Cottage Cheese and Hydrofracking: A Look at Two Boycotts

What do cottage cheese and natural gas have in common?

Earlier this summer the news in Israel was dominated by “The Great Cottage Cheese Uprising,” a consumer boycott of one of the country’s favorite foods. The boycott was prompted by a 75% rise in the price of cottage cheese.

While Israelis were rebelling against the high price of cottage cheese, people in Pennsylvania and New York were waking up to the threat of gas drilling in the Marcellus shale, a geological formation located under much of Pennsylvania and New York.

I know it sounds like a stretch, but cottage cheese and natural gas have something in common. The reason that each product has triggered a revolt is that it is a symbol of a much bigger and more complex problem.

While the price of cottage cheese was rising in Israel, so was the price of other basics. As reported in the Jerusalem Post, the consumer price index has risen by 25% since 2006 while the average salary has risen only 2.6%. Like the United States, Israel has implemented economic policies that have resulted in a shocking increase in the gap between the rich and everyone else. These policies include excessive deregulation and shifting of the tax burden away from direct taxes to indirect taxes that are paid by the poor and middle class. On the surface Israel’s economy is doing very well, but underneath the surface, most Israelis are not doing better and too many are falling behind.

The boycott solved the immediate problem, but not the long term one. Within weeks of the launch of the boycott many Israelis stopped buying cottage cheese. The major suppliers lowered their prices and a Knesset committee was convened to look into the matter. Israelis were not satisfied. Now the cottage cheese boycott is turning into a movement for social justice that continues to bring out thousands of protesters. Maybe the cottage cheese uprising will turn out to be the beginning of a solution to the much bigger problems facing Israel.

What about natural gas? Opposition to drilling for natural gas in Pennsylvania and New York is focused on the dangers of hydrofracking. This is a new method of drilling that employs vast amounts of water, mixed with sand and toxic chemicals to extract gas from shale rock. It poses serious risks to water supplies in local communities and downstream to 15 million people who get their water from the Delaware River. The immediate dangers of hydrofracking are reason enough to oppose drilling in the . But you have to look beneath the surface to understand the bigger problem.

Our energy system is unsustainable. The fossil fuels we are burning, including coal, oil and gas, are heating up the atmosphere. Although natural gas burns more cleanly than coal and oil, it releases greenhouse gases that are causing climate change just like other fossil fuels. The energy industry calls gas “natural” and “clean” to convince us to buy it, but gas is not clean and it is not the solution to our energy problems.

Of course cottage cheese and natural gas are worlds apart in other ways. Cottage cheese is the perfect target for consumer boycott. The decision to buy or not to buy can be made while standing in front of the refrigerator case in the supermarket. If you choose not to buy it there are lots of alternatives. Natural gas is a different story altogether. It is impossible to make an on the spot decision to boycott natural gas. If your utility company produces electricity by burning natural gas you can’t do much about it in the short term.

But in the long term, there is a lot that we can do as a society to change our energy system. Experts say that we waste up to half of the energy we produce. By becoming more efficient we can reduce the amount of energy we need. And we can expand the use of renewable energy, primarily from solar and wind. Every day brings more good news about the feasibility of meeting our needs with clean energy. For example, a new map prepared by City University of New York shows that solar panels on rooftops in New York City could provide almost 50% of the power needed at peak demand times.

All new investment should be targeted to clean energy, not to expanding our use of fossil fuels. Now is the time to make a commitment to the future, before we pollute the land and water in the Marcellus shale. We need to eat, but we don’t need to eat cottage cheese. We need energy, but we don’t have to burn natural gas.

Originally posted on The Jew and the Carrot Blog: http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/141066/#ixzz1VBvl5zzx



The Challenges of Providing Water

The Israelites have spent 38 years in the desert since leaving Egypt.  Now they are camped at Kadesh and there is no water. They blame Moses.

