Jewlicious Festival is the largest Jewish student weekend in the country. Now in it’s fifth year, Jewlicious Festival aims to be more than just environmentally aware, but actually takes steps to be “green” and educate participants about being green even after the festival is over. Jewlicious Festival, which non-coincidentally takes place within two weeks of Tu B’Shevat, uses a hands-on approach during the festival to inform its participants about how to heal the Earth year-round. In 2008, students and staff at Jewlicious began meeting to create a guiding set of principals that would involve not only what kinds of programs we did, and the educational green content, but which would impact how we organized and produced the Festival.

Many conferences and festivals today opt for buying carbon credits, and other virtual solutions, but do not make any concessions to use a Greenthink strategy. Our students, alumni, and staff demanded a truly innovative approach and drafted the first version of the Greenkeit Manifesto for Jewlicious Festival 4.0 (2008).

We are updating Greenkeit for our 5th Annual Festival. From the smallest things – that we have been doing all along – to larger steps that we’re implementing this year for the first time, Jewlicious Festival 5.0 will expand our consciousness to show us that there are better ways, and take us one step closer to fulfilling our Jewish obligations to be Shomrei Adamah (to be guardians of the Earth).

This year Jewlicious Festival is taking a two-stage approach to being green. First, throughout the planning process we have worked within a Greenthink paradigm to ensure that Greenkeit is integrated into the very fabric of the Festival. Secondly, we are providing opportunities at the Festival for participants to take Greenkeit into their own hands.

A note about the word GREENKEIT: In Yiddish, Judaism is called Yiddishkeit. Jews are called on to be Shomrei Adamah, guardians of the earth. So, the word GREENKEIT represents our Jewish environmentalism or our environmental Judaism.

We are posting on our website what we’ve done and what you can do to make your Jewlicious Festival experience more green.

BE A PART OF THE JEWLICIOUS GREEN TEAM! Contact the head of our Greenkeit Program, Ezra Flom, today!

ezraflom [at] gmail [dot] com

* The above logo for Greenkeit is made using an Eco-Font that uses 20% less ink when printed.

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Save Gas

What we’ve done

Reduced transportation of goods & food by buying local

Created marketing groups on Facebook to connect university students and encourage carpooling

Made local hotels available, so long-distance transportation is not necessary during Jewlicious

What you can do

Carpool to Jewlicious or, even better, ride bikes

Take public transportation

Drive a smaller car- leave your SUV at home

Save Water

What we’ve done

We’re serving filtered water instead of bottled water

What you can do

Turn the water off when you’re brushing your teeth, washing your hair, or shaving

Take shorter showers

Shower with a buddy

Ensure your faucets are completely turned off and not leaking

Save Energy

What we’ve done

We’re turning off unnecessary lighting

The Festival is in the winter so we don’t have to crank on the A.C.

What you can do

Turn off unnecessary lights

Adjust your thermostat before you leave your house. It doesn’t need to be 69 degrees when you’re not there!

Reduce Waste

What we’ve done

We’re serving food on biodegradable plates, cutlery, etc.

We’re serving filtered water instead of bottled water

We’ve made reusable plates available

We’ve put up posters of the schedules, instead of printing individual pages for everyone

We’ve made reusable towels and recycled-content paper towels available at sinks

What you can do

Recycle with the Long Beach Conservation Corps

Use our compostable plates and compost your leftover veggies

Use our towels & eco-friendly paper towels in the bathrooms

Use a reusable plate and wash it with our revolutionary water saving dishwashing system

Buy and use Food Wisely

What we’ve done

Bought organic and local when possible

We’re avoiding foods that are out-of-season as much as we can

We’ll donate unused food to the Long Beach Food Finders

We’re baking our own challah!

What you can do

Don’t take more than you can eat. Start with smaller helpings.

More Green @ Jewlicious

Our Jewlicious t-shirts are American Apparel’s Sustainable Edition, made locally with organic cotton

Festival posters were printed on recycled content paper with soy ink

Our decorations are organic and reusable

We’re using organic cleaners

We will donate a portion of surplus merchandise

Our presenters’ nametags are made of recycled cereal boxes

Green Education: Where you can learn more at Jewlicious Festival

Attend the Festival Panel on GREENKEIT

Locate and read the Green Kite Signs with Eco-Info

Talk to one of our expert presenters or staff

Visit the Long Beach water department booth to learn about water conservation