Clean Energy Tours in Canton, CT

There are still a few tickets left for the PACE solar/clean energy tour. Here is the info:

SOLAR TOUR/SEMINAR...This Saturday in Canton!
There are a FEW tickets left for this interesting experience...a chance to talk to experts, to ask your questions, to explore solar and green options of all kinds and to share an interesting discussion and visit. Come and celebrate spring and the hope and sanity that solar energy exemplifies!
Our 50th SOLAR HOUSE TOUR & SEMINAR!
sponsored byPACE (People's Action for Clean Energy)
and The Connecticut Clean Energy Fund
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Noon or 3:00 PM (Rain or shine)
Canton, Connecticut
Featuring:· new 5.5 Kw solar electric system· domestic solar hot water system· passive solar construction· sunspace· timber frame construction with stress skin panels· insulated slab floor· energy efficient windows· recirculating air ventilation system tied into wood stove & sunspace· seminar including experts on green building, solar electricity, solar hot water and new engineering technologies· Connecticut Clean Energy Fund Rebate information· Prius hybrid car· clean energy literatureTickets & Directions - $20.00 per person
(Only $15.00 per person for 2008 PACE members.)
To order tickets, send twenty dollars per person to:PACE c/o Linda Pearson, 85 Westledge Road, West Simsbury, CT 06092(Please indicate your preferred tour/seminar time: 12 Noon or 3:00 PM)
For ticket information, call (860) 651-7449.For tour information, call (860) 693-4813.PACE is a non-profit 501(c)(3) public health organization.
Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 26 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.Check out the National IPL Blog.Find discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/

Greening Faith in Connecticut

The Stamford Advocate has an article about Connecticut IPL.
'Green Faith' aiding the Earth
By Lisa ChamoffStaff Writer

The first book of the Bible tells of God creating the Earth in six days.
While there is no mention of climate change, energy efficiency or solar panels in Genesis, that has not stopped some religious leaders from embracing the ideals of environmentalism that were once reserved for the crunchy granola set.
Earlier this year, the Vatican included pollution in a list of seven new sins.
"Environmental problems are getting obvious and worse," said Rabbi Andrea Cohen-Kiener, director of the Interreligious Eco-Justice Network, a Hartford-based environmental advocacy group. "People feel that when they look outside."
One of the Eco-Justice Network's projects is Connecticut Interfaith Power and Light, which is part of a national campaign that promotes renewable energy, with more than 25 states participating.
Over the last two years, Connecticut Interfaith Power and Light has helped organize the program This Old House of Worship, which assesses the energy efficiency of churches, synagogues and other religious buildings. A new workshop will focus on homes.
"I think people are coalescing around it," Cohen-Kiener said. "We're building community with it."
Religious environmentalism is not new. The Interfaith Power and Light effort began 10 years ago. The New Jersey-based organization Green Faith has been around for more than 15 years.
But religion only recently began playing a major role, said John Grim, who teaches religion and ecology at Yale University with his wife, Mary Evelyn Tucker. They also co-founded the Forum on Religion and Ecology.
This partially stems from the efforts of religious leaders, such as Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I, the spiritual leader of the world's Orthodox Christians, Grim said.
Religious groups and scientists also have started to express common opinions on environmental issues.
"There's a feeling of a shared ground now," Grim said. "They've put aside those differences and tried to realize that this common ground we share is this habitat we live in."
A conference at Yale University last month, "Renewing Hope: Pathways of Religious Environmentalism," drew dozens of people.
Yale Divinity School recently began offering a joint degree program with the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, and there are many faculty members who work at both schools.
Willis Jenkins, who teaches social ethics at Yale, is one of three faculty members with a joint appointment. He teaches a class on the interaction between Christian theology and environmental problems.
While there are currently just four joint degree students at Yale, there are Divinity School graduates who work with faith-based environmental organizations, including Green Faith and Earth Ministry in Seattle.
Religious groups have found that the values they hold translate well to environmentalism, Jenkins said.
"Religious communities are much quicker to make the connections to human suffering," Jenkins said.
Locally, religious groups are latching on to the environmental movement. Various area churches have hosted screenings of former Vice President Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth."
Others are finding small ways to help save the planet.
Yesterday morning, members of the Northeast Community Church, a new non-denominational church based on Knight Street in Norwalk, teamed with environmental group Save the Sound to clean Calf Pasture Beach in honor of Earth Day.
Pastor Thomas Mahoney said this is the church's first specifically environmental project, but that members intend to organize other initiatives.
"We do believe strongly that we have a responsibility to care for creation," Mahoney said. "We believe that's pretty well outlined in the first book of the Bible, in Genesis. We're working through what that means for us as a community and how we implement that. We definitely feel that it's not just an environmental issue, but it's a spiritual issue."
Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 26 states and Greater Washington, D.C.
Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.Check out the National IPL Blog.
Find discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/

