Source: Toronto Star
With concerns about global warming on the rise, many religious communities are joining the environmental movement.
Les Klein says there really was no choice when his socially conscious synagogue started looking for a new home earlier this year. Easy was out. A place had to be found that was environmentally friendly, and any extra costs would be worthwhile.
"This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity," said Klein, a Toronto architect who's leading his congregation through the retrofit of a 1960s synagogue, built when heating oil was cheap and global warming unheard of.
"Maybe even once in a lifetime."
In making their choice to renovate and expand the former Adath Shalom Synagogue in Downsview rather than start from scratch, the Reconstructionist Darchei Noam synagogue became part of a growing commitment by faith groups to environmental causes.