Read more of my essay on Parshat Hukkat, published in The Jerusalem Report on July 4, 2011.

Keep the Frack Out of my Challah

This morning I was making challah for the Sabbath. The water I mixed with the yeast came straight from the tap. Thankfully, today my water is clean and free of chemical contaminants. But I’m worried that this may change.

My water comes from upstate New York, where gas companies are eager to begin drilling for natural gas to power the energy needs of a growing population. New York City’s watershed lies over the Marcellus Shale, a geological formation that stretches from New York, through Pennsylvania and Ohio, to West Virginia. Until recently, gas companies did not have the technology to extract the gas in the Marcellus shale, because it is trapped in small pockets in layers of rock. But now a new and dangerous process called hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking or fracking, has made it possible to release gas. The state is expected to lift its ban on fracking in certain areas of the state, according to The New York Times today.

Why is there so much pressure to drill in the Marcellus Shale? I bake my challah in an electric oven, but natural gas is used to generate that electricity. Demand for natural gas is growing (it already makes up 25% of America’s energy) because it is an alternative to coal, the dirtiest fossil fuel, and to imported oil.

Fracking poses risks to land and air, but most of all to water. Each time a well is fracked it takes millions of gallons of water. The water is pumped into the ground under pressure. This fractures the rock to release the gas. About half of the water is recaptured; the other half flows away.

Each stage of this process poses threats to the environment. First, the quantities of water required put stress on local wells and water bodies. It takes 2 million to 9 million gallons to frack one well in the Marcellus Shale, and each well is fracked up to 12 times. Second, the water pumped into the ground is mixed with sand and chemicals. It must be treated before it is released back into the watershed, but there are few treatment facilities. Furthermore most treatment facilities are not designed to remove the contaminants introduced by fracking, some of which are unknown because the gas industry has refused to release full information about what is in fracking waste-water. Finally, water that is not recaptured may pollute the water on the ground and surface.

People near to fracking sites are subject to the most risk. But even though I live farther away, I’m scared, too. I buy the flour for my challah at the farmers market. It comes from Farmer Ground in the Finger Lakes Region. More than 40 farms that supply New York City’s Greenmarkets lie above the Marcellus Shale. I am also concerned about the dozens of Jewish summer camps located in the Catskills and the Poconos. What will happen if their wells are contaminated? In fact, fracking threatens the water of 15 million people along the East Coast because the Marcellus Shale underlies much of the Delaware River watershed, the major source of water for New York City, Philadelphia and New Jersey.

The risk is real, as I learned from watching Gasland, a documentary about fracking that includes scenes of people setting contaminated water on fire. Yet despite the dangers, fracking is barely regulated. In 2005, under pressure from the gas industry, Congress voted to exempt fracking from regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act. Other environmental laws also exclude gas drilling from their regulations.

The Sabbath table on which I place my fresh-baked challah recalls the altar of the ancient temple in Jerusalem. The challah takes the place of the showbread, loaves that were baked by the priests and displayed in the temple. These rituals remind me to appreciate that the meal before me is a gift of God, the earth, and the many people whose work has transformed soil and rain into food. The ritual I find most meaningful is washing my hands as the priests did before they performed a sacrifice. As I raise my hands to recite a blessing I remember that not only the challah, but everything else I will eat and drink, contains water.

To safeguard the water we drink we have to find another source of energy. Drilling has already begun in Pennsylvania and other states. In New York a grassroots movement has resulted in a temporary ban on fracking that has slowed down the gas companies, but this, the groups say, is only a temporary solution. Fossil fuels, including natural gasses, must be replaced by renewable solar and wind energy.

After Shabbat, I’ll be getting back to political organizing to stop fracking, protect our water, and demand clean energy.

