14 January 17 • 2019
jn

C

limate change is arguably
THE issue of our time. The
looming sense of urgency
is inescapable. In trying to “do the
right thing,
” it’
s easy to get over-
whelmed and confused on issues
like recycling, composting, label
reading and food choice.
Hazon, the Jewish Lab for
Sustainability, founded in 1999,
is a nonprofit organization that
promotes creating sustainable com-
munities in the Jewish world and
beyond. With visionary leadership,
led by founder Nigel Savage, Hazon
serves, by many accounts, as the
Jewish community’
s north star
regarding environmental issues.
With headquarters in New York
City, it operates offices in Boulder,
Colo., and Detroit.
By recommending small,
intentional and humane actions,
Hazon is leading the charge for
Jewish organizations to re-think
the way they eat, what they eat,
how humane the food they eat
is raised and, most importantly,
how their food choices impact
the planet.
“Our goal is to change peo-
ple’
s thinking, but to do so in a
gradual way without pushing
the panic button,”
said Wren Hack,
Detroit Hazon’
s
new director. Last
year, Hazon Detroit
received a $25,000
grant from an
anonymous family

to offset the purchase of higher
welfare kosher meat and eggs
and make it affordable for local
Hazon Seal of Sustainability sites.
Most consumers are familiar
with the term organic (food
grown without the use of pes-
ticides, synthetic fertilizers and
without growth hormones or
antibiotics for animals that pro-
duce meat, poultry, eggs and
dairy products). Higher welfare
goes a step further and values the
animals’
natural behavior, letting
them be what they were meant to
be, with exposure to sunlight, to
range free in pastures (not pens
or cages), and to eat naturally
in that pasture (grass, hay and
legumes, versus grains or corn).
Bottom line, the animal lives a
humane life.
“We are encouraging people
to continue to aim higher in
what their intentions are when
purchasing meat or eggs,” Hack
explained. “And we recognize that
all people are not going to jump
immediately to the far end of the
humane spectrum. If we, as Jews,
want to make changes that will
have an impact on the planet, this
is one area where you can make a
change. “

SITES ON BOARD
The Hazon Seal of Sustainability
is a credential granted to Jewish
organizations that have met a
basic threshold of sustainability
practices. Hazon provides the

jews d
in
the
on the cover


Hazon Detroit grant enables local
organizations to make humane
food choices.

Bite by

KAREN COUF-COHEN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
Bite

Wren Hack

A Hazon Detroit grant

helped Hillel’
s cafeteria to

switch to more humane

higher welfare meat.

continued on page 16

JERRY ZOLYNSKY PHOTOGRAPHY