[Cited by the Jewish Climate Initiative, http://www.jewishclimateinitiative.org/ethics/pollution.php]
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein...takes what seems to me to be a major step towards translating the laws of damages between neighbors into an industrial context. He was asked whether a student might smoke in the study hall of a yeshiva. R. Feinstein replied that this is forbidden by halakhah as it potentially damages the health of other students.14 Then he adds the following:
"And even though one person smoking in a large room such as a Beit Midrash would not by himself cause damage, nevertheless, since each smoker knows that many other people are smoking, he knows that his smoke is causing damage."
R. Feinstein here disallows the argument of each individual smoker's relative insignificance in the big picture. Since each smoker knows that he is a small part of a larger phenomenon that cumulatively is inflicting serious harm on others, he must take responsibility for his role in contributing to that damage.
Suggested Discussion Questions:
1. What implications does this ruling have? What other cases might we apply this to?
2. How is this an example of the "tragedy of the commons"- the belief that each can act individually without expressing collective concern?
Time Period: Contemporary (The Yom Kippur War until the present-day)