The Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) and the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) have launched a nationwide campaign to address the global warming crisis. This is one of those calls to action that can change how American Jewry responds to the daunting environmental problems confronting us and future generations. The engagement of the entire Jewish community is critical.

The campaign: "A Light Among the Nations" aka "How Many Jews Does It Take to Change a Light Bulb?" will engage the Jewish community in education, advocacy, and concrete action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This modern day commemoration of Hanukkah, the Festival of Lights, will most importantly, bring the issue of global climate change front and center in Jewish public life. A significant part of the campaign will include helping congregations, Jewish institutions, and individuals purchase and install energy efficient, cost effective compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs during the week of Hanukkah, 2006 as part of moving the Jewish community and the country forward in its understanding and support of energy conservation. Our message is as easy as changing a light bulb: If you could conserve energy and help stop global warming in one simple step, wouldn't you? CFLs use 75% less energy than incandescent light bulbs. This means less production of greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and toxic waste. If every U.S. household replaced one bulb with a CFL, it would have the same impact as removing one million cars from the road.

The campaign has received enthusiastic support from all four of the major denominations and numerous Jewish institutions with special mention of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism which has been an early builder of this campaign. A hundred influential leaders from the Jewish community, synagogues, organizations, and activist groups representing hundreds of thousands more participated in our campaign launch meeting/conference call.

What YOU can do

COEJL's Campaign HQ

Energy Star's CFL HQ