Jewcology.com - A New Online Hub for Jewish Environmentalists

Jewcology.com launched just over one month ago, and already has astounding success. This victory is not unwarranted- the site encourages strong Jewish community and helping the environment.

For those of you that haven’t already visited the site, Jewcology.com is an online social media portal and resource database designed to support eco-activism throughout the Jewish world. The site features various blogs, a store, and something called “Idea Box” which enables the community to sift through environmental resources that have been posted by activists worldwide.

Nineteen Jewish environmentalists from the United States, Canada, Israel, China, and Chile created Jewcology. Ultimately, it is the brainchild of Evonne Marzouk, who is also the founder and executive director of Canfei Nesharim, a Washington D.C based, Torah-inspired environmental organization.

The goal is to develop a community of Jewish activists that pool their resources, share their expertise, express their concerns, and organize global campaigns aimed at mobilizing Jewish communities everywhere.

“The Jewish community is waking up to its environmental responsibility and is looking for resources to do the right thing,” said Noam Dolgin, the Canadian co-founder of Jewcology.com. Dolgin is the executive director of the Green Zionist Alliance based in Vancouver.

In the short amount of time the site has been live, approximately 50 Jewish environmental activists and organizations have upload over 300 resources in English, Hebrew, and Spanish to the website including Jewish teachings, environmental texts, synagogue projects, blog posts, and awareness activity plans ranging in topic from water, vegetarianism, energy and agriculture to trees, food, recycling, and Jewish holidays. Some of these organizations include COEJL (Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life), Hazon, Shalom Center, and the Teva Learning Center.

“While many environmental concerns are global and require the same response worldwide, others are local and require a local response,” Dolgin said. “By having Canadian perspectives reflected on Jewcology.com, we will be able to share some of our unique successes and challenges with the global community, and we can provide a valuable resource to other Canadians looking for responses to regional environmental concerns.”

Jewcology is dedicated to taking these online relationship offline. They plan to host face to face meetings and regional leadership training summits. A few are already scheduled in Los Angeles, Baltimore, and New York.

“The Jewish environmental movement has always been a very collaborative movement, and there are a number of collaborations already underway between members of Jewcology.com. We hope that Jewcology.com will strengthen these connections and produce new partnership as well,” Dolgin said.