Jewish environmental thinking must move beyond prevention and personal responsibility

Climate change is here and worsening yet Jewish thinking and advocacy are still stuck in prevention mode

Even as we continue to push for sensible climate policy, we must make realistic plans to greet the future, as well.

Rather than doubling down on messages of prevention and personal responsibility, hoping to achieve a better result perhaps by being more emphatic about it, Jewish environmentalism must help people adapt to the stresses of our warmer world, offer consolation to those who are mourning the one that we are losing, and prevent us from treating the present climate as “normal” by reminding us of the truly normal climate that will soon be out of living memory.

READ MORE
Jewish environmental thought is not ready for the climate crisis. But our tradition is (JTA)

Photo: A man walking on cracked saltpan land scorched by heat waves in Mumbai, India, May 15, 2022. (Satish Bate/Hindustan Times via Getty Images)