JUST ENGAGE

For years, I have been frustrated by our nation's intransigence – our stubborn refusal to commit to greenhouse gas reductions or even acknowledge the reality of climate change.  Last week, Australia signed the Kyoto Protocol, leaving the United States as the only industrialized nation that has not signed the international treaty.  This week, 180 nations have joined together to negotiate a new climate treaty and set a roadmap for international action in Bali, Indonesia.  And the United States continues to eschew its role in the global solution.  Yet, despite this, our country took a tremendous step forward last Wednesday when the United States Senate Environment and Public Works committee passed the Lieberman-Warner Climate Security Act (S 2191).  Admittedly, this is only the first of many hurdles before our country enacts a comprehensive climate change policy; however, it is a remarkable achievement nonetheless.

The Senate vote was particularly timely – as it occurred during our celebration of Chanukah.  This week, the Jewish people commemorated the ability of one day's oil to satisfy eight days' needs.  The Lieberman-Warner bill makes brings this lesson to life by mandating the emissions reductions that make it possible.

On Dec 4, an op-ed appeared in the Jerusalem Post “Fundamentally Freund” column, which chastised JCPA, COEJL and other groups for trying to “steal Hanukkah.” Apparently, we’re trying to diminish the light and holiness of Chanukah by using it to promote our activist agenda and promote the “Light unto the Nations Light Bulb campaign.”

Freund claims that promoting environmental activism, through changing to Compact Florescent Lightbulbs (CFL’s) is not a Jewish issue and that linking the campaign to Chanukah is inappropriate. But Freund himself uses a non-Jewish concept, to talk about Chanukah. One can argue that Freund himself would find his own use of the “goyish Grinch” objectionable. On the other hand, JCPA highlights Jewish concepts when framing an issue about light to connect to Chanukah.

The purpose of linking Chanukah to a light bulb campaign is not to get people to stop lighting candles for Chanukah. Rather, the idea is to get people thinking about contemporary issues during our celebration of ancient rituals. JCPA and COEJL are cleverly using the timing of Chanukah to get people to think about conservation, and what practical steps we can take to protect the environment. During Chanukah, the season of lights, JCPA and COEJL are asking people to think “out of the box;”  Let's extend our thoughts about Chanukah lights to think about our everyday light bulbs, which we can change for environmentally friendly ones.

Who is the Grinch now, Mr. Freund?