Al Gore's New Slideshow

See it at the Huffington Post.
Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 26 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.Check out the National IPL Blog.
Find discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/

A Green Political Convention?

Nancy Pelosi(D, CA), Speaker of the US House of Representatives, is promising that this year's Democratic National Convention will be the most sustainable ever, according to this entry in the Washington Post campaign diary The Trail:

An Eco-friendly Convention Contest
By Juliet Eilperin

Despite the fact that their delegates will be traveling thousands of miles to attend their national convention in August, Democrats remain optimistic they will have "the most environmentally-sustainable Democratic Convention in history," they announced yesterday.
In order to ensure that happens, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and convention organizers have launched the "Green Delegate Challenge," which offers incentives to the delegation that does the most to offset its carbon footprint.
There's one significant payoff for those who compensate for the fossil fuels they burn along the way to the Denver nominating event: Delegations with the highest percentage of members offsetting their carbon impact get better seating sections on the floor of the Pepsi Center. Each delegate, alternate and superdelegate from winning states will also receive a limited-edition eco-friendly prize -- to be determined -- and convention organizers will update the public on the course of the contest on DemConvention.com.
Even if a state delegation doesn't win the prize, each delegate who offsets his or her travel gets a unique wearable "green item" to wear during convention week, so all their fellow delegates can know how virtuous they are.
"Colorado is going green in ways both large and small, and I'm proud to be a part of the effort to provide Colorado citizens and convention delegates alike the opportunity to offset our carbon footprint," said the state's Democratic governor, Bill Ritter. "Between the delegate challenge and its comprehensive greening initiatives, the Democratic National Convention can make an important contribution to our New Energy Economy."
One hint to the delegates: There's an easy way to win the contest without breaking a sweat -- stay at home, and vote for the presidential nominee by proxy. After all, that's the most eco-friendly move of all.

Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 26 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.Check out the National IPL Blog.

Find discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/

Maine Action!

Attention Mainers--Action is needed on the following proposal:

Help Protect Maine's Environmental and Energy Future...
Make Maine Homes More Energy Efficient!

We need your help to ensure that Mainers get money-saving, energy efficient buildings! LD 2257, An Act to Establish a Uniform Building and Energy Code in Maine, would comprehensively reform our state's building codes, including an energy code. It's good for the economy! It's good for the environment! It's good for families struggling to pay energy bills!

Please call or email your legislator TODAY and ask them
to support the majority report on LD 2257!

LD 2257 would establish uniform, predictable building and energy codes that tackle rising energy costs, help developers and builders, and make it easier to rehabilitate existing buildings. The energy efficient building code would save money for new homeowners from day one. In fact, a home not built to the energy code costs more to heat in one winter than it would cost to meet the code!

Maine's current optional system does not work: 85% of new homes built in Maine fail to meet the minimum energy standard, so Maine families are burdened with unnecessarily high heating bills.
LD 2257 provides options and flexibility for towns to implement the code, and towns under 2,000 are exempt from enforcement. If we don't pass an enforceable statewide energy code, Maine will continue to see skyrocketing energy costs and global warming pollution.

Contact your legislators to urge their support for the Majority Report on LD 2257. To find out who your legislators are, please visit here. If you know who your legislators are then please call them at these numbers:
To leave a message for your senator, please call (207) 287-1515 or (800) 423-6900.
To leave a message for your representative, please call (207) 287-1400 or (800) 423-2900.

