BySimon Rocker, Simon Rocker
Jews should try to cut their meat consumption by half over the next few years in order to help combat global warming, according to leading Jewish environmental campaigners attending an international conference hosted by Prince Philip.
Representatives of the world’s faiths detailed their ideas to offset the impact of climate change at an Alliance of Religions and Conservation event (Arc) at Windsor Castle this week, attended by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon.
Apart from reducing meat intake, another idea is for Jerusalem to become “a green city”, explained ex-Mancunian Nigel Savage, founder of the American-based environmental charity, Hazon.
Jerusalem’s deputy mayor Naomi Tsur, who is originally from Bristol, was among other Jewish delegates.
“The Jewish Climate Change Campaign has put forward an agenda of how we’d like our communities to look by the end of 2015 at the end of the next shmittah (sabbatical) year,” Mr Savage said.
“The issue can seem overwhelming. What we are saying is set up a green team, start to develop a vision for your institution, pick one thing and get started.”
The Big Green Jewish Website, hosted by the Board of Deputies, is due to be relaunched next month.
Other Jewish participants included New London Synagogue’s Rabbi Jeremy Gordon; Rabbi Yedidya (Julian) Sinclair, co-founder of the Jewish Climate Initiative; Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi, the founder of Jewish Renewal in the USA and one of the architects of the concept of “eco-kosher”; leader of Israel’s Green Party/Meimad coalition Rabbi Michael Melchior; and founder of Israel’s domestic solar industry, Yosef Israel Abramowitz.