Take action for a just and climate-smart food system

Take action for a just and climate-smart food system… even if you aren’t following all the complexities taking place on Capitol Hill!

We are tracking opportunities for the Jewish community to tip the scales toward effective policy. Join our advocacy alert list and we’ll call you to action (well, we’ll email you to action) whenever a groundswell of grassroots voices would make a difference.

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Does calling your legislator and asking them to support, or oppose, an upcoming bill sound intimidating? We’ll make it easy by providing a clear script. You don’t need any prior understanding of what a filibuster is or what political infighting is happening in which relevant subcommittees!

Does commenting on a Department of Agriculture rulemaking process sound kind of boring? We’re not going to lie, it is. But with our help, it will take only five minutes or less out of your day!

Jewish heroism has never been limited to the story of young David with a loaded slingshot or Judah Maccabee with his shield. Our work on behalf of a just and abundant future has mostly manifested as stories of individuals joining together to collectively do the small, and sometimes boring, and sometimes intimidating, work.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the food system accounts for more one third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thirty five million people in the U.S. confronted hunger in 2019 while 30-40% of food produced was wasted, accounting for millions of tons of unnecessary pollution and trillions of gallons of irrigation water used to no effect. 

Join us in heeding the call of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel Z”L who said that “The opposite of good is not evil; the opposite of good is indifference. In a free society where terrible wrongs exist, some are guilty, but all are responsible.”

While Heschel taught us to take action, he also taught us to wake up in the morning and feel the radical amazement of being alive, to seek happiness through wonder. At Hazon, we recommend heeding both of his teachings by trading out your doom scrolling practice for a practice of acting on our advocacy alerts, freeing yourself up for more radical amazement and more wonder with the knowledge that you spoke up at this pivotal moment in history.

Advocacy Alert: October 2022

Join Hazon’s Farm Bill Campaign over the next fourteen months as we take up the mantle of steady persistence that has achieved so much in climate advocacy. 

Where do we start in our Farm Bill journey? By voting in the election on November 8th! Turnout in these upcoming midterm elections will foretell what kind of climate action we get in the 2023 Farm Bill, among a great deal else.

• Make a plan to vote ahead of election day, Tuesday November 8th. 

Studies show that getting your vote across the finish line is often dependent on having made a plan for how you’ll vote far ahead of time. Polling location information can be shifty, ballot request deadlines can sneak up on us. Click here to make your voting plan now!

and

• Join our partner organization, Dayenu, for their chutzpah 2022 campaign, a non-partisan get-out-the-vote effort focused on climate-concerned and Jewish voters in key states. Whether it is your first time phone banking or it’s an old habit, Dayenu offers all the training, framing, encouragement, and logistical support you’ll need to help save democracy one call at a time.

Stay tuned for further Farm Bill action opportunities after the election.

Advocacy Alert: December 2021

This week’s Torah portion culminates with a perceived dead end. Pharaoh refuses Moses’ entreaties for liberation, leaving Moses despondent and confronting a crisis of faith.

We heard another famous ‘no’ this week, this time from a senator whose vote was critical to the passage of historic climate and social legislation – the Build Back Better Act. While the stalled nature of the bill is a major setback in our work toward resilience and equity, and while it is fair to take some time to feel the disappointment of this dead end for 2021’s policy momentum, we have so much to gain by continuing to believe in the power of our persistence.

There are a lot of unknowns at this crossroad. Will the Build Back Better Act be revised and reintroduced in 2022? Will pieces of it pass via other legislative maneuvers? We have some assurances that the transformative food and farming provisions that advocates fought so hard for, including conservation program funding and sustainable agriculture research, are some of the less vulnerable pieces of the legislation.

2021 Sustainable Food and Farming Policy Wins

Build Back Better wasn’t our only vehicle for increasing the sustainability of food systems. Of course the bipartisan infrastructure package was signed into law and included investments to support farms, pollinators, and moving away from fossil fuels in food transportation. We also saw a wholesale shift in administrative support for sustainable farming and racial justice from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Environmental Protection Agency with bans on dangerous pesticides, restored water protections, investment in agroecological research, support for local food, and more. Pandemic aid made its way to farmers who use conservation practices like cover cropping. The Agriculture Resilience Act, a bill that sets the stage for net zero emissions for agriculture in the 2023 Farm Bill, was introduced in congress and gained a wide range of cosponsors.

