September 2025 Newsletter Eco-Judaism update

The Eco Judaism team have been busy behind the scenes these past three months.
We are now linked in to the national Eco Judaism WhatsApp group which gives us the opportunity to see many of the initiatives happening in other communities, especially with regard to biodiversity. It also gives us a profile, albeit a small one, so for example, others now know about our fortnightly Eco Corners.
Another benefit of being linked to other groups is that we can join in with national campaigns and petitions linked to respecting the environment. Recently, we signed the Faith based Oceans Charter demanding clean seas, timed to coincide with the UN Ocean conference in Nice in June 2025 . This multi-faith Declaration for the Ocean emphasized our spiritual and moral commitments to marine conservation and was signed by over 80 faith based organisations: https://www.oceans.faith/sign#declaration-top The health of our oceans and the dangers of industrial fishing practices are issues we all need to pay more attention to.
Another recent initiative has been a sharing of Eco-ideas with Michelle of Neve Shalom, Leicester progressive Jewish congregation. They have a very active Eco-Judaism team and often organise collaborative events with other local groups, for example Quakers. This can make events such as talks or film showings more viable, and they recently showed the film Six Inches of Soil, which is about the need for and the value of healthy soil. https://www.liberaljudaism.org/2024/11/how-the-power-of-community-can-drive-positive-change/)
This is an idea we may be able to make use of in 3CLJCin the future.
Our most recent Eco Judaism initiative in the community has been exploring the ethical dimension of cut flowers. As mentioned in the article about Shavuot, the cut flower business is also often sadly about ignoring the Eco dimension of growing, transporting and selling flowers. While there are times when we may need to order flowers grown abroad, in most cases we can easily find sustainably grown flowers locally. See: https://www.flowersfromthefarm.co.uk/
Looking ahead, although a way off yet, we are starting to plan our Eco-Shabbat in November, which we hope again will be hosted by a Housing Cooperative in Stroud. This time we are exploring the idea of having a joint activity such as tree planting following the service.
Eco-Judaism Team