JUST ENGAGE

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs just completed its first Community Relations trip to New Orleans.  This trip was a way to encourage dedicated leaders to reengage their communities around rebuilding the Gulf Coast and engaging in confronting poverty.  The mission to New Orleans took place June 15-18, 2008.  The mission was an opportunity for JCRC directors to invite an African American leader from their community for a three day transformative experience that included:

• Education about the intersection between poverty, race and climate change;
• A tour of New Orleans three years after the storms;
• Meetings with local faith, civic, and political leaders;
• A day of service in the area;
• Resources and contacts in the area for use when planning future trips;
• Concrete action steps you and your community partner can take upon returning home to engage on Gulf Coast and anti-poverty activism on a sustained basis.

The goal of this trip was to build and strengthen relationships that JCRCs can use to reengage their home communities around helping victims of Katrina and Rita, and as an entry point into broader anti-poverty activism and advocacy as part of the JCPA's anti-poverty campaign, "There Shall Be No Needy Among You". 

This trip was an eye opening experience for all of those who went.  Even three years after the storms that ripped the Gulf Coast apart, in some parishes only 25% of the homes have been rebuilt.  People are still trying to salvage their homes while having to live a "normal" life.  Over and over we heard about the trauma that people are still experiencing.  Some people are having to pay rent  while also paying off their mortgages on homes that have been destroyed.  And over and over again, we heard that the government on any level is just not helping.  It has been the grass roots and the faith based organizations that have been rebuilding the city and helping the residents of the city to cope with their losses.

When I first began to organize this trip, I was completely lost.  I had the names of a few people I was told I could use as contacts and we had an idea of what issues we wanted to incorporate.  But other than that, the canvas was empty.  I am not Jewish or African American and this too added stress in my planning.  I wanted to make both groups comfortable in their experience and wanted to make sure that we bonded as a group around.

In the end, my worries were probably a waste of time.  When we got to New Orleans, it became very obvious who we needed to be worried about, and who needed our attention.  Religion, race, economic class, did not seem to matter to the people whose homes we worked to rebuild.  People in New Orleans were just grateful that a group of caring people were there to help.  I think I am still in a bit of shock at how well the trip went.  I had envisioned so many things going wrong, but in the end, it was the participants' dedication to justice that proved to be what mattered. 

I learned a lot in New Orleans.  I learned about the systematic racism that took place during the evacuation of the city.  I learned about the government programs that did not help the people they were created for.  I learned about a tragedy that was not caused nearly as much by Mother Nature as it was broken manmade levees.  Most importantly, I learned that the people of New Orleans are relying on people like us, people who still have our homes and resources to help them get back on their feet, no matter what our background may be.

I wish that I were creative enough to have come up with this term on my own, but alas, I must be honest, it was King Jigme Singye Wangchuck of Bhutan.  In catching up on my National Geographic magazines, I read an article entitled “Bhutan’s Enlightened Experiment,” and I think I had a little bit of enlightenment myself. 

Though told in jest, the joke teaches a valuable lesson. We cannot be so blinded by our political agenda that we ignore the signs in front of our eyes. Two weeks ago, the U.S. Senate began a historic climate debate. As I wrote on the eve of that debate, "simply forcing a national discussion about climate change is a victory." In many respects, the climate vote was an extraordinary success. Forty-eight senators voted to move to substantive discussion on the bill. Six others submitted statements to the record indicating that they likewise supported continued debate. Combined, a comfortable majority in the Senate thus supports aggressive federal action on climate change. And, as the Union of Concerned Scientists reports, many of those who voted in favor of such action had previously opposed such initiatives – even though the legislation at issue was stronger than bills the Senate has considered in the past. Fortunately, as Senator Boxer explained, "We [now] have a road map as to where our colleagues are. We will give the road map to the next president so he knows where our colleagues are and where are the consensus areas and where are the difficult areas."

Yet, despite these accomplishments, the climate debate was, in other respects, a tragic missed opportunity. Like the man waiting on his roof for divine intervention, many members of the Senate seem to be awaiting an intangible sign from above – ignoring the signs that G-d has already sent to Earth. On the second morning of the climate debate, opponents insisted that they were not familiar with the bill due to a handful of technical changes that had been made in its final hours. In a move witnessed but once a decade, they insisted that the clerk read the bill – all 492 pages of it – on the Senate floor. For most of the day – more than eight hours – the clerk droned on, reading of offsets and auctions, allocations and subsidies.

And then G-d intervened.

