Energy Conservation and the Jews

Rabbi Melanie Aron

April 19, 2002

One of the things I see mentioned over and over again in articles about time management and organization is the danger of the urgent squeezing out the important. Things which must get done today or tomorrow eat up all our time, and we are not able to attend to other significant but longer range goals. As earth day 2002 approaches, I fear that is what has happened to some extent this year.

Though I had planned for some time to speak tonight about energy conservation, it has been hard in recent days to tear myself away from news of the Middle East long enough to catch up with what was happening in the United States Senate and the California State house. Its hard to get worked up about the ozone layer when Yom HaAtzmaut comes this week and Israelis are afraid to leave their homes, while synagogues burn in France and Tunisia and the world seems ablaze with anti-Semitism. But this inattention is dangerous and the consequences of our losing track of this important issue because of world events over the past 7 months could be quite devastating.

In much of the scientific community, discussion is no longer about whether there is global warming, but rather what its effects will be and how soon we will be experiencing them. Some argue we are experiencing them already. If we destroy natural treasures, such as the Arctic Wildlife refuge, they will not be replaceable, and increasing pollution of our air, water and land will have serious consequences on human health and well being. In addition, if we were able to reduce oil consumption, this would have positive benefits, not only for the environment, but also for some of our international problems.

Being distracted by other matters is only one part of our failure to address concerns about global warming and the depletion of the ozone layer. There is also the difficulty of doing something that will make a difference. What is needed is activity in two spheres, the political and the personal, and neither will be simple. In this case the political work is unending and involves battles against many entrenched and powerful groups. The personal changes are also hard as they begin by limiting our individual choices and move on to things which may inconvenience ourselves or force changes in our lifestyles.

The Senate is currently discussing an energy bill originally introduced by Senator Tom Daschle that included important new fuel economy standards for automobiles and trucks as well as goals for moving towards decreased dependence on non-renewable resources in generating electricity. This bill has been weakened considerably by various amendments, though it did succeed yesterday in fighting off an Arctic drilling provision. The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism participated in that fight arguing that the oil in Anwar is insignificant as compared to what could be saved through increased fuel economy provisions. We will reduce our dependence on foreign oil, they argued, not by drilling this small remaining wilderness area in Alaska, but by reducing our oil consumption in general. Now it looks like the bill that may pass in the Senate will lack any teeth in the areas of fuel economy and alternative energy sources while the house bill includes the Artic drilling provisions. Senators Boxer and Feinstein and our local congressional representatives Honda, Lofgren and Eshoo have good records in this area but they need to hear from us that this is a priority so that they will continue to fight these battles for us.

Similarly, in Sacramento, discussion is underway on State Bill 532 which would require that by 2010 20% of California's electricity be generated from renewable resources like wind and solar power. Having suffered through the Enron fiasco one would hope that there is recognition of the important of being less dependent on the big energy providers. The system of Renewable Portfolio Standards has been introduced also in Hawaii and Nevada and is already working in Texas where transitioning to renewables is moving forward ahead of schedule.

In the personal realm there is a lot we can do. Two of our members have taken me out for a spin in their new hybrid cars. All of us can be sensitive to fuel economy issues when we go out to buy a car and to energy conservation issues when we look at our household appliances. We can be better about turning off our computers, preferably from the power strip, so us to prevent energy leakage. We can figure out how to put our fax machines to sleep and perhaps even hang our clothes out to dry in the summer. We can reduce our total miles driven per family and reduce the impact we as individuals have on the earth.

California Interfaith Power and Light, through the Earth Day coalition offers an Earth Day Footprint Quiz online www.earthday.net . I took it twice - once as if I did everything I believe I should, and once as a "normal" American using their default maximum. The difference was significant. Taking reasonable measures, carpooling, having a more fuel efficient car, recycling, eating less meat, and so forth, I could reduce the impact I was having on the earth, which they measured in acres of land consumed, from 67 acres to 17 acres, quite an improvement but still above what they would view as ideal

This year at Shir Hadash we have made some headway towards being more energy responsible. Our solar panels will be installed this summer, thanks to Debbie Coutant's perseverance. The Confirmation class has been selling compact fluorescent light bulbs to encourage our members to conserve electricity at home. The class plans to use the profit from the bulbs to install sensor detectors and help the Temple conserve energy as well.

I see two areas in which we could do more. First, we could provide information to our members that would help them carpool more consistently to religious school and services. Standing in the parking lot on Tuesday afternoons when Jeremy is a T.A. I see a lot of people picking up one child. We could even provide incentives, if we thought it would help, like better parking for carpoolers, or first dismissal. Second, we could encourage reduced meat consumption not for health reasons, though they certainly exist, but because eating red meat is "like eating oil" in terms of how much petroleum is used today in the process of meat production.

Jewish tradition urges us "Bal Tashchit" - do not destroy. Maimonides codifies this saying "one should be trained not to be destructive." We are taught in the Talmud not to burn oil lamps in such a way as to be wasteful, or even to waste everyday items such as clothing, candles and food. We are likened in the Bible to tenant farmers; responsible for the maintenance of those things we have been given to use. We celebrate Shabbat, a day to live at peace with our natural surroundings.

Circulating on the Internet right now is a call for Jews to shift their gas purchasing to certain companies that do not buy their oil primarily from the Middle East. I have attempted to look into this and from the calls I have made, have found that experts view oil as fungible. All the oil companies buy from a world market. You don't hurt Saudia Arabia by shifting your gas purchases from Shell to Citgo. If we want to help free the United States from dependence on Middle Eastern oil, we must reduce and not shift our purchases. This issue, along with concerns for tikkun olam, has motivated JPAC the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the national body of all the local Jewish Community Relations Councils to make policies that require the adoption conservations measures renewable energy policies a priority in this current political year. May our concern for the well being of our planet and our desire not to be beholden to oil producers combine to motivate us towards greater personal energy conservation and more active support for conservation measures.