Can applying Jewish values save the Earth from a climate catastrophe? - opinion

I was asked by The Jerusalem Report editor to write an article in response to Yosef Israel Abramowitz’s article “Herzl, Israel, and the Search for Climate Justice,” so here goes.

I have long been a fan of Abramowitz. He was issuing strong warnings about climate threats long before almost everyone else. As his brief bio at the end of his article indicates, he has been a pioneer in bringing solar energy to Israel, promoting Israeli shifts to renewable energy, and bringing Israeli energy technology to Bedouin communities in Israel and to several African countries.

In his very thoughtful article in this issue, he provides a historical perspective. He notes that as long ago as 1890, Swedish scientist Svante Arrhenius was warning that “humans burning coal, gas, and oil... could increase the Earth’s temperature by a disastrous five to six degrees Celsius.” At around the same time, Theodor Herzl, a founder of modern Zionism, had a vision of a future Jewish state that would be “carbon-neutral and free of smoke pollution... a renewable light unto the nations, and solve the looming climate crisis.”

Unfortunately, the projection of Arrhenius has proven to be far more accurate than Herzl’s, as modern climate experts are issuing increasingly dire warnings, and we are witnessing many severe climate events, with some seeming to happen every day. As Abramowitz points out, “Herzl’s vision is much greener than today’s reality in Israel.”

Responding to climate threats is especially important for Israel, which is heating up much faster than most of the world. As Abramowitz quotes Shira Efron of the Institute for National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University as writing in a devastating report:

The Middle East is one of the regions most vulnerable to climate change, including rising temperatures, water and subsequently food shortages, rising sea levels, and increased frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. These changes could aggravate regional instability, lead to mass migration of refugees, and create comfortable conditions for terrorist organizations… Climate change also has direct implications for infrastructure, equipment, and defense and weapons systems, as well as the health and level of preparedness of military and security personnel.

Because of these many climate threats, climate sustainability should be a major focus in Israel. But, very unfortunately, as Abramowitz points out, Israel’s climate policies are backward, and “Israel today has deliberately ignored Herzl’s green energy vision and embraced the polluting and expensive gas monopoly controlled by the barons of our day, planting the seeds of Israel’s – and the world’s – destruction rather than redemption.”

Abramowitz has often stressed that most of Israel could be powered by solar energy, but all of Israel, except Eilat and the Arava, are currently powered 90% by fossil fuels.

Abramowitz deserves much commendation for his longtime, persistent efforts to make Israel energy-independent and his many activities to make that happen, and I wish him much success. However, as president emeritus of Jewish Veg and author of Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism and of three editions of Judaism and Vegetarianism, I think it is important to recognize what most climate experts, including Abramowitz, are ignoring: animal-based agriculture is the main cause of climate change, for two important reasons.

First, cows and other ruminants emit methane, a greenhouse gas over 80 times as potent per unit weight as CO2 during the 10 to 15 years it is in the atmosphere. More importantly, over 40% of the world’s ice-free land is now used for grazing and growing feed crops for animals. This has resulted in the destruction of about half of the world’s estimated six trillion trees that existed millennia ago. Largely because there are far fewer carbon-sequestering trees, atmospheric CO2, which was 285 parts per million (ppm) at the start of the Industrial Revolution, has now reached 420 ppm, way above the 350 ppm that climate experts consider a threshold value for climate stability. Hence, it is essential that there be a major reduction in animal-based agriculture, so that vast areas can be reforested, helping to reduce atmospheric CO2 to safe levels.

Rabbis, Jewish educators, and other Jewish leaders should help educate our communities regarding the urgency of sharply reducing meat consumption, in addition to making other lifestyle changes that reduce energy use if the world is to have a chance to avert a climate catastrophe. This should be an important focus in any case because animal-based diets and agriculture seriously violate at least six fundamental Jewish teachings.

