Energy Security - A Jewish Issue
Atlanta Jewish Times - August 28, 2008
Written by: Dov Wilker

Perched high atop American Jewish Committee's (AJC) agenda are several ironclad commitments: supporting Israel's quest for peace and security; fighting against anti-Semitism, bigotry and discrimination; and ensuring Jewish continuity. An important issue on today's agenda that incorporates all three is energy and environmental security.

Why is energy a Jewish issue? First, our tradition commits us to the protection of the planet and its inhabitants. Our rabbis taught that among the first times God spoke to Adam he commanded him to be a wise steward of the earth. If people destroy this world, Genesis teaches, there will be no one else to repair it for them.

Second, in the realm of realpolitik, development of a serious energy policy is essential to the economic and social future of the United States and Israel as well as continued national security. As Congress debates the future of energy policy, there is one consistent message throughout: We must find a solution so that we are no longer supporting the leading exporters of anti-Semitism, anti-Westernism and terror.

For these reasons, American Jewish Committee is advocating for a comprehensive energy policy aimed at a substantial reduction in U.S. dependence on imported oil, with the goal of energy flexibility and near independence.

The policy should be pursued with urgency and a commitment of resources comparable to that of NASA's Apollo project to land a man on the moon in the 1960s. The American public has shown a strong interest in it, the political establishment on the local and national level has taken notice, and the private sector is putting considerable resources toward research and development.

The business sector must work together with government toward research, development and commercialization of alternative sources of energy, especially for vehicles, such as hybrid and plug-in hybrid technology, fuel cells and synthetic fuels.

As a Jewish agency, AJC is doing its part to advance the issue at this critical time, taking concrete steps toward meeting the goals we ask of others. Some of these steps can be easily replicated, and we hope other Jewish communal organizations take similar action.

• AJC is working toward compliance with the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating Systems and is determined to become one of the first Jewish non-profits in the country with green certification for its national headquarters. (www.ajc.org/greenproject)

• AJC has been named to the elite Energy Leadership Club by the Environmental Protection Agency's Green Power Partnership. This honor recognizes AJC's purchase of Green Power to meet 100 percent of its U.S.-based electricity usage. By purchasing renewable energy credits from suppliers of renewable electricity we support the production of domestic, non-polluting and inexhaustible power in a marketplace traditionally weighted towards fossil fuels.

• Our fuel-efficient vehicle bonus program provides cash incentives to full-time employees to purchase hybrid cars. AJC was the first non-profit to offer incentives of this kind. Judy Marx, the Atlanta chapter's executive director, has already taken advantage of this program with her purchase of a Toyota Prius.

• In Atlanta, we have been representing the Jewish community in many of the debates surrounding future energy policy with a unique perspective that often gets overlooked by the environmental and business organizations.

A window of opportunity exists that must not be wasted. We call on the American Jewish community to make the goal of energy security a reality.

Dov Wilker is an assistant director with American Jewish Committee's Atlanta chapter.