As they munched on bagels and lox served on biodegradable paper plates and ate with real silverware instead of plastic, dozens of congregants gathered at Temple B'nai Shalom in East Brunswick on a Sunday morning to learn how "to do a mitzva for the Earth."

During a Nov. 11 program they learned about the devastating effects of the heating up of the Earth's atmosphere and what they could do to help from "global warming educator" Tina Weishaus of Highland Park.

Weishaus, who was trained last year by former Vice President Al Gore during a seminar at his farm in Nashville, is a nurse who has since conducted programs at more than 50 schools and synagogues and other groups throughout the state.

She said since An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary about climate change starring Gore, came out about 18 months ago, public awareness about global warming has sharply increased.

"What is not happening is political change," said Weishaus. She said the failure of the federal government to enact standard measures to halt climate change has not only resulted in a worsening of the environment but has forced some states to enact their own regulations.

She in particular praised New Jersey's Global Warming Response Act, signed into law in July by Gov. Jon Corzine, which Weishaus called "one of the most progressive in the nation."

The legislation calls for reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent to 1990 levels by 2020. This would be followed by a further reduction of such emissions to 80 percent below 2006 levels by 2050.

The greenhouse effect in the Earth's atmosphere is an offshoot of the increased production of carbon dioxide and other byproducts of industry, energy use, and car emissions that trap energy from the sun.

In New Jersey, with its sprawling suburbs and poor public transportation system, more than half the carbon dioxide produced comes from vehicles, according to Weishaus