Temple Beth El is pleased to announce the inaugural Joel Pedersen Lectureship in Tikkun Olam and the Environment.

Joel was a vital member of the Torah Study group and the Environment and Climate Change Action Team at TBE who passed away in June 2022 after a battle with brain cancer. As a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin, Joel was an extraordinary environmental scientist focusing on how we adapt to an ever-warming planet, one who shared his profound decency and an often ironic playfulness as he debated passages from the Torah and their insights into how we should approach our own dilemmas. The lectures are intended to further his mission to understand and communicate how science and Judaism can together help improve the world, particularly with regard to the effects of climate change.

The inaugural lecture will be given by our own Jamie Schauer, professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Wisconsin, an internationally renowned expert in air pollution, and a U.S. State Department Science Envoy. As director of the Wisconsin State Laboratory of Hygiene, Jamie also leads our state's COVID testing response. In his talk, "Improving Air Quality in Developing Nations to Improve Human Health and Advance Diplomacy," he will touch on his experiences and focus on efforts to improve air quality in developing countries. A question-and-answer period will follow the talk.

You may learn more about Joel in an interview with Marta Karlov on the TBE blog and in Joel's own reflections on climate change, Jewish values, and the Torah at a 2020 event recorded on YouTube.

In-person/light food begins at 9:30 am
Introduction/lecture begins at 10:00 am

Please register to join us in person or on Zoom for this lecture.