Reform Jewish Leader Decries Executive Order Rolling Back Clean Power Plan

For Immediate Release
March 28, 2017

Contact: Max Rosenblum or Graham Roth
202.387.2800 | news@rac.org

Press Release from the Religious Action Center

WASHINGTON – On March 28, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order rescinding or calling for a review of several key environmental regulations, including the Clean Power Plan requiring states to significantly reduce carbon emissions. In response, Rabbi Jonah Dov Pesner, Director of the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, issued the following statement on behalf of the Union for Reform Judaism, Central Conference of American Rabbis and wider Reform Movement:

We strongly condemn the President’s executive order rolling back the Clean Power Plan and other vital environmental provisions. The Clean Power Plan gave states a framework for progress in the sacred work of safeguarding our earth’s natural resources and aiding communities impacted by our changing climate. Undoing regulations designed to address climate change threatens our environment and public health.

As sea levels and global temperatures rise and as global crop viability and water access decrease, the need for bold action to address climate change becomes ever more urgent. As a Movement, we believe that it is our responsibility to act as environmental stewards and partners with God in tilling and tending the earth, as humankind was commanded in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 2:15).

The climate crisis requires a major national response. Climate change affects each of us, but the most vulnerable are at greatest risk. As the second largest national emitter of carbon, the United States is uniquely positioned to address the challenges of climate change head-on. We urge the administration to take action toward a greener and more sustainable world.

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The Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism is the Washington office of the Union for Reform Judaism, whose nearly 900 congregations across North America encompass 1.5 million Reform Jews, and the Central Conference of American Rabbis, whose membership includes more than 2,000 Reform rabbis. Visit www.rac.org for more.