Your message is simple: support the majority report on LD 2257.

To find out more about LD 2257 visit NRCM's website or contact Sara Lovitz at: slovitz@nrcm.org or 1-800-287-2345 ext 205.

TOWN AND CITY OFFICIAL SUPPORT IS CRITICAL!!!

We also need the support of town and city officials to help pass this bill! If you are a municipal official please sign-on to a letter to House and Senate leadership. Join with others who have already expressed their strong support for a uniform building and energy code that is long overdue! Sign on to this letter here. If you are not a municipal official please encourage any official that you do know to sign this letter.

Thank you for taking this important action today!

Harry Brown
Executive Director
Maine Interfaith Power & Light
www.meipl.org

P.O. Box 4834Portland, ME 04112(207) 721-0444 Contact Us
Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 26 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.
Check out the National IPL Blog.Find discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/

Courant Goes Green

The Hartford Courant has inaugurated a new "Green Living Section. Check it out here.
Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 26 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.Check out the National IPL Blog.
Find discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/

Governor's Conference on Climate at Yale

According to the Yale Daily News, Connecticut will soon be the site of a historic meeting of governors who care about climate change. Read the story below:

'Governator’ to talk climate at conference
Schwarzenegger will discuss global warming at forestry-school symposium next month
California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is scheduled to visit Yale next month to deliver an address on climate change, University officials confirmed last week.
Schwarzenegger will speak at a conference of state governors at the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies on April 17 and 18. The event will not be publicly announced until this week at the earliest, but officials disclosed some details about the conference in advance in response to an inquiry by the News.
The meeting will come exactly one century after President Theodore Roosevelt beckoned the nation’s governors to the White House in 1908 for an environmental conference organized by U.S. Forest Service chief and FES co-founder Gifford Pinchot 1889.
At that summit, the conservation movement was born.
“In our case, 100 years later, we are convening the governors of the United States to discuss what we consider the most challenging issue of our time, which is climate change,” said Melissa Goodall, the associate director of the Yale Center for Environmental Law and Policy, which is organizing the event.
All 50 state governors, as well as their counterparts in the U.S. territories and Canada, have been invited to the conference, although administrators expect only a fraction of them to attend. State environmental-protection commissioners from around the country and at least two former administrators of the federal Environmental Protection Agency, among them former New Jersey Gov. Christine Todd Whitman, are also expected to make the journey to New Haven.
R.K. Pachauri, a one-time FES visiting professor who received the Nobel Peace Prize last year on behalf of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, for which he serves as chairman, is also slated to attend, as is Theodore Roosevelt IV, a great-grandson of the president and an environmental activist himself.
Aside from the A-list crowd, the conference will be centered on the unveiling of a policy statement — agreed upon by governors and state environmental-protection officials from across the country — that “effectively calls for a partnership approach between the federal and state government on addressing climate change,” Goodall said.
Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Gina McCarthy will coordinate the statement. She was not immediately available for comment last week.
Schwarzenegger’s speech, as well as a roundtable discussion among the governors on the topic of climate change, is expected to be open to the public, although the time of the speech has not yet been disclosed. Reached by telephone last week, a spokeswoman for Schwarzenegger would not confirm the governor’s planned visit but said more details would be available as the date of the conference neared.
Schwarzenegger, a Republican, made headlines in 2006 when he signed into law the first enforceable, statewide cap on greenhouse-gas emissions. The program is among the cornerstones of his tenure as governor and drew worldwide praise at the time of its unveiling.
It also addresses an issue that has been a major focus for University President Richard Levin and FES in recent years. During a speech at the University of Copenhagen in January, he called on the world’s economic powers to take action on global warming.
“All of us would like to see the federal government step up — but short of that, the kinds of things that Gov. Schwarzenegger has been pursuing have been very positive,” Levin said Saturday. “He certainly has been a major leader in this field.”
Yale, meanwhile, is making its own effort to fend off global warming: The University is already several years ahead of schedule in its initiative to realize, by 2020, a 10-percent cut in its greenhouse-gas emissions from 1990 levels.

Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 26 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.Check out the National IPL Blog.Find discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/

Presidential Candidates, Climate Change and Faith

This item comes from the national IPL Blog:

The League of Conservation Voters has pointed out a serious problem of priorities in the presidential debates thus far, to wit: out of 3201 questions asked of the candidates, only 8 have dealt with global warming.Interfaith Power and Light is doing something about that.In conjunction with Faith in Public Life and religious leaders from across the ideological spectrum, on April 13, the Rev. Canon Sally Bingham will be asking Sen. Hillary Clinton and/or Sen. Barack Obama a question on global warming! And she won't be the only one. In fact, the Compassion Forum is focused on just five important issues to folks of faith: domestic and international poverty, global AIDS, climate change, genocide in Darfur, and human rights and torture. Thus, climate change should get some due attention, and it is significant that this badly needed priority is happening in the faith context. Sen. John McCain has been invited, but not accepted yet."CNN will serve as the exclusive broadcaster of a presidential candidate forum on faith, values and other current issues at Messiah College near Harrisburg, Penn., on Sunday, April 13, at 8 p.m. (ET) CNN Election Center anchor Campbell Brown and Newsweek editor and Newsweek.com election anchor Jon Meacham will moderate what is being billed as The Compassion Forum, which will take place nine days before the Pennsylvania primary."Newsweek has an interesting article up arguing that no matter which candidate wins in November, environmental policy will be different:
The environment, which typically ranks somewhere around "regulatory reform" among voters' concerns, has emerged as a leading issue in this election cycle; last year more than three voters in 10 said they would take a candidate's green credentials into account, according to pollster John Zogby, up from just 11 percent in 2005. "It was clear starting all the way back in Iowa and New Hampshire that this campaign would be much more about the environment," says Dave Willett, a spokesman for the Sierra Club. "The questions weren't 'Do you think global warming is happening?' but 'How are you going to deal with it, what's your approach?'"

Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 26 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.Check out the National IPL Blog.

