After the interview, there are a few ideas Rabbi Motzkin discussed that really stuck with us as we continued to think about the question: Can Literature Save the Environment? Here is a compilation of some of the more important moments of the interview.

"I was thinking about this question Can literature save the environment?- because I actually think- you know, PEOPLE who care about the environment are what will save the environment. And what arouses concern for the environment? Literature certainly can because it impacts people. I think that fundamentally having the experience of being out in nature is really what, at least for me, is the most compelling. If you haven't spent any time outdoors, it's hard to have an appreciation of the grandeur of outdoors or a sense of the ways in which the human footprint has so radically transformed the natural world. And if you spend all your time in cities or with human technology, you can actually wind up, not only not having an appreciation of the outdoors, but even a dislike for it."

This was the general theme of our interview with Linda. Literature itself does not have the power to save the environment, but it is an essential tool. The environment itself has the most potential to influence a change in nature's relationship with humans. However, literature, nature, these things cannot speak for themselves. There is still the necessary factor of PEOPLE. People who read about the environment are one of the main factors that can save the environment.

"There's a sense of awe at the wonder and grandeur of all of creation that one gets outdoors that you just don't get inside an office building. Under fluorescent lighting. The feeling of being out camping somewhere and looking up and seeing a star-filled sky and the milky way and a sense of how much is so greater and vaster and beyond you. Human technology kind of gives us the opposite sense, that we're the center of the universe."

Throughout the interview process, we kept noticing parallels between the ways Rabbi Motzkin looks at nature and the philosophies of John Muir. Linda really related the power of pure wilderness and the spiritual aspects of religion. Again, as we saw in the interview, experience is the most important thing. If every human whole-heartedly had an experience with wilderness, there would be so many more people who care about the environment. If office buildings are the norm, how can we expect proper respect for nature?

In response to a question on what she thinks the most pressing environmental issue(s) are:

"Right now, what bothers me the most is that global warming has not been mentioned by either presidential candidate, that we could actually have in 2012, a presidential election where both candidates are just acting as if this doesn't exist. That human beings are in the process of radically transforming our planet in ways that has not been seen, or certainly not been seen in the last 10,000 years, and we may be making the planet inhospitable to human life and that nobody's talking about it and and everybody's acting as if it isn't happening. That's what I find the most profoundly disturbing right now."

This came up in response to a question about what she perceives as the most pressing current environmental issues. It is true that the recent presidential election was the first in decades in which global warming or other environmental issues were not discussed during the debates. However, with each progressive year, environmental degradation becomes more dire as we continue to venture past the point of no return. Yes, books have a great power to inform, but so does our government. Linda pointed out that, if climate change and pollution aren't perceived to be on the political agenda, it is hard to accept it as a huge problem. Ignorance is the most dangerous thing to our environment.

"If we could focus on investing in alternative forms of energy with the same vigor that is being focused on extracting every single last drop of carbon-based fuel from this earth, regardless of the carbon dioxide levels in our environment, if even a fraction of the energy that's being devoted to that can be devoted to solar fuel and wind power and alternate energy, all of us would be so much better off."

Rabbi Motzkin also sees our priorities as being misguided in terms of energy. One of the major arguments against alternative energy is the higher cost. However, if subsidies were eliminated, many alternative energies are cheaper after installation that carbon-based fuel. This would be especially true if those subsidies we given to green energy. Alternative energy will never be cheaper as long as its progress is impeded by society's love for big oil.

In response to the question: What do you think the power of the written word is? Of literature, either fiction or nonfiction.

"It can inform. And move. And I think both of those are key. People need information. If you don't know the consequences of dumping carbon dioxide into the environment, then you're not going to care...So, literature can provide information that you don't otherwise have. And in the absence of information you're not going to know that there's anything at stake. But I think even more importantly is that literature can move us, can kind of touch us, not only provide information and kind og reach us intellectually, cognitively, but also touch us in some sort of emotional or spiritual place, you know: this matters. I care. It can make us care. So, there's definitely a role for literature."

This is a culmination of Linda's views on the relationship between literature and the environment. For those whose lives would not normally intersect with evidence of environmental degradation, literature and other media are absolutely essential as a means of education. Since many of the effects on the environment and the signs of environmental change are invisible and gradual, many do not notice them are are not affected by them. Reading, seeing films, following the news, etc. is the connection between an individual and their environment.

Rabbi Motzkin also told us some of the ways her life with and beyond

Temple Sinai are "green":

• "Green Team" of Temple Sinai- examine how to make temple space greener, counteract inefficiencies of old buildings ("pre-green era")
• Eliminate using paper goods as much as possible- replace paper and plastic silverware/cups/plates/etc for oneg after services with glass kiddush cups and other reusable items, along with an energy-efficient dishwasher; reduce amount of waste
• Bike rack in front of temple; temple also encourages people to use alternative forms of transportation
  
• Linda personally bike-rides, weather permitting, when she doesn't need to transport others or largeitems; sets example, role of rabbi
• Encourage outdoor activity- outdoor Adirondack Shabbat Services, also gives people necessary experience of wilderness
• Husband runs bakery through kitchen- organic and locally sourced ingredients, sustainable agriculture
• Linda drives an energy-efficient car (Prius)
• Avoiding packaged goods and products grown with chemicals

It's the small steps, the tiny changes, that really add up and end up making just as much of a difference as influencing legislative change. As much as one can do is helpful.

Literature and other media that have been some sort of inspiration for Rabbi Motzkin:

• Richard Louv's Last Child in the Woods
• Barbara Kingsolver' Animal, Vegetable, Miracle
• An Inconvenient Truth, part of Al Gore's environmentalcampaign