It is good to see the Jewish community becoming active in the climate question. It is natural to see the cause pushed by activists who, by their nature, take black-and-white positions, for that is typically the way the cause gets noticed, not that these positions are not sincerely held.
But if the cause is now on the communal agenda, or close to getting there, it is time to acknowledge that the climate question is complicated, not given to ready answers. There needs to be less use of fossil fuels, but are $70,000 electric vehicles the answer? The question points to the necessity of holistic policies. In a time of, for example, growing homelessness, $70,000 vehicles are not a solution. Nor is an immediate, total divestment from fossil fuels. How will the world run in the years or decades before an entirely renewable economy comes on line?
Then there is the irony of destroying the environment in order to save it. Check this out with farmers in Kansas who do not want their crops, their landscapes and their natural way of life blighted by ugly turbines.
In facing the climate challenges, we will need sophisticated, holistic solutions.
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