Celebrating Tu B’Shvat as if Global Survival Matters

Tu Bishvat, the “New Year for Trees,” has increasingly become a “Jewish Earth Day.” It can be a time to consider how we can effectively respond to current environmental crises that threaten all life on the planet.

There is a strong consensus among science academies worldwide and almost all climate scientists that the world is rapidly heading toward a climate catastrophe and other environmental disasters.

The world is rapidly heating up. Every decade since the 1970s has been hotter than the previous decade. All 26 years in this century are among the hottest 27 years on record. The 13 consecutive months from June 2023 to June 2024 all broke monthly temperature records. Both 2023 and 2024 broke yearly global temperature records, and 2025 was the world’s third-hottest year.

Polar ice caps and glaciers worldwide are melting rapidly, causing a significant rise in sea levels.  And there has been a significant increase in the frequency and severity of heat waves, droughts, wildfires, storms, and floods.

Everything possible should be done to avert these disasters, because if we don’t, nothing else will matter. Saving the global environment must become a “central organizing principle” for civilization, and tikkun olam (the healing of the world) should become a major focus for Jewish life today.

Time to avert potential catastrophes is running out.  Climate experts believe that we may be very close to a tipping point, when climate change will spiral out of control with disastrous consequences.

Because of the above factors, averting a climate catastrophe must become a central focus for civilization today. Every aspect of life should be considered in terms of reducing “carbon footprints.” We need to shift from fossil fuels to solar, wind, and other renewable energy sources; produce more efficient cars, lightbulbs, and other products; improve public transportation; and recycle and compost.

As president emeritus of Jewish Veg and author of “Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism,” I want to stress the approach that has by far the greatest potential to help avert a climate catastrophe  — a societal shift toward plant-based diets. Such a shift would significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because there would be far fewer cows and other farmed animals emitting methane, a very potent greenhouse gas with over 80 times the ability to heat the planet per unit weight as CO2 during its 10 – 15 years in the atmosphere. It also has the potential to dramatically reduce atmospheric CO2 by permitting the reforestation of the over 40 percent of the world’s ice-free land currently used for grazing and growing feed crops for animals. The large increase in carbon-absorbing trees would reduce the current very dangerous level of atmospheric CO2  to a much safer one. Unfortunately, the opposite is happening because forests continue to be destroyed for animal-based agriculture. We are literally eating our way to extinction.

Taking into account the lost “opportunity cost” of not permitting reforestation to draw CO2 out of the atmosphere, systems engineer Sailesh Rao, PhD argues in his paper, “Animal Agriculture Is the Leading Cause of Climate Change,” published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Ecological Society, that animal agriculture is responsible for 87% of human-caused greenhouse gases.

Tu Bishvat is an ideal time to start a dietary shift, since the Tu Bishvat Seder is the only sacred meal in which only vegan foods are eaten. Such a shift would be consistent with basic Jewish teachings on protecting human health, treating animals with compassion, preserving the environment, conserving natural resources, and helping hungry people.

Despite all of the above and much more, there is great denial today, and far from enough is being done to try to avert the potential catastrophes. Most people seem to be “rearranging deckchairs on the Titanic, as we head toward a giant iceberg.”

In response to the above points, Jews, preferably in alliance with others, should play a major role in increasing awareness of the threats and how a shift toward vegan diets can make a major difference. This would demonstrate the relevance of Judaism’s eternal teachings and move our imperiled planet toward a habitable, healthy, environmentally sustainable world for future generations.

Bottom line: There must be a society-wide shift toward vegan diets. A Utopian dream? Perhaps, but it might not be if people became aware that they can obtain plant substitutes with nearly identical appearance, texture, and taste to meat and other animal products.

There is no planet B. Nor is there an effective Plan B.

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More information about Tu Bishvat, including a Tu Bishvat haggadah, can be found at the Jewish Vegan Life website : https://jewishveganlife.org/tu-bshvat/