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Laura Stern2

Coming Together for Everyone’s Future

By on August 20, 2014 in Climate Change, Jewish Greening Fellowship

When I started my internship at Hazon at the beginning of the summer, I had no idea what the People’s Climate March was, let alone know that I would be devoting most of my time to it. For those of you who haven’t heard about the People’s Climate March yet, it’s being held in Manhattan on Sunday, September 21, 2014, two days before the emergency climate summit called by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in which he is urging world leaders to take serious action against climate change. The March will be a platform for all of us to show our support for a treaty to prevent climate change and to put pressure on leaders who can make a difference. Over the past ten weeks, I have put together a website for the Jewish Climate Change Campaign filled with content I helped create about the March, listened in on numerous conference calls, and emailed countless people about why they should participate. Through all of this, I have come to care deeply about this cause and this March. I have seen how Jewish people involved in different communities have come together, united for this one cause and the chance to change the course of […]

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bees

ReSources You Can ReUse!

By on July 23, 2014 in Jewish Greening Fellowship

Rosh Hashanah is a great time to educate about bees. We depend on these pollinators for much of our food, and bees are in trouble for a variety of reasons. Check out Hazon’s flyer you can use, Jewish sources, 15 Facts About Bees from National Geographic, and NYC Beekeepers Association, for more information. And check out Kane Street Synagogue’s annual honey fundraiser for inspiration. Check DSIRE: Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency for funding opportunities across the US, listed by state. Need to make the business case for planning for climate change to your board? Jewish organizations, like governments, are prone to “short termism.” Risky Business: The Economic Risks of Climate Change in the United States warns that it is time to factor climate change into long-term business decisions and create a plan to mitigate your exposure to risk. Looking for a great way to engage teachers and students in environmental sustainability? Check out this guide to organizing a School Green Day.

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eli and kid on bike

Topsy Turvy Tour De Farm

By on July 10, 2014 in Topsy Turvy Bus Tour

Hi! This is Molly, one of the Teva support staff members. This past Sunday, the Topsy Turvy bus was in my hometown working with the Mitzvah Garden in Overland Park, Kansas. The Mitzvah Garden is a community garden that recruits volunteers to garden and harvest produce for local food banks and other organizations. The bus tour was part of the first ever “Tour de Farm”, a bike ride starting and ending at the garden and touring through a few parks as rest stops on the route. The Topsy Turvy bus was set up at one of the rest stops, and the educators aboard met the people on the bike ride and gave tours of the bus. The educators hung out with the riders at the rest stop, baking cookies in their solar oven and talking about using the elements as fuel. The educators also met the riders at the end, with a new element in tow – a bicycle powered blender, to showcase the expanse possible uses for a bicycle. The bike blender operates on the power generated by a person pedaling a bike attached to it. Participants of the Tour de Farm were excited to try out the bike […]

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kasas jumping

Let it go, let it go! – Reflections from a Topsy Turvy Adventure

By on July 7, 2014 in Shmita, Topsy Turvy Bus Tour

It is 11:30 am, and I am sitting in a field in the middle of the Rocky Mountains surrounded by horses, trees, compost toilets, a bike blender and solar ovens. And Eli, who is dressed as a tree, sitting in a sleeping bag, his head covered in blankets and a music stand. Everything we need for our second program at Ramah in the Rockies…except for the kids. This blog post is about letting go of control, about what it means to truly accept everything that we cannot change and take advantage of for spontaneity and improvisation. Set for 9:50, the group was delayed coming back from a masa on horseback, leaving Eli waiting patiently (and snugly) for over an hour and a half and the rest of the group practicing, preparing and dancing around the bus. This was hardly the first moment where things did not go quite according to plan; yesterday our (valiant) attempt to climb the Rockies raised the engine temperature above the heat limit and we had to pull over on the side of the mountain…twice. It started raining while we were trying to paint the bus’s roof to add water protection. There have been parking challenges, […]

