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February 9, 2001/Shevet 16, 5761, Vol. 53, No.19
We must act now to preserve the Earth
MARK X. JACOBS
Special to Jewish News
Consider: We are transforming the very nature of the fragile, delicate, mysterious and awesome creation of which we are a part. Unintentional human action is undermining the habitability of Earth. In our day. In this generation. Through our daily actions.
Global warming is the most severe crisis humankind faces, and perhaps has ever faced. The way we produce most of our energy is undermining the very inhabitability of Earth as we know it. This is an energy crisis far beyond the scope considered by most of our political leaders.
The latest report of the United Nations-sponsored Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predicts that Earth's average temperature could rise by as much as 10.4 degrees over the next 100 years - 60 percent higher than predicted less than six years ago. This would be the most rapid temperature change in the last 10,000 years. The warming is caused primarily by burning fossil fuels, which releases carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, trapping the warmth of the sun like a blanket around the Earth.
For the first time last summer, scientists observed open water, rather than ice, at the North Pole. Insurance claims for storm damage grew exponentially in the 1990s. West Nile virus is in New York and malaria is in Toronto. These developments are consistent with predictions that sea levels will rise, polar ice caps melt, tropical diseases migrate, whole species and ecosystems vanish - and droughts, floods and severe storms increase.
As always, the poorest, most vulnerable people will be hurt the most, particularly in the world's poorest nations, where little shields billions of people from the direct effects of weather and climate.
Global warming on the scale now predicted will cause massive global instability as the most basic features of our world change - the amount and timing of rainfall, the range of temperature, the level of the sea. Parts of the Earth that have sustained populations for millennia will no longer be able to do so, causing mass migration, "ecological refugees," wars over water and famine.
For how much of this crisis is the United States responsible? Twenty-five percent - a full quarter of global greenhouse gas emissions - come from the United States. Why? Gas-guzzling SUVs. Sprawl. Pervasive energy inefficiency in our homes and businesses. A lack of concern for how much energy we use because it is so abundant (California's shortages notwithstanding) and comparatively cheap (even with recent price spikes).
Addressing the supply and cost of energy is indeed vital to the economy, but pales in comparison to the larger issue at stake. Addressing the larger issue of global warming is a Jewish responsibility. On the most basic level, our tradition teaches us that we humans were placed in the Garden of Eden to till it and to tend it, to serve it and to protect it (Genesis 2:15). "The earth is the Eternal's," teaches the psalmist.
We are tenants. And we are responsible for far more than taking care of our own little plot of land. The ancient covenant of the Jewish people obliges us to pursue justice in all of our relationships - with all people and all creatures - as well as for future generations.
There are pragmatic Jewish reasons for concern as well. Jewish children will live in the world we leave them. Israel is already pushing its ecological limits (particularly the supply of fresh water), both internally and in relationship to its neighbors. And global instability is likely to lead to increased fundamentalism and even fascism, as the basic security of many peoples around the earth is undermined.
The energy agenda of the Bush administration is to increase supply and keep costs down, to drill for more oil and gas in remote and fragile environments, such as Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. From all indications, the administration is not preparing to address the more fundamental energy crisis of our time.
Most Americans strongly and actively favor increased protection of our environment. But we must frame environmental protection as the moral issue that it is, and bring people together to address the grave ecological circumstances we face.
There are numerous solutions to the problem of global warming, as an increasing number of major businesses are discovering. But we must get started now, before it is too late to reverse the trend.
Mark X. Jacobs is executive director of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL).
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