Nature Knows No Political Parties

By Rabbi Yonassan Gershom

(Re-posted here with permission from Rabbi Gershom's blog at JewishThoreau.com)

There is a saying in the Talmud that "Once the sword is let loose in the land, it does not distinguish between the innocent and the guilty."  Perhaps a corollary to this should be:  Once a storm is let loose in the land, it does not distinguish between Republicans and Democrats.

Radar map of areas
 affected by Hurricane Sandy,
October 29, 2012

I am referring to the hypocrisy of  the 36 Republican Senators who voted against federal aid for the victims of Hurricane Sandy,  yet previously voted for -- even demanded! -- similar aid for disasters in their own states. (See a list of who they are and what they previously voted for).  In Jewish numerology, the number 36 is "double life," but theirs was hardly a humanitarian decision.

To me this vote was the height of hypocrisy.  It makes me wonder why anybody would vote against helping their fellow Americans recover from the worst storm system to hit the East Coast since we have been recording the weather.  Was this in retaliation for New York City Mayor Bloomberg's support of Obama and acknowledgement that global warming is real?

If that sounds like some sort of paranoid conspiracy theory, consider the fact that in 2011 the Republicans on the House Energy Committee voted unanimously to deny the existence of climate change. This was part of a concerted campaign on the part of  the Tea Party to de-legitimize global warming in the minds of the public, starting right after Al Gore won the Nobel Prize for "An Inconvenient Truth." (Watch the PBS documentary "Climate of Doubt")  And they came close to succeeding -- until Hurricane Sandy hit and demonstrated what the scientists have been predicting all along:  Manhattan was going to end up under water.  Suddenly climate change seems very real after all.

This time the water receded, but if the polar ice caps continue to melt, the flooding of the Coast could  become permanent.  2012 marked a new low in the amount of polar ice since the advent of the satellite era (when we could observe the Earth from space.)  And no amount of denial is going to stop the big meltdown if we don't stop pouring CO2 into the atmosphere.

You can't vote science out of existence.  The universe is not a democracy, it simply is what it is.  Nature is no respecter of party politics.  Had we listened to the warnings that scientists have been sounding for decades, we might not be having these devastating (and very expensive!) super-storms now.  I have argued before that climate change -- not Obamacare or Medicare or whatever -- is the biggest threat to our economy.  Those who resist aid to storm victims are often the same people who have been trying to convince us that global warming is a hoax.  But nature does not listen to votes on congressional committees.  Nature just marches on.

It's not too late to begin changing our polluting ways, although turning the situation around is going to take a long time -- if it is even possible at this stage.  Meanwhile, the very least we can do is to help those who are in the path of the storms.

Shame on those 36 Republican Senators!

Climate Change: Sandy as a Teachable Moment

How to Make Hurricane Sandy a Teachable Moment

By Richard H. Schwartz, Ph.D.


In the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, the prime concern now must be to help the many people who are suffering greatly from its effects.

At the same time we should not miss an opportunity when appropriate to respectfully and cordially increase awareness of the many important lessons related to the monstrous storm. 

For example:

1.   Climate change can have disastrous consequences. In addition to the tens of millions of people who are greatly suffering due to Hurricane Sandy, please also consider how food prices are spiking because the US corn crop was devastated as almost 2/3 of the US is suffering from drought, and the many houses lost and acres of forests destroyed due to severe, widespread wildfires in many states. Also, there are great potential dangers at a time when glaciers all over the world and polar icecaps are melting far faster than the worst-case projections of climate scientists.

2.   We may be facing a new normal, with severe heat waves, droughts, wildfires, wild fires, and storms that are more frequent and more severe. Hurricane Sandy is the type of “extreme climate event” that global warming models predict. While some are in denial about the planet warming, we should consider that every decade since the 1970s has been warmer than the previous decade; the ten warmest years since temperature records have been kept have occurred since 1998; July 2012 was the single hottest month for the US since such records were kept in 1995.

3.   It is essential that saving the planetary environment become a central focus for civilization today. Unfortunately, climate change was not even mentioned in the 2012 US presidential and vice presidential debates.

4.   The federal government, through FEMA, can play a very important role in responding to disasters. However, if Mitt Romney had his way, there would be no FEMA and we would have to depend for help on the profit-driven private sector.  Also, the Ryan budget would reduce funding for FEMA as well as many other programs that Americans depend on, mainly to continue and increase tax benefits for the wealthiest Americans and highly profitable corporations.

