founded in 2000 by nigel savage, hazon has impacted thousands upon thousands of people, jewish and non-jewish, across the united states and israel as the “largest faith-based environmental organization in the u.s.” their work takes many forms and contexts over the last twenty years as they continue to be a resource and teacher to the jewish community on the path to sustainability. hazon’s mission is deeply rooted in the jewish value of tikkun olam, repairing the world, as evidenced by their mission statement: “we are in a global environmental crisis. jewish tradition compels us to respond.” calling themselves “the jewish lab for sustainability,” hazon uses jewish traditions and values, innovation, education, and community to bring environmentalism into the jewish community.  

i spoke to two people who work at hazon, wren hack, director of hazon detroit, and shamu sadeh, managing director of education at the isabella freedman jewish retreat center in falls village, ct, to talk about their work and the work of hazon as a whole. 

hazon has a presence in a number of cities across the country, including detroit. wren hack calls detroit a “lab for hazon,” where they have the opportunity to “create and execute new programs here that we believe and hope will be replicable for other communities.” they have had several events focusing on local and sustainable food, grains and beans in particular. at an event last year called “breaking bread together,” they were able to support a local farm and its regenerative farming practices by bringing in community members to learn about the grain they grow and the process of making bread, from grain to loaf. they also built an outdoor bread oven on the property and donated bags of flour and grains back to the community. another group hazon has worked with is the oakland avenue urban farm, a local nonprofit. here, hazon serves as a supporting partner, helping them to write grants and get funding for various projects. hack talked about the role of hazon in this case of asking what the community needs and making sure to really listen. hazon is mostly made up of white suburbanites, and the farm is an urban, black community organization. they focus on providing support and resources, approaching from a place of building a relationship as neighbors, acknowledging the imbalances. with the successes of these and similar programs, they are looking at how they can be replicated in other communities.  

the hazon jewish food festival is one of their most popular events every year. more than 7,000 people were in attendance in 2019. the main attraction, of course, is the food from local farms and vendors, but they also have sustainable arts and crafts, opportunities to learn about things like composting and rain barrels. it is a chance to expose many people to ideas and possibilities of sustainable food. organizations who have participated in the hazon seal of sustainability program, one of hazon’s major national programs, and received the seal of sustainability also table at the event and have the opportunity to show the community what projects they are working on. 

hack also spoke on the seal of sustainability. through this program, “sites” like synagogues, jewish community centers, and jewish day schools can undergo a series of audits that determine their sustainability strengths and weaknesses. from there, the site can choose an area they want to improve on and can receive a grant for $1000 to put towards a specific project. projects can include anything from changing to led light bulbs, going from plastic foam cups to glass cups, or buying local organic eggs. at the end of the year, the site is expected to take up the continuing costs, but can apply for a grant towards another project. the program also provides staff and community resources to support the effort. detroit is home to over 20 sites, with plans and funding to reach many more in the next few years. since the first year in 2016, there have been over 80 participating sites across the country. 

the isabella freedman jewish retreat center, which became part of hazon in 2014, is another major part of what hazon does. the retreat center is located in rural connecticut on 400 acres of land. the highlights of the grounds include the main building with beautiful art, cozy chairs, and a dining hall that serves incredible food, much of it grown on the farm on the property. there are cabins and more hotel-like lodging for guests to stay in, as well as a few yurts. there are trails and a lake to enjoy, and, of course, the farm and animals. they host various events throughout the year, including many centering on jewish holidays as well as yoga retreats, and other interest-based programs. 

the retreat center has been doing jewish, educational outdoor programming since 1994 when it started the teva (“nature”) learning center in conjunction with surprise lake camp. for over 25 years teva has provided thousands of jewish children with the opportunity to learn about the importance of nature and ways that they can help take care of the earth in their own lives. shamu sadeh co-founded adamah (“ground” or “earth”) in 2003 at isabella freedman. adamah is a three-month residential leadership program for jewish young adults interested in exploring the relationship between their judaism and the environment, particularly through stewardship and farming. “it was a way for us to put all these things together,” sadeh said. “intentional community, creative jewish spirituality, greening this institution, farming, celebrating [sabbath] after a week of hard work in the field, experiencing blessings over food when you’ve grown the food yourself, a real kind of do-it-yourself and empowerment oriented version of jewish community.” the jewish outdoor, food, farming & environmental education (jofee) fellowship is another similar program. fellows spend two weeks at the retreat center learning from hazon staff and field experts before going out into jewish communities where they help develop and lead programs that integrate the focuses of the program. sadeh noted the impact that the many alum of these programs have had in the international jewish community in camps, jewish community centers, and other similar settings, saying it is “[t]he biggest shift in the world we helped create.” 

