Aytzim (meaning "trees" in Hebrew), formerly
Green Zionist Alliance (GZA), is a New York-based
Jewish environmental organization that is
a U.S.-registered 501(c)(3) tax-deductible
nonprofit charity.
A grassroots all-volunteer organization, Aytzim
is active in the United States, Canada and
Israel.
The organization is a member of the American
Zionist Movement, and has worked in partnership
with Ameinu, the Coalition on the Environment
and Jewish Life (COEJL), Hazon, Interfaith
Moral Action on Climate, Interfaith Oceans,
the Jewish National Fund, GreenFaith, Mercaz/Masorti
(Conservative Judaism), and the National Religious
Coalition on Creation Care.
Aytzim's work at the nexus of Judaism, environmentalism
and Zionism has courted controversy from both
Jewish and non-Jewish groups (see below section
on criticism).
== Projects ==
Aytzim has four projects:
Green Zionist Alliance: The Grassroots Campaign
for a Sustainable Israel (The organization's
former name is now used as a project name.)The
Green Zionist Alliance works on issues related
to the environment of Israel and the Middle
East.
Jewcology: Home of the Jewish Environmental
MovementJewcology.org is an online resource
for information on Jewish environmentalism,
and includes resources such as a job board
and an interactive map of Jewish environmental
initiatives.
Shomrei Breishit: Rabbis and Cantors for the
EarthAn environmental-advocacy group that
Aytzim runs in partnership with GreenFaith,
Shomrei Breishit includes more than 100 Jewish
clergy, including chief rabbis.
EcoJews of the BayEcoJews holds Jewish-environmental
events in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Aytzim also runs an internship program; hosts
an English-language compilation of educational
materials, research papers, academic papers,
news articles, videos and books about Israel's
environment; and has student chapters, including
"Yovel: Aytzim at NYU."
== Criticism ==
Aytzim has been criticized (predominately
by the conservative Hudson Institute historian
Arthur Herman) for its stance against hydrofracking,
with Herman labeling the GZA in the New York
Post as "running against the tide of technology."
The organization also has been criticized
for its support of environmentalism and tikkun
olam.
Others have been critical of Aytzim's stance
against BDS; for greenwashing Israel; for
participating in the People's Climate March;
for associating with Israel and Zionism; for
working with Jewish National Fund; and for
its participation in a process that largely
favors Israel's political status quo.
Politically centrist individuals have criticized
the GZA for its promotion of community gardens,
charging that making community gardens more
widely available is patronizing to the public.
Others see Zionism's mission as finished with
the establishment of the modern state of Israel
and they question the relevance of the entire
system of legacy Zionist organizations formed
by the World Zionist Organization and its
constituent agencies.
== History ==
The Green Zionist Alliance (GZA) was founded
in 2001 by Alon Tal, Eilon Schwartz and Rabbi
Michael Cohen, with a large team of other
volunteers, including Adam Werbach, Devra
Davis and current Aytzim leadership.
In 2002 it became the first environmental
party at the World Zionist Congress, where
it has had elected representation since.
Through this process, the organization succeeded
in the appointment of environmental leaders,
including Tal and Schwartz, to the board of
the Keren Kayemet L'Yisrael (KKL / Jewish
National Fund in Israel).
For more than a dozen years, Aytzim representation
has included Tal and Orr Karassin.In 2006
the GZA incorporated as a 501(c)3 nonprofit.
In late Sept. 2014, the GZA acquired Jewcology.org
from fellow Jewish-environmental group Canfei
Nesharim and, in partnership with GreenFaith,
launched a Jewish-clergical environmental
advocacy group called Shomrei Breishit: Rabbis
and Cantors for the Earth.