5.    Republicans are generally in denial about the tremendous dangers from climate change, despite a very strong consensus in over a thousand peer-reviewed articles in scientific journals and dire warnings by scientific academies all over the world that climate change is a major threat, largely caused by human activities, and despite the many wake-up calls we have been receiving in terms of severe, sometimes record-breaking, storms, tornados, floods, heat waves, droughts, and wildfires, Anyone who thinks that climate change is a hoax promoted by liberals should visit the website of ConservAmerica (www.ConservAmerica.org), previously called “Republicans for Environmental Protection. This conservative group only endorsed four percent of Republicans in the 2010 U.S. midterm elections, because so many Republicans are in denial about climate change and other environmental threats. Paul Ryan is a climate denier and has a miserable record on the environment.

6.    Governmental workers, including first responders, should be applauded for their courageous, dedicated efforts to respond to emergencies, not demonized, as many Republican politicians have been doing.

Activist Ideas: 18 Ways to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet

Now that the High Holy Days are over and we have all resolved to lead better lives this year, I thought I would share an excerpt from Who Stole My Religion? with 18 practical things you can do to help heal our imperiled planet:

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In attempting to change the world, sometimes we have to start by first changing ourselves.  Rabbi Israel Salanter, the founder of the mussar (ethics) movement in Lithuania, taught: “First a person should put his house together, then his town, then his world.”

 If you feel that global crises are so overwhelming that your efforts will have little effect, then consider the following. Judaism teaches: “You are not obligated to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it” (Pirkei Avot 2:21). Each of us must make a start and do whatever he or she can to help improve the world.  Judaism also teaches that a person is obligated to protest when there is evil and, if necessary, to proceed from protest to action.  Each person is to imagine that the world is evenly balanced between good and evil, and that each good deed tips the whole world toward the side of good.  Therefore, her or his actions can determine the destiny of the entire world.  Even if little is accomplished right away, the act of trying to make improvements will prevent the hardening of one’s heart and will affirm acceptance of an obligation to try to improve conditions.  Even the act of consciousness-raising itself is important, because it may lead to future action for change.

 In considering how much to become involved, please consider that the world is arguably approaching climate, food, energy, water, and other environmental catastrophes, as well as other threats.  Consider how essential it is that major changes soon be made so that future generations will have a decent world in which to live.

Here are some things that each person can do:

1.  Become well informed. Learn the facts about current environmental and other societal problems and the applicable Jewish teachings from this and other books.

2.  Check rumors you receive by email against the facts before passing them on to others.  Snopes.com is an excellent resource for verifying whether or not a particular Internet rumor is a hoax.  Remember: Spreading lashon hara (evil gossip) is forbidden, and this includes material you receive by email.

3.  Help elect candidates whose positions are most consistent with Jewish progressive values and environmental concerns.  Join their campaigns and, of course, vote for them.

4.  Inform others.  Write timely letters to editors of publications. Set up programs and discussions. Become registered with community, library, or school speakers’ bureaus.  Wear a button. Put bumper stickers where many people will see them. Make and display posters.

5.  Simplify your life-style.  Conserve energy.  Recycle materials.  Buy and wear used clothing.  Bike or walk whenever possible, rather than drive, and learn to combine errands on your trips.  Share rides.  Use mass transit when appropriate.

6.  Become a vegetarian, and preferably a vegan, or at least sharply reduce your consumption of animal products.  As discussed in Chapter 12 of Who Stole My Religion, veganism is the diet most consistent with such Jewish values as showing compassion to animals, taking care of one’s health, preserving the environment, sharing with hungry people, conserving natural resources, and pursuing peace.  Even if you don’t feel you can give up meat right now, try having a meatless day each week, when you try new recipes at home, or eat out in a vegetarian restaurant.

7.  Work with organizations and groups on some of the significant issues.  If your time is limited, then choose one issue that interests you and devote yourself to that.  For contact information for Jewish groups working on such issues, see Appendices D and E. If there are no local groups or if you differ with such groups on some important issues, set up a group in your synagogue, Jewish Center, or Hillel.

8.  Encourage your public and congregational libraries to order, stock, and circulate books on global issues and Jewish teachings related to them. Donate any duplicate copies. Request that libraries regularly acquire such books. Subscribe to relevant magazines, and, if you can afford it, buy some to donate.

