by Rabbi Judy Weiss
My younger son left on July 16 to take a job in Israel . As he
was packing, he asked me when would I visit him. I choked out the words,
"I'm not going to visit you."
Actually, I would love to visit, see what his life is like
in Tel Aviv, and spend time with him. Yet, I'm afraid my trip would destroy his
future. If I visit, flying 12,000 miles round-trip, my share of the plane's
carbon emissions would be 3 metric tons. The worldwide per capita target for
carbon emissions, if we are to control climate change, is 2 tons per year. I
would exceed my annual goal in one trip. How could I do tshuvah for such
huge emissions expended to satisfy my desire to see him?
Absurdly, I know one person's trip doesn't affect the
climate, but our collective choices as a nation do. So I wrestle with the moral
issue involved in visiting my kid, knowing my personal decision is meaningless.
Crazy? The dilemma gets thornier because my older son will
soon become a father. What will the world be like as my grandchild reaches
adulthood? How can I justify taking a trip to visit one son, if it will injury
my other son's child?
While wrestling with this, I read America 's Climate Century by Iowa
Senator Rob Hogg in which he says, "I gave up air travel in 2002 for
climate reasons." Flying, the most carbon intensive form of travel,
releases carbon emissions in the upper atmosphere where they do more damage
than emissions at ground level. Hogg emphasizes we don't have to eliminate air
travel, but we ought to minimize it. He also argues that every time we decide
to change our lifestyle for the sake of the climate, we should write to our
elected representatives because they need to know their constituents want
climate action.
Publicize our personal acts of repentance to guide societal
repentance? A new type of communal Vidui?
=========
Rabbi Judy
Weiss Brookline , MA
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