Living in the COVID World ... and Beyond #33: Climate Action Group Update

I have now been leading a climate action group at my synagogue for almost 2

years.   It started as a small group of teenagers and me and we have

expanded to a larger group of teenagers and a few other adults.

At times, I have felt hopeful about our efforts while much of the time it

seems like we were stalled, unable to make progress, and I felt discouraged

and ready to give up.   Happily, I persisted through those old familiar feels of discouragement and the climate group has made some good progress.

Late in 2022, we initiated having our temple join the Jewish Climate

Leadership Coalition, a group of now several hundred Jewish organizations

across the United States.   Our one commitment as a member was to develop

and implement a climate action plan.

Our climate action plan has three goals:

-       Reduce emissions at our temple with a goal of zero emissions.

-       Advocate and engage in our city and state on climate policies.

-       Educate and motivate the temple and its congregants to move their

money to impact the climate crisis.

*Reducing Emissions*

Like many religious institutions, our temple is financially constrained

with more needs than capacity to address them.    Our initial explorations

at an energy audit and/or major capital improvements to address emissions

were rebuffed by the Temple’s Board.    U.S. legislation, effective in

January 2023, opened up some possibilities and we have found several solar

companies that will include roof repair in their Power Purchase Agreement

(PPA) package.   We are in the process of meeting with these companies now

and evaluating competitive proposals.

*Advocacy*

The teens were initially most interested in advocacy.   We did a protest

action in May 2022 in support of our city declaring a climate emergency,

and one of the teens and I spoke at a City Council meeting on behalf of the

climate emergency resolution that was eventually passed (see Blog #19 for details).   This spring, we did another protest, passing out leaflets in support of state-wide legislation on climate issues and a teen spoke at a state hearing.  Then on May 24, I drove with 3 teenagers to Hartford, our state capital, and we participated in an advocacy and lobbying day on behalf of climate legislation.  It was a great experience for all of us, learning about to try to influence our state government plus it was a bonding experience too.

Our mayor established an advisory climate commission last year and multiple

efforts to connect with them and get involved led to naught.   After being

dormant for most of a year, the climate commission had its first open

hearing in April.   Two members of our climate group attended, and I spoke

there about what our climate group has been doing.  That led to a series of

chats and connections with other folks in our city engaged in similar or

related efforts.   There was a second open hearing two weeks later, two of the teenagers attended with me, and we all spoke up with our thoughts about climate issues here in Stamford.

*Moving Our Money*

Those of you who know me will not be surprised that I was most passionate

on this topic related to money.   Our temple has an annual Mitzvah Day, a

day of doing good deeds.   The Chair of the Mitzvah Day committee is

someone I know well – she was in a yearlong group that I co-led at our

temple a few years ago on ending racism.   She agreed to include in the

Mitzvah Day program a session on moving our money.  After doing a bunch of

research and attending seminars by Dayenu and Third Act, I put together a

presentation about moving our money to green banks, green credit cards, and

socially responsible green investing.   The Mitzvah Day presentation and discussion on moving our money went very well.   People seemed appreciative of the new information about a topic that many of them had not previously thought about.   If anyone would like a pdf of my presentation, please reach back out to me directly.

I never expected to be a climate activist and I certainly did not expect

that my activism would center around my being Jewish and at my synagogue.

The opportunity presented itself and I was ready to jump in with both

feet.   I am learning a lot about climate issues, and I have lots more yet

to learn in order to be a more effective activist.