Main Stage Schedule

Why Climate Change Must Be a Central Moral Issue of The Jewish Community

We believe the time has come to make addressing the climate crisis a central moral issue of the Jewish community. We have a moral imperative to demonstrate our care for the natural world and for all who will be impacted by the effects of climate change.

Join Eric Fingerhut, Ruth Messinger, Rabbi Jennie Rosenn and Nigel Savage, 4 of our community's most influential leaders, to explore how this moral imperative manifests inside the organized Jewish world, emanating out to the rest of the world, and and how as a community of individuals we can raise our voices together to make real and impactful change in the world, now.

Environmental Education, Engagement and Experiences: Make Your Jewish Organization Climate Cool

Learn from and be inspired by Hillels that are experimenting with meaningful environmental education, engagement, and experiential strategies for working with Jewish students and young adults. The programs, learning, experiences, and leadership roles that organizations offer students and young adults are all opportunities to put our climate-aware Jewish values into action and offer them ways to live a relevant Jewish life that connects with the priority so many of them place on confronting climate change. Join Hillel International’s chief experience officer Mimi Kravetz and several Hillels that are innovating in this space.

Rethinking Creation for the Age of Climate Crisis: Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green in conversation with Dr. Stephanie Kaza

Rabbi Dr. Arthur Green -- one of the world’s leading scholars of Jewish mysticism and  Hasidism -- will share his new Jewish theology for an age in which the very foundations of human life are threatened. He and Dr. Stephanie Kaza -- Professor Emerita at the University of Vermont and a leading scholar of Buddhism and ecology -- will discuss the implications of their thinking for interfaith efforts to confront climate change.

Blue-Collar, Green Power: State-Level Strategies to Win Climate Solutions

To effectively combat climate change, we need action at all levels of government. And, practically speaking, it can be easier to get consensus on climate at the state level than in Congress. So, what can states do? What drives climate action in state government? In this panel we hear from state legislators, activists and advocates engaged in intersectional politics to advance climate policy.  

Climate Change, Resilience, and Connection to Place

We don't often think about the climate crisis as an opportunity for spiritual practice, but it's one of the most important tools we have to build our personal and collective resilience. This workshop led by Alison Laichter and Nati Passow will focus on the spiritual, emotional, and ecological rhythms that keep us aligned and whole, including meditation, writing, learning, and discussion.

Rabbinical Training and Jewish Leadership in an Era of Climate Crisis

To make climate action a central moral priority of the Jewish community, we need to train leaders to tackle this important issue and lead their communities. In this unique session, seminary leaders from across and beyond denominations will discuss the opportunities and obligations of Jewish leadership in this era of climate crisis.

Sound System: Greening the Music Business, with Relix, Guster, Reverb, Michael Franti and Elvis Perkins

Being part of the solution is everyone’s business. Adam Gardner of Guster started a nonprofit, Reverb, to help the music industry integrate more climate friendly practices, especially in the touring business. Relix Magazine Editor in Chief Mike Greenhaus talks with Adam, Michael Franti and Elvis Perkins about how they are applying their passion for a healthier climate to the music business, including touring, merchandise and more, and how their Jewish values have informed their work.

Crisis + Opportunity: Our New Climate Context

One week into President Biden’s new administration, accomplished climate and environmental justice movement leaders Kerene N. Tayloe, Esq., Director of Federal Legislative Affairs with WE ACT for Environmental Justice, Sara Blazevic, co-founder and Training Director of the Sunrise Movement, and Anthony Karefa Rogers-Wright, Policy Coordinator for the Climate Justice Alliance reflect on how we got here: on the one hand, colliding pandemic, climate, racism, economic, and rising white supremacist crises, and on the other hand, historic voter turnout and the most aggressive U.S. climate policy platform in history, fueled by movements led by young people and people of color. And we look ahead to where we go from here to transition urgently from a fossil fuel economy to a just, green, economy, and the roles Jewish communities can play and are playing in solidarity with others for a just, livable future for all. Moderated by professor and author Dana R. Fisher.

Fruit Feast: A Sensual Seder Honoring Tu B’Shvat, with Lab/Shul

The most unique Tu BiShvat seder experience you’ve ever had! A vibrant ritual experience over the airwaves to delight your senses and energize you for the entire Festival experience.

The Forever Garden: A Children’s Book Reading with Laurel Snyder

Join author (and PJ Library superstar) Laurel Snyder as she reads her book The Forever Garden and talk with kids about care-taking for the earth. This event is designed for kids approximately preschool age through 2nd grade (and their parent, guardian or more mature friend!) and will be about 30 minutes.

Us and Us - Centering the Margins of Racial Identity in the Jewish Climate Movement

Join Kristy Drutman (Brown Girl Green), Nate Looney (Avodah), and Yoshi Silverstein (Mitsui Collective) for a conversation on our experiences as Jews of Color working at the intersections of nature connection, environmental activism, farming, service, and Jewish education; and on how the Jewish climate movement must evolve in its relationships and practices both external and internal to Jewish community in order to actualize a green and equitable future.

Songs to Sustain Us in the Struggle: A Motzei Shabbat Communal Sing

We know from the justice struggles on whose shoulders we stand that communal song is a vital element of a powerful movement. Join Rabbi Shoshana Meira Friedman of Hebrew College, Rabbi Micah Shapiro of Penn Hillel, Arielle Korman of Ammud: Jews of Color Torah Academy, for an evening of singing to sustain us in our climate work. Meet new musicians, learn new songs, and feel more connected. We will sing our way into a new week together.

Laugh It Off: Climate Comedy!

When things are scary, Jews have coped in the same way for millenia... By making jokes about it! Let that anxiety go by watching a group of very funny people discuss climate change, Jewish anxiety, and the apocalypse.

A Light Unto The Nations: Leaders of the International Solar Revolution

The Jewish people have always been adept at facing major paradigm shifting challenges. The Temple fell in Jerusalem and we pivoted to rabbinic Judaism. We got kicked out of our land, and we wrote down the Oral Torah. We have a lot of experience designing for major change, and now is the time to revolutionize our energy systems. International solar superstars Yossi Abramowitz and David Arfin discuss the scale of change and their strategic approaches to technical, cultural and political change in the US, Israel and Africa. Hear them share their hopeful vision for the future of our global energy systems and offer suggestions of how you can help speed the energy revolution.

What Can Cities Do About Climate? A Lot!

Cities use ⅔’s of the world’s energy and generate more than 70% of the world’s carbon, which means cities are central to our climate problem, and its solution. Cities can model livable solutions to climate change, thereby creating momentum for Federal action.   Join some of the most visionary and effect local elected and appointed city leaders who have been making change in Los Angeles, New York City and Seattle.

Future of the Climate: A Conversation with Youth Who Founded a Movement

Not to be missed! Over the past few years, young people have taken to the streets, swarmed the polls, and mobilized millions as they transformed our modern movement for climate justice. Now, we have a chance to learn from and support these Jewish youth in a sustained, collective effort to create big, bold change for our world. Join us for an energetic, thoughtful conversation between Jewish youth leaders, guided by personal stories of past activism and organizing that spur discussion around what’s in store, for the youth movement at large and our Jewish response, in the year to come.