JCAN holds educational webinars, conferences, workshops, book discussions, and talks on issues relating to climate change, including greening our synagogues, lifestyles, and homes. See details below.
UPCOMING WEBINARS (all times are Eastern Time)
9/24 Etudes for Elul. 7:00PM. The month of Elul is a time for reflection, a time for t'shuvah, of turning and re-turning to G!d and to our best selves, in preparation for the Days of Awe. It is time for heshbon hanefesh, examining our hearts and souls. Elul is a time to turn away from the ways in which we have missed the mark and to make restitution as needed. Rabbi Katy Allen gathers 'etude' writers every Elul to share their thoughts and reflections. This event will be an evening of reading etudes and reflecting on them by some of this year's etude writers. REGISTER HERE
9/24 Etudes for Elul. 7:00PM. The month of Elul is a time for reflection, a time for t'shuvah, of turning and re-turning to G!d and to our best selves, in preparation for the Days of Awe. It is time for heshbon hanefesh, examining our hearts and souls. Elul is a time to turn away from the ways in which we have missed the mark and to make restitution as needed. Rabbi Katy Allen gathers 'etude' writers every Elul to share their thoughts and reflections. This event will be an evening of reading etudes and reflecting on them by some of this year's etude writers. REGISTER HERE
Click on the button above if you would like a recording of any previous webinar
OVERVIEW OF JCAN WEBINARS (LISTED ALPHABETICALLY)
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ACCELERATING HEAT PUMPS: בַּעֲגָלָא וּבִזְמַן קָרִיב BRINGING SUSTAINABLE HEATING AND COOLING TO CONGREGATIONS SOON AND IN OUR TIMEDramatic new developments in heat pump deployment are poised to reduce the largest part of our carbon footprint. Prepare your house of worship and lead your community away from fossil-fuel heating and cooling. Click for more information |
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BEGINNINGS - TREE INSPIRATIONIn this interactive workshop, engage with a series of black and white photographs of trees, along with accompanying poetic moments and brief Jewish texts on the theme of Beginnings, from the forthcoming book, A Tree of Life by Rabbi Katy Allen, with photographs by Mary North Allen. Using the theme of beginnings to consider moments of personal change, in particular in response to climate change, participants will have the opportunity to respond to the images and texts with movement, in-the-moment art, and discussion. Rabbi Katy Allen will facilitate this workshop. |
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BENTSHMARKING WEBINARCalculating your synagogue's "benchmark" -- its carbon footprint -- provides a baseline for ongoing reduction efforts. The methodology is straightforward, all it takes is this webinar and 2-3 hours of concentration. Led by Fred Davis and members of the JCAN-MA Tech Council.. Learn to use the overhauled Bentshmarking spreadsheet MIPL-JCAN Carbon Calculator for Houses of Worship. For years, JCAN has trained green-teams in how to use this tool to calculate the carbon footprint of their synagogue facility. Contact [email protected] to get the materials in advance.
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CLIMATE GOALS NOW: WHAT'LL YOUR SYNAGOGUE'S CARBON IMPACT BE IN SEVEN YEARS?Our imperative to tikkun, repair, demands a climate commitment. How do we draw a target for reducing the synagogue's carbon impact? How deep a reduction? How long should it take? This webinar walks through the straightforward steps to provide the answers. In this workshop, we will learn how to craft bold targets to guide your community. Have you got climate chutzpah? Learn to set climate goals. Led by Fred Davis, VP pro tem of JCAN.
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COMMUNITY MEALS: OPPORTUNITIES AND STRATEGIES FOR JEWISH VALUES-BASED SUSTAINABLE EATINGOver the last few years, Jewish communities have grown increasingly concerned with sourcing food sustainably, and divesting support from conventional systems that harm animals, people, and the planet. During this webinar, hosted by the Jewish Initiative for Animals (JIFA) and JCAN-MA, we’ll discuss many of the reasons our food choices is a vital component of environmental action, and crucial for addressing the future of our Jewish and broader human communities. We’ll share tools and strategies that can help you engage your catering services, clergy, and peers to help your community align their food choices with their Jewish values. Join the Jewish movement toward building a kinder, more just, and more sustainable food system!
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COMPOST AND SOIL CARBONCompost is more than a natural fertilizer - it's a powerful tool in the fight against climate change! Please join Miranda Lachman of Bootstrap Compost to find out how compost not only prevents the creation of methane but also helps put atmospheric carbon back where it belongs - in the soil - and what you can do to start composting right now. Click here to request a copy of this webinar.
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Decarbonizers: Run a Decarbonizer ProgramIn this fun webinar-workshop, you'll learn how to run a "Decarbonizers" program this year. It's a super-powerful, super-easy, peer-to-peer program, designed to motivate members of YOUR local synagogue/community to substantially reduce carbon in their households. You'll work on the steps, how it fits into climate activism, also the obstacles. Taught by Fred Davis, President of JCAN-MA. He has been a leader, a professional and an advocate in the arena of clean energy since 1978.
