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