How to take action

If you have been dreaming of increasing your participation in the steady work of preserving our democracy by participating in it, we’ve got you covered! Here are some ideas for how to integrate advocacy into your life:

• Learn more about the wins and challenges for sustainable food and farming discussed above on our recommended reading page.
• Keep an eye out for food and farm advocacy alerts on this email list.
• If your organization is a Hazon Seal of Sustainability site, tap into our advocacy resources.
• Join Adamah for our virtual, all-ages cohort this spring called Adamah at Home. One component of the program will include teachings on advocacy.
• Join some of our partners in Jewish environmental advocacy: Dayenu, Jewish Climate Action Network, and Jewish Earth Alliance.
• Attend the Big Bold Jewish Climate Fest coming up January 10-14.
• There is so much room for each of us to impact hyper local decisions! Consider getting involved in specific issues in your area. Such efforts can be wonderful ways to connect with your neighbors while creating the world as we wish it to be. Find some inspiration in this database of policies set by local communities to support local food systems.

Leaning into community (safely) can be an antidote to the overwhelm of this difficult moment of the ongoing pandemic and of this inflection point for the climate crisis and justice movements. We hope you’ll join us over the coming year in lifting our voices as a means of nourishment, of hope, and of honoring our tradition of persistence.

Advocacy Alert: July 2021

View this alert as a PDF

BACKGROUND

Imagine if Congress took transformative action on climate change and agriculture through a racial and economic justice lens. How different would our food system look in two, five, ten, or fifty years if our country made a serious investment this year in just, climate-friendly agricultural solutions? Imagine how much more ‘fit to eat’ our food would be!
We have an opportunity to make progress on that vision today. Congress is currently working on legislation that offers a once-in-a-generation opportunity to fund climate-friendly agriculture conservation practices, climate and agriculture research, and resilient local supply chain infrastructure. Let’s remind lawmakers in the House and Senate that their constituents want them to take bold, transformative action for the future of our food system.

HOW TO HELP

Take a few minutes to call your legislators. You have two Senators and a Congressperson.

Dial: (202) 224-3121

Tell the operator that you’d like to speak to one of the senators for your state. Use the provided script and feel free to add details about why you care. Go ahead and leave a message if no one answers. Hang up and dial the switchboard again to ask for your other senator, and then again for your representative in the house.

SCRIPT

Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a constituent. I am calling about pending infrastructure legislation. I hope that the [SENATOR or REPRESENTATIVE] will support a just transition in the food system by investing at least $200 billion to help farmers adopt climate-friendly practices, allow researchers to develop climate-resilient crops, and support local and regional supply chains. Historically marginalized farmers should be intentionally included in these investments to correct for past discrimination. Can I count on your office to champion this critical funding for a resilient and climate-friendly food system?

Thank you.

Advocacy Alert: May 2021

View this alert as a PDF

BACKGROUND

Congress is writing an infrastructure bill with a great deal of climate mitigation potential. They need to hear from their constituents that climate is a priority in order to make the bill as ambitious as it needs to be. 

HOW TO HELP

Take a few minutes to call your members of congress to tell them you want sweeping climate legislation.

You have two senators and a representative in the House of Representatives. Dial: (202) 224-3121

Tell the operator that you’d like to speak to one of the senators for your state. Use the provided script and feel free to add details about why you care. Call back to ask for your other senator, and then again for your representative in the house.

SCRIPT

Hello, my name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a constituent. I’m calling to tell you that I want ambitious climate action in the upcoming infrastructure package. The plan should include (choose any or all of the items on the below a-la carte menu of climate solutions.): 

• clean electricity standards 
• investment in renewable energy 
• the establishment of a civilian climate corps
• incentives for farmers to use climate-friendly practices
• a guarantee that 40% of investments will go to disadvantaged communities

Thank you.

Advocacy Alert: April 2021

Advocacy Alert: March 2021

Advocacy Alert: January 2021

Introduce yourself to your legislator! The 117th Congress began it’s session yesterday, January 3rd, with greater potential for climate action than ever in history. The more your members of congress hear from you, the more accountable they are on the issues you care about. For now, just say hello by filling in the blanks of the below script and sending one copy to your congressperson, and a copy to each of your two senators. When you find your folks using the links in the previous sentence, just click through to the contact pages on their websites to find their email address or a contact form.

Dear (Senator or Congressperson) ________________,

The urgent need to put the full weight of the federal government behind a just and climate-smart food system will greet you on day one of the upcoming legislative session. As a constituent living in ___City, State_________. I hope you will rise to the occasion on behalf of our collective future. We have the technology and the know-how to reform the ways that we grow and distribute food. All we need is the political will and I hope that you will have the courage to  incentivize regenerative production models and to penalize pollution; to make healthy food accessible to all regardless of income; and to drastically reduce the amount of food that goes to waste.

Throughout the coming months I will be following up with your office to advocate for just and climate-smart policies with respect to food and farming. I am hopeful for all that we can accomplish.

Thank you,

_______Your Name_______