one of the most surprising things to come out of isabella freedman, sadeh said, was the christian groups who have been coming to them to ask how to build something like isabella freedman in their own communities. sadeh attributes this outcome to the chapter that highlighted them in “soil and sacrament: a spiritual memoir of food and faith,” by author fred bahnson who came to the center for a week to write about it. christian groups look to them as a model of how to integrate faith, food, farming, and community and want to replicate what they have done. one relationship that has been created is with the wake forest divinity school. for two years, students were brought to isabella freedman to learn, and for the third year, sadeh went and taught at the school in their food and spirituality program. other groups include other retreat centers, a farm in the midwest looking to incorporate faith, local churches, and documentary makers, all interested in learning about what isabella freedman is doing. 

i asked both hack and sadeh what they felt the impact of hazon has been. “hazon catalyzed jewish food movement,” sadeh said, referring to the infusion of ancient values and ideas about food that the organization has brought and adapted to contemporary life. he went on to say that “people can connect to food and earth and evolve their tradition,” a sentiment that hack echoed. she spoke to the effect that hazon has through all of its different programs and locations, and all of those conversations “[have] an impact because we have an impact on thousands and thousands of people” and it all adds up, especially when they bring those conversations back to their communities and continue them. 

the climate is at a tipping point. hazon provides jewish people and communities, opportunities to take actions that not only coexists with but amplifies jewish values and living. it has built a foundation of education and community organized around shared identity, experiences, and values to address the most immediate crisis the world is facing. the potential for religious organizations to take these actions is shown in hazon’s work, and others are following their lead.

but amid the environmental wreckage, some trees remain untouched. these trees are wrapped in iconic bright orange robes and deemed sacred, protected from harm and destruction. these trees have been ordained as monks.

at a time when pope francis is calling upon religious leaders to step up as environmental advocates, thai buddhist monks are answering the call. through rituals like tree ordinations, some monks in thailand are integrating buddhist principles into the environmental movement in order to garner support from their followers and encourage sustainable practices.

dr. susan darlington, professor of anthropology and asian studies at hampshire college in the u.s. and author of the book the ordination of a tree, explains that protecting trees is a form of merit-making, an important practice in buddhism. by accumulating merit through performing good deeds, buddhists are ensuring a better next life and taking a step closer to reaching enlightenment and, ultimately, nirvana.

“making merit is extremely important for thai buddhists,” darlington said. “they see (tree ordination ceremonies) as an act of making merit, which can help with rebirth and, in some cases, having a better life now.”

one of the primary goals in the buddhist religion is to end suffering, and the forests of thailand are certainly suffering.

“there are places in northern thailand, particularly in nan province, where there has been a lot of deforestation, so the watersheds areas fill the water with mud, silt, and pesticide runoff causing more severe flooding in the rainy season and more severe drought in the dry season,” said gordon congdon, the conservation program manager for wwf-thailand. “in many ways, climate change is amplifying problems that are already existing.”

with over 90% of the thai population practicing buddhism, monks hold an influential role as leaders to whom people look for guidance in all aspects of life.

“they become the leader that people would trust,” said dr. chaya vaddhanaphuti, a geography professor at chiang mai university whose ph.d. studies focused on climate change. “if i asked the farmers who they would choose to trust between government officers and the monks, they would choose the latter.”

with such an immense amount of influence in villages throughout thailand, monks are utilizing their position to add a unique moral dimension to the environmental movement. however, rituals alone are not enough.

although buddhism is typically a religion famed for its detachment from society, ecology monks believe that their religion is inherently tied to nature. buddhist monks like phrakhu ajan somkit, who is based in nan province in northern thailand where deforestation is an issue of major concern, are entering the political sphere to consult with government officials on environmental initiatives and rights for rural farmers. other monks, like phrakhu win mektripop, an ecology monk based in bangkok, are trying to find more sustainable solutions to everyday problems by implementing solar panels in temples and helping villagers create cheap huts out of mud and natural materials.

