The Nobel Al Gore

Parashat Lech Lecha 5768

October is a good time of the year. The High Holidays are over. The World Series is about to begin. The Cowboys are 5-1. Most important, the Michigan Wolverines seem to have reversed their early season disasters. And it’s awards season in Stockholm.

Last week saw the awarding of the Nobel Prizes in various disciplines. Of course, I could not tell you who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry or Economics but all of us know who won the Nobel Peace Prize, one of the most coveted prizes in the world. Former Vice President Al Gore was the recipient of this year’s Nobel, capping an extraordinary year in which he won two Oscars for An Inconvenient Truth and an Emmy for a similar themed program. If ever a politician attained rock star status, it would be Al Gore.

Now I know that many here may not like our former Vice President. Many think that his movie is full of half-truths and that he does not deserve the Nobel Peace Prize. Fair enough. But the issue of climate change, also known as global warming, transcends a personal like or dislike of another individual. It is a fact accepted by the majority of responsible scientists around the world and it is even accepted, albeit grudgingly, by the White House and our current President.

In the year since I first spoke about global warming, the polar ice caps have melted faster than even the most pessimistic models predicted, polar bears are about to become an endangered species, the rainforests have continued to be destroyed, drought is forcing severe watering restrictions in the Southeast states and wildfires run rampant in much of the country. This is not the future that we desire for ourselves, our children or our grandchildren.

There is an interesting story in the Midrash, that great compendium of Jewish legend and lore, about our world. In the Book of Ecclesiastes, we read (Eccl. 7.13): “Consider the work of God; for who can make straight that which God has made crooked?” In the Midrash Ecclesiastes Rabbah, the story is told:

When the Holy and Blessed One created the first man, God took him and led him around all the trees of the Garden of Eden, and said to him, ‘Behold My works, how beautiful and commendable they are! All that I have created, for your sake I created it. Pay heed that you do not corrupt and destroy My universe; for if you corrupt it, there is no one to repair it after you.

If you corrupt it, there is no one to repair it after you. That is a sobering thought, one written about 2,000 years ago. Yet it still speaks to us today. We are the caretakers of the planet and we have not done a very good job of it.

When I was a kid, I went to a Jewish camp outside of Detroit. The highlight of each summer was the week-long trip to the outpost in Northern Michigan where we would spent about 5 days hiking and camping in the pine forests near Charlevoix. We would hike up and down steep hills, cross ravines, forage for wild foods and do all the great things that campers and backpackers do. It was a lot like the Boy Scouts but it was under Jewish auspices.

Like the Boy Scouts, we learned the basic rules of interacting with the environment, rules such as taking care of trash and, especially, leaving your campsite cleaner than how you found it. It was a valuable lesson for me to learn; how to live in harmony with nature. Not only did proper procedures keep the bears and raccoons at bay, we left little evidence that we had actually been visiting these places. And that is how it should be.

Had we accidently burned down a forest, we would have violated God’s command to Adam, to take care of God’s planet. After all, in the Psalms it says, “The earth belongs to the Eternal”. Who are we to destroy the planet if it belongs to God? We just do not have that right.

Last week, we read the story of Noah. We all know the story, God commanded Noah to build an Ark and Noah took the animals, two by two, into the Ark and set sail when God unleashed the Flood, whose rains lasted 40 days and 40 nights.

Looking at it from the perspective of an environmentalist, we can recast the story without changing its essence: God commanded Noah to build an Ark. Logic – and Jewish tradition – tells us that this building project took a long time. After all, Noah was working alone and he was also 600 years old. Why did God not just create the Ark – or get someone to help him? According to tradition, the reason that the Ark took so long to build was to encourage questions of Noah. If people would walk by his worksite and see him sawing and hammering, God wanted them to ask Noah why he was building the Ark. Noah’s answer was supposed to motivate the people to repent and change their wicked ways. That of course did not happen. Noah, according to the environmentalist Midrash, then collected samples of the planet’s biodiversity and placed them on the Ark, the greatest floating zoo and arboretum in all of history. He then rode out the “mother of all storms”, which cleansed the earth, and became the second Adam.

Now I am not saying that Al Gore is our generation’s Noah; mainly because I do not believe that he is a prophet in the wilderness. People are listening to him, and others, who worry about climate change and the impact that will have on our planet. And the little things that we are doing will indeed make a difference.

Last Yom Kippur morning, I showed you the cute little CFL light bulb. I urged this congregation to change out as many conventional bulbs as possible, not just to reduce energy use but also to save money. I only wish that we had followed up systematically to see how many bulbs were changed out. But after hearing from only about a dozen people, I can safely say that among this group, over 500 conventional light bulbs were exchanged for CFL bulbs, saving these congregants hundreds of kilowatt hours and, in the long run, hundreds of dollars. It is a small but important step forward.

At our house, we have learned to live with our thermostats set about two degrees higher than they were last summer. This alone has reduced our energy consumption and dramatically reduced our electric bill. Granted, this summer was much cooler than last summer but still, the savings were significant. We also purchased an energy reader so that we can track kilowatt usage on an immediate basis, without waiting for the monthly electric bill. At night, we can keep our electric bill anywhere from 6 – 15 cents an hour and, during the day, reduce consumption significantly as well – all by just looking at the meter, turning off lights and unplugging unused appliances and computers.

There are many more ways that we as individuals can work to save God’s world. There are many ways that we as a congregation can go green as well. We use CFL lights in this building and our air conditioners are on programmed thermostats. We are looking to recycle paper and other waste products and we have taken steps to reduce the heat generated by the large glass panels at the front door.

Ultimately, however, government and industry will have to step up and shoulder the greatest burden. The Detroit auto industry is getting creamed by the Japanese in part because Toyotas and Hondas offer better gas mileage. And while many Americans don’t buy a car based upon environmental factors, they do buy cars based upon miles per gallon. With gas being so expensive, an additional five or ten miles per gallon is often the deciding factor in a car purchase. That greater mpg rating is an environmental factor; when we purchase less gas, we are making the world a cleaner place.

This week, Ben will read about Avram, the first Jew. God commands him to go forward to a new place, where he will be a blessing. I have to think that Avram was lucky; things were not working out for him at home and he was able to leave and start over. But for us, where can we go? Where can we go if this planet becomes uninhabitable? The lunar colony is a century away, perhaps.

Fortunately, we have always seemed to solve these vexing problems and I am sure that we will solve the crisis of climate change. But it will take the effort and talents of all peoples, regardless of ethnic background, gender, religion or political outlook. Answers are coming, from Europe, Asia, Israel, America, everywhere. But it will take vision and commitment – and a whole lot of altruism – to turn the corner. For indeed, this is God’s planet and if we do not take care of it, there will be no one left to do so. On the other hand, if we do take care of it, our descendents will rise up and call us blessed, for centuries to come. May this come to be, for us and for generations to come. Amen.