9.  Speak or organize events with guest speakers and/or audio-visual presentations on how Jewish values address current critical issues. Consider requesting a complimentary DVD of the documentary film, A Sacred Duty: Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal the World at aSacredDuty.com  Schedule a showing of the film at your synagogue or other organization.  Offer it to your local film festival or other arts event.

10.  Ask rabbis and other religious leaders to give sermons and/or classes discussing Judaism’s teachings on social justice, sustainability, hunger, peace, conservation, and other Jewish values and how they can be applied to current issues.

11.  Contact editors of local newspapers and ask that more space be devoted to current threats and on religious teachings related to them.  Write articles and letters using information from this book and other books and magazines.

12.  Try to influence public policy on the issues.  Organize letter-writing campaigns and group visits to politicians to lobby for a safer, saner, more stable world.  Run for office if you feel inclined to do so.  Members of city counsels, school boards, and other local institutions can have a big impact.  Think globally, act locally.

13.  Consult with rabbis and religious educators and leaders on how to apply to today’s critical issues such Jewish mandates as “seek peace and pursue it,” “bal tashchit” (you shall not waste), “justice, justice shall you pursue,” and “love your neighbor as yourself.” Ask principals of yeshivas and day schools to see that their curricula reflect traditional Jewish concerns with environ-mental, peace, and justice issues.  Volunteer to speak to classes and to help plan curricula. 

14.  As an outgrowth of Jewish teachings on helping feed hungry people and conserving resources, work to end the tremendous amount of waste associated with many Jewish organizational functions and celebrations:

•  Encourage friends and institutions to simplify, reduce wastefulness, and serve less lavish celebratory feasts.  Put this into practice at your own celebrations.
•  Request that meat not be served, since the production of meat wastes grain, land, and other resources and contributes substantially to pollution, deforestation, desertification, loss of biodiversity, and climate change. Refraining from eating meat also expresses identification with the millions of people who lack an adequate diet, as well as the billions of farmed animals slaughtered each year.
•  Reclaim left over edible food from simchas to donate to shelters and food kitchens.  Recommend to people hosting a celebration that they donate a portion of the cost of the event to Mazon (an organization discussed in Appendix D) or another group working to reduce hunger.

15.  Start a community garden, or participate in one already established.  As much as possible, buy your food from local farmers’ markets.  Volunteer at a homeless shelter or food shelf program.  Encourage your children to go with you, so they develop the habit of caring for others less fortunate than themselves.

16.  Help set up a committee to analyze and reduce energy consumption in your synagogue.  Apply steps taken to reduce synagogue energy use as a model for similar action on other buildings and homes in the community.

17.  Set up a social action committee at your synagogue, temple, Jewish Center, day or afternoon school, or campus, to help people get more involved in educational and action-centered activities. Build coalitions with other social justice groups in your community.

18.  Raise the consciousness of your synagogue and other local Jewish organizations and individuals about how Jewish teachings can be applied to respond to current societal problems.  Ask respectful but challenging questions such as those discussed in Chapter 15 of Who Stole My Religion.

(Excerpted and adapted from Who Stole My Religion?:  Revitalizing Judaism and Applying Jewish Values to Help Heal Our Imperiled Planet by Richard H. Schwartz with Yonassan Gershom.)

Richard Schwartz: Why is there so much skepticism about climate change?

In the days since Mitt Romney announced Paul Ryan as his running mate, there has been a great deal of discussion of Medicare and their economic policies on the news, but so far, very little has been said about the fact that Ryan is a climate-change denier.  Romney has also said he is "not sure" what causes climate change if it exists  -- and that in the face of so much mounting scientific evidence.  So I thought I would share this excerpt from my new book, Who Stole My Religion?:


Why is there so much skepticism about climate change?

          With all of this powerful scientific evidence confirming anthropogenic (human-caused) climate change, why there is so much public skepticism?  In 2009, only 57 percent of Americans accepted that climate change was a problem and only 36 percent thought human activities were a factor.  Is this merely denial, or are there more sinister reasons?

         According to James Hoggan, author of Climate Cover-Up: The Crusade To Deny Global Warming, the oil, coal, and other industries that are profiting from the status quo are willing to go to great lengths to mislead people so that they can continue to receive huge profits.  Hoggan, who was initially a skeptic about climate change himself, writes that it is a “story of betrayal, a story of selfishness, greed, and irresponsibility on an epic scale…  a story of deceit, of poisoning public judgment…”

         Another clue comes from the results of a study called, “Balance as Bias,” which considered a random sample of 636 articles about climate change in the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, and The Wall Street Journal.  More than 50 percent of the articles gave roughly equal weight to both the scientific view and the scientifically discredited view (that humans do not play a major role in climate change). This would be similar to having a debate on the shape of our planet, and giving equal time to the Flat Earth Society.