Originally posted on The Jew and the Carrot: http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/139229/#ixzz1VBxe4Lsk



Religious Leaders Award EPA Head as Steward of God's Creation

Last week I was back in Washington DC as Christian, Jewish and Muslim leaders from around the country joined together to call on the US Congress and the Obama Administration to protect human beings and all of God’s Creation from the threat of climate change.  I was one of the organizers of the National Religious Coalition for Creation Care Washington Prayer Breakfast.  We gave Lisa Jackson, EPA Administrator the Steward of God’s Creation award.  Jackson's acceptance speech was a stirring call to action.  She said that the vast majority of Americans support action to keep our air, water and land clean.  We must make sure that the price of prosperity is not the life of a child. 

I, and my table full of Jewish environmental leaders, were moved and inspired by the words of the religious leaders who prayed and spoke at the Prayer Breakfast.  Imam Nasim Mahdi, of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said “We must not despair” or give up our efforts to stop and turn back environmental damage despite how difficult the task may seem.  

Rabbi Fred Dobb, of Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation - a long-time friend and environmental teacher called on us to adopt a new ten commandments of environmental stewardship.  He, like Imam Mahdi, encouraged us not to hold back. He said, “Whether we are clergy or lay people, we must all speak out boldly.  In the Torah, a man runs to Moses to criticize Eldad and Medad for acting as prophets.  But Moses tells them:  Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets!”

Susan Bass, the Earth Day Network’s Senior Vice President, Programs and Operations, said that politicians who vote against legislative to protect the environment are voting “again common sense, God and scientific fact.”

The religious leaders offered Administrator Jackson a blessing, praying for her to have strength and integrity in the face of the difficult political environment she is confronting today.  We could all see how moved she was, and how much she appreciated the spiritual perspective articulated by all of the speakers. 

Following the Prayer Breakfast, the religious leaders, led by Frederick Krueger, Co-chairman of the Coalition, went to Capitol Hill to meet with members of Congress to advocate for aggressive action to enable Americans to reduce our greenhouse gas emissions.

Pictured are the Jewish participants: 

Dina Kruger, Kruger Environmental Strategies
Jocelyn Roberts, Etz Hayyim
Fran Teplitz, Green America
Joshua Protas, Jewish Council for Public Affairs
Rabbi Debra Kolodny, Aleph: Alliance for Jewish Renewal
Rabbi Warren Stone, Temple Emanuel, Kensington MD
Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb, Adat Shalom Reconstructionist Congregation, Bethesda, MD, Coalition on the Environment Jewish Life (COEJL), & Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light
Dr. Mirele B. Goldsmith, Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life & Hazon
Vicki Stearn, ThinkOutLoud Media
 
Attended but not pictured:  

Phil Aroneanu, 350.org
Rabbi David Shneyer, Am Kolel of Greater Washington
Joelle Novey, Greater Washington Interfaith Power and Light
Rachel Cohen, Religious Action Center

Don't Pass the Boone Pickens Bill

Today's New York Times includes a column by Joe Nocera extolling the virtues of natural gas and urging Congress to pass the Nat Gas Act - the New Alternative Transportation to Give Americans Solutions Act.  As you can see, I take issue with Nocera and Pickens' position, and also with their facts.  We don't need more natural gas. We need more renewable energy.  I wrote this letter to the editor in response to Nocera's misguided enthusiasm and ignorance.

Dear Editor:

Yes, we need to end our dependence on OPEC oil.  But we need to replace that oil with clean, renewable sources of energy.  Boone Pickens has convinced Joe Nocera that only natural gas can save us from the dangers posed by oil because “you can’t use solar or wind to power a vehicle”.  Wrong.  Plug-in electric cars can be powered by any kind of energy. In fact, the New York Times has reported that it is already possible to buy an electric car and charge it up with electricity from solar panels installed on the roof of a suburban home (Off the Well, if only for One Week, May 7, 2010).  The Nat Gas Act championed by Pickens will subsidize natural gas production and infrastructure.  As a taxpayer I support subsidies to move us away from oil, but only if my dollars will be invested in moving us toward renewable energy.