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Congregation Beth Emeth, Albany, NY
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July 23, 2008   20 Tamuz 5768

 

Rabbi Shoshanah King-Tornberg

 

Read Rabbi King-Tornberg's Rosh HaShanah list of 10 ideas to help us address the issue of global climate change.

Rabbi Shoshanah King-Tornberg began her tenure at Congregation Beth Emeth in July 0f 2006. She was ordained as a rabbi by the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in New York in 2006. She also received her Masters in Jewish education in 2004 from the Rhea Hirsch School of Education at the HUC-JIR Los Angeles campus. Rabbi King-Tornberg grew up in Kansas City and Toronto and spent time as an adult in the Boston area. She received her B.A. in English Literature at the University of Western Ontario. Rabbi King-Tornberg has worked in many Jewish educational capacities with learners of all ages. She has worked at camps, in religious schools, in adult education programs and with youth groups.

Aside from her educational work, Rabbi King-Tornberg received training and work experience as a student rabbi in Steubenville, OH and in Reston, VA. She served as a student chaplain at Bellevue Hospital in New York City. She is especially proud of the time she spent doing social justice learning in January of 2006 in rural El Salvador with the American Jewish World Service.

Rabbi King-Tornberg is the recipient of a variety of prizes and honors, including the Rabbi Shai Shacknai Prize in Homiletics and Preaching, the Benjamin and Molly Borowitz Prize in Jewish Religious Thought and the Emanuel Green Prize for proficiency in the study of Midrash and Hebrew.

Rabbi King-Tornberg and her partner Laura live in Albany.


Rabbi King-Tornberg
 
10 Ideas on Global Climate Change  
 

From the Rabbis’ Desk

Over Rosh Hashanah, I shared some Torah with the community about the pressing issue of global climate change.  I outlined a minyan of 10 deeds we can each do to address this urgent concern.  Gathering together to address this need, we are each a  part of a minyan—a community of at least 10—upon minyans, upon minyans, to reduce the enormous amount of carbon dioxide emissions that we produce here in the US.

 

       As promised on that evening, here is a list of 10 ideas that you can do to be part of the solution…

 

1. As Always,...Recycle:  Be sure you recycle and extend your recycling efforts.  You can also return aluminum cans for deposit, and use the money to help organizations fighting global climate change...One example is the Coalition for the Environment and Jewish Life...or COEJL.  They are at: www.coejl.org.

 

2. Light:  Use compact fluorescent light bulbs.  These bulbs use 75% less energy than incandescent bulbs.  This means less greenhouse emissions.  And, if every US household replaced one incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent bulb, it would equal the removal of 1 million cars from the road.

 

3. Organic Waste:  Begin composting.  Composting your organic waste allows it to decompose naturally and be reinserted back into the environment.  This efficient use of resources reduces the amount of garbage that needs to be hauled in gas-driven trucks.

 

4. Heat and Air:  Vow to turn your air conditioning up two degrees in the summer and your heating down two degrees in the winter. This act will save 2000 lbs of carbon dioxide and $98 per year.

 

5. Paper:  Avoid the use of unnecessary paper products: Give gifts wrapped in cloth or without wrapping; use cloth towels and cloth napkins instead of paper.  63 million newspapers are printed each day in the US, 44 million are thrown away.  American businesses throw away 21 million tons of paper a year. That’s 175 pounds per office worker. You can cut that in half by printing on both sides.  Reuse the back of old printer documents as scratch paper.  Or, buy recycled paper products.  Each ream of recycled printer paper reduces emissions by 5 lbs.

 

6. Home Appliances:  Buy energy saving products and appliances.  One guide for doing so is looking for Energy Star labels on products.

 

7. Transportation:  Walk or ride a bicycle when you can, instead of using your car.  Familiarize yourself with the public transportation system and begin to use it more frequently if possible.  Renew your efforts to maximize the number of errands in a given trip.  Begin a carpool.

 

8. “Coffee”:  Many of us drink coffee.  Look for shade grown coffee.  It is far more gentle on the environment than sun grown coffee, which harms the rain forest—the lungs of the planet--and requires many chemicals.

 

     Start a mug movement in your office.  We throw away 25 billion polystyrene cups a year.  Americans buy 25 billion single serve plastic water bottles each year. 80% of them are thrown away. If everyone switched to mugs and britta we would save more than 1.5 million barrels of oil annually which is enough to fuel 100,000 cars a year.

 

9. Water: Turn off the faucet when you are not using the water, whether when brushing your teeth or washing the dishes.  Use water-saving shower heads.

 

10. Advocacy:  Engage in advocacy on behalf of global climate change.  Despite the overwhelming contribution of the United States to this crisis level of carbon dioxide, our government has been slow to implement necessary change.  One way you can get involved is by signing up as a virtual marcher via the website of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism.  As a marcher, you will add to the voices demanding legislation and resources to turn the tide of climate change.  Their website is www.rac.org.

 

     Education:  And the eleventh possibility to show up for our Minyan: Educate the people in your life about these issues and about the chance we have right now to change the threat of global climate change.

 

     Above are the suggestions I shared over the holidays.  You can also find more information at http://www.stopglobalwarming.org/sgw_actionitems.asp.

 

Rabbi Shoshanah King-Tornberg

 

 

 

 

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