The teaching that speaks to me most deeply, at the moment, is the one about having two pieces of paper in our pockets. One says, ‘You are dust and will return to dust…” and the other says, “for you the world was made…”
Nigel Savage founded Hazon, the Jewish lab for sustainability, in 2000. He served as its CEO for 21 years, stepping down in July 2021.
Under his leadership, Hazon became the largest environmental organization in the American Jewish community.
Hazon was one of only two groups to have been in every single Slingshot guide, and was recognized by the Sierra Club as one of 50 leading faith-based environmental organizations.
Nigel has been a popular teacher and speaker in a wide range of venues.
In recognition for his work, in 2015 he was awarded an honorary doctorate by the Jewish Theological Seminary. He has twice been named a member of the Forward 50, the annual list of the 50 most influential Jewish people in the United States. He is a recipient of the Bernard Reisman Award, and has given Commencement speeches at Wagner (NYU, in 2011), at Hornstein (Brandeis, in 2014) and at Spertus (in Chicago, in 2018).
Before founding Hazon, Nigel worked in asset management in London for NM Rothschild and as co-head of UK Equities at Govett. He has an MA in History from Georgetown, and has learned at Pardes, Yakar, and the Hebrew University. He was a founder of Limmud NY.
Nigel executive produced the British independent movies Solitaire For 2 and Stiff Upper Lips and had an acclaimed cameo appearance in the cult Anglo-Jewish comic movie, Leon The Pig Farmer. He is believed to be the first English Jew to have cycled across South Dakota on a recumbent bike.
New York, NY
Less Fear, More Resolve in Sh’ma Now, August 30, 2017
How the Once-Every-Seven-Years Observance of Shmita is Changing Jewish Lives in The Huffington Post, September 2014
On Tribes, Food and Community in Jewish MegaTrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future
Time for Jewish Evangelizing in The Jewish Daily Forward, June 2014
Rabbi Jesse Olitzky’s Behind The Ballot Box podcast: On The Climate Crisis with Nigel Savage, August 18, 2020
Talking Torah and Tzedek with Uri L’Tzedek
Yeshivat Chovevei Torah’s Inaugural Climate Conferencce
Nigel Savage on Hazon Mission Statement
Nigel Savage on Hazon Pedagogy