Find discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/

Jewish Earth Day-Passover Resources

This is an email from the Shalom Center: A prophetic voice in Jewish, multireligious, and American life.
Earth Day, Passover, and the Climate Crisis
By Rabbi Jeff Sultar, director of The Shalom Center's Green
Menorah Covenant campaignTonight, April 5 (and into the day of April 6), we may see the glimmer of the new moon, birthing the month when -- in two weeks, at the full moon -- we not only remember and reenact the ancient liberation from the top-down, unaccountable power of Pharaoh, but take responsibility to free ourselves as well. All of us, all earth and all humanity.As the Passover Haggadah says, "In every generation, every human being must go forth to freedom."This year, Passover begins the night of April 19 and includes Earth Day on April 22. And today, the greatest danger of destructive plagues comes from the global climate crisis and the top-down, unaccountable power-structures that are pushing us ever closer to the edge of climate disaster.So this year, it makes sense to focus on the elements of Passover that call us to free and heal the earth and our society from that danger.The notes below can be used in your Passover Seder, in congregational newsletter columns, and as teaching points for sermons.For many other materials on applying religious tradition and thought to the climate crisis, see our Website in the Green Menorah section athttp://www.shalomctr.org/taxonomy_menu/1/1Please let us know how you are using these materials by writing GreenMenorah@shalomctr.orgSearching for Chameitz - What is Chameitz in Our Lives Today?Before Passover begins, we traditionally rid our houses of chameitz in any form. Chameitz, literally, is anything made out of wheat, spelt, barley, rye and oats, that has been mixed with water and allowed to ferment for more than eighteen minutes. It is food that has swelled up. Chasidic teachers, though, saw chameitz metaphorically, as the swelling up of excess in our own lives.What is metaphorical chameitz in our own day? What is the excess in our lives that we need to rid ourselves of, or that we can at least tone down, to keep it in proper proportion and perspective?Chameitz, first of all, can be carbon dioxide. It is the one single element most responsible for the global climate crisis. It is the element that we must immediately reduce our spewing of into the atmosphere.Chameitz can be seen as overconsumption. Is one lesson of Passover this year that we should simplify our lives?More specifically, is coal-fired electricity a kind of eco-chameitz? Is our addiction to the over-use of oil, coal and gasoline a eco-chameitz?Seen this way, what then do we need to do in order to sweep eco-chameitz from our lives?Some answers: Switching our households and institutions to wind power and other renewable sources of energy; supporting legislation that supports this switch, as well; getting an energy audit; changing all lightbulbs to CFLs.Driving less; purchasing fuel-efficient and hybrid cars; supporting public transportation; shopping on-line.Making green renovations and new buildings. Supporting legislation mandating such measures.Making these changes is, of course, not easy. Chameitz looks better and it tastes better. Being more puffed-up in size, it tends to attract people and get more attention. And it's not even completely bad, as it's permissible to enjoy chameitz 51 other weeks of the year. What's not alright is to be a slave to it. More about that later.Shabbat HaGadol - The Great SabbathThe Shabbat just prior to Passover is called Shabbat HaGadol. This year it falls directly before Passover begins, since the first seder is on Saturday night of April 19, 2008, immediately after Shabbat HaGadol ends. So while we encourage leaders to keep their sermons mercifully short on Shabbat HaGadol, we do endorse using the tradition of "addressing some topical comments" to focus this year on the global climate crisis.Shabbat HaGadol gets its name from the haftarah, the prophetic portion that is traditionally read on this day. The context of the haftarah is dramatic: its 25 lines represent the final words of the final prophet, Malachi.He writes, speaking on behalf of YHWH:Behold! I will send you Elijah the Prophet before the coming of that great and awesome day of YHWH, so that he will turn the hearts of the parents to the children and the hearts of the children to the parents, lest I come and strike the Earth with utter destruction. (Malachi 3:23-24)This call from 2500 years ago that the generations must work together to heal the earth from the danger of utter destruction comes alive with new force in our generation. When we invoke Elijah the Prophet on Shabbat HaGadol and during our Passover seders, we must make sure that we are giving voice to our own commitment to take actions in our own day to move this world closer to redemption.This leads to yet another meaning of "HaGadol," as pointed out in the commentary to this haftarah in the Etz Hayim chumash: "Shabbat ha-Gadol calls attention to an ultimate or "great" accountability that all creatures bear for the resources of the earth...(p. 1296)."Passover SederEarly in the Seder, we dip green vegetables -- parsley, mint -- into salt water -- the oceans where all life was nourished. We can pause to celebrate the Source of Life that is now endangered, and to pledge our help to heal the green and the blue that enrich our planet, lest the salt water become tears as the green plants wither.Four Questions for Today:Can sing the first line, and then continue as a wordless melody: Mah nishtanah halailah hazeh mikol haleilot?