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We all want to be like The Wise Son, who thoughtfully asks: What can I do to help the world? But, in all honesty, we are often like The Wicked Son, consuming and wasting unnecessarily. Perhaps we are The Simple Son and don’t know how to make a difference… or even The Son Who Doesn’t Even Know How to Ask and we don’t know where to begin.
This Pesaech as families gather together around the world to celebrate freedom, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) would like to applaud you, the world-wide Jewish community, and our supporters. Your commitments to Israel have made it possible for all Jews around the world to have the freedom to go home and root themselves in greened communities throughout the land of Israel prepared by the JNF. Trees planted by you help to have a more positive impact on the atmosphere surrounding the globe. As it is said in a Kenyan proverb: the Earth was not given to us by our parents, it was placed in our trust by our children. The Wise Son has responded to the need to care for our land and the people that live on it.
With the disengagement from the Gaza Strip in 2005, The Wise Son set to work preparing new homes for evacuees as well as building security bypass roads along the new border to protect residents as they travel to work and school. The Wise Son’s security roads built along the Lebanon border in 2000 proved vital during the 2006 war with Hezbollah, ensuring freedom of passage for both residents and the IDF. When 4,000 rockets rained down on northern Israel, The Wise Son launched an emergency campaign to take children out of bomb shelters to summer camps for a week of respite from the violence, as well as to provide firefighting equipment to foresters, who risked their lives to save forests set ablaze by rocket fire.
“And what could be done about the children of Sderot?” the Simple Son asked. The Wise Son responded by preserving the freedom of residents along this volatile border. During the summer of 2008 The Wise Son took children from Sderot -- the target of constant rocket attacks from the neighboring Gaza Strip -- to summer camps outside of Jerusalem. And to make a lasting impact on the community, The Wise Son constructed a state-of-the-art indoor recreational center in Sderot, the largest of its kind in Israel; to provide a safe place for children to have fun, connect with friends, and never have to ask “who will take care of us”?
The Wise Son has taken on the responsibility to develop the land of Israel and care for freedom and well-being of all its children. On Peseach we ask questions to open a discussion, we take actions to provoke questions. Peseach is a time of particular expense and consumerism; what can you do differently this Peseach to open the environmental discussions with The Sons Who Don’t Even Know How to Ask? We could be The Wicked Son and thoughtlessly waste. Or we can all be The Wise Son and step up to the moral imperative to care for our earth: reducing, reusing and recycling, saving our pockets and our planet. Let us ensure a better world for our children and children’s children.
Join the JNF Pesach Collection, bring your cleaned recyclables to Beyachad, (2 Elray St. Radene) between the 12th & 15th April and we will ensure that your good intentions are in fact achieved.
Rinse/wash and recycle: Foil backing pans, Counter plastic, Wine bottles (all glass bottles), Grape juice (all plastic containers) bottles, Cool drink cans and bottles, Tins (tuna etc) Meat, fish & veg trays (provided they bare the 3 arrow recycle triangle), Matzo, egg boxes (all card boxes)
Tips: Crumbles egg shells and tea bags make great garden or pot plant food.
Consider starting a compost heap with your organic waste and plate scrapings
This Peseach, as we say “next year in Jerusalem” may we remember the freedom we each enjoy. Perhaps next year we will be saying, “next year in a GREEN Jerusalem”! Chag Sameach from the Jewish National Fund!
"You are not obligated to complete the task, but neither are you free to desist from it" (Pirke Avot 2:21)
It is old adages that if you want to know if something is important than all you have to do is follow the money. Indeed one of the most talked about political speeches of the year is the budget recently delivered in parliament. Therefore it is unusual how little attention the environment has gotten in the past few years, considering its growing importance. In the last years of Trevor Manuals budget he started talking vaguely about “greening” the budget at some indeterminable date in the future. It seems the winds of change are greener under Pravin Gordan. His inaugural budget speech featured a number of green initiatives including, water security measures, steps toward carbon taxes and a serious consideration of renewable energy and green infrastructure.