“when the buddha was born, he was born under the tree. he was enlightened under the tree. his first sermon was under the tree. we can see that most of his life was related to the forest,” said phra win. with a master’s degree in environmental economics from chulalongkorn university, phra win understands how important agriculture is to the rural population of thailand.

as thailand shifted from a low-income to an upper-income society in less than a generation, however, sustainability hasn’t exactly been the focus of the country’s economic development. for instance, big companies like cp all public, which owns over 10,000 7-eleven stores in thailand, are taking advantage of the rapid pace of growth by contracting rural farmers to mass-produce monocrops like maize and rice.

“they plant corn, they harvest it, they sell it to the big company and earn just about enough to pay off their debt,” said congdon. “it creates this vicious cycle of dependency on the large companies and the farmers never get ahead, which leads to more and more deforestation.”

seeing no other options, these farmers continue unsustainable practices that are stripping the soil of valuable nutrients and plunging them deeper into debt. however, ecology monks are working to provide an alternative that is beneficial to both the environment and the people.

another one of the most harmful environmental issues in thailand is simply a lack of knowledge.

“when i lived with the farmers during my ph.d. studies, they never used the term climate change,” said vaddhanaphuti. “however, they knew that the climate had changed from how it was affecting their farms.”

in order to help teach rural farmers about the environment, phrakhu sangkom thanapanyo khunsuri, a prominent ecology monk based in chiang mai, developed an alternative farming school through his temple in chonburi called the maab-euang meditation center for sufficiency economy. with 49 full-time students this year, phra sangkom mixes buddhist concepts of personal reflection and a theory called “sufficiency economy.” this theory was developed by the previous thai king, bhumibol adulyadej, and encourages subsistence farming, self-sufficiency, and a detachment from material goods.

along with teaching classes at his school and working in the field, phra sangkom often travels throughout surin and chiang mai on speaking tours to bring his philosophy directly to the people. each speech typically has over 100 attendees, he says.

“if the people understand that the jungle gives them oxygen, water, good food, medicine, and clothes, do you think they are going to help protect it?” phra sangkom asked as he gestured to his own farm, which was filled with mangoes, bananas, rice, and more. “of course!”

ecology monks like phra sangkom have been marked as leading environmental advocates in thailand, but some have also been marked with a target on their back.

as their environmental influence spreads throughout thailand, monks are helping to obtain more community forest rights for indigenous people and farmers, which takes land away from both the government and logging and oil companies. some monks have been prosecuted by the thai government for their controversial activism. others have been assassinated, like phrakhu supoj suvacano, an ecology monk involved in trying to prevent the land around a meditation center in chiang mai from being converted into a tangerine farm.

even in the face of these threats, many ecology monks continue their work, which has started to receive help and support from other outlets, like local universities and ngos.

“we are figuring out how we can bring the buddhists who are just sitting and meditating out into the world to deal with the suffering,” said somboon chungprampree, executive director of the international network of engaged buddhists, an organization which is working to connect activist buddhists and non-buddhists from all over asia. “there is not just personal suffering; there is social and environmental suffering out there and people need to figure out how they can help as a buddhist.”

however, their experience today is very different than it would have been in jesus christ’s era.

the jordan river is a very different river. about 96% of the jordan’s original water flow has been diverted for human use and the little water that does remain is polluted with saline and untreated sewage. the pilgrims are bathing in filth.

but christians aren’t the only religious group who should be concerned. all three abrahamic religions, including islam and judaism, have strong cultural and spiritual ties to the river, enunciated through both rituals and scripture.

one vanguard nonprofit, ecopeace middle east, has decided to translate these faith ties to into action in hopes of rehabilitating the jordan river to its biblical grandeur. through their ‘faith-based action for the lower jordan river’ program, ecopeace seeks to connect christians, jews and muslims from israel, palestine and jordan to clean up one of their main sources of freshwater and spiritual connection. and hopefully, cultivate peace among these peoples in the process.

“the inspiration behind the program was to find an approach to engage other stakeholders,” said elizabeth yaari, ecopeace jordan river rehabilitation project organizer. “there is an enormous value in connecting the communication to peoples’ heritage and identity.”

to cultivate this connection and communication, ecopeace is working from the bottom up. the organization developed the jordan river covenant, a document endorsed by local religious leaders outlining a vision of a healthy river, and a collection of sourcebooks demonstrating each religion’s unique connection to the river. in addition, eco peace has led tours and directed events with religious leaders and congregations around the world to extend the scope of the conversation.

