The Torah & the Environment

A freshman asks:

These past few weeks I couldn't help but notice the ad's for this new movie called "2012", it's about how the world is going to be destroyed, because of global warming and how we are all doomed. It's based on the ancient Mayan theory, and as the ad says "its confirmed by science." I know that that Mayans worshipped avodah zarah, and that their theories shouldn't be taken so seriously, but when it comes to global warming or climate changing, all I hear is the secular view, I never heard the Jewish one. Is there a Jewish view on Global warming??

For the science question, we went straight to the expert.  Mrs. Rosenbaum responds:

In short: No, there is no written Jewish view on Global Warming.


However, based on a several sources in the Torah, it seems that we are responsible for what happens to our environment.

1. There are several mitzvot that allude to an eco-conscience mindset. For example shmitta and bal tashchit are mitvot that are commonly refered to when discussing our responsibility to take care of our land. However, shmitta is a mitzvah she'teluya ba'aretz- meaning that it is only performed in Israel. In terms of bal tashchit, although the Rabbis have expanded this mitzvah to include any wasteful action (such as breaking a dish or ripping clothing), the mitzvah in the Torah is strictly a prohibition from cutting down fruit trees during war. According to the Rambam and Ramban, you are allowed to destroy something for a purpose. Whether or not it is legitimate to destroying the world in order to fuel our energy needs is debatable, but it is clear that destroying an object for no reason is prohibited.

Note: It is also worthwhile to point out that our Shalosh Regalim are heavily based on the seasonal and agricultural calendars of Israel. Our connection to the land and its yearly changes is unique.
There is also a famous pasuk in Bereishit that required Adam "to work and preserve the land." This passuk (2, 15) is about his mitzvah to preserve Gan Eden and its trees. Whether this mitzvah expands to Israel or Earth in general is also debatable.

Despite the difficulties in using these texts to absolutely prove our responsibility to nature, it seems that the issue of land frequently pops up in the Torah and therefore should be an object of interest to us.
2. There are many pesukim in the Torah (especially in the Neviim) that write about the impact of our spiritual actions on nature's behavior...that the land will go desolate and kick us out if we sin, but will flourish and produce for us if we repent.

3. The sources about Mashiach (the End of Days) are inconclusive regarding what nature will be like when Mashiach has come. According to the Rambam, the world will continue as it is ("olam k'minhago noheg") which might imply that we are responsible to take care of our world now because even when Mashiach comes G-d won't reverse the nature of the land. According to the Ramban, the world will follow a new natural order and nature will return to the way it was before Adam sinned. This is based on a literal reading of the pesukim that talk about lions and sheep living together and so forth, as opposed to the Rambam who reads these pesukim metaphorically to mean Jews and non-Jews living peacibly. The Ramban's approach might imply that even if the world is destroyed by global warming and other man-made problems that G-d will fix these issues in the coming of Mashiach.

The idea of "chishuv ha'ketz" or calculating the time of the Mashiach is prohibited by most scholars, because it is impossible to calculate, it fosters false hope in the people and opens up the possibility of false messiahs. Despite their dire warnings some scholars still venture to use kabbalistic ideas to figure out the time of the Mashiach, many of whom have been proven wrong.

We do believe (based on pesukim and other sources) that we will either deserve the Mashiach to arrive at any moment ("zachu achishena"- if we merit, it will come early) or that we won't deserve Mashiach but will come anyway at a certain point in time ("lo zachu b'ita" - if we do not merit, it will in its time).

At a certain point Mashiach will come regardless of our worthiness and I can only imagine that Mashiach will come before the disasters that science may predict come to fruition.