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DIG DEEP: AFFECT CHANGE WITH STORIES FROM THE DEEP VOICETrying to convince people there is a climate crisis with common sense and science doesn’t work. People listen through their emotions, not through their reason. They respond to stories that connect them to their emotions, and real stories do that. In this six-week class, we work on simple techniques to write an emotional story from our authentic selves. Whether you want to explain the science of climate change or the Jewish concept of repairing the world, learn to write from your deep, authentic voice. You’ll wind up writing your story which then becomes everyone’s story and creates a community to affect change. Taught by Dr. Thea Iberall, author of The Swallow and the Nightingale and an inductee into the International Educators Hall of Fame. Thea has taught writing since 2005, focusing on teaching Jack Grapes' Method Writing techniques. Iberall has a Master’s Degree in Professional Writing from USC. www.theaiberall.com
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DIVESTMENT WEBINAROne of the easiest climate actions you can take is to simply stop supporting the fossil fuel industry! In addition to making reductions in our energy usage, we can easily eliminate support for fossil fuels in our retirement funds and other savings investments. We can divest from fossil fuel exposure and move our funds to renewable energy and even get better returns. Join socially and environmentally responsible Registered Investment Advisor representative David Schreiber to learn more. Greenvest is not a registered broker-dealer nor a registered investment advisor. Greenvest and Vanderbilt Financial Group are separate and unaffiliated entities. Vanderbilt Financial Group is the marketing name for Vanderbilt Securities, LLC and its affiliates. Securities offered through Vanderbilt Securities, LLC. Member FINRA, SIPC. Registered with MSRB. Clearing agent: Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solution. Advisory Services offered through Vanderbilt Advisory Services & Consolidated Portfolio Review. Clearing agents: Fidelity Clearing & Custody Solutions, Charles Schwab & TD Ameritrade. For additional information on services, disclosures, fees, and conflicts of interest, please visit www.vanderbiltfg.com/disclosures Insurance Services offered through Vanderbilt Insurance and other agencies. Supervising Office: 55 Main Street, Suite 415 Newmarket, NH 03857 603-659-7626
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FOOTPRINT ... FOODPRINT?: CLIMATE – ENERGY – FOODThis session is for all climate activists, and addresses this critical issue: What percentage of the average American's carbon footprint is from food? It's surprisingly not a quickly-google-able question. Will include a short, related, discussion about a problem with Jonathan Safran Foer's (otherwise) great recent book. Click here to request a copy of this webinar.
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GARDENING FOR HEALTH AND RESILIENCE: YOURS AND THE PLANET’SWhether it's an old-school 'Victory Garden', an urban homestead, or a community garden, growing food in living soil near one's home is healthy for both people and planet. Join climate activist and veteran restorative gardener Louise Quigley for an interactive discussion about home-grown food, how it can help put carbon back where it belongs, and how you can get started right now. Click here to request a copy of this webinar.
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GARDENING AT YOUR SYNAGOGUEA synagogue garden doesn’t have to contain acres planted to maximum capacity to be an amazing community and educational project. Rabbi Michael Birnholz of Temple Beth Shalom, Vero Beach, FL, will explore a collection of Jewish garden concepts that show how much we can do with as little as one pot. We will not only consider themes for garden plantings but also ways to bring the garden into our rituals, practices, and learning. Click here to request a copy of this webinar.
Rabbi Michael Birnholz was ordained at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion. Over the more than fifteen years that Rabbi Birnholz has been in Indian River County, he and his family have had a chance to grow in body, mind and spirit right along with Temple Beth Shalom. From the biblical garden to tot Shabbat, from men's club breakfast to adult learning while making challah, Rabbi Birnholz is proud to be part of vibrant and meaningful life of his congregation. Rabbi Birnholz has also enjoyed his wide variety of community opportunities to teach and preach Jewish values and wisdom.
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SACRED GROUNDS WITH NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATIONWe can invite native wildlife back to their original habitats by replacing all or part of our lawns with native plants and in the process help put carbon back where it belongs. Sacred Grounds™ is a program of the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) that focuses on bringing native plants back to the green spaces of congregations of all faiths. JCAN-MA is excited to partner with NWF, Communities Responding to Extreme Weather (CREW), and Meadowmaking for Biodiversity to bring this program to congregations in the Northeast.
During these two sessions, we learned how native plants foster healthy, carbon-sequestering soils, how people of all faiths can utilize their green spaces to care for creation, and how congregations can identify and solve common problems related to changing their grounds. The Sacred Grounds program is designed to be flexible and easily adapted to meet participants’ key needs and interests, providing tools to help them achieve their visions for healthier communities and ecosystems. We were joined by Naomi Edelson, NWF’s Senior Director of Wildlife Partnerships and a featured speaker in the film Hometown Habitat, Dr. Manja Holland, Regional Education Manager for NWF’s Great Lakes Regional Center, filmmaker Catherine Zimmerman, Native Plant Trust botanist Neela de Zoysa, Barbara Passero and Jean Devine, founders of Meadowscaping for Biodiversity, Reverend Betsy Sowers and Grace Peters from the Old Cambridge Baptist Church. They help participants learn how native plants foster healthy, carbon-sequestering soils while at the same time invite wildlife to return to their native environments, and how people and congregations of all faiths can utilize their green spaces to care for creation. Click here to request a copy of this webinar. Questions? Email Deb Nam-Krane, JCAN-MA’s Soil and Agriculture Committee Chair |
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SUPPORT FOR CLERGY IN THE TIME OF CLIMATE CHANGE WEBINARAt this critical moment in the climate crisis, we address the question of how we grapple with the reality that humanity's actions and inactions now are determining what our future will look like. The Jewish Climate Action Network-MA provides this webinar for rabbis and other spiritual leaders, to support and encourage them in their roles as leaders of synagogues either somewhat involved or yet-to-be involved in climate action. Together Rabbi Katy Allen, JCAN-MA President, and Fred Davis, JCAN-MA Vice President, will provide a forum for discussion and a series of possible entry points for congregational involvement.
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JCAN BOOK DISCUSSION CLUB
Our titles will explore our connection to soil, plants, trees, and wildlife, as well as the ways in which they can be part of the fight against climate change. (Have a title you think fits? Want to moderate a discussion? Let us know.) To sign up, email [email protected].
Previous books we’ve read:
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