Climateering at TBB
by Marya Axner (Contact Marya at maryaaxner@gmail.com to receive Climateers emails or learn more about the Climateers. We will figure things out together and have some fun.)
July 29, 2022
Our group of Climateers has been launched! We are an enthusiastic group of people who are working together to take action on the climate emergency which is so all-encompassing and so consequential.
I have found that in addressing any major problem, we need to connect with each other. This is particularly important around climate change, which is so difficult for people to face. No one can do this by themselves. I like being involved with people in our synagogue, working together through our common commitment to Jewish community.
We have also become an official chapter of the national Jewish organization Dayenu. Dayenu is “a Jewish Call to Climate Action” focused on, “mobilizing Jewish support for critical federal and state climate policies that create the structural change … we need.” Dayenu wants the Jewish community to take bold action on climate change and they are building, “an intergenerational movement to boldly confront the climate crisis.”
Our Climateers organized TBBers to participate in one of Dayenu’s national actions during Passover. We joined other local Jewish groups in the protest at Chase Bank to “Get the Dough Out of Fossil Fuels." There were similar protests all over the country as part of Dayenu’s “With all Our Might” campaign to apply pressure to banks to stop financing fossil fuels.
Our Climateers are developing two tracks of activities. One is to come together to accomplish systemic change, which usually requires joining forces with other organizations such as the Dayenu action described above. The other is to hold Climate Fair events where we give a presentation on a climate topic that we are interested in and think other TBB members might be also. These Climate Fair events can also lead to action.
So far we have held Climate Fair events such as: “Getting Started Working on Climate Change”, “Composting” (See Rachel’s article on this), and “What is a Dayenu Circle?”
Other possible topics for a Climate Fair event we are considering are:
- A presentation on MassEnergize from JCAN (the Jewish Climate Action Network). We can show a recording of a Webinar with information that could help TBB members transition away from fossil fuel appliances to using solar energy, efficient electric induction stoves (which are more healthy), electric vehicles and mini-split heat pumps.
- Learning about how ARPA funds can be spent on environmental justice projects in Somerville, such as protecting vulnerable populations near I-93 from air pollution.
- Parenting and Climate Change
- "The Chelsea connection", how can we, as a Somerville synagogue, partner with a city that formerly had a major Jewish working class population, in supporting them to address climate change. Chelsea has a vulnerable population surrounded by fossil fuel plants, exposed to I-93 pollution and other environment hazards.
Other issues and campaigns that we might work on include:
- Somerville Green New Deal: Somerville Stands Together, a group of labor and social activists are starting will have public hearings on how Somerville can develop its Green New Deal.
- Our Electric Grid - Still largely energized by fossil fuels. How can we get the agency that governs grid operation to transition away more quickly?
Contact Marya to receive Climateers emails or learn more about the Climateers.
We will figure things out together and have some fun.