6 fundamental Jewish teachings violated by animal-based diets, agriculture

1. While Judaism mandates that we should be very careful about preserving our health and our lives, numerous medical studies in respected peer-reviewed medical journals have linked animal-based diets to heart disease, stroke, several forms of cancer, and other life-threatening diseases. The widespread production and consumption of meat and other animal products also make future pandemics, with their many negative health effects, much more likely. In addition, the widespread use of antibiotics in animal feed has increased antibiotic resistance in humans and made the antibiotics less effective.
2. While Judaism forbids tsa’ar ba’alei chayim, inflicting unnecessary pain on animals, most farm animals – including those raised for kosher consumers – are raised on “factory farms,” where they live in cramped, confined spaces, and are often drugged, mutilated, and denied fresh air, sunlight, exercise, and any enjoyment of life, before they are transported, slaughtered, and consumed. For example, contrary to several Torah teachings, dairy cows are artificially impregnated annually on what the industry calls “rape racks,” and their calves are taken away immediately after birth, causing severe trauma to both, so that the milk that was meant for the calves can be sold commercially. At egg-laying hatcheries, male chicks are killed shortly after birth because they can’t lay eggs and have not been genetically programmed to have much flesh, The hens are kept in cages so small that they can’t raise a wing, and all their natural instincts are completely thwarted. This causes the hens to peck at each other in frustration, causing great harm to other hens. Instead of improving conditions for the hens, the industry cruelty cuts off their beaks, a very painful procedure, and it does so without any painkillers. 
3. While Judaism teaches that “the Earth is the Lord’s” (Psalms 24:1) and that we are to be God’s partners and co-workers in preserving the world, modern intensive animal-based agriculture contributes far more than plant-based agriculture does to climate change, soil erosion and depletion, air and water pollution, overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, destruction of tropical rainforests and other habitats, and other forms of environmental destruction. As mentioned, a shift to plant-based diets is essential to efforts to avert a climate catastrophe.
4. While Judaism mandates bal tashchit, that we are not to waste or unnecessarily destroy anything of value nor use more than is needed to accomplish a purpose, the production of meat and other animal products requires much more grain, land, fresh water, energy, and other resources than the production of plant foods. For example, it takes up to 13 times as much water for an animal-based diet than for a vegan diet, mainly due to vast amounts of water needed to irrigate feed crops.
5. While Judaism stresses that we are to provide for the poor and share our bread with the hungry, about 70% of the grain grown in the United States is very inefficiently fed to animals in order to produce meat, milk, and eggs, while millions of people worldwide die each year from hunger, and almost ten percent of the world’s people are chronically malnourished. Making this even more shameful, healthy foods like corn, soy, and oats, which are high in fiber and complex carbohydrates and devoid of cholesterol and saturated fat, are fed to animals, resulting in animal foods with the opposite characteristics, contributing greatly to the current epidemic of life-threatening diseases.
6. While Judaism teaches that we must seek peace and pursue it and that violence often results from unjust conditions, diets high in animal protein monopolize resources, creating shortages of affordable land, food, water, and energy. This exacerbates the tension between the haves and the have nots and has been found historically to fuel social unrest, violence, and war.

Another reason that Jews should refrain from eating meat is that there have been many scandals associated with the kosher meat industry. Israel’s 2017 annual State Comptroller’s Report cited widespread corruption and mismanagement in Israel’s kosher certification process. The first chapter blamed the local religious councils and the Israeli Chief Rabbinate for failing to make significant reforms in the system.

Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz, a Jerusalem council member who founded Private Supervision – an alternative supervisory agency that is more attentive to restaurants – praised the Comptroller’s Report for spotlighting the “significant violations, failures, lies, and corruption” of the main kosher inspection system. He commented: “It’s very sad to see how the rabbinate and some of the local religious councils brought kosher supervision in this country to levels of extreme violation and the absurd.”

Based on the above, as well as the other considerations in this article, it seems clear that the best way to keep kosher today is to be a vegan, or at least a vegetarian. A shift to a plant-based diet is easier for consumers now because there is an abundance of plant-based substitutes with the appearance, texture, and taste so close to meat and other animal products that even longtime meat eaters can’t tell the difference.

Considering all of the above points, is there any halachicly viable way today for Jews to continue eating meat and other animal products?

These arguments and other Torah teachings related to veganism and related issues are presented in more detail in my books and in my over 250 articles that can be found online at www.JewishVeg.org/Schwartz. I would be happy to email complimentary copies of such material to everyone who emails me at VeggieRich@gmail.com and requests them.

In view of all of the above, rabbis and other Jewish leaders can do a great mitzvah, possibly the greatest kiddush Hashem (sanctification of God’s name) by shifting to an animal-free diet and urging other Jews to do the same. Such shifts would be consistent with our mandates to be a “light unto the nations,” a holy people, God’s witnesses, eternal protesters, and partners with God in working for tikkun olam, healing and improving the world.

To paraphrase Mordechai’s appeal to Queen Esther when the Jews of Persia were in great danger, perhaps our rabbis and other leaders were put in their present positions for just such a purpose. It is urgent that they act to help shift our imperiled planet onto a sustainable path and produce a habitable, healthy world for future generations. There is no Planet B or effective Plan B.  ■

The Environment and Climate Change portal is produced in cooperation with the Goldman Sonnenfeldt School of Sustainability and Climate Change at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. The Jerusalem Post maintains all editorial decisions related to the content.

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