Letter to The Jewish Week (07/27/2007)
Being Green
I applaud your editorial calling on the Jewish community to press for greater energy independence and increased environmental sensitivity (“Not Easy Being Green,” July 13, 2007). But two comments fell short of the mark.

First, you write, “Suddenly, the Jewish community is going green…” You cite the American Jewish Committee as one example. In our case, it is far from sudden. Indeed, you have highlighted our efforts in The Jewish Week. We were the first nonprofit agency to offer our staff cash incentives to buy fuel-efficient vehicles. The popular program is now in its second year and has also spurred some corporations and other nonprofits to do the same. Moreover, the “greening” of our building in New York didn’t begin yesterday, and, again, we are pleased that others have followed suit.

Second, you call on “the organizations that represent us in Washington … to become more assertive in demanding that national leaders move quickly” on energy-saving legislation. We have been trying to do just that uninterruptedly since the mid-1970s. Today we have in place at AJC, staff specialists on energy, a top-flight National Energy Commission, a full-throttled Advocacy Task Force and 32 chapters across the country that have mobilized, often in wide-ranging coalitions, to press our legislators.

For the past six years, I have had a weekly 60-second commentary on the CBS Radio Network. Many spots have been devoted to the energy and environmental challenges. In the early years, I received frequent letters from Jewish listeners asking what these issues had to do with the Jewish community and why we were “wasting” our time on them. No longer. There is now a growing awareness of the centrality of these issues for our future as Jews, citizens of free societies and custodians of this planet. And that awareness doesn’t come a moment too soon.

It is high time for our elected officials to act with courage and vision. That means all our voices need to be heard loud and clear in the corridors of power.

David A. Harris
Executive Director American Jewish Committee
Manhattan