A ‘zero emissions community’
Four guest speakers addressed a Jewish Community Council of Victoria climate plenum to discuss the ways in which they are reducing carbon emissions within their organisations.
What would it take to become a zero emissions Jewish community? This was the question posed and the main focus of the Jewish Community Council of Victoria (JCCV)’s climate plenum on Monday, hosted in conjunction with the Jewish Climate Network (JCN).
JCN is one of the JCCV’s 52 affiliate organisations, and president of the JCCV Daniel Aghion said that they were invited to address the plenum so they could “share their plans for a ‘zero emissions Jewish community’ with key community representatives”.
JCN CEO Joel Lazar took those in attendance through the steps of becoming a zero emissions community, highlighting the importance of doing so as, “our area particularly and literally where we are sitting now at Beth Weizmann is a particularly hot area because of the way Glen Eira and this area has been built.”
He added, “This area can go as high as 12 degrees higher or hotter than regular surrounding suburbs in our area,” highlighting that “it’s not something that’s just happening to nature and animals far away. It’s happening to us.”
Lazar also outlined steps for individuals and organisations to take in order to start reducing their emissions, those being to introduce a climate policy, work on climate leadership, go solar and track their emissions.
Four guest speakers addressed the plenum to discuss the ways in which they are reducing carbon emissions within their organisations.
Speakers included The King David School COO Rod Kenning, AZYC chairperson Morgan Rothschild, Maccabi Victoria board member Sharon Roseman and Erdi Foundation CEO and director Simone Szalmuk-Singer.
Kenning said that The King David School is on a journey “to becoming a carbon neutral school or a carbon zero school”, and have actively taken steps to do so including selling a school bus to encourage the use of public transport for excursions as well as switching to solar power.
Aghion told The AJN, “It was inspiring to hear about the work the JCN is doing and also to learn how others – our schools, community groups and Jewish-led private organisations – are already taking action towards zero emissions.
“The Jewish community is rich with activists and volunteers committed to making our world a better place. I was pleased that the JCCV Plenum passed a climate change policy [on Monday] that calls on the Australian Jewish community to take steps toward addressing climate change and demonstrating environmental responsibility.”
More info: jcn.org.au/zero_emissions_jewish_community
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