Hello.
Bejeweled World by Sossie Vanek
Welcome to the Green Sabbath Project blog. It is my honor and delight to initiate this forum.
Fifty years ago, the United Nations called for an environmental sabbath or earth rest day, to be celebrated once a year (in June). The planetary agenda introduced in the accompanying booklet, called Only One Earth, urges protection against “climate change and global warming,” among other environmental ills. A letter from the director of the UN Environment Programme is followed by a quote from the diary of Anne Frank:
The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely, or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As long as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles.
Many are the layers of Frank’s thoughts, both intended and unintended, that could be unpacked here. But the idea of quoting this world-renowned victim of the Holocaust in connection with the global ecological crises facing humanity introduces an unavoidable element of comparison and connection between the two events.
Alas, the crises have not been averted. Yet people are taking more action than ever to prevent unimaginable human-induced tragedy from now enveloping even the more-than-human world.
I want to mention several initiatives that have shown me possibilities for far-sighted and creative leadership within our own organizations or communities. They may seem like small actions, but we need thousands and thousands of such seemingly small actions to be repeated around the world. . Recognizing the severity of our situation, a growing number of organizations are choosing to reduce their own environmental impact in ways that echo the letting go, the stepping back that is so central to shabbat. A few years ago the new president of the American Academy of Religion, bioethicist Laurie Zoloth, urged her colleagues to cancel their annual conference. Calling this voluntary foregoing a sabbatical year, she hoped they would “all refrain from flying across the country, saving money and carbon. [...] they would sacrifice each other’s company for the sake of the environment, and instead would turn toward their neighborhoods and hometowns.” Alas, the initiative (which I thank Nancy Oreskes for pointing out to me) didn’t quite take the shape that Zoloth imagined and does not seem to have continued. Yet it remains an example.
More recently, the editor of the Italian edition of Vogue, Emanuele Farneti, opted to produce the January 2020 issue without any original photographs. Photo shoots cause enormous environmental consequences and Farneti laid out for readers what it takes to produce the photos for a single issue of Vogue: “One hundred and fifty people involved. About twenty flights and a dozen or so train journeys. Forty cars on standby. Sixty international deliveries. Lights switched on for at least ten hours nonstop, partly powered by gasoline-fuelled generators. Food waste from the catering services. Plastic to wrap the garments. Electricity to recharge phones, cameras…” Instead, the magazine replaced its glitzy, glossy photos with illustrations drawn by invited artists, yielding a much lower environmental footprint.
It is my hope that the Green Sabbath Project can help inspire and support your sabbath observance. And that a growing collective observance of shabbat will contribute to increased well-being for people and planet.
Best wishes for a more human and godly 2020,
Jonathan