I have been distressed by increasingly dire predictions of climate catastrophe, signs of which we’re already seeing. As a Green Team member trying to practice Tikkun Olam, it seems ever more urgent to do all we can as individuals and as a community to try to leave a livable planet for generations to come.

At TBE, Green Team and administration efforts have cut TBE’s carbon footprint by about 40%, saving about $26,000 per year, through solar panels, HVAC software changes, variable speed fans, and purchasing green energy. There is more we can do – including LED lights, composting, plant-based food options, reduced food waste, and sustainable purchasing.

At home, we have had solar hot water for years, and recently added solar electric. Our cars are hybrids (electric next?), and I intend to increase biking and walking. We recycle and compost, and I’ve been switching to sustainable products (often challenging!). We still need to green our investing and banking. I also intend to do more to support local and state initiatives and legislation.

As a longtime ethical vegan, I have known about benefits of healthy plant-based diets and Torah-based reasons to eat plants, including the injunction against animal suffering, or tza’ar ba’alei chayim. More recently, I learned about the outsized role of animal agriculture in our current climate crisis. Animal agriculture produces more global emissions than all transportation combined (per UN reports), as well as deforestation, dead zones in the ocean, and drinking water pollution. Individuals can cut animal products immediately, and from what I have read, this is critical to climate emergency efforts.

Learn more about TBE’s Green Team.