Tu Bishvat and Climate Change

Tu Bishvat, the New Year for Trees, the day that trees are judged for the next year according to Jewish tradition, is the ideal day to consider how the destruction of trees is arguably the main reason that the world is rapidly approaching a climate catastrophe and other environmental disasters.

Because of animal-based agriculture, over 40 percent of the world’s ice-free land is now used for grazing and growing feed crops for animals. This has reduced the number of trees from about six trillion to about three trillion. This sharp reduction in carbon-absorbing trees has caused atmospheric CO2 to reach 425 parts per million (ppm), far above the 350 ppm that climate scientists consider a threshold for climate stability. This hazardous level is a major cause of many negative climate-related events.

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.

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.

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.

However, as the author of “Vegan Revolution: Saving Our World, Revitalizing Judaism,” I want to stress that the most important change is a shift to plant-based diets. That would enable reforestation, greatly increasing the world’s tree cover, which would help reduce the current hazardous level of atmospheric CO2 to a much safer level. Such a shift would also significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions, because there would be far fewer cows 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.

Tu Bishvat is an ideal time to start a dietary shift, since the Tu Bishvat Seder is the only Jewish 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.

Everything possible should be done to reduce climate change 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.

Despite all of the above and much more, there is widespread denial today, and far too little is being done to avert 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/