The Jewish Ecosphere Springs Forward: Social Justice & Innovation in the Expanding Universe of “JOFEE”

By Erica Brody for Zeek

The JOFEE Dialogues with Nigel Savage, Jon Marker, Nili Simhai, Seth Cohen, Lisa Farber Miller & Jakir Manela

One night this week — before spring arrived! — a statistic kept popping up in my Twitter feed: “Americans spend 90% of their time indoors.” Disturbing, right? As it turns out, the architect Marc Kushner had mentioned this disturbing fact during his TED2014 talk about how design and space impact our culture, communities and lives, deeply. Although he was talking about architecture, I was struck by the amount of time Americans spend outdoors — or don’t. Could it really be so little? The EPA thinks so.

One day this week, one of the top international bodies of scientists issued a report that might as well have been called “Wake the F-ck Up” or “Everything You Need to Know to Refute Climate Change Deniers.” Bearing the somewhat more sensible title “What We Know: The Reality, Risks and Response to Climate Change,” the report came on the heels of an all-nighter pulled by 31 members of Congress who spent their night indoors – but not at home — to talk about the urgency of acting on climate change. Like many others, Senator Brian Schatz (D, HI, Jewish) talked about impact on local communities: from flooding and erosion to higher food prices. It’s been a headline-heavy week for climate change, what with President Obama launching the Climate Change Data Initiative and Cosmos doing its thing.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch — well, in the Jewish ecosphere — a jackpot of data emerged thanks to the findings of a broad-based study released last week called Seeds of Opportunity: A National Study of Immersive Jewish Outdoor, Food, and Environmental Education (JOFEE), created by Hazon, in partnership with the Jim Joseph Foundation, the Leichtag Foundation, The Morningstar Foundation, Rose Community Foundation, Schusterman Family Foundation, and UJA-Federation of New York.

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