Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life

10/27/2025

Our executive director, Rabbi Daniel Swartz, is honored to be the Jewish respondent to both the Islamic and Catholic papers being presented at a conference on faith and climate change called "Cultivating a Heart for the Earth: An Interfaith Dialogue." It's on October 29 in Bethlehem, at the Respect Graduate School, and you can attend either in person or online. Former COEJL director Rabbi Nina Beth Cardin will be delivering the Jewish paper, and Rabbi Arthur Waskow was originally supposed to deliver the keynote. Instead, Rabbi Swartz will lead a brief memorial to Arthur. More info and link to register on the flyer.

08/21/2025

"Yes, duh, davka: Climate change *does* endanger human health" -- that's the blogpost, the update, and the call to action. Follow the link to learn how you can easily add your voice to the calls of faith and conscience, asking the EPA to actually P the E. With a sample testimony, given yesterday by Rabbinic Advisor Fred Scherlinder Dobb. Hat-tips to NRPE, Dayenu, the many state IPLs, and more; we're all in it together....

Climate science was getting clear many decades ago. A previous recalcitrant administration had chosen not to act, until the Court intervened -- which led to the 2009 "endangerment finding,"...

05/16/2025

Happy Lag B'Omer -- which this year is also Endangered Species Day! Public comments are open for just 3 more days on a proposed federal rule that would weaken protections for our non-human cousins, by redefining what constitutes 'harm' in the 1972 stature. It's easy and quick to post just a couple sentences, at https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/04/17/2025-06746/rescinding-the-definition-of-harm-under-the-endangered-species-act -comment, and remind the Department of the Interior that harm is harm, and must be avoided, period. Make your voice heard!

Our tradition holds that "even things you see as superfluous [unnecessary] in this world -- like snakes & scorpions -- they are part of the greater scheme of the creation of the world" (Exodus Rabbah 10:1). Maimonides (Guide 1:27) tells us that every creature of every species is in God's world for its own sake, not for ours. The very same wisdom was shared by the late Pope Francis, in his masterful Laudato Si (which turns 10 this month!): one vital teaching, "that each human being is an image of God, should not make us overlook [another vital teaching,] the fact that each creature has its own purpose. None is superfluous..." ( #84).

We're all in this together -- across faiths, and across species. Please take just two minutes, and register this value in your voice, in the federal register....

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (collectively referred to as the Services or we) are proposing to rescind the regulatory definition of "harm" in our Endangered Species Act (ESA or the Act) regulations. The existing regulatory definition of...

05/12/2025

Yesterday, our own moms; today, Mother Earth! Amid staggering setbacks -- with more coming, in the House Energy & Commerce draft budget going for markup; and the VA Governor's fresh veto of a renewable energy bill that even Dominion Energy supported -- we can DO something, wherever we are. Join Dayenu.org, at, 6pm ET tonight, for phonebanking to Virginia, and help turn the tide! https://secure.everyaction.com/9WIknp0ofEeoYy6uABglBA2?emci=1d171e87-da26-f011-8b3d-6045bded8cca&emdi=37fbc9cb-6727-f011-8b3d-6045bded8cca&ceid=32551062

04/30/2025

I admired him from a distance; Rabbi Daniel Swartz met him, twice; moved by his words, we both placed his encyclical wisdom next to Jewish texts. Now, may we all help make Pope Francis' memory an enduring and active blessing (truly 'zichrono livracha'). Reflections on how we're all in it together, along with a powerful little chapter in Catholic-Jewish relations, are in the new COEJL blog entry, https://www.coejl.org/.../multi-faith-earth-week-pope.... And Earth Week is intense; locals can join Thursday 2pm for the multi-faith entry in DC Climate Week (linked in the blog). Blessings, all...

04/23/2025

"Every Day is Earth Day!" Words to live by. Yesterday we stood with leaders of numerous other faiths at the Senate, affirming the need to care for our common home. A decade ago Rabbi Daniel Swartz and I set pearls from Laudato Si next to Torah gems; my remarks yesterday amplified that overlap. We are indeed Fratelli Tutti, siblings, all. RIP / z:l, Pope Francis...

04/09/2025

Rabbi Daniel Swartz wrote an important piece on the "Evolve" platform: https://evolve.reconstructingjudaism.org/the-anti-environmental-actions-of-the-trump-administration/. Whether environmental justice is our topmost concern or just one of many under assault at the moment, it's a vital read. And only in the kind of multi-faith efforts that he and I pursue through COEJL , will we reach the center with this message, and turn around the juggernaut...

Many national, regional and even local efforts within the Jewish community address environmental concerns in a variety of different ways, and all are worthy of support.

02/13/2025

Where's hope this Tu B'Shvat, with so much and so many under assault? A few examples from the work we do, the multi-faith coalitions we're in, & the growing Jewish environmental movement -- including today's Adamah.org, Dayenu.org, & JewishEarthAlliance.org, with a special shout-out to Adamah's awesome Jewish Climate Leadership Coalition. Let's *be* the hope. Like the sap deep within the barren trees, let us rise...

Once again, it’s the new year of the trees (see below for context on the holiday). On the one hand, Tu b’Shvat is about hope. Our tradition notes that even at the height of the global...

12/30/2024

1 -- happy Hannukah, Kwanzaa, just-post-Solstice-and-Christmas, and soon, New Year! . . . . 2 -- please help power religious environmental efforts (so desperately needed now), perhaps before year-end, at https://www.coejl.org/donate.html -- alongside IPL, NRPE, Adamah, Dayenu, JEA, and many more . . . . Finally, 3 -- Pres. Jimmy Carter leaves a huge eco-legacy: it's now our duty to build on it! Zichrono livracha...

​Your contribution is essential for us to pursue our mission to deepen the Jewish community’s commitment to stewardship of the Earth through outreach, activism, and Jewish learning. COEJL...

12/25/2024

Happy Hannukah -- and meaningful Kwanzaa, and merry Christmas, and soulful Solstice season -- to all! A short reflection on how these overlapping festivals of light can help us bring the light, and BE the light:

Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, an eco-Jewish teacher-writer-organizer for over three decades, is COEJL's new Rabbinic Consultant. Fred serves on the national board of Interfaith Power and Light, and...

12/10/2024

The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life applauds the Biden-Harris administration’s establishment of the Carlisle Federal Indian Boarding School National Monument as part of its ongoing efforts to address the trauma and harm of the federal Indian boarding school era. As the great sage Maimonides reminded us, change cannot come without t’shuvah, repentance or return, which begins with a confession of wrongdoing, deep regret over the wrongs committed, and a promise to act differently in the future. We hope, even as the new administration arrives in Washington, that while remaining mindful of past tragedies, our country affirms strong commitments to just treatment of all Native peoples, respect for their sovereignty, and land use policies informed by indigenous practices of sustainability.

President Joe Biden designated a national monument at a former Native American boarding school site in Pennsylvania to commemorate the resilience of tribes whose children were forced to attend the school and similar abusive institutions.

11/05/2024

VOTE!!! there'll be all kinds of things we can do together in the coming two and four years to help advance sustainability and justice -- but NONE will have as much impact as voting in these remaining hours, and encouraging others to do the same! (that's the "I tripled my vote", while canvassing in Phila today). Blessings, all...