[Literally: Why is this night different from all other nights?]Why is this blight different from all other blights?For other blights we can be concerned only for ourselves, why for this blight must we be concerned for others?Because the climate crisis affects everyone on Planet Earth, since the atmosphere does not respect the political boundaries that nations erect between themselves.For other blights, we might not really know what's happening, why for this blight are we so sure?Because there is a scientific consensus that human action is leading to global climate temperatures increasing - can we muster up the will to do something about it?For other blights, the problem might seem too hard or too distant for us to do anything about it; why for this blight is it possible for us to make a difference?Because each one of us contributes daily to the crisis - each one of us uses energy, each one of us causes carbon dioxide to be released into the air. And therefore each one of us can daily make a positive change to address the crisis.For other blights, it can seem impossible to get the attention of politicians. How can we do so for this blight?Because already, key members of Congress are taking bold leadership to address the global climate crisis. And we need to actively support their efforts. Though the federal government is not moving quickly enough, there's an inspiring move by local and state leaders to put necessary changes into place even while the national government plods along. We must call for and support these initiatives as well.Avadim Haiyinu - Once We Were Slaves: Passover as a Call for Environmental Justice:Later in our seder we read, "In every generation, we are obliged to regard ourselves as though we ourselves had actually gone out from Egypt." We are to remember the experience of being slaves, of being disenfranchised, of being the ones with the least power, with the least resources, with the least people looking out for our welfare and our well-being. We are to remember the experience of being valued only for what we can do, what we can do for others, rather than for our inherent value as human beings.Environmental degradation in the United States most severely harms those people who are already the ones with the least power. All one needs to do is think of the aftermath to Hurricane Katrina. Or look at asthma rates in lower-income neighborhoods, or exposure rates to toxic waste. Similarly, the global climate crisis most severely harms people in those countries that also have the least.While we in the United States will be forced to make gradual changes to adapt to a changing climate, people in other countries will face refugee crises and fierce wars over shifting agricultural and water distribution patterns.And so, on this Passover, we remember avadim haiyinu, that we were slaves.Avadim haiyinu, haiyinu, atah beney chorin, beney chorinAvadim haiyinu atah atah beney chorin. Translation: "Once we were slaves but now we are free"We remember that we were slaves, doing so in order to remember that our obligation is to help set everyone free. And we don't just sing the words. We commit ourselves to making sure that the moral voice continues to be spoken, ensuring that concern for environmental justice continues to be a part of any public policy. For example, the Lieberman-Warner "America's Climate Security Act" already includes legislation about environmental justice. As this bill is debated and eventually passed, we commit ourselves to making sure that these sections not only survive deliberations, but also that they are strengthened.Environmental Plagues Then and Now:In the Exodus story, nearly all but the final two plagues were environmental in nature. We can see this clearly from the teaching of Rabbi Yehuda Halevi, a 12th century Spanish physician and poet, who explained that the first eight plagues could be divided in a way that made their environmental basis clear: two came from water (blood, frogs from Nile); two came from the earth (lice and wild animals); two were infections carried by the air (plague and boils); and two were things carried by the air that did physical damage (hailstorms and locusts).In our own day, we face a daunting array of environmental plagues as well.[Everyone fills up the next glass with wine or grape juice. Leader lifts up kiddush cup and invites everyone else to do likewise. As each environmental plague is said out loud, a drop of wine/grape juice is poured out, or drops are removed by dipping finger into cup]Leader asks: What are the environmental plagues that are befalling us in our own day?Answers might include: undrinkable water in riversfrogs dyingGreat Lakes dryingglaciers meltingpolar bears drowningseacoasts risingdroughts increasingextreme weather conditions increasingtemperatures risingunhealthy air qualitychanging bird migrationmelting of permafrostspread of infectious diseasesfamineanimal and plant extinctionRabban Gamliel and the Three Elements of Any Passover Seder:Rabban Gamliel used to say: Whoever does not explain the following three things at the Passover festival has not fulfilled their duty, namely: the Passover sacrifice, Matzah and Maror.1. Passover Sacrifice:Point to the shank bone, beet, or Paschal yam, pass it around:This shank bone/Paschal yam that we put on our seder plate represents idolatry. The ancient Egyptians worshiped the lamb. And so to sacrifice a lamb right under the Egyptians' noses was an act of defiance, one of the first ways that the ancient Israelites began to throw off the shackles of slavery. The shank bone/Paschal yam in our own day represents saying and doing what is right, in defiance of what the Pharaoh's in our own day tell us to say and do.Who are the Pharaohs in our own day? Who tells us what to do, not because it's right but because they tell us to? (Invite responses from people