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Newsletter Issue 12 August 2000 Av 5760
In This Edition Shabbat Noah - 4th November Celebration:
Hadley Green-Belt walk Pedalling for the Planet Action: Car-Free is Care-Free Politics & Environmentalism
Car-Free is Care-Free Do you dream of a promised land free from car noise and vehicle pollution? If so, help us to support European
Car-Free Day on Friday 22nd September. Previous car-free days in France and Italy have shown some dramatic effects; noise reductions of up to 50% and air pollution cut by 20-50%. All participating cities reported
an increase in cycling, walking and public transport use, with no decrease in economic activity. Perhaps most importantly, 85% of city dwellers surveyed on the day were in favour of the initiative. Here in the UK,
(where little coverage of the recent 'Dump the Pump' pro-car campaign mentioned that high petrol charges can actually reduce traffic levels), it remains to be seen whether local councils will have the courage to
restrict car access to city centres for Car-Free Day. The Noah Project is calling upon the community to support car-free day. If we spend time thinking about how we travel around and encourage businesses
and communal organisations to join in, car-free really can be care-free. *see the Car-Free Day Web-site: www.eta.co.uk/tr/pj/cfd/cfdintro.htm 'Hadley' just a Common walk !
Clive Margolis' report on our Shavuot Green-Belt walk on 11th June: On a lovely summer's day, despite mild protests from the children (who would rather have stayed indoors) I took the family for a short walk and
guided tour around Hadley Common and Woods with the Noah Project. The turnout was good — around 60 souls as the Bible puts it, of varying ages and fitness. The walking was easy. As we walked in this ancient and
fascinating woodland and common, Jim Lee, from The Friends of Monken Hadley Common, gave a commentary about its history and management. This part of the world, just North of London, is fortunate in having a
substantial Green Belt, in contrast with other areas of outer London where the Green Belt has either been eroded or has not been implemented. However, this area has recently been under threat by proposals to build a new
station and car park less than 1 mile from where we walked. GM Seed Action No news yet on the date of the GM Seed hearing where we will be representing the views of the community to the Ministry of Agriculture. "And after the Flood..."
Noah's Education Co-ordinator, Vivienne Cato introduces Noah Shabbat - 4th November 2000 Is it a mitzvah to be 'green'? Does Judaism have anything to tell us about how we should treat the world around us? The
answer is a resounding yes, although sometimes it's easy to think that Judaism's environmental ethics are a closely-guarded secret. How many of us know that, as Jews, we are forbidden to live in a town that has no
greenery? Or that we are obliged to feed our animals - dogs and cats as well as chickens - before ourselves? No doubt your children learn in cheder that Judaism has a new year just for trees, but its unlikely that they
are being taught that, as Jews, they inherit an environmental manifesto of which Friends of the Earth could be proud. It all started in the Garden of Eden. The first job description in recorded history is that of
gardener. Adam's job was to work and guard the garden; to till and tend it. It was not to raze to the ground, strip mine and burn. You don't find G-d saying: 'Behold, I have given to you every herb-yielding seed and
every tree; them you shall cut down, genetically mutate, and turn into luxury toilet seats.' Instead, Adam is asked to name the animals: symbolically, to take responsibility for them. But Genesis is just the
beginning. As we read our way through the Five Books, the commands come thick and fast. Don't cut down fruit trees in times of war. All cities must have an open space around them. Don't plough with an ox and donkey
together (it's not fair on the donkey). Don't kill an animal in front of its offspring, or vice versa (it's not fair on either of them). Using these pointers, and others, as a springboard, Talmud and Midrash record many
rabbinical discussions that between them create a code of environmental ethics. Now, you may not spend your days supervising a corn-threshing ox, but the food you eat may come from a factory farm. You may not be
currently waging war on your neighbours, but you may have decisions to make about those trees in your back garden. As with other areas of our lives, Jewish tradition has some guidance to offer us in the ecological
choices posed by modern life. On Shabbat Noah, we read the story of Noah, after whom the Noah Project chose to take its name. By taking into the ark the animals and birds, Noah's G-d-given mission was to save the
earth's bio-diversity from destruction - and on November 4th this year a very special event is taking place across most synagogues in the UK. Rabbis across the country will be focusing their sermons and divrei torah on
what Noah means for all of us today. What should we as Jews be doing and understanding in order to play our, maybe tiny, part in preserving our unique home for our children and their children's children? Whatever we
choose to contribute, the bottom line is that there is no contradiction to being both Jewish and 'green'. In fact, you might call it a mitzvah. We are very excited by this step to be taken by synagogues from all the
main traditions within Anglo-Jewry together, and hope that you are too. Please do mark the date in your diaries and come to your synagogue on Shabbat Noah to support it. How you can support Shabbat Noah
Encourage you shul to get involved - alert your Rabbi to it; Help distribute the special leaflets which will be sent to Shuls; Schmooze at the Kiddush(!) Get people talking about the planet.
Encourage your shul to follow-up the day with an environmental audit Noah Activist Fights Fox Hunting Noah's Birmingham activist, Joy Fifer,
is calling upon the community to write to their MPs to back the Bill to ban fox-hunting. As Joy explained to the Jewish Chronicle "The Jewish position is quite clear. The principle of tsa'ar ba'alei chayim (the
prevention of animal suffering) and ba'al taschchit (do not destroy) clearly apply to the so-called sport of fox hunting".
If you would like to help Joy's campaign contact us and we'll put you in contact with her. (The Noah Project sends its prayers and wishes to Joy, whose long-awaited lung transplant operation took place on 26th July.)
Ramble with Noah A joint countryside ramble is planned for
29th October with the J-Walkers walking group. Contact us for more details. (J-walkers walks are aimed at the 25-45 age group, but welcomes all ages). GM in E1 On July 26, around 30 people joined Noah's Janet Burden at Jewish Care's Grove Club
in Stepney for a talk on Genetically Modified Foods and Kashrut. The discussion concluded that whether or not GM foods are kosher, we might not want to eat them for a variety of other reasons, some of which were
rooted in Jewish principles. They also focused on our obligation to ensure that technology is monitored and developed responsibly, with due consideration of ethical and moral issues. A pedal-powered journey to save the planet As reported in our last newsletter, American group
Hazon (Vision) is undertaking a sponsored Jewish Environmental Bike ride across the USA from Seattle to Washington DC, raising money for a number of environmental and Jewish causes, including The Noah Project. Each
week, their leader, (ex-Mancunian Nigel Savage) sends progress report, which can be read on www.hazon.org. A few extracts are shown below, starting on the night before the ride commenced. 10th Jun 2000 - Seattle
I'm writing this at half past midnight on the Saturday night after Shavuot. Shavuot represents the culmination of a journey that begins at Pesach, and which often goes... nowhere especially. Yet when the Jewish people
received the Torah it was really a beginning and not an ending. My own sense of this is much sharpened by the knowledge that ten hours from now I will lead a group of riders on the first leg of a bike ride of nearly
3600 miles. You may be wondering why? A few years ago I left my job in London to go to learn Torah in Jerusalem. The journey that began then has taken one or two unexpected turns, for it led me from the bet midrash
(the study hall), to learning from and about planet earth itself. I take Judaism seriously and as I started to get a real sense of both how extraordinary our planet really is, and what damage we are doing to it, I felt
that I wanted to put my shoulder to the wheel of Jewish environmentalism. And thus the Bike Ride. There isn't a single goal for the Ride. I hope that we'll inspire people - especially the young, but perhaps also you
yourself, young or old -to think about how we treat the planet and what each of us can do to work towards damaging it less, and repairing the damage we've already done. On the one hand, evidence of destruction is now
clear: decimated fish stocks, appalling waste, materials from the nuclear to the plastic which will despoil the planet in different ways for centuries, ancient forests being chopped down, asthma rising because of
pollution, global warming turning to global scorching - we know the list, even as we grow bored of it, even as we say "yes, but what on earth can I - just one person - really do?" Yet Jewish history is
implacable in its messianic optimism. I think we have to start to apply that attitude, and the very deep resources of our tradition (intellectual, spiritual and practical) towards really shifting the future history of
our planet. "Jewish continuity" is important, but it requires planetary continuity and social and ecological development as its precursor, in the long run. So I invite you to join me, and my fellow riders,
in thinking about this issue. I don't know what the answers are, don't by any means fully understand even the questions, but I intuit nevertheless certain things which I think must be part of the answer. Think about
these issues once a week, doing something practical - planting a tree, emailing an elected official, buying fewer things, reusing those that we have. The notion that the world stands on these things has stood the test
of time, and I think its wisdom is deep. We should heed it ourselves, and share it with non-Jewish friends and colleagues: I think of it as a cultural gift from the Jewish people to all the other traditions of the
world. 5th July, 2000, Crow Agency, Montana The highpoint - literally - was on Monday, when we cycled up Beartooth Pass, hitting the physical apex of our ride, a smidgen short of 11,000 feet, and with spectacular
views onto the Rockies around and below. I spontaneously broke into "esah enai, el heharim..." ("I lift my eyes to the mountains..."), one of the Biblical Psalms which I first learned to sing as a
kid in day school in Manchester - I don't think I ever connected it with actual physical mountains, and I doubt I could have imagined, even a few years ago, that I would sing it in such circumstances.
24th July 2000, Wabasha, MN Six weeks of study and experience on the ride have proved to me beyond any doubt, two propositions which together demand response: First, that we're messing up the planet in ways which
are dangerous to all of us and to all who come after us; that we all know it; and that we are lulled into inaction by a pervasive sense of helplessness in the face of complex issues which seem intractable in general and
impervious to individual action in particular; and secondly, that we have within Jewish tradition and contemporary organisation, impo-tant resources with which to respond. Lessons from a Political Environmentalist by Jon Burden As an Assembly candidate in the
first-ever elections for the Greater London Authority (GLA), I had a unique opportunity to see for myself the "other side" of environmental campaigning. For once, I was being lobbied instead of lobbying! I
learned some valuable lessons about what makes a politician take notice of what you are saying, and I thought it would be a good idea to share these with other Noah supporters who are interested in affecting change
through the political process. While the Assembly does not have extensive powers, it does have an important role in raising and examining issues. Transport dominated the campaign and sustainability principles pervade
the legislation establishing the GLA. For these reasons, two organisations mounted letter-writing campaigns: Friends of the Earth and a coalition of groups supporting sustainable development. I was very impressed when I
received the first letter. The impact of those that followed lessened significantly, as the numbers increased to a couple of dozen. Although all were individually written, the content was very similar. My colleagues in
the party received similar letters and we generated a standard letter in reply that could be tailored to individual constituencies. After this polite exchange, NOTHING. We got on with other election matters and no one
knows about the people who wrote to us. So what was the point? I think the problem was on two levels. First, my party supported the aims of those who wrote to us so we did not change our election campaign. But even
if we did not agree, there were not enough letters to alter our policies. Given the size of constituencies, many thousands of letters would need to have been received. Second, and more importantly, we never heard
anything further from those who wrote to us or their organisations. There was no follow-up, offering either further information or any practical support. I have no way of gauging whether people wrote out of obligation
to their cause, or if my party's position would truly effect their voting intentions. That matters to politicians. Unlike single-issue organisations, politicians must balance the competing and contradicting demands of
enough voters to actually get elected. The letter-writing campaigns provided no feedback to indicate if I had struck the right balance. So, the lessons I believe people should learn from this is to start writing
early, respond to any letters received from a candidate, and then get involved accordingly. Involvement can be hands-on delivering of leaflets, organising a hustings for all candidates or writing a further letter to the
local paper telling of your experience (or a press release if your organisation can do this). Bottom line, if we want to affect change via the political process, we have to be prepared to work for it by actively
supporting those politicians who support the environment. PREVIOUS ISSUE NEXT ISSUE |
