By Jeff Levy-Lyons, JCAN NYC Co-Director
Here on the Jewish calendar we find ourselves arriving at Tu B’Shvat, when we are invited to pause to celebrate trees. It’s always a great idea to make space to notice and offer gratitude for any and every part of God’s creation.
Mostly we honor trees by enjoying their beauty or their bounty. I prepared to write this essay by snacking on some fruit and nuts. We can also pay tribute to our stationary, arboreal friends by walking among them, a seriously healthful practice referred to as forest bathing. We can key in on our interdependence with trees. The late, great Rabbi Arthur Waskow [May his memory be for a blessing], loved to say, “We breathe in what the trees breathe out (oxygen) and we breathe out what the trees breathe in (CO2)”.
Another important way to honor trees is to protect our forests, both globally and locally. In the largest sense, we can work to limit deforestation, particularly in sensitive and old growth areas. But locally, we can practice living habits that limit our “need” to put trees, mostly their byproduct of paper, to use. I sometimes imagine a random tree sending me this message: “Is this particular use of my body parts really a necessity in your life?” It seems that without a great deal of effort we can find ways to leave many more of these life-sustaining, carbon-storing beauties alone.
In my household, we have a particular practice that might seem silly, but we think of it as a meaningful mindfulness practice. There is a long-standing public debate about which is the more environmentally healthy practice in a public rest room: reaching for a paper towel (though many of us grab more than one) vs. using an air dryer. I’ll note that both MIT and the European Tissue Committee (yup, that’s a real thing) have studied this issue. My family takes the position: why use either? Think about that for a moment: After washing, we’re left with clean water on our clean hands. Does a tree really need to be involved in the drying process? Nope. Do we need to use energy to have hot air passively dry our hands? Again, nope. Our clothes or real-air drying work just fine. Sparing trees from this one pointless task would save millions and millions of their lives.
There are so many ways we can work to practice meaningful mindfulness. I’d recommend searching out an online “buy nothing” group, which is a beautiful group practice of dialing down our consumption habits and building the circular economy. The sites are usually organized within small geographical areas, like one city area code. When you need something, you can first go to the buy nothing group site and see if someone is looking to divest that item. If you’re looking to get rid of something (perhaps a pair of old cross county skis or a small appliance) you simply post it on the group site and often within hours (sometimes minutes) someone claims it and comes by to grab it. Less fill for landfills, less paper used in packaging, less energy from delivery vehicles, more community.
We know who the real culprits are in perpetuating the damage to our air, water, and ecosystems, particularly to our forests; our work centers on battling with them. Let’s battle a little more with ourselves and practice more meaningful mindfulness. With deep respect and concern for the natural world, we can give honor to the trees not just on Tu B’Shvat, but each and every day of our lives. Chag sameach!