         In addition, some conservative politicians and commentators downplay the significance of climate change.  U. S. Senator James Inhofe, for example, calls it the “greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people.”  No wonder many folks are so confused. On one side you have vociferously opinionated media pundits, bloggers, and politicians like Senator Inhofe (who received close to a million dollars from the oil and coal industries between 2000 and 2008). On the other side are the real experts, typically more cautious in their assertions.  

         Meanwhile, the media, leaning over backward to be perceived as balanced and reasonable, often gives equal time to both “sides” of the issue — even though the vast majority of climate scientists, virtually all peer-reviewed articles in respected scientific journals, and statements from scientific academies worldwide agree that the scientific probability is extremely high that climate change poses an existential threat to life as we know it — and that we are the cause and the potential solution. 

 

Waiting for 100% agreement means doing nothing

         Many people do not understand that scientists rarely, if ever, all agree 100% on anything.  As pointed out with the “Flat Earth Society” example above, there will always be a few fringe dissenters, even on commonly accepted facts.  Nor do people always understand that in science, a “theory” is not merely somebody’s made-up opinion.  Rather, it is a hypothesis that is supported by documentable evidence. The confusion over what scientific “probability” and “uncertainty” actually mean was addressed in a letter signed by 255 leading scientists that appeared in the May 2010 issue of the respected journal Science:

We are deeply disturbed by the recent escalation of political assaults on scientists in general and on climate scientists in particular.  All citizens should understand some basic scientific facts.  There is always some uncertainty associated with scientific conclusions; science never absolutely proves anything.  When someone says that society should wait until scientists are absolutely certain before taking any action, it is the same as saying society should never take action. [Emphasis in original] For a problem as potentially catastrophic as climate change, taking no action poses a dangerous risk for our planet.

Climate expert Lord Nicholas Stern of Brentford, former chief economist at the World Bank and former advisor to the British Prime Minister on economic matters, concluded in a major study of the potential economic effects of climate change that spending one percent of gross national product now to reduce climate change could prevent the necessity of spending five to 20 percent of gross national product later on to address the many harmful effects of climate change.

If we follow the strenuous recommendations of climate scientists, we have the potential for a far better, environmentally sustainable world. However, if we follow the advice of the skeptics and do not try to address climate change soon, we will likely end up with a climatic cataclysm.

Is climate change merely “liberal politics?”

         Another reason there is so much skepticism about climate change, despite the strong scientific consensus surrounding it, is the bias of Fox News.  An internal e-mail written in December 2009 and published by liberal-media-watchdog group Media Matters for America, on December 16, 2010, revealed that Bill Sammon, Fox News’s Washington bureau chief, told Fox journalists to “refrain from asserting that the planet has warmed (or cooled) in any given period without IMMEDIATELY pointing out that such theories are based upon data that critics have called into question.  It is not our place as journalists to assert such notions as facts, especially as this debate intensifies.”

         While it is true that there have been a few examples of scientific error and misbehavior among climate scientists, these have been unfairly seized upon and exaggerated by climate change deniers. Follow-up investigations have demonstrated that the mistakes were honest ones, and there were no efforts by the scientific community to mislead the public.

         The so-called “Climategate” scandal has been shown to be a bogus accusation.  Numerous investigations of the scientists in question concluded they were guilty of nothing more than failing to fully share their data with their critics and of making rude e-mail comments about them.  Investigations were carried out by the U.S. Department of Commerce's Inspector General, by the British House of Commons' Science and Technology Committee, and by an independent inquiry panel convened by the British University of East Anglia, among others.  An Associated Press review of the e-mails in question found no evidence that the scientists in question faked anything.

         Many people dismiss climate change as just “liberal politics.”  They give more weight to the views of Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, and other reactionary commentators than to the scientific consensus.   These climate deniers should be made aware of the previously mentioned, little-known group, “Republicans for Environmental Protection (REP).”  There is an abundance of material about climate change and other environmental threats at their website (http://www.REP.org), including responses to many of the questions that climate deniers (and sincere skeptics) raise.

