It started with a scheduling mistake. In his freshman year of college, Oscar accidentally signed up for a class called Intro to Environmental Policy. It inspired him to think about why people treat the environment like someone else’s problem, and how to convince someone to feel the urgency of something devastating happening slowly. The more he learned, the harder it became to look away.
Connecting people to the cause
Now he’s an Avodah Jewish Service Corps Member placed at Food & Water Watch in Washington, D.C., where he serves as a Volunteer Network Coordinator. He’s the connective tissue between the organization and its grassroots base, writing the texts and emails that motivate citizens to contact their congresspeople when environmental or food-related legislation is on the line. The issues he tracks, from lead water pipes and SNAP benefits to the Fair Farm bill, span far beyond what most people think of when they think of climate activism. For a lot of the people that Food & Water Watch advocates for, this isn’t a policy debate; it’s everyday life.
L’dor Vador – from generation to generation
Environmental advocacy is slow work by nature, and right now the headwinds are especially strong. Efforts to withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement, EPA regulatory rollbacks, and an administration that has made it clear that it won’t prioritize environmental protection have made an already difficult fight harder. But Oscar has seen firsthand what’s possible when people are passionate about protecting our planet. Recently, he wrote his first article for Food & Water Watch about a community in Pennsylvania pushing back against a massive, 100-acre data center campus backed by Governor Shapiro. The story centers on one woman who decided to fight and won. “I get to see a lot of inspiring stories like that,” Oscar reflects. “We have more say and power, and it’s our responsibility to keep fighting for it.”
Most of Food & Water Watch’s volunteers are older, retired adults, not necessarily the image that comes to mind when you picture a climate activist. Many of them have lived through difficult administrations with policies that prioritize profit over people and the planet, and they haven’t stopped showing up. There’s a real temptation, he acknowledges, to sit back and wait for the next election cycle and hope things improve. But watching people who have refused to do that for decades makes that temptation harder to justify. “I have to learn from older generations and not be ageist,” he admits. “Just be inspired by them.”
Where to start
Getting involved in climate justice doesn’t have to start on the front lines. There are monthly Zoom meetings at the state and local level that you can join from your couch, petitions being circulated, phone banks to join, and always an email worth sending to your congressperson. “Someone reads it,” he insists. “And with enough people sending it, it makes change.” His advice is simple: stay informed and talk to people. We have more power than we think.
For Oscar, the work doesn’t happen in isolation. What’s kept him grounded through it all is the community Avodah has given him. He’s surrounded by friends who are doing hard, meaningful work in issue areas from education to immigration & refugee resettlement, many of them working directly with DC residents in the most need. “My friends all around me are also fighting really hard in their fields,” he says. “It makes it more meaningful.”
Leading with empathy
Growing up in the Midwest, he arrived in DC expecting a cold, impersonal city. What he found was something closer to a small town. A stranger once bought him laundry detergent at a laundromat, unprompted, for no reason other than kindness. “Interacting with random people has changed the way I have thought of how much empathy I can have.” It’s part of why he’ll likely stay in DC after his service year to pursue journalism.
Six months into the Jewish Service Corps, Oscar is more convinced than ever that change is possible. He sees it in the Food & Water Watch volunteers who have been at this for decades. He finds it amongst his fellow Avodahniks, all living in the same bayit (communal home), doing meaningful work in their own corners. He feels it in the small acts of kindness from strangers around his community. It started with an environmental policy class he never meant to take. Now, Oscar is a Jewish social justice leader campaigning for clean water, access to food, and a livable climate.
