How Green is your Bar Mitzvah?

From the Religion & Ethics Newsweekly at PBS Online, comes this inspiring segment on environmentally friendly Bar Mitzvahs. Anna Hackman, Editor of GreenTalk.com), tells PBS, “This is my third bar mitzvah—I have four sons—and I took a look at this Bar Mitzvah for more of a carbon footprint, like what was I doing that was impacting the Earth, that I could make a difference?”

Showing how her family incorporated online media into the Bar Mitzvah, Anna explains, “The invitation’s a website with places for people to RSVP. It’s got pictures of Jacob. It’s got polls and quizzes, and the best thing is there’s no paper being used. There’s nobody mailing things back and forth to me.”

Another article on Green Bar Mitzvahs, “Go Green, At A Price” in Haaretz, suggests that even eco-friendly events have a way to go until they are less wasteful.  Our JGooders suggestion is to reduce the costs of elaborate events and donate the amount saved to an environmental Tikkun Olam cause such as educating kids to protect Israel’s beaches or providing clean water for poor villages in Ethiopia.

One more great incentive to go green for Bnai Mitzvah has been launched by Twisted Limb Paperworks – a US company that produces environmentally-friendly event invitiations. Their Tikkun Olam Service Awards will go to young people whose mitzvah service projects offer the most creative and most impactful solutions to an environmental or social problem in their community or the world. Entries can be made until October 31st, 2009.

Do you have a great idea for a Jewish socially-responsible event?  Let us know here.