While REP is very committed to the election of Republicans, they were only able to endorse 19 out of over 500 Republican candidates (less than 4 percent!) for Congress and governorships during the 2010 midterm U.S. Elections, because so few of these candidates have positive records on the environment.* 

         Both REP and a sister group called ConservAmerica (http://www.ConserveAmerica.org)** share the slogan “Conservation IS Conservative.”  These groups deserve much greater recognition and their voices heard.  Climate change is not a partisan, political issue, but arguably the greatest moral, environmental, economic, and social justice issue of our time.

Richard. H. Schwartz

(excerpted from Who Stole My Religion? Revitalizing Judaism and applying Jewish values to Help Heal our Imperiled Planet,  pp. 180-183)

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* It is indeed ironic that ConserveAmerica won't be able to  endorse their own GOP's presidential ticket, the Romney-Ryan record on the environment is so abysmal. See http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2012/08/11/677051/meet-paul-ryan-climate-denier-conspiracy-theorist-koch-acolyte/

** since publication of Who Stole My Religion, REP.org and ConserveAmerica have merged as ConserveAmerica.  Either web address takes you to the same website. 

See also Rabbi Gershom's article Vote Romney-Ryan and kill the planet for an excellent analysis of  Ryan as a conspiracy theorist and Romney as an energy Luddite.

And if you happen to be a Republican and still believe climate change is a hoax, please read this excellent article by Republican meteorologist Paul Douglas (founder of the WeatherNation Channel, among other things):
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-douglas/republican-climate-change_b_1374900.html

"Who Stole My Religion?" is now in print -- order your copy today!

Who Stole My Religion?
Applying Jewish values to help heal our imperiled planet



Richard Schwartz, author of
"Who Stole My Religion?"



In the five decades since Richard Schwartz first became a religious Jew, he has watched the mainstream Jewish community shift more and more to the Right, often abandoning the very values that originally attracted him to Orthodox Judaism. In this soul-searching book, Schwartz examines the ways in which he believes his religion has been “stolen” by partisan politics, and offers practical suggestions for how to get Judaism back on track as a faith based on peace and compassion. Tackling such diverse issues as U.S. politics, Israeli peace issues, the misuse of the Holocaust, antisemitism, U.S. foreign policy, Islamophobia, socialism, vegetarianism, and the environmentalism, Schwartz goes where many Jews fear to go — and challenges us to re-think current issues in the light of positive Jewish values. (With photos, notes, action ideas, resource lists, and annotated bibliography. Also includes appendix materials with Rabbi Yonassan Gershom.)

About the cover design:

The background photo (#ISS028-E-020072 from the NASA files) was taken aboard the International Space Station on July 31, 2011, when the sun was just below the horizon. When observed from space, the palette of gaseous layers of our atmosphere reminds us of the fragility and tenuousness of the thin cocoon that shelters life on Earth from the cold harsh vacuum of outer space. Without this precious envelope of air, life on Earth could not exist.

A thin crescent of the new moon appears to hang above the Earth, although in reality it is more than 238,855 miles away. On the Jewish calendar, the important holiday of Rosh Hashanah, which begins the High Holy Days season of repentance, always begins on a New Moon. Perhaps the message of this photo is to encourage us to think about how we are treating our planet’s fragile atmosphere, and to change our polluting ways before it is too late.

Where to order:   

Who Stole My Religion?  is available in both print and ebook versions on Lulu.com.  Order the print copy with this button:

A FREE download of the PDF ebook version is available to readers of this blog (see link on the sidebar).  However, if you can afford it, you are encouraged to buy a download on Lulu.com for $5, to help offset Richard Schwartz's production costs in self-publishing this book.  In addition to getting your book super-fast, the PDF version has the advantage of seeing the photos in color:

Will there be ebook versions for Kindle, iPad and Nook?

Not unless those programs are vastly improved for handling academic works.  Epub, the program used on iPad and Nook, completely reflows the text -- which means it does not respect page numbers, indented paragraphs for long quotes, footnotes, and other academic formats.  Every time the reader changes the font size, the pages are all renumbered.   Kindle does the same thing, plus the feedback on it's handling of footnotes is horrendous!  The fact is, these new e-reader formats are mostly suitable for novels and non-fiction works with plain prose text, but just can't handle the more complex layout of  an academic work.  Until such time as the program developers solve these problems, the format best suited to Who Stole My Religion? is PDF, which preserves the original layout and can be read on your desktop or laptop computer.