gathered there).How about those in our own government who for so long denied that there even was a global climate crisis, even while they provided subsidies to the oil industry in Texas and Saudi Arabia? Or the US delegation at the United Nations Climate Talks in Bali, which this past December obstructed progress toward world action to address the global climate crisis?Or the top officials of the Environmental Protection Agency, which this past December denied California and 18 other states the ability to set greenhouse gas emission standards stricter than federal levels?How about Senators and Representatives who serve those who pay the most money, at the expense of those who pay the most dearly for short-sighted and self-serving policies?How about the leaders of the oil and automobile industries, who enrich themselves at the expense of planet Earth? Who devise ever-more ingenious ways to entice us to waste more resources, to deplete more energy reserves, and to burn more carbon into the air, while their own pockets deepen and the global climage worsens?The hearts of pharaohs too often, as in the Exodus story, become hardened. So that an overwhelming scientific consensus about rising climate temperatures can be ignored. So that a unanimous recommendation by EPA legal and policy advisers can be ignored, as in the case of the denial of California's request to enact stricter carbon emission standards.But we can't just look outside of ourselves, blaming others. Who buys gas guzzling cars? Who allows politicians to get away with serving the interests of Big Business in the present at the expense of our shared future? Who allows Congress to subsidize the coal industry while allowing alternative sources of renewable energy to be underfunded?Earlier in this Maggid section of our seder, we read another reason, other than slavery, for our need for redemption: "Mit'chila ovdei avodah zara," "In the beginning, our ancestors were worshipers of idols." Not only the Egyptians worshiped idols. We did, too!At Passover, we mark the need for liberation not just from external Pharaohs, but from internal ones as well. Passover is a time to ask not just four questions, but hard questions: In what ways are we addicted to oil? To over-consumption? To having the newest and the latest and the most advanced? To comfort and convenience that takes a toll and levies a cost that doesn't get tallied up until some later year, off in some distant murky future? To a lifestyle made possible by the hands of and/or adversely affecting people half a world away, out of sight and too often out of mind?2. Matzah[Distribute pieces of matzah to everyone present; leader holds up piece]We began the Maggid section of the seder by holding up a piece of matzah and saying, "This is the bread of affliction." It represents where our spirits are flat. It represents what happens when we are beaten down, pressed down, and see ourselves as powerless.But just as matzah literally has two physical sides, so too does it have two sides spiritually. From one perspective it is the bread of affliction, but, when turned over, when seen from the other side, it is also the bread of liberation, of freedom, of power to change our worlds for the better.How do we make this transformation, from being pressed down to rising up?To answer this, we must ask: what is the significance of matzah?Traditionally, we are forbidden to eat or possess chameitz in any form during Passover. Chameitz literally is food with leavening, fermentation, souring, food that swells up. Chasidic teachers, though, saw chameitz metaphorically, as the swelling up of excess in our own lives.What is metaphorical chameitz in our own day? What is the excess in our lives that we can rid ourselves of, or that we can at least tone down, keep in proper proportion and perspective? [can get responses from gathering]Chameitz, first of all, can be carbon dioxide. It is the one single element most responsible for the global climate crisis. It is the element that we must immediately reduce our spewing of into the atmosphere.Chameitz can be seen as overconsumption. Is one lesson of Passover this year that we should simplify our lives?More specifically, is coal-fired electricity a kind of eco-chameitz? Is our addiction to the over-use of oil, coal and gasoline a eco-chameitz?Seen this way, what then do we need to do in order to sweep eco-chameitz from our lives? [can get responses from the gathering]Some answers: switching our households and institutions to wind power and other renewable sources of energy; supporting legislation that supports this switch, as well; getting an energy audit; changing all lightbulbs to CFLs.Driving less; purchasing fuel-efficient and hybrid cars; supporting public transportation; shopping on-line.Making green renovations and new buildings. Supporting legislation mandating such measures.But before we can transform our matzah from the bread of affliction into the bread of liberation, we must face squarely the challenge that we face:3. MarorMaror means bitter herbs. It represents the pain of our slavery in Egypt. It represents the harm of our actions today. Throughout the past eight years, here is the legacy that has set back the cause of global climate health:As someone says each action aloud, everyone else can sing the refrain, "Let my people go."1. Denied California the Clean Air Act waiver, thus blocking 18 other states from enacting the stricter greenhouse gas emissions standards as well.Sing: "Let my people go."2. Interfered with climate change science, revising NASA and other agency documents to remove language regarding climate change, and engaged in a systematic effort to mislead policy makers and the public about the dangers of global warming.Sing: "Let my people