To better reflect the scope of the organization's
work, the GZA rebranded itself as Aytzim,
keeping the Green Zionist Alliance name both
legally and for its Israel-focused work.Aytzim
has had many prominent Jewish leaders serve
on its Green Zionist Alliance slates for the
World Zionist Congress, including Rabbi Ellen
Bernstein, Mirele Goldsmith, Susannah Heschel,
Nigel Savage, Rabbi Fred Scherlinder Dobb,
Richard H. Schwartz, Rabbi Marc Soloway, Rabbi
Lawrence Troster, Rabbi Arthur Waskow, and
Laurie Zoloth.The Aytzim advisory board includes
former Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Naomi Tsur and
Daniel Orenstein, a faculty member at the
Technion Israel Institute of Technology and
the Arava Institute for Environmental Studies.
== Accomplishments ==
Since its founding as the Green Zionist Alliance,
Aytzim has been a key factor in the greening
of Israeli policy, both internally and in
its interactions with other countries.
Aytzim's accomplishments include:
Quadrupling funding for afforestation;
Building new bicycle lanes in Israel;
Developing an environmental program for villagers
in Rwanda;
Saving the unique ecosystem of the Samar sand
dunes in the Arava Valley from destruction;
A successful effort to stop hydrofracking
of oil shale in Israel's Elah Valley, and
to ban all fossil-fuel extraction on land
owned by Jewish National Fund in Israel;
A successful effort to increase the public
share of profits from Israel's offshore natural-gas
fields;
The installation of rooftop energy-generating
solar panels and indoor energy-efficient lighting;
The planned transition of vehicles in the
fleets of quasi-governmental organizations,
such as Jewish National Fund, to high fuel-efficiency
and alternative-fuel models;
The development of seven-year environmental
plans, inspired by the shmita sabbatical cycle,
to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in Israel;
The inclusion of environmental education for
new immigrants to Israel;
The development of community gardens at immigrant-housing
centers;
Increased support for in-country carbon-mitigating
projects;
Increased support for local organic agriculture.
== Activist and Educational Campaigns ==
Aytzim has been engaged in many campaigns
to both protect and educate about the environment,
including:
Publication of the Jewish Energy Guide, a
50-article resource on energy issues from
a Jewish perspective produced in partnership
with the Coalition on the Environment and
Jewish Life;
Development of an Ethic of the Seas in partnership
with the National Religious Coalition on Creation
Care;
Filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Court
of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
in the “Our Children’s Trust” case.
Support for the Green New Deal;
Support for a cross-country Jewish environmental-education
campaign;
Support for finalization of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency's Carbon Pollution Standard
for New Power Plants;
Support for inclusion of greenhouse gases
in consideration of the Endangered Species
Act;
An effort to support Israel's forests in the
wake of the worst forest fire in the country's
history;
An effort to develop an interconnected network
of individuals, organizations and communities
working to create a healthier and more sustainable
world rooted in the values of the shmita cycle;
An unsuccessful effort to prevent further
demolition of the Bedouin village of Al Arakib
in Israel's Negev region;
Opposing Israel's proposed "Nation-State Bill";
Partnering with 160 other groups, including
primary organizers the Sierra Club, 350.org
and the Hip Hop Caucus, on the "Forward on
Climate" initiative;
Partnering with musician Natalie Merchant,
actor Mark Ruffalo and more than 200 other
groups — including MoveOn, Friends of the
Earth and the Indigenous Environmental Network
— in the Food & Water Watch-organized New
Yorkers Against Fracking coalition;
Partnering with hundreds of other groups on
the People's Climate March in both 2014 (New
York) and 2017 (Washington);
Partnering with hundreds of other groups on
the March for a Clean Energy Revolution;
Partnering with a dozen other faith-based
environmental organizations — including
Franciscan Action Network and GreenFaith — on
the Sacred Earth project;
Partnering with 14 other Jewish organizations
— including Hazon, COEJL and the Religious
Action Center — in founding the Green Hevra,
a network of Jewish-environmental organizations;
Endorsing a Jewish community-wide transition
from fossil fuels to clean, renewable energy;
Supporting efforts to combat antisemitism;
And an unsuccessful effort to green the General
Assembly of the Jewish Federations of North
America
