Kensington rabbi heads to U.N. climate conference
Temple Emanuel leader says protecting environment is moral imperative
The green shall inherit the Earth.
So goes the message of Rabbi Warren Stone of Temple Emanuel in Kensington, who will head to Copenhagen, Denmark, from Monday through Dec. 10 as an official delegate at the United Nations Climate Change Conference.
Known for his environmental activism both at Temple Emanuel and within the Jewish community at large, Stone was selected to represent the Central Conference of American Rabbis, the Union for Reform Judaism, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Earth Day Network and the National Religious Coalition on Creation Care, on which he serves as co-chairman, by bringing a statement to the summit on the moral importance of mitigating climate change.
Stone will blow the shofar, "the most significant Jewish symbol of awakening," and hold prayer vigils with other religious leaders as a call to action to stop climate change.
"It's one of the most significant spiritual issues of our generation," Stone said.
"Climate Change: Thinking Outside the Box," an abstract written by Stone for the U.N. session in Copenhagen, was presented at the International Congress of Scientists in Copenhagen in March in preparation for the upcoming summit, and will also be included in the materials presented next week.
In it, Stone calls for a populist green movement similar to the Civil Rights Movement to spur action on climate change, and wrote that "Faith communities can now help support the kind of political change and bold action necessary to preserve and protect life."
Dave Heffernan, the director of communications at Bethesda Green, a nonprofit organization that encourages green practices in business, government and daily life, said the faith-based community is a key part of "any great movement."
"As a matter of fact we sort of encourage faith-based community networking," Heffernan said. "They're community leaders and they play a critical role in the green movement without a doubt, and actually a lot of them have been way out in front."
Heffernan said often different faiths can come together, as happened in the Civil Rights Movement, to form an ecumenical alliance for a common moral purpose.
Stone also represented the world Jewish community at the 1997 U.N. climate change talks in Kyoto, Japan, an experience Stone called "extraordinary, although disappointing in how the United States didn't really act in terms of Kyoto."
The United States refused to sign on to the Kyoto Protocol, a document in which nations agreed to reduce emissions. The Kyoto Protocol will expire in 2012, and the summit in Copenhagen is intended to craft its replacement.
President Barack Obama has announced his intention to attend the summit, a step in the right direction in the eyes of Stone.
"I hope to have an opportunity to hear him and I say bravo to Obama," Stone said. "This is the world stage and it's essential for the United States to speak out on climate change."
Stone said he anticipates several small commitments to reduce carbon emissions to come from the Copenhagen conference, rather than one large agreement like Kyoto. But what's really important, Stone said, is what comes after Copenhagen. Stone, who serves on the Global Advisory Board of Earth Day, will also promote Earth Day Network's new campaign, "Taking the Baton from Copenhagen." April 22, 2010 will mark the milestone of the 40th Anniversary of Earth Day, which was founded by Gaylord Nelson, a former Wisconsin senator that retired in Kensington until his death in 2005.
Stone said government entities, schools, and religious institutions need to begin setting the example by "greening," but changes in the daily life of individuals is also necessary.
"We need a shift in culture, we need to start living more simply and think about sustainability and it's happening now," Stone said.
Stone wrote in his abstract that good stewardship of the planet is something all faiths should be able to agree on, and religious leadership can play a critical role in reducing greenhouse gases, mobilizing billions of believers into a more sustainable lifestyle.
"In a world where matters of faith seem so often and so tragically to divide us, there is no issue that aligns us more deeply than our shared dependence upon and sacred responsibility to this tiny planet, enfolded within its fragile atmosphere, spinning in the vastness of time and space."