“there are thousands of religious tourists each year and they expect to see this jordan river ‘deep and wide.’ instead, they see this tiny river of sludge and it’s just such a shock,” said mira edelstein, ecopeace tel aviv regional jordan river rehabilitation project coordinator.

a history of conflict

because of the region’s arid climate and scarcity of freshwater, the jordan river basin is and always has been a sacred resource for surrounding communities. people have sought to control it, command it and prevent others to access it. people have used it to define borders and split communities. people have used it as a divider.

conflicts over water rights in the region have persisted throughout history, re-emerging in the arab-israeli war of 1948, the jordanian-israeli peace deal, and the syrian civil war. each country was looking to protect their water interests even if it was at the expense of another. it was a method of grab and take shrouded in policy.

“each player has grabbed as much water as they can,” edelstein explained. “there is no conservation, no coordination about who takes how much.”

this legacy of conflict has left the jordan river devastated. all bordering countries have engaged in large-scale water diversion projects to drain the upstream flow of the jordan for personal or commercial use. the downstream tributaries of the jordan are only kept alive today by a steady stream of untreated sewage emanating from jerusalem.

holy waters

like the jordan river, religion is often thought to be a divider. it has been used to distinguish peoples from one another and even as a just cause of violence. however, religion has also forged supportive communities and been a vehicle for connecting these communities together. religion can be a bridge for the jordan river.

“the old and new testament and the quran talk about how important it is for people to be good stewards of this earth that god is lending to us,” edelstein said. “we all need to take responsibility and pass it down to the next generation, and when you point it out this way to a religious community, they can connect so easily.”

in judaism, the river is an embodiment of connection and a symbol of hope, as symbolized in the stories of elijah the prophet and the sons of isaac. in christianity, the river is the ultimate symbol of purity and its water is regarded as the most holy. in islam, the river was a key battleground for islamic expansion and a sacred burial site of close companions to the prophet. for all, the river brings life.

traditions shepherd change

the solution for the jordan river might not be as shiny and hi-tech as some hackers in tel aviv might imagine, but instead a return to traditions already in place. ecopeace aims to bring the reality of the jordan river to the forefront of community discussion and encourage action-based responses to help.

according to yaari, the campaign was very successful in the liberal strains of the three religions, whereas the conservative strains were much harder to tap into and would likely need a strong voice from within the community to promote action. but mainly, ecopeace is just happy they got people talking.

“our biggest success was actually our stakeholder consultation interviews. we planted a seed in communities that weren’t talking about this before,” yaari said. “i’d like to think we initiated the dialogue.”

the overarching goal of ecopeace’s program isn’t to clean up the jordan river, but rather to create a collective culture of peoples who are willing to overcome their differences and work together for the common good.

“we’re trying to show each group that they can benefit from collective action,” edelstein explained. “most of what we are doing is breaking down the conflict-mindset and making people understand that we’re all in this together.”

in a region so concerned with borders, ecopeace is building a bridge.

the night after the murder, a vigil was held at the site. scenobia taylor, an african-american elder, received a vision from god which inspired her to donate 5 acres of her land so that the community may heal. she gave it to the cedar grove united methodist church, of which a majority of its congregants are white — a move that angered some but laid the groundwork for a place of reconciliation.

at the same time, pastor grace hackney of cgumc was attempting to address food insecurity in the community. when mrs. taylor approached her with the offer of land, she recognized that this was an opportunity to create a place that could provide both food and friendship. 

1. community-funded journalism could be a boon for sustainability reporting through report for america

(image: roger h. goun)

a proposal, funded by the ford foundation, introduced the concept of “report for america,” a new model for local journalism that would borrow from the tradition of national and community service programs like teach for america and peace corps. this is important because the current ad-based business model supports content generation in a way that fails to encourage reporting that has limited appeal to advertisers and readers — for example, a series of articles about brownfield redevelopment may have high civic value even if it generates few page views. if funded, a program like this would support community-based coverage and fill gaps in media in an efficient manner that benefits everybody.

2. more than half the world’s biggest aquifers are disappearing

ground-water flow paths vary greatly in length, depth and travel time from points of recharge to points of discharge in the groundwater system. (image: t.c. winter, j.w. harvey, o.l. franke and w.m. alley, courtesy of wikimedia commons)