On the one hand, as South Africans, we should be pleased. It is good that our government has started taking a firmer stance on saving our country’s natural resources. However, we should be careful of simply letting the issue lie there. It is natural for people to feel that now that the government is “doing something” it is no longer our concern. There is however a big difference between pleasant sounding speeches and the actual hard work of improving our environment.
In addition, we should also be aware of a sort of fatalism that tends to overcome people when thinking about the environment. The world seems like a big place with large countries like China and America, and if they won’t do anything, what difference does South Africa make? Even worse they tend to absolve themselves from any responsibility rationalising their contributions to such a cause are too small to make a difference.
These notions are misguided, for years the clarion call of environmentalists has been to think global, act local. While one might not be able to do something about rubbish removal in America, this does not mean that this is not an issue in Johannesburg. This city also suffers with overflowing waste dumps, which can be reduced through reuse and recycling. The fact is that difficult and cumbersome environmental problems tend to make themselves felt in the lives of ordinary people on the ground; who, in turn, have the power to help solve them.
Nowhere better do we see this principle in action than in Israel. One hundred years it was a barren wasteland barely inhabitable by people. Today the desert has bloomed and the land maintains in excess of 8 million souls. This was not done by large multinationals or by waiting for other states to start the job. Instead it was the result of ordinary people planting the extraordinary number of 260 million trees. It was the work The Jewish National Fund (JNF), and others like them, who helped to develop the thousands of green spaces that dot the country wherever you go.
This has also left a legacy; Israel is currently working on the infrastructure for a nationwide fleet of electric cars. This would make it the first country in the world to do so. Similar feats apply in the application of water saving devices and the roll out of solar power. Indeed, a small county has made a big global difference.
Recently the UN has made a commitment to planting 1 billion trees. Of these Israel has decided to contribute 6 million, again way in excess their size. The South African branch of the JNF would like to contribute 210 000 of these life-giving trees. Small as we are we can make a real difference in helping to reach this number. Our schools, shuls and community are already showing leadership on this issue. They are ready to reduce, reuse and recycle, and plant trees. Now it is your turn: act local, act now.
The greatest threat facing our world today is global warming. Glaciers are melting causing the sea level to rise, as we’ve seen in recent weeks severe storms are becoming more regular and destructive. Without help, rising temperatures can have very disastrous effects on our planet, including intense heat waves, droughts and wildfires, the spread of new viral strains and species extinction.
The burning of fossil fuels (oil, coal and natural gas) for energy, like driving cars and flying planes releases carbon dioxide and other gases into the air to create a “Carbon Footprint” on the earth. As an individual, business or organization you can calculate your carbon footprint and then offset your carbon footprint by planting trees with JNF South Africa. Global warming is a continuous problem and reducing our carbon footprints needs on-going commitment. Therefore, it is also an alternative option to make a monthly tree planting commitment with JNF.
Going carbon neutral is the responsibility of every human being on the planet. Just as Israel has been for 100 years, the Jewish community has the opportunity to be the leaders of environmental change here in South Africa. JNF has launched a new global warming education and action campaign called: We have a goal to plant 201,000 trees and need everyone’s help!
We believe that due to our shared devotion of environmental values and our shared commitment to ensuring a future for the next generation, you are an ideal partner for furthering this world saving mission of planting trees with JNF. Please consider starting your tree-planting legacy with us today.
Reduce the harm that we do by recycling and reusing materials; we can have a positive and healthy impact by helping to repopulate the planet with carbon-absorbing, life-giving trees.
For more information please contact:
Laura Siegel 011-645-2529 or Laura@beyachad.co.za - Amber Cummins 011-645-3529 or Amber@beyachad.co.za
JNF has planted trees in Israel for over 100 years and has planted more than 260 million trees thereby absorbing 110 million tons of carbon from the entire world. Through JNF South Africa’s diverse environmental initiatives, there is potential to plant hundreds of thousands of more trees in Israel and South Africa, therefore reducing carbon footprints and global warming around the entire world.
Contact Us
011 645-2541
jnf@beyachad.co.za
www.jnf.co.za
www.onetreeonegoal.com
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