created this pledge. Your signature will strengthen and support our commitment to climate action.
The medium-term goal is that by September 2015, at the end of the next sabbatical year in the Jewish calendar, Jewish communities worldwide will have integrated sustainability into the fabric of all that they do.
In the short-term, we hope that Jewish institutions will be able to utilize this energy to integrate environmental education, action and advocacy over the following years.
[1] Why 600,000? It’s a large number and in Jewish tradition there’s a special blessing if 600,000 people come together. But what’s most important is that this be a really large number of people – to make plain to Jewish leaders and the wider world that Jewish people care strongly about these issues.