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Friday June 13, 2008

How green is your temple?

Synagogues see the (low-wattage) light

by dan pine
staff writer

And God said, “Let there be light.” And local synagogue eco-activists then said, “Let there be light from energy-saving CFL bulbs.”

Across the Bay Area, congregations are greening up.

They have formed environmental committees and green chavurahs. They’ve installed rooftop solar panels. They’ve expanded recycling programs and hosted screenings of Al Gore’s Oscar-winning documentary, “An Inconvenient Truth.”

If they could, they would probably push an ice floe to a drowning polar bear.

As global climate change and environmental degradation top the world’s agenda, local Jewish congregations are doing their part to help. Those involved say the effort is well worth it.

“Part of being a Jew these days is to live a greener life,” says Michael Liepman, executive director at Lafayette’s Temple Isaiah, now a certified green business. “We can set the example, and we’ve talked to our congregants about doing the same.”

That meant running through the green checklist. At Temple Isaiah, measures included analyzing water and electricity use, solid waste generation and recycling.

Green solutions included replacing old fluorescent bulbs, installing motion sensors for outdoor lights and upgrading every faucet on the premises with water-efficient aerators.

“We’ve already seen a decrease in our PG&E bills,” says Liepman.

“Environmental issues are really not isolated from all the other aspects that make up who we are as human beings,” says Rabbi George Gittleman of Santa Rosa’s Congregation Shomrei Torah. “The question is not, ‘Should we go green?’ The question is, ‘What does it mean to be human on Earth?’ It’s a fundamental question and Judaism has a lot to say.”

For their part, Shomrei Torah congregants have been literally “going through the garbage,” Gittleman adds, to assess the synagogue’s waste stream. They undertook a local creek cleanup during the High Holy Days last year, and developed environmentally friendly menus and food-prep guidelines for b’nai mitzvah parties on the premises.

“It sounds simple,” says Gittleman, “but it’s all parts of the puzzle.”

At Peninsula Sinai Congregation, the environment committee spearheaded a host of changes. Starting with a top-to-bottom audit of energy use, the Foster City synagogue is on its way to replacing old windows with efficient double-pane glass, installing Solatubes (tubular skylights) and purchasing paper products made only of recycled materials.

Berkeley’s Congregation Beth Israel has launched an extensive composting program, even switching to plasticware made from corn (and it’s kosher for Pesach). Also in Berkeley, Congregation Beth El installed the city’s first geothermal heating and cooling system.

Over at Oakland’s Temple Beth Abraham, old light bulbs have been replaced with higher-yield, low-wattage bulbs. The synagogue’s clunky old boiler heating system has been swapped out for a lean, mean and green unit.

Congregation Beth Israel-Judea in San Francisco joined forces with students from the Permaculture Institute of Northern California to come up with a greening plan. Using fewer toxic products and reducing water and energy use are at the top of the list. Beth Israel-Judea also has a composting system to decrease the waste headed for the landfill.

Going high tech to save energy, Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco installed in its new facility 270-volt metal halide lighting and a radiant floor heating system under the slab of the sanctuary. Its high-tech ventilation system only turns on when it detects people in a room (via CO2 sensors).

At another recently built synagogue, Berkeley’s Netivot Shalom, made sure abundant natural light served to illuminate the sanctuary, social hall and classrooms. Congregants also planted numerous olive and pomegranate trees on what was once a blighted University Avenue site, thus literally greening up the premises.

Peninsula Temple Sholom in Burlingame is completing installation of a new $175,000 solar-powered electrical system, which is projected to trim 15 percent off the synagogue’s PG&E bill.

And at Palo Alto’s Congregation Kol Emeth, the synagogue’s green committee (called Shomrei Kadur HaAretz, or “guardians of the Earth”) pushed through an energy audit and upgraded to a new energy-efficient lighting system.

Of course, no single step will stop the rise of the oceans or reduce the number of hurricanes. But that doesn’t matter to environmentally conscious Jews, who have taken to heart the dictum to repair the world.

“I think it’s really beautiful that our tradition values taking care of the Earth,” says Ilana Gauss, a green programs specialist for the San Francisco Department of Public Health and an environmental adviser to several local Jewish organizations. “For me it’s very important to help spread that understanding to the Jewish community.”

