Beth Shalom Leads the Nation, Wins $1000 Grant!

Click here to read the press release from Interfaith Power and Light

Herald Times Press Release

Herald Times Article

Mazel Tov! We are the winner of Interfaith Power & Light’s Cool Congregation challenge grant for the category “Inspiring Congregants to Lower Household Energy Use” – rising to the top of 80 other applications from religious communities around the country.

Begun in 1998, IPL is a national faith-based organization devoted to protection of the Earth’s ecosystems, safeguarding the health of all creation, and ensuring sufficient and sustainable energy for everyone.

Mazel tov to Madi Hirschland, recent Chair of our Greening Committee and to new Co-chairs Lana Eisenberg and Victoria Bedford for their leadership – as well as to all those who have been involved in the committee’s planning and programs.

And mazel tov to the one-third+ of our households who have reduced their energy consumption by 14% or more. You have made Beth Shalom a national model for congregations trying to promote environmental  stewardship within their own organizations.

This is definitely a milestone, a landmark on way to caring for our planet, and it happened here, in our own small congregation. What a wonderful way to represent the Jewish commitment to our partnership with God in healing the world, promoting justice, stewardship of the natural world (and the good sense to prevent waste!).  

Our path to being a “cool congregation” included a major Hanukkah event in 2009 where we generated ideas about what it would take to lessen energy use; a pledge by households to reduce energy consumption; “Task of the Month” information about specific ways to meet this pledge; an interactive bulletin board; a “green” version of Adon Olam for Friday night services; and much more, culminating with a Sukkot celebration this past October.  

We have shown that congregations can draw upon their religious and moral commitments, as well as the good sense of their members to make significant changes.  If everybody were to do it (and why not?), we could change the world.

Meanwhile, hurray for us!  And let’s celebrate by  expanding our stewardship so that reducing energy usage becomes the norm for everyone, everywhere on the planet.

Mazel tov  from the Board of Directors!

Click here for the latest issue of Earthcare News

The LORD God took the man and placed him in the garden of Eden, to till it and tend it Genesis 2:15

Nearly half of Beth Shalom households have signed Congregation Beth Shalom's "To Till and To Tend Pledge" to reduce our household energy use and/or participate in our "If Not Now Then When? Task of the Month Program."

Task of the Month breaks home energy reduction down into bite-size pieces (like changing light bulbs and air drying laundry)) and provides comprehensive support for each measure - from how-to information and financial assistance to hands-on help - as needed.

We have fun with this. For a video portrait of our work, including our own version of Adon Olam. For a video portrait of our work, click here.

Leading the way, Board members have insulated pipes, caulked windows, and wrapped water heaters in each other's homes, and teens are doing the same for retirees. Each month, our bulletin features a different story of one of our members greening efforts.

Check out our interactive bulletin board by the library. It features seedlings with members' energy reduction stories, posters and info sheets on each monthly task, news coverage of our efforts from the Herald Times and the Jewish Post and Opinion, and copies of the pledge - with a pen to sign on the spot.

After Pesach, a cohort of members joined members of other local congregations to explore home options for "going solar".

The Board also aims to cut the synagogue's energy use in half. Our thermostat is set to 82 in summer and 55 in winter when the building is empty, and to 65 and 73 when only staff and the preschool are present. But rest assured - we've set to maximize comfort during services and programs. Lighting has been adjusted, light bulbs changed and solar motion-detectors tested. A professional energy audit led volunteers to seal air leaks in the ceiling and an energy monitoring device helps identify "energy hogs."

In exciting news, the Union for Reform Judaism has picked up on our work, seeing it as an example that they can hold up for other Reform congregations.

Mazal tov to all of us!

Beth Shalom To Till and to Tend Pledge
(Click above for a printable copy of our Pledge)

The Eternal placed the human being in the Garden of Eden to tend it and to till it.

As a member of Congregation Beth Shalom, I pledge to “green” (reduce) my energy usage within the next year, and thus make a difference in the health of the planet.

I will aim to achieve a responsible goal for household energy usage. For an American household of three, this is equivalent to 27,500 pounds annually of carbon dioxide emissions. If my household is not yet achieving this goal, I will aim to reduce my / our energy usage by 20% (or at least 10%) this year. *

I understand that I don’t have to do this alone. Congregation Beth Shalom’s To Till and to Ten Team and Earth Care Bloomington will do all they can to support my efforts to reduce energy consumption.

By taking action to “green” my household, I pledge to join with many others in our kehillah kedosha / holy community and set an example for Bloomington and all of Indiana. Only by acting together - and with congregations of every religious denomination - will we meet our obligation to care for all of creation.

                             _______________________________________     ____________
                                                Member / Household Name                                     Date

Watch Our Video Here

http://interfaithwintershelter.org/

The Interfaith Winter Shelter (IWS) provides low barrier emergency shelter for Bloomington’s homeless population during winter evenings from November through March. Initiated in 2009, a coalition of faith communities came together out of concern for the health, safety, and well-being of men and women who are homeless.

IWS operates as a “rotating site.” Four facilities take turns providing shelter space each night, and several congregations—along with the community at large—provide volunteers, supplies, and financial resources.

The shelter is currently accepting donations and recruiting volunteers as it gears up for the winter season. You don’t have to be a member of a faith community in order to volunteer or offer financial support.