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Benji + eli

The Journey Begins

By on July 7, 2014 in Topsy Turvy Bus Tour

by Benji Elson I have the immense honor and pleasure of writing the first blog post from the road of this 2014 Teva Topsy Turvy Shmita Bus Tour! To be the first to try to articulate the experiences of this amazing group of talented passionate educators, and the incredible things that we have seen and done thus far is a huge honor. Because we are so awesome and having such amazing experiences! Just to be a part of this team is such a huge honor. Here’s me and Eli on the bus, I’m on the left. So…after months of waiting and preparing we finally all met for the first time in Cheesman Park in Denver, CO. Right from the start I could sense that we were a group of highly talented people who each had his or her own strengths which were going to compliment the other extremely well. After introducing ourselves to each other and playing some silly “icebreaker”/movement activities to get to know each other a bit the team got straight to work gutting and cleaning the bus, arranging all our material possessions into the hidden storage compartments throughout the bus and working to get the bus in […]

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Download Setting the Table

By on July 1, 2014 in Education, Food, Resources

Thank you for filling out the survey. Click here to download your full copy of Setting the Table. Only want a slice? Download the Recipes Download the Thought Texts Download the tips for Kids in the Kitchen A hard copy of this curriculum can be purchased in the Hazon store.

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We’ve arrived in Denver!

By on June 25, 2014 in Shmita, Topsy Turvy Bus Tour

  Shalom! I’m Molly, a member of the program support staff for this tour, and I’m thrilled to be putting up the inaugural post for this blog.   Today marks the first day of orientation, where the educators will all meet for the first time (those who don’t already know each other) and continue developing the energy, knowledge, and sense of community that we’ve been working toward since February when we first started planning out the route.  They’re choosing their educational stations (worms, bike blender, solar ovens, veggie oil), their beds, and their rules to live by for the tour over the next three days.  To recap, here’s what they’re looking forward to:   The educators are getting excited to hit the road, catch some rays, and begin the exciting journey of learning and growing along with pockets of our people scattered about this great strange nation. Five educators will be touring the nation, talking about Judaism and sustainability in different communities. They’ll be busting into the Rockies in the beginning of July and then head straight through the center of the contiguous 48 — you can check out the route in the tab entitled “tour schedule.” In just one […]

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recycle-star

JGF ReSources You Can ReUse – June 2014

By on June 20, 2014 in Jewish Greening Fellowship

Don’t reinvent the wheel! There are many resources available for Jewish gardening activities and curricula: Eco-Judaism: Examining the Relationship Between the Environment and Judaism, Alumot Resource Manual, Ze’raim Community Gardening Resource Manual, Ginat Ha’yeladim Jewish Children’s Gardening Curriculum, Spirit in Nature.   FJC’s Green Building Loan Fund (GBLF) helps non-profit organizations to reduce their use of fossil fuels. The GBLF provides five-year loans for projects that increase fuel efficiency in heating, cooling, electrical use and transportation. Renewable energy projects including solar electric, solar water heating, wind turbines and geothermal heating systems, are also eligible.   On September 20 or 21 hundreds of thousands of citizens will participate in the People’s Climate March in New York City. The Jewish Climate Change Campaign is working to mobilize the Jewish community. Sign on now as a “participating organization” and publicize the March. Contact mirele.goldsmith@hazon.org for more information.   Across North America, a vibrant Jewish environmental culture is flourishing, attracting young adults and inspiring many people to live more sustainably. How does your greening initiative fit into this exciting development? To find out, read Gleanings from Our Field: Green Hevra Report 2014, which explores the state of this growing field.

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topsy-turvy-square1

The Topsy Turvy Bus is Getting Ready to Go!

By on June 20, 2014 in Topsy Turvy Bus Tour

Hazon’s mobile educational spectacle is traveling from Denver to Connecticut while teaching communities how to rethink cycles of food, energy, and time. If you happen to be on the road this summer anywhere between Colorado and Connecticut, you might be lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a golden-orange school bus traveling upside down along the highway. You’re not seeing things. The Topsy Turvy Bus (so named in honor of the donation fromBen Cohen of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream that made this mobile educational spectacle possible) is indeed real, and will be on a cross-country tour from June 29 – August 4, 2014. The Topsy Turvy Bus is a bio-fueled environmental schoolhouse on wheels that is driven and staffed by Teva educators. Teva – a program of Hazon and is North America’s leading Jewish environmental education program – provides pluralistic outdoor, food, and environmental education experiences throughout the Jewish community. Teva works with Jewish day schools, congregational schools, community centers, synagogues, camps, and youth groups. Starting out in Denver, Colorado, with stops in Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, and Massachusetts, the Topsy Turvy Bus will travel to Hazon’s Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Falls Village, […]

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