Allegheny College

Allegheny College is a private,
liberal arts college located in Meadville, Pennsylvania. As a student, I have spent the past four years pursuing a Bachelor of Arts in Environmental Studies, and a second major in Religious Studies. This website is the result of a senior comprehensive project which I have worked on over the past year, in fulfillment of the college's graduation requirement.

Project Description:
After returning home from a semester spent abroad at the Arava Institute in Spring 2007, I wanted to do a senior project which would allow me to pursue interests which had been piqued while abroad. One of those interests was the relationship between major world religions and environmental thought. As luck would have it, the Arava Institute had decided to develop a carbon offset program and Temple Anshe Hesed was interested in participating as a pilot program, but needed a bit of help in planning. I had never studied Judaism in an academic setting and was interested in the challenge of something completely new. My senior project was born.

The goal of this senior project is twofold:
First, to establish a carbon offset program between Temple Anshe Hesed in Erie, Pennsylvania and the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies on Kibbutz Ketura, Israel, which will allow the Temple Anshe Hesed congregation to offset their carbon emissions by funding the generation of solar energy for use on the campus of the Arava Institute,
and second, to motivate the members of Temple Anshe Hesed to participate in the program.

Methods: Progress must be made on two distinct goals: setting up the infrastructure of the offset between Temple Anshe Hesed and the Arava Institute, and effectively expressing the argument for participation in this program among members of the congregation.

1) Setting up a carbon offset program infrastructure requires: 1) determining the carbon footprint (spreadsheet) and 2) determining the cost of offsets (spreadsheet) per ton of carbon emittted

2) Expressing the argument for participation requires: 1) researching the basis for environmental action within the Jewish tradition, and 2) engaging the congregation in a focusing event on Tu B'Shevat

Abstract:
Despite a sense of mistrust between members of the environmental and religious communities, many religious organizations have begun focusing their resources on environmental issues. Temple Anshe Hesed, a synagogue in Erie, PA is interested in reducing its carbon footprint, beyond its current capabilities for energy use reductions, by purchasing solar panels for use at the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies in Israel's southern Arava desert. This thesis project aimed to set up the infrastructure for a carbon offset program between the two organizations and motivate the members of Temple Anshe Hesed to participate in the program. The Jewish basis for environmental ethic was explored in order to effectively express the need for environmental action, which was done through a seder celebrating Tu B'Shevat, the festival of the trees. The result is a website which introduces the congregation of Temple Anshe Hesed to the debate over dominion and stewardship, the underlying Jewish environmental ethic and the carbon offset program, ready to be utilized by the congregation starting on the annual Earth Day celebration.

Acknowledgements:

I would like to thank:

My comp readers -- Dr. Eric Pallant, Dr. Eric Boynton and Reverend Jane Ellen Nickell -- for their critiques and encouragement,

Temple Anshe Hesed and Rabbi John Bush for their commitment to environmental responsibility and the warm welcome into their congregation,

the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies -- and the people I met while living in the middle of the desert -- for challenging me,

Dr. Rachel O'Brien and Dr. Eric Pallant, for helping me get to the Arava Institute,

Lin Sutley, for her endless patience while helping me design this site,

my friends and family, particularly Zachy, for the adventure.