From The New York Times:

Sunday will be the 42nd annual Earth Day celebration. Here are 10 ideas for commemorating the day, observed each year on April 22, or exploring issues related to the environment in the classroom or home on any day of the year.

For more activities and links, see the collection we provided on the 40th anniversary in the post "Ten Ways to 'Go Green.'"

Read the full article in The New York Times...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

by Andrea Rose Cheatham Kasper

In response to last year's Jewish Futures Conference competition on "prosumerism", the idea of Yadaim, the Academy of Applied Academics was born. To be clear it was an idea that was in the making for well over a year which crystallized in a competitive context. The competition asked the public to critically think about how co-creation of Judaism and Jewish education can manifest itself in innovative and dynamic ways which will capture the imagination of the public.

The trend of prosumerism is only one major trend we face today, another is a trend grounded in resourcefulness and utility, the ability to do things on our own. Prosumerism is the idea that people have evolved from simply being consumers to actively creating the world and experiences they seek. In the Jewish context, this means that Jews no longer look to an authority to tell them how to be Jewish nor through what traditions or practices, instead they are looking to collaborate and co-create a Judaism that is meaningful to them. By embracing this trend we evolve from being only intellectual creators of our world to actual creators of our world and experiences. By embracing this trend we move from a one dimensional focus on intellect to a fuller educational and Jewish conception of being God's partners in the physical, material/economic, spiritual and intellectual work of the world.

Read the full article in eJewishPhilanthropy...

From The New York Times:

BLACKWELL, Tex. — When people complain about the weather here, Abe Gott, the school superintendent, just smiles.

A visit to the campus of the school district of about 160 students shows why. Behind the 1930s-era facade of the Blackwell school 30 miles south of Sweetwater looms a distinctly 21st-century sight: a wind turbine.

Read the full article in The New York Times...

From The Houston Jewish Herald-Voice:

The Union for Reform Judaism’s Texas summer camp will be home to a new eco-village. Greene Family Campers, through the Isaac Mayer Wise Academy Eco-Village, will produce their own food, build their own communities and explore the natural world in an in-depth way.

For many city-dwelling campers, this will be a transformative experience, according to camp officials. It will be a place where older campers can learn about and experience the natural world, while teaching younger campers to appreciate it. Every camper and staff member will be involved.

Read the full article at The Houston Jewish Herald-Voice...

From Jweekly:

Bringing together entrepreneurs, educators and innovators, UpStart Bay Area is a nonprofit with a unique vision: a Jewish community that encourages new ideas the same way the tech industry does. To that end, UpStart Bay Area each year selects a new cohort of innovative, young organizations that are breaking new ground in the Jewish community.

This year, UpStart has granted financial support and resources to four very different groups: Amir, A Wider Bridge, Urban Adamah, and The Kitchen. Selected last week, each group will receive professional training and support in executive leadership, business development and program design.

Read the full article at Jweekly...

From The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life:

April 22 is Earth Day. The very name makes many Jews nervous. A special day to celebrate the Earth sounds suspiciously pagan, bringing to mind images of Druids conducting fertility rites at Stonehenge or modern witches dancing to invoke nymphs in a misty forest glade. Perhaps what makes us so wary of this modern festival, first celebrated in 1970, is the idea of introducing the Earth as a "being" or moral agent with its own needs and mystical powers.

And yet, ironically, the Bible is full of references to the way in which the Earth responds to the behavior of the people who live on it. The book of Leviticus, for example, warns the Children of Israel that immorality will cause the Land of Israel to "vomit" them out (Lev. 18:24-28, 20:22).

Read the full post at COEJL...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

Ever wonder what it takes to build a ‘green’ camp from the ground up? What does it mean to build in an environmentally sustainable way? How do you minimize your impact on the land while building a facility to comfortably house hundreds of campers and staff every year? In what way can the physical buildings reinforce the educational values being practiced at camp?

Ramah in the Rockies is responsible for building up the magnificent 360 acre Rocky Mountain site which hosts Ramah Outdoor Adventure, a unique specialty camp (funded by the Foundation for Jewish Camp and the Jim Joseph Foundation) combining outdoor adventure and environmental awareness with vibrant Jewish living and learning. The core values of Ramah in the Rockies are: Limud (Learning), Etgar (Challenge), Yirah (Awe) and Shemirat HaTeva (Stewarding the environment). We wrestle every day with the challenge of putting those values into practice as we contemplate and build new structures on the property to accommodate the growing number of campers wanting to attend Ramah in Colorado.

Read the full article at eJewishPhilanthropy...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

From an environmental curriculum based on Jewish values and real-time gardening, to Jewish educators immersed in cutting-edge digital tools and approaches, a new set of innovative and trailblazing initiatives are recipients of Covenant Foundation grants.

As part of approximately $1.6 million to be distributed this year, the Foundation announced today nearly $800,000 in new grants as part of its mission to support, advance and recognize excellence and impact in Jewish educational settings.

Read the full article at eJewishPhilanthropy...

From eJewishPhilanthropy:

Sviva Israel has launched Eco Campus 3D, a virtual school network that provides educators, parents and children and teens aged 8-15, a safe, interactive environment to learn and share sound environmental practices, resources and experiences with Israeli and Jewish students around the world.

The Campus contains educational tools, social networking and community features to encourage young people in and out of school to improve their environmental habits. Both U.S. and Israeli teachers are being trained in its use. 

Read the full article at eJewishPhilanthropy.com...

BERKELEY, Calif. (JTA) -- Today it’s an empty one-acre lot in West Berkeley.

But next summer, if all goes well, the nondescript plot of land should house tomatoes, cucumbers and a host of other fresh garden goodies, planted and harvested by the first cohort of post-college fellows taking part in Urban Adamah: The Jewish Sustainability Corps.

The project, announced publicly this week, is the latest in a growing number of Jewish farming initiatives nationwide and the first modern-day iteration on the West Coast.

“Given the local interest in sustainable food and social justice, it seemed like a no-brainer to do our pilot project here in Berkeley,” said Adam Berman, the founder and executive director of the planned residential leadership training program that will bring groups of young Jewish adults to the city for three months of organic farming, green living skills, Jewish learning and direct social action.

Berman recently moved back to Berkeley, where he attended the University of California, after seven years as the executive director of the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut. It was at the center in 2003 that he developed the original Adamah environmental leadership training program for Jewish young adults.

In the first summer, six volunteers spent three months on the farm. Everyone who applied was accepted. Now, Berman says, there are 10 applicants for each fellowship spot in Connecticut, with a yearlong waiting list.

Adamah’s 140 alumni, many of whom were not involved in Jewish life before their fellowships, have gone on to fill a wide spectrum of Jewish communal positions. They have become rabbis, Jewish educators and heads of Jewish nonprofits, as well as formed the core of what is now known as the new Jewish food movement.

“The Adamah program has been an incredible success -- not just transforming the lives of the Adamahniks but also, increasingly, the other people and institutions whose lives they touch,” said Nigel Savage, the executive director of the Jewish sustainability organization Hazon, which currently has four Adamah alumni on staff. 

Read the full article at jta.org...