in general, asking people do use less is a good idea. but really? not light their candles? most Jews i know don't keep their candles lit all night anyway, for safety issues.
this just doesn't seem a good idea. it's like asking people not to pray- to reduce the CO2 they pump into the air with each amen.

Agree with first commenter. These type of asks don't make statistically meaningful changes to global carbon patterns, and just make environmentalism seem like zealotry: the higher order priority over even your own traditions.

If we're ever going to make a green agenda work, we need to figure out how to blend it with our traditions and the things that make us us.

I agree with Liz. It's this kind of story that always makes the news and gives the green movement a bad rap. It seems petty. We should concentrate on the things that make a big difference.

In all seriousness, several people on the jpost.com comments section suggested the 'Don't Drive On Sabbath' idea as an alternative.....
Anyone care to check the numbers on that?
Rouchly 16 million jews world wide (yes only that few.... more people born in china daily than jews in the world http://tinyurl.com/35fjkf ), assume one car for every 4, so 4 million cars.....
I don't know how to take number of cars not used for one day and turn it into a carbon count but....

(Read the comments a Jpost.) Hannuka is a festival celebratiing freedom of religion. The holiday season is full of CO2 emitting products, it's important to stay enviormentally concience but asking Jew not to light a hanukkia is asking too much. Jews already don't drive on the sabbath, that non-driving more than covers hannuka candles. Is chopping down an entire tree any worse than lighting a few small candles? So maybe we should drive less, maybe we should eat more organic, maybe we should all become vegitarians and live on tiny hippie communes in the middle of nowhere and never see a blackberry again, but this festival truely comes down to Jews having the right to be Jews. I doubt Jews will actually go hannukia-less any time soon.

My initial reaction to this is, cut it out. This seems the epitomy of superfluous symbolism, but some underlying stuff might be important.
With that in mind, just a couple of minor but significant points...

"Global warming is a milestone in human evolution that requires us to rethink how we live our lives, and one of the main paradigms of that is religion and how it fits into the current situation."

This should read "Global warming is a milestone in the shortcomings of human evolution..."

"Tikkun olam [fixing the world] must be done by adding more light and not by adding more darkness."

I'm going to catch layers of s#*t for this one, but here it is. It's all about what we call stuff affecting how we think of stuff.
Some things are solely and wholly the lack of something else, so they cannot be in themselves brought about be an act of creation, but only by the removal of something else. You can't create cold, you can only take away heat. You can't create darkness, you can only remove light. You can't create silence, you can only remove sound. And just like light, sound and heat, "green" runs in a spectrum.
To view Mr. Ortar's comments through a religious lens is to slip out of context with his intended message, and runs the risk of dimming a light....
This is a case where the conversation is more important than either sides' point. Whether or not an individual chooses to have an alternative observance by not lighting a candle, the dialogue can certainly move forward from here.

How about smaller candles? Then a smaller amount of wax (oil) can last the eight days.

Similar to the debate around meat eating in way. One can go vegetarian on certain days, or just eat very little meat every day. Both approaches lead to a reduction.

um, are you kidding me? how about all the crazy christmas lights and animated reindoor? or those stupid blow up snowmen!! c'mon people, you're giving Jews a hard time about one candle meanwhile Christians rack up their electricity bill all this month to some ungodly amount? I don't belong to any religious group myself...but I think more time should be spent chastising Christians for polluting the earth with their excessiveness then beating on the Jews to not light a single candle.

I suspect that is nonsense. Pollution is caused by high concentrations of greenhouse gases rather than absolute amounts. A whole bunch of people burning candles in their houses is going to have no effect as the CO2 is very quickly going to get mixed into the air. There are plenty of real problems to concentrate on without inventing more.

How about use beeswax or soy candles? Those are renewable.

This is ridiculous!!! What a specious argument - the CO2 effect here is almost nothing!!!

just give moderately- or un- wrapped gifts... save the carbon in a less signficant part of the ceremony

Look at Knowmad's figures. 16million jews (most of whom live together, therefor lighting only one hannukiah) hardly contribute a significant amount of CO2 to the atmosphere by lighting candles for 8 days.

It is wrong to try to limit the way a people observe their faith, even if it is to protect our world. It is a slippery slope when you do it. First it's a hannukah candle, then what? Eliminating Christmas tree lights, putting out the Eternal flame in synagogues, getting rid of the Haaj and all other pilgrimages to cut down CO2?

There are a lot of easy things we can do to save our world and we should do these first before we suggest foolishness like this.

