• Home
  • Bio
  • Programs
  • Making Prayer Real
    • Start Here
    • The Book
    • The Curriculum
    • MPR eJournal
  • TorahTrek
    • Start Here
    • A Wild Faith
    • TorahTrek eJournal
    • The Guides Track
  • Writings
  • Events
  • Contact
  Rabbi Mike Comins
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Programs
  • Making Prayer Real
    • Start Here
    • The Book
    • The Curriculum
    • MPR eJournal
  • TorahTrek
    • Start Here
    • A Wild Faith
    • TorahTrek eJournal
    • The Guides Track
  • Writings
  • Events
  • Contact
Picture

TorahTrek eJournal

Judaism, Wilderness, Sustainability, Spirituality

Summer Heats Up!

5/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Sustainability Now

by Dav Camras
How can you cut down on your a/c bill and still keep a comfortable home? Let me count the ways, and there are many:
  • On cool nights, open the windows and just run the fan to help circulate air around the house. So often, I hear people’s air conditioners running when it is a cool 60 degrees outside. I am sure their house is hot, but we can let Mother Nature do some of the work and save. Purchase a couple of fans and place them near windows to take the cool air in. You can even get really fancy and get a whole house fan installed, but that does take some skilled carpentry, and I don’t recommend the cheap kinds from the big-box stores. They don’t seal tightly when not in use, and so will just drive up your heating costs in winter.

Read More
0 Comments

Welcome Fall!

5/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Sustainability Now

by Dav Camras
Welcome to Fall! Now let’s get our homes ready for the change in season. Given early Fall’s mild weather, it is the best time to work on some of those exterior projects. A bit of early prevention is sure cheaper than repairing water damage later.
​
So, lets take it from the top; climb up on the roof (or get a young and healthy helper) to check the flashings (the metal stuff) around your vent pipes sticking up out of your roof. If you see any holes, go get some of the roofing tar sold in buckets from a home improvement store. Are there any missing shingles? Rainwater coming in through the roof will always ruin your day, not to mention your pocketbook. And while you’re up there, make sure the chimney hasn’t moved. Don’t laugh, they do, and the holes created or falling brick can be a serious bummer.

Read More
0 Comments

Improve Your Home on the Cheap

5/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Sustainability Now

                                       by Dav Camras
Improving your home's energy efficiency, indoor air quality and water efficiency 
doesn't have to break the bank. Below, I have listed several easy options to green 
your home on the (relative) cheap that should help you to save money on your 
energy bills.
​
1. Buy some heavy blackout curtains for your windows and/or doors. Instead of
buying new windows with multiple panes or opting for those stylish but not 
well-insulating blinds, blackout curtains can be found for under fifty dollars 
and can reduce heat loss/gain by a quarter. That gain, of course, is when you 
draw your draperies. In addition, if there is no insulation in your walls, the 
draperies will also act as a layer of insulation trapping the cold air on one 
side and the warm room air on the other (in the summer the reverse is true).

Read More
0 Comments

The Farm-to-Table Movement

5/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Sustainability Now

by Terry Heller
There’s a Movement going on, and the signs are appearing everywhere:
​
My local County Fair is edging out Fried Twinkies in favor of a cornucopia of fresh mint, peaches, peppers and other exotic California bounty bursting forth from the fairground’s organic garden.  The State has even bestowed a grant to triple the size of the garden by next year and start a horticulture program for school children.  The local fair is returning to a celebration of its agrarian roots!

Read More
0 Comments

Sustainable Camping

5/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Sustainability Now

by Terry Heller
The future of wilderness camping, hikes and other sustainable outdoor recreation depends on more people adopting the principles of “Leave No Trace” camping. The core principal is that no one should know you’ve been there after you’ve gone. This means no litter, no smoldering fire pits, no ripped up grass, crushed bushes or re-positioned boulders. It also means staying on the marked trail, never picking plants, flowers or berries, and never harming or disturbing wildlife–endangered or not. 
​
Following these simple principles will not only enhance your experience of the wild, but will secure that experience for the next visitor and the next generation.

Read More
0 Comments

CSA - Community Supported Agriculture

5/2/2018

0 Comments

 
Picture

Sustainability Now

by Zan Ronamoff
​The sustainable food movement is chock-full of vocabulary, organic and biodynamic jostling up against all-natural and eco-friendly. You can purchase produce at a farmers’ market or a co-op, or, increasingly, from CSA operations springing up all over the country. CSA stands for community supported agriculture, and it’s not just a new word—it’s an innovative concept that could be the backbone of a small, regional, sustainable foodsheds.
​
The way it works is actually pretty simple: instead of buying produce a la carte from a retail operation (one of those grocery stores or farmers’ markets), consumers get their veggies directly from the farmer. They pay a flat fee upfront, and in return they expect to receive a box of assorted goods each week for a set period of time. What is offered and how much varies by farmer—the model has proven so popular that there are now CSAs for everything from eggs and milk to beef, pork, and even oysters!

Read More
0 Comments

Climate Change & Eco-Justice—Video Interview with Rabbi Lawrence Troster

3/6/2018

1 Comment

 
Rabbi Lawrence Troster, one of the leading thinkers on Judaism and the environment, speaks about climate change as a moral challenge and explores the Jewish duty to work for eco-justice.

​Rabbi Troster is a nationally recognized religious-environmental scholar and leader.  A co-founder of the GreenFaith Fellowship Program, through which he trained over 40 Fellows from around the country, he has also worked as the Rabbinic Fellow of the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL), an Adjunct Lecturer at the Jewish Theological Seminary, a Steinhardt Fellow at the Center for Life and Learning, a Program Officer at the Jewish Life Network, and as a rabbi of congregations in Toronto and New Jersey. He is on the editorial board of Conservative Judaism and he has published and lectured widely on theology, environmentalism, liturgy, bioethics, modern cosmology and Judaism. He is a graduate of the University of Toronto and the Jewish Theological Seminary.
1 Comment

    Welcome to the TorahTrek eJournal! Here you will find videos, interviews, articles, photos, and educational materials on the interconnections between Judaism, wilderness, spiritual practice and sustainability. Our goal is to support the spiritual/ethical lives of individuals, enliven and strengthen the Jewish community, and promote a sustainable society living in balance with the earth. ​Explore the eJournal by clicking on the topics below. Please share these resources with your friends! 

    Topics

    All
    1 Torah And Ecology
    2 Spiritual Practice In Wilderness
    3 Wild Judaism
    4 Educator's Corner
    5 Sustainability
    6 The Spiritual Wilderness
    Arthur Green
    Arthur Waskow
    Bible
    Climate Change
    Dan Fink
    Dav Camras
    Desert Torah
    Evan Eisenberg
    James Greene
    Jill Hammer
    John Muir
    John O'Donohue
    Josh Jacobs-Velde
    Josh Lake
    Maimonides
    Marcia Prager
    Mark Coleman
    Midrash
    Mike Comins
    Mindfulness
    Nachmanides
    Quotables
    Ranen Omer-Sherman
    Rebecca Gould
    Shefa Gold
    Spirituality
    Terry Heller
    Thomas Merton
    TorahTrek Guides
    Video
    Wilderness Torah
    Zan Romanoff
    Zelig Golden

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Home
  • Bio
  • Programs
  • Making Prayer Real
    • Start Here
    • The Book
    • The Curriculum
    • MPR eJournal
  • TorahTrek
    • Start Here
    • A Wild Faith
    • TorahTrek eJournal
    • The Guides Track
  • Writings
  • Events
  • Contact