SECTION ONE
A snapshot of some of our actions that are damaging our biosphere:
Meat and dairy consumption
Meat and dairy specifically accounts for around 14.5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to the UN’s Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO).
Travel
Experts say commercial air travel accounts for about 3 to 4 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. And while planes become more efficient with each new model, growing demand for flights is outpacing those advancements. The United Nations expects airplane emissions of carbon dioxide, a major greenhouse gas, to triple by 2050. (source)
Clothing
The fashion industry accounts for about 10% of global carbon emissions, and nearly 20% of wastewater. And while the environmental impact of flying is now well known, fashion sucks up more energy than both aviation and shipping combined. (source)
Single use plastic
Worldwide over 300 million tons of plastic is produced every single year, half of this is single-use plastics.Plastics do not fully decompose and instead just continually break down into smaller and smaller pieces called microplastics. These microplastics pose a huge risk to wildlife and are extremely difficult to clean up... Landfills, where thrown out single-use plastics are sent, account for over 15% of methane emissions. The disposal of more plastics to landfills leads to increases in landfill size and these emissions. (source)
SECTION TWO
A snapshot of a few of the mitzvot relevant to our collapsing biosphere:
The concept of "baal tashchis" --do not be someone who needlessly destroys-- is based in Deuteronomy 20:19–20 and explicated in various places throughout the Talmud, including here:
אָמַר רַב זוּטְרָא: הַאי מַאן דִּמְכַסֵּי שְׁרָגָא דְּמִשְׁחָא וּמְגַלֵּי נַפְטָא קָעָבַר מִשּׁוּם ״בַּל תַּשְׁחִית״.
Rav Zutra said: He who covers an oil lamp or who uncovers a kerosene lamp for no purpose violates the prohibition: Do not destroy, since by doing so the fuel burns more quickly.
In this Biblical text, we are instructed in the mitzvah of "shiluach hakan" -- sending away the mother bird-- a mitzvah that instructs us to balance preservation of nature with the meeting of our own needs:
It can be tempting to think about the impact of our collapsing biosphere as something that effects other people, strangers in the newspapers or on TV. But the Torah insists, again and again, as in this passage, that the concerns of the stranger must be our concerns as well. We are to befriend the stranger and provide for them.