I agree that this kind of behavior gives the environmentalist movement a bad representation. I think we should start thinking more about nuclear power, ocean current electrical generation, solar and wind power to get ourselves off fossil fuels. It's nice to do little things to help us think about global warming, but we could do more meaningfull things than this.

I think this is a little bit ridiculous. Yes, we should all be concerned about doing our part to fight global warming and help the environment, but denying religious traditions for a few grams of C02 is absurd. Nobody would tell Christians not to have a Christmas tree to save a forest or not decorate their homes with lights because of the amount of energy burned overnight, which is certainly more than the emissions of a few small candles.

I believe Liad and other campaign members should reconsider such statements and find other ways to help the environment without stomping on people's beliefs.

My first reaction was that this was a joke. I'm still not a 100% convinced that it's for real because, if it is, I find it deeply embarrassing as both a Jew and climate change crusader. I mean, really, 15 grams???

Celebrating Hanukkah is about connecting with tradition, history and family. This is more of what we all need, not less. And asking people to change a tradition that is thousands of years old for some negligible CO2 reduction is frankly both insensitive and counter-productive.

Now, if you had a campaign to get people to not light the candles on the last night as an expression of their concern for the future "light" of this world, I could see people getting behind that. It would be a statement of solidarity, a statement that even our thousands' year old traditions are in peril. But this, this is just stupid.

what a great way to get comments - present a ridiculous argument that jews will either laugh at or get enraged over...

ask to give up a candle for chanukah? that's beyond an ambitious request - how about replacing honey with sugar water on rosh hashana so as not to exploit bees, or the shank bone for the passover seder with a tofurky dog so we reduce the meat on the table?

it's all about the sacredness of the holidays - i understand about making small changes for the good of the planet, but you're stepping a fine line with this one...

Or how about natural wax (not from crude oil) in the candle?

It's crazy to point fingers at Jewish people, just look at the amount of light and assorted plastic crap sold to decorate houses for Christmas! Far more excessive.

Oh come on, this is too picky. The C02 from this is miniscule. One car emits more carbon in a single day than 100 years of Hanukkah candles. In a year, a car probably emits more than all the Hanukkah candles in human history.

Agreed... Every bit counts when we are trying to save the earth, but asking people to not take part in customs is a bit ridiculous. It would definitely be more green to take down our Christmas lights wouldn't it?... but that wouldn't be any fun.

~happy holidays everybody!

Nice Idea, but it seems a bit too much. If you just walked or took public transportation to work for one day during Hanukkah it would have more impact than lighting a candle.

If Jews are choosing not to light a candle for religous purposes what about all the catholic churches nation wide that burn candles on a continual daily basis or family homes that regurlarly use candles also? If the Jews choose to stop burning candles, then so should everyone else ....every day.

What about in other cultures? I'm Chinese and I was in Taipei, Taiwan last summer during the month of spirits. So basically every day everyone is burning paper and incense in their homes and in their storefronts and on the streets. It's TERRIBLE for the environment....and I"m pretty sure Chinese people around the world and other Asian cultures have this practice as well. I dunno if people would be willing to change these kinds of practices because it's an important part of their culture and how they pay their respects to the dead.

Oh...if someone could change that.....we would definately be making a big impact on saving the Earth!

Oh come on would it seriously hurt anyone to not light that last candle. Shesh. I'm a religious person also but if people in my religion asked me to do this I wouldn't call it ridiculous. I would just do it. You can use soy or beezwax candles by the way. Beeswax smells nicer anyway.

Someone is playing the "green movement" for how absolutely foolish they have become.

This has become like watching pseudo-scientists debate crop circles.

Good thing these guys didn't notice the yartzeit (remembrance) candles... Oh... Oops ;)

Ah yes, no candles for the Jews. Next, no candles for you and me. What an interesting demonstration of "First they came for the Jews..." by Pastor Martin Niemöller. Ironically enough, it is a Jew that is orchestrating it (maybe, didn't RTFA). But irony aside, once the stranglehold of "But it's for the children!" or "But it's for the environment!" or "But it's for the little bitty animals!" or pick you "it's for" and sign your liberties away. No books with bad words, it's or the children! No candles, cars, electricity, it's for the environment! No fur, it's for the itty bitty animals! Pick your political passion and deny to others. Fascism at it's finest.

This makes me so angry!!!! What a total waste of time and resources. The person who originally suggested this should be publicly laughed at! There has probably been more CO2 emissions as a result of the server farm time spent on commenting on this!!! BLOODY INSANE!!!