go."3. Advocated for more nuclear power plants.Sing: "Let my people go."4. Opened public land in the Rocky Mountains and Alaska to oil and gas drilling.Sing: "Let my people go."5. Declared carbon dioxide not to be a pollutant.Sing: "Let my people go."6. Weakened regulations governing air pollution.Sing: "Let my people go."7. Rejected the Kyoto Protocol, withdrawing the United States from the global warming treaty.Sing: "Let my people go."Matzah as a Call to Action:Though mentioned and discussed in response to Rabban Gamliel's assertion that matzah is among three things that must be mentioned in order for the Passover seder to be complete, we don't actually get to eat matzah until after the Maggid section.So as we finally approach being able to eat a piece of matzah, let's take a moment to examine a key question: How does the bread of affliction transform into the bread of freedom?Chameitz can only be made from ingredients that can also be matzah. The only difference between matzah and chameitz is what we do with those ingredients. Making chameitz is easy; all you have to do is mix the ingredients together and then do...nothing! The source of the substance forbidden during Passover is simply waiting and not doing anything. Inaction.Making matzvah, on the other hand, is difficult. It takes great determination, swift action, and constantly working toward the goal. When this great effort is made, when we don't let obstacles stand in our way, when we take each step that needs to be taken, with our eyes always on the prize, then the bread of affliction transforms into the bread of liberation.And One for After the Meal - The Prophetic Promise of Elijah:On the Shabbat just before Passover, we read the words of the prophet Malachi, who describes God's promise to send Elijah the Prophet to turn the hearts of parents to children and the hearts of children to parents - "lest the earth be utterly destroyed." This call from 2500 years ago that the generations must work together to heal the earth from the danger of utter destruction comes alive with new force in our generation.When we sing to welcome Elijah, we are giving voice to our own commitment to take actions in our own day to move this world closer to redemption - in our own lives, in our synagogues, offices, and institutions, and by working for changes in public policy. This is what we mean when we sing of Elijah the Prophet coming to us: Elijah is not a person who comes and changes our world, but is rather the name we give to the change that we ourselves bring about through our determined and inspired action.Sing:Eliyahu hanavi, Eliyahu hatishbiEliyahu, Eliyahu, Eliyahu hagiladiBimherah veyameynu yavo eleynuIm mashiach ben David, im mashiach ben DavidElijah the Prophet come speedily to us hailing messianic days.Second Seder - Counting Toward Sinai:During the seder on the second night of Passover, we begin counting the 49 days that link freedom from slavery to freedom to enter into a relationship of responsibility and purpose. Our tradition recognizes that big changes don't happen overnight, but rather take careful planning and preparation. Pulling our world back from the brink of the global climate crisis will require many small and large steps. No single step alone will solve the problem. But we can ensure, with each step, that we are at least moving in the right direction.Just as our tradition gives us a 49 day period to spiritually prepare ourselves to stand at Sinai, the second seder is a good time to begin making a plan for what steps each individual, family and community will take toward addressing the crisis we face.Third Day of Passover is Also Earth Day!This year, Passover converges with Earth Day. And it does so at a time when the global climate crisis can no longer be ignored, calling for us to take bold action.Let's make our voices heard at congressional offices, visiting our Senators and Representatives to say that legislation such as the Lieberman-Warner "America's Climate Security Act" matters greatly to us, and that we insist that it be strengthened and that it eventually actually become the law of the land.And let's do so in a way that is not only a protest, but also a celebration, a re-affirmation, of our power to free ourselves from limitations both external and internal. At Passover, we invoke Elijah the Prophet, as the harbinger of a world redeemed through the actions that we take.Seventh Day of Passover - Crossing the Sea:Traditionally, the seventh day of Passover is associated with the Israelites crossing through the Sea of Reeds to escape the pursuing Egyptian army.In a midrash from the Babylonia Talmud (Sotah 36), Rabbi Yehuda described how "Each tribe said: "I am not going into the water first." During the endless debates, Nachshon from the tribe of Judah jumped into the sea. He was on the point of drowning when God suddenly divided the waters.In other words, the miracle of the splitting of the sea wasn't simply a divine intervention. And it wasn't brought about by one strong central leader. Rather, one single person, a member of the crowd, took action that was so bold and so inspired and so filled with faith that the miracle then was activated.What a powerful counter-balance to all the words associated with Passover! Time to stop talking; time to do!
Prepared by Rabbi Jeff Sultar
Director, Green Menorah Program of The Shalom Centergreenmenorah@shalomctr.org6711 Lincoln Drive
Philadelphia, PA 19119(215) 438-2983
Interfaith Power and Light is a religious response to global warming with chapters in 26 states and Greater Washington, D.C. Find a link to your local chapter at http://www.theregenerationproject.org/State.Check out the National IPL Blog.Find discounts on energy saving products at http://www.shopipl.org/