To that end, she serves on the environment committee at her synagogue, Congregation Emanu-El in San Francisco. Among her goals is to educate the congregation on green issues. Gauss has designed classes for adults and kids on everything from making paper out of recycled materials to showing kids a connection between Chanukah’s “miracle” oil and modern-day oil conservation.

Gauss has also signed up her synagogue with the Green Business Program, a partnership of S.F. public agencies that fosters better environmental practices. For institutions such as Emanu-El, that means improving water and energy conservation, and minimizing the waste stream.

Additionally, Jewish institutions have a moral imperative: a biblical injunction against harming the planet.

One Jewish environmental organization drawing attention is Canfei Nesharim (Hebrew for “eagles’ wings”).

The five-year-old group primarily targets Orthodox Jews across the nation, drawing on sacred texts to make its case. “It’s to provide Torah-based resources and engage the Orthodox community to protect the environment,” says Evonne Marsouk, Canfei Nesharim’s New York-based director.

Her organization has sponsored eco-oriented Shabbatons and Tu B’Shevat and Sukkot programs in the Bay Area and elsewhere. It also posts a weekly environment-themed Torah commentary on its Web site.

“We attracted a whole group of lay leaders who thought they were the only ones in the Orthodox community who cared,” Marsouk says.

Locally, Canfei Nesharim has teamed up with the S.F.-based Bureau of Jewish Education to teach local teachers.

Last month, they met with Jewish educators, spending part of the day under trees in Golden Gate Park. The goal: expand Hebrew school and Midrasha curriculum to include more about the stewardship of the planet.

“Perhaps more than any other, the Bay Area Jewish community is ready to access the wisdom of the Jewish tradition regarding the environment,” Jonathan Neril, project manager for Canfei Nesharim, said after the seminar.

One example of children leading the charge came at San Jose’s Temple Sinai.

Twin sisters Dani and Rachel Steinberg, along with several members of their b’nai mitzvah class, decided their newly remodeled synagogue needed to green up by installing a solar-powered electrical system.

All they had to do was persuade the grownups.

The Steinberg twins crunched the numbers, made the posters and showed up at the synagogue’s monthly board meeting three months ago. They made a pitch, showing how much money and energy the congregation could save by going solar.

“The general impression was good,” says the twins’ father, Alan Steinberg of San Jose. “[The board members] were amazed at the fact that the kids came to the board meeting and presented it themselves. It’s a matter of bureaucracy, making sure we have everything: the permits, the funds. I think it’s going to happen, but it might take a while.”

Turning the proverbial oil tanker around toward a greener planet will indeed take a while. It is not certain if enough can be done in time to avoid a global climate catastrophe.

But most local synagogues are committed to making an effort.

“It’s time the Jewish community woke up to our responsibility,” says Gittleman. “We have yet to really bring the full force of our tradition, resources and status to bear on what is perhaps the question of the 21st century.

“We’ve been so obsessed with our own continuity, we failed to see that the continuity of the planet is at stake. The real question is, will there be an environment in which human beings can exist?”

Steps you can take

Living greener isn’t hard. It’s often a matter of making simple lifestyle changes. Collectively, these changes can make a difference, and if everyone made those changes, the positive impact would be enormous.

So, courtesy of the Orthodox environmental organization Canfei Nesharim, here’s your basic green checklist:

• Set your thermostat lower on your hot-water heater and household heating system.

• Install efficient lighting such as compact fluorescent light-bulbs, and use timers on Shabbat rather than leaving the lights on.

• Look for the EnergyStar logo when buying new appliances.

• Use public transportation — or walk or bike — instead of driving.

• If you need a car, buy one that is fuel-efficient.

• Only use washing machines and dishwashers with a full load.

• Use the “cold” setting when washing clothes.

• Buy organic and/or locally grown products when available.

• Eat less red meat and eat responsibly harvested seafood.

• Buy recycled paper with the highest “post-consumer waste” percentage available.

• Stop buying bottled water and use tap water (with filter, if needed).

• Use real dishes and cloth napkins rather than disposable. If you must use disposable, look into more eco-friendly disposables such as those made from PLA.

• Support environmental causes and organizations.

cover design | cathleen macclearie

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