There are 35,000 walruses stranded right now on the beaches of northwest Alaska. Walruses, which rely on sea ice to rest periodically, are having a harder and harder time finding it in the Bering Sea due to ice sheets melting from rising global temperatures. Scientists, including those at the Walrus Research Center in Anchorage Alaska, have serious concerns over whether walruses will be able to adapt to shrinking sea ice levels. They may very well become one of the wide array of species that we can expect to go extinct as climate disruption ravages our planet.
[embed]http://www.youtube.com/embed/rH77gte9lVI[/embed]
And let’s not forget that walruses have a central, if comical, place in our cultural memory:
[embed]http://vimeo.com/66989097[/embed]
As we head into Yom Kippur and consider the year 5775, let us pray that we will be able to curb the worst effects of climate change and save not only the walruses, but all the species and peoples likely to suffer from the harmful impact we are making on the earth with our unmitigated production of greenhouse gases. We are commanded in Genesis 2:15 to “till the earth and tend it,” and yet we shirk that responsibility when we are inactive in the face of moments like that that demonstrate how quickly and substantially we are destroying the earth.
If you are interested in doing more, talk to your congregation about getting involved in GreenFaith certification, take my Tishrei Green Challenge and stop using plastic bags, or tell the Environmental Protection Agency that you support carbon pollution standards for existing power plants.
Related Posts
Image

Highlights from the 2022-2023 L'Taken Season
June 1, 2023
An incredible L’Taken season has come to a conclusion! Over the 2022-2023 season, we had over 2,300 Jewish high schoolers from across the country join us in Washington, D.C. over our five weekends.
Image

Teens Urge Congress to End Gun Violence
May 31, 2023
The RAC is proud to bring thousands of teens to Washington D.C. for our annual L’Taken Social Justice Seminars. After three days of intensive programming, learning about just a few of the many issues prevalent in our country today, all participants travel to Capitol Hill to meet with their members of Congress and advocate in support of the things they care about.
Image

Teens Share Their Stories About the Impact and Fears of Gun Violence
May 31, 2023
The RAC is proud to bring thousands of teens to Washington D.C. for our annual L’Taken Social Justice Seminars. After three days of intensive programming, learning about just a few of the many issues prevalent in our country today, all participants travel to Capitol Hill to meet with their members of Congress and advocate in support of the things they care about.