At mid-day, thunderclouds descended over Washington, D.C. The sky darkened and rain pummeled the Capitol. I approached the building amid announcements of a "severe thunderstorm warning" on the Senate intercom system. The National Weather Service declared a tornado watch with wind gusts of up to 70 mph, admonishing citizens to "take cover" and "move to a safe place" to avoid flash floods. My home outside the Nation's Capitol lost power for two days.

A tornado warning is disconcerting in and of itself. But its impact is all the more dramatic when viewed in this context. As Senator Reid (D-NV) explained on the Senate floor, 2008 is on track to be "the deadliest year in the history of tornado deaths" in the United States. Since January, more than 110 people have lost their lives due to tornadoes – compared to an annual average of 62. I don't imply that a single tornado season confirms climate change, but it certainly doesn't suggest that we're heading in the right direction either. And, if an anomalous tornado season weren't warning enough, G-d has sent a steady succession of reinforcements – in the form of flooding in the Midwest, a drought in California, and a heat wave on the east coast.

NRDC policy director, David Doniger highlighted the curious coincidence of the climate debate and the tornado advisory in his blog. In it, he challenged readers to "draw [their] own conclusions." As I heard the weather advisory on the afternoon of the climate debate, I had only one thought: the bureaucracy of the political process had gone on long enough. As thunder crashed from the heavens, G-d had sounded a wake-up alarm for 100 Senators on Capitol Hill. "Do something," He implored. "Assume your role as my partner in creation, and help me to repair the world." The next morning, 54 of them heeded that warning and voted to proceed to the debate. Unfortunately, 46 others are still waiting on their rooftops for a sign…

Inspired by Shavuot and the celebration of receiving the 10 commandments, my mind drifted to all of those other 10 commandments out there.  Lists of “10 Actions to Save the Planet” abound – but do they really matter?

During a time when global environmental catastrophes loom large, clear and real, we may debate the impact of our individual actions.  When China is opening a new coal-based power plant every week, does my switching to an energy efficient compact fluorescent light (CFL) matter?

COEJL challenged the American Jewish community to start fighting climate change with that simple act.  During our How Many Jews Does it Take to Change a Light Bulb? campaign, Jews across America heeded the call and switched out their energy inefficient incandescent bulbs for CFLs.  From changes in homes, offices, schools and synagogues, over 80,000 CFLs were purchased, keeping approximately 29,000 tons of CO₂ out of our atmosphere. 

Yes, our independent acts of environmental conservation matter.  Below is my list (I dare not call them commandments) of 10 actions with a range of required effort that will help you and your community reduce our impact on global warming.

1)      Change 5 light bulbs to energy efficient and cost effective compact CFLs ( if all American Jews did this it would be the same as taking 1.76 million cars off the road for a year)

2)      Switch out a meat meal for a vegetarian one (global livestock is responsible for 18% of CO₂ emissions and 37% of methane emissions - a greenhouse gas that is twenty times more potent than CO₂)

3)      Eat local (in the US, conventional food travels an average of 1,500 miles to reach our markets)

4)      Find new meaning in old traditions: walk or bike to synagogue (only 6% of all trips made in the US are by bike or foot)

5)      Recycle ½ of your household waste (saves 2,400 pounds of CO₂ a year)

6)      Install a programmable thermostat and drop it 2 degrees in the winter and raise it 2 degrees in the summer (saves 2,000 pounds of CO₂ a year)

7)      Eliminate “phantom loads” by unplugging unused electronics, shutting off power strips, or buying smart ones that will shut it off for you (if all phantom loads in US homes were stopped, we could shut down 17 power plants)

8)      Fully inflate your tires and improve mpg efficiency (Saves 347 lbs of CO₂ a year)

9)      Plant a tree – in your own backyard or Israel (if all Jews in America did this it, 6 million tons of CO₂ absorbed over its life)

10)  Due to the fact that CO₂ is a global gas, when you’ve taken all the actions you can, buy carbon credits to offset the rest.

To purchase appliances that enable tips 6, 7 and 8 click here.

As with the biblical 10 commandments, this list is only the beginning. Though it may be scary, it’s also empowering.  We - in our houses with our family, offices with our colleagues and community with our friends - can be part of the solution.

Months ago, I met with my counterpart from another faith group.  I had been working at COEJL for about a week.  "Be careful not to get burned out," she cautioned.  "This is a marathon, not a sprint."  Little did she know, the Jewish people are well equipped for such journeys.  After all, we wandered for forty years in the desert before arriving in Israel .

Click here to urge your Senator to support The America's Climate Security Act.