As the Environmental Protection Agency continues to slash and burn decades of commonsense environmental protections that made our country healthier and safer, the Jewish community is rallying to push back and say “Environmental destruction is not a Jewish value.”
In August, more than 500 Jewish climate activists spoke out against a regressive move by the EPA itself to repeal a bedrock scientific finding that helps fight the climate crisis.
In late July, Lee Zeldin – the first Jewish Administrator of the EPA – announced that he was moving forward to repeal the Endangerment Finding, which empowers the federal government to curb dangerous greenhouse gas emissions.
Activists sent messages directly to Administrator Zeldin, citing tenets that compel Jews to take actions that protect health and the environment – exactly the mission of the EPA. These include pikuach nefesh, the Jewish commandment to save a life and l’dor v’dor, living from generation to generation.
They also entered comments in the public register about the proposal, and testified at virtual public hearings held by the EPA.
Rabbi Jennie Rosenn, founder and CEO of Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action, on the urgency not to repeal the Finding:
“All Jews and people of faith must act now to prevent the federal government from abdicating its mission to protect Americans from the ravages of the climate crisis. The Endangerment Finding is the foundation that establishes the scientific truth that greenhouse gas emissions released by fossil fuels cause harm. It’s the bedrock upon which the EPA can fulfill its mission: ‘to protect human health and the environment.’
Repealing the Finding is like tossing out the Ten Commandments. They are not only denying something that’s fundamentally true about the world, but have eliminated what enables our government to live and act in alignment with our core values.”