Green Mishkan Committee

The committee will help Congregation Mishkan Shalom lessen its impact on the local and global environment. In keeping with Mishkan Shalom's Statement of Principles, each congregation committee will consider the environment in its activities. This committee will serve as an informational resource for the congregation.

Some aspects of synagogue function which the committee will address are:

• Energy use
• Heating
• Lighting
• Air conditioning
• Office machines
• Transportation to & from synagogue
• Water use
• Consumption of and choice of materials and equipment
• Solid waste reduction through maximum reuse
• Recycling

In each of these areas, the committee will research and recommend the most environmentally-friendly alternatives, with information about their costs and benefits. A secondary goal is to save the congregation money through conservation.. The Committee will research available environment-related grants, for example related to alternative energy and energy conservation. When appropriate, and with Board approval and participation, the Committee will prepare grant applications. Committee members will also serve as resources for Environmental Education in the religious school, adult education, and the congregation at large.

The Habayit Hayaroch ("Green House") Committee works to find waysin which the synagoguecan exemplify the following; priinciples:

Tzedek: Justice:

As Americans, we consume and waste a disproportionate share of the world’s resources. The adverse impacts of this overconsumption and waste are disproportionately on the world’s poor, including:

• Devastation from severe storms such as Hurricane Katrina, whose power is amplified by global warming,
• Pollution from trash facilities sited in poor neighborhoods, and the diesel tucks that serve them, and poisoning of developing countries’ poor by our exported trash
• Displacement and victimization of people in other countries as a result of wars fought over oil,
• Impoverishment of urban poor living in energy-inefficient housing, due to high utility bills

L‘ovdah u’l’shomrah: Stewardship:

Our congregation is the collective steward of the synagogue building and the surrounding property. Our goal is to make the property a place of beauty and an asset to the surrounding neighborhood.

Bal Tachshit : (“Do not destroy…”):

As a community, Mishkan Shalom seeks to minimize waste of energy, water, and material goods, and to minimize the environmental impact of those that it uses. Measures to this end include:

• Recycling everything possible,
• Choosing energy-efficient lighting and office equipment,
• Instructing congregants how to save energy in the synagogue,
• Choosing recycled products such as paper goods,
• Using reusable products, such as plates, cups, and utensils, when possible,
• Conserve water on-site, through rainwater collection and drip irrigation.
• Develop alternative energy for the building, such as solar and geothermal, with the help of grants.

The congregation stands to benefit from these and other measures through savings in operating costs.

V'shinan'tam l'vanekha : “And you shall teach them unto your children…”):

• The Committee will seek to involve Mishkan’s youth in its operation and projects.
• Committee members will work with Religious School teachers to include environmental justice and stewardship in the School curriculum
• The Committee will serve as a resource for the local religiouscommunity.