DALLAS - Following a path blazed by other U.S. religious groups, a diverse coalition of Jewish organizations has outlined its concerns regarding the environment and called for action from Congress and the Administration.

Spearheaded by the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life, it calls among other things for an aggressive 80 percent cut in carbon reductions by 2050.

It also calls for a cap on emissions, tax credits to encourage the purchase of new technologies and provisions for public transit.

The statement, called “Jewish Community Priorities for Climate and Energy Policy,” is rooted in Jewish teachings about obligations to the poor and creation care — an echo of calls for action on the environment by other faith traditions including the U.S. evangelical movement.

“Our tradition teaches that Adam and Eve were asked ‘to till and to tend’ the Garden of Eden. We believe humans remain a partner in Creation,”  the statement says.

  It also notes that “Jewish tradition is founded on the principles of justice … (and) Both climate change itself and policies taken to address it present a disproportionate burden on the poor.”

The coalition of Jewish groups which have signed up to the document is diverse and include B’nai B’rith International, the Central Conference of American Rabbis, and the Women’s League for Conservative Judaism among others.

It is all part of and parcel of the widening social agenda among faith-based groups in the United States and points to the broadening of the broad “green coalition.”

(Photo credit: REUTERS/Fred Prouser, June 19, 2008, USA)

Could cow manure curb global warming?

A study by scientists in Texas reckons that cows, sheep, pigs, chickens and other farm animals excrete enough waste to generate electricity for millions of homes, helping reduce reliance on coal-fired power plants and so cut greenhouse gas emissions released by burning fossil fuels.

Left to decompose naturally, manure emits the powerful greenhouse gases methane and nitrous oxide. If trapped by a devoted workforce (people with an impaired sense of smell encouraged to apply) the gases could used to drive microturbines to generate electricity. That works by the manure being “anaerobically digested” — a process a bit like making compost — to release energy-rich biogas which would be burnt to drive the microturbines.

The calculations, the scientists say they are the first to outline a procedure for quantifying amounts of energy and greenhouse gases linked to national herds, suggest that farm animals in the United States alone could generate about 2.4 percent of U.S. electricity and avert about 3.9 percent of greenhouse gas emissions.

Dung is widely burnt in the Third World as a fuel; why not exploit it elsewhere?

The study doesn’t look into the uncertainties about the economics of sucking up manure, transport, building specialised power plants, etc (with oil at almost $130 a barrel, what would you pay for a barrel of manure?) 

So, if you live in the countryside and your eco-minded neighbour tells you sometime in future: “We switched our electricity supplier from coal to get it from the local wind farm” you can go one better and say:

“See Daisy the cow over there in the field? We get ours from her”.

Is there a future for manure?