By Janis Siegel, JTNews Correspondent
Many of us drink 2 percent milk and we know that Jews are less than 2 percent of the world’s population, but few of us know that we could easily reduce our household carbon emissions by 2 percent and help change the world for everyone, whether or not they’re Jewish.
By joining or creating a “carbon salon,” a concept created by Kavana, a local Jewish group, or covenanting with social activism and justice group Rodef Tzedek, it’s possible your household could produce 2 percent fewer carbon emissions — right away.
It’s probably something most people would like to ignore, particularly during the holiday season.
But as Seattleites bear the brunt of a second air stagnation alert within the past month, it’s worth mentioning that we can control the output of some of the most potent producers of carbon emissions choking our cities today.
So, what is a carbon salon?
“It’s in its infancy,” Yoram Bernet, the chair of the Social Action Committee for Kavana, told JTNews. “We have six households now in our carbon salon and I hope to have up to 50 households by the end of next year. My goal is multiple millions.”
To take part in a carbon salon, which introduces participants to like-minded people meeting in someone’s home, a household must track three critical numbers on a quarterly basis – the air miles they travel, recorded on a “leg-by-leg” basis, automobile gas usage, and utility energy consumption.
Bernet promises that it is not a lot of work, and he offers an easy-to-download spreadsheet for tracking. The spreadsheet is a baseline carbon emission calculator adjusted for the Northwest environment. It is based on a Sierra Club design.
Bernet’s vision is for a global carbon salon movement.
“We need to reduce 80 percent of our emissions by 2050,” said Bernet.
According to the most recent Northwest numbers, there are over 22,000 Jewish households in Seattle. Rabbi Zari Weiss, founder of the Rodef Tzedek organization, would like all of them to reduce their carbon footprints.
She sees it as a sacred covenant made explicit in the Jewish scriptures.
“There are two passages in Genesis,” Weiss said. “One uses language that says we should dominate and master the earth, and the other uses words that mean to tend, work, or guard the land. The difference is whether we abuse the earth for its resources or if we’re called upon to live in harmony with creatures and the world around us.”
The project, which is in its early planning stages, would give all households that sign on to the plan an art piece, something like a ketubah (marriage certificate). It would then be the responsibility of each person to keep track of his or her household’s carbon emissions.
“The study piece is an important part of it,” said Weiss. “We studied, discussed, and argued to come up with a project that matches the values of Judaism.”
Rodef Tzedek needs startup help from Web designers and artists, as well as congregational outreach helpers, said Weiss.
“Our hope is to get all of the community to sign on and covenant with us to reduce their carbon footprint,” added Weiss. “Imagine what a difference we could make.”
Many Jewish organizations have been working for years on behalf of the environmental cause, spurred on by the directive in the Torah, “And God took the man and put him into the Garden of Eden to work it and protect it” (Gen. 2:15).
In the last few years, the Orthodox Jewish community established Canfei Nesharim, an environmental Web site and resource that connects traditional Jewish law with Jewish sources and current environmental issues.
Translated as On the Wings of Eagles, the Web site offers educational materials, lesson plans, school programs, a library and more. Their focus is to connect Judaic values and teachings to scientific and conservation resources as well as to other current environmental issues.
The Jewish National Fund, well-known for its longtime and ongoing campaign for planting trees in Israel, is working all over the world on water resource projects to convert wastewater to fresh water, using wetlands and fighting “desertification,” a global trend toward drought stemming from what is widely assumed to be the effects of human behavior and climate changes.
According to the first baseline carbon emission reports that Bernet has seen from the six families in Kavana’s first carbon salon, including his own, each has a carbon footprint higher than the national average when it comes to airplane travel, and it’s all because of spent jet fuel exhaust.
“Sixty-three percent of our household carbon footprint comes from air travel,” said Bernet. “If I can cut out one flight this year, it might drop by 10 percent.”
But air travel is not the only culprit.
“We have a hot tub,” he added. “I can cut down my household emissions just by cutting down how much I use it. I commute by bicycle, but anyone could replace certain appliances, take the bus to work or carpool once a week. If you do a lot of driving, that may be your 2 percent.”
Want to start reducing your own carbon footprint? For more information, contact Rodef Tzedek at info@rodeftzedek.org; Kavana’s Carbon Salon at ybernet@msn.com; the Jewish National Fund at www.JNF.org; or Canfei Nesharim at www.canfeinesharim.org.