I’ve been in a long distance debate with a former colleague debating the validity of global warming. He, like our new president, is a denier, resorting to old, disproven arguments. The reason I bring this up is that with a climate change denier in the White House, the burden of fixing the world will fall more on individuals like ourselves. We’ll have to take more responsibility on ourselves to mend the world. As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, we’ve formed a small group here at Shir Shalom, which we’re calling the Shir Shalom Green Team. It is aimed at improving the energy efficiency of the temple, building. We will also conduct events to educate members and the community about the threat to our future and the measures we, as individuals, can take to counter that threat.
One of the first things we’ve done is to connect with North Presbyterian Church to study their approach to increasing their church’s energy efficiency. An opportunity grew out of these conversations with North Presbyterian to co-host a visit to Williamsville, in October, by Rabbi Glenn Jacob. He is the Executive Director of New York Interfaith Power and Light, the New York state chapter of a nationwide organization that works to combat global warming from a religious perspective. Their membership includes just about every major faith. On October 18th, we hosted a Green-Up, as Rabbi Jacob calls it, in which he discussed the moral basis for combatting global warming from every major religion’s teachings. He explained the importance of focusing on increasing efficiency as the stated goal, rather than some abstract goal of saving the environment. By focusing on efficiency, we can reduce our carbon footprint, while, at the same time, addressing the cost constraints faced by most religious organizations. Increasing efficiency inevitably leads to saving money.
North Presbyterian shared what they have done to reduce electrical and heating/air conditioning costs at their church by about 80%. They began with an energy audit which revealed that their kitchen refrigerator was using 20% of their electricity, which they reduced to 2% by replacing it with a new EnergyStar refrigerator. They then switched to energy-efficient light bulbs. Their efforts culminated with the replacement of their 50-year-old furnace and the addition of solar panels. It was emphasized that things began at North Presbyterian with small changes by a volunteer committee. The replacement of all the bulbs was accomplished over time.
Rabbi Jacob spoke the next night at North Presbyterian about how religious organizations can influence their elected representatives. He related a story about how a NY Republican member of the House of Representatives from a conservative district was persuaded to sponsor a resolution in the House stating that climate change was real and man-made. This House member had been approached and convinced by a coalition of mainstream religious organizations. The Congressman had not realized where these religious organizations stood on global warming. As a religious person, he felt he had no choice but to respond the way he did. Rabbi Jacob also described the process for approaching a state or federal legislator.
As for the Shir Shalom Green Team, we’re in the process of defining our goals and objectives and developing a plan which we’ll present to the Board. One of the first things we’re doing is something called benchmarking. I learned, as an engineer, that you can’t control or repair something if you haven’t measured it. So, our first step is to review the temple’s energy bills. EnergyStar.com has an app that allows you to compare your energy use and costs through a database to other similar institutions. This will help determine where we are and the potential for improvements and cost savings. We are also looking into obtaining an energy audit. The state organization that performed the audits is no longer doing them, so we need to look for alternative sources.
Anyone interested in joining the team can contact me at joe@rocketscitech.com or through the Shir Shalom office.
Joe Morris
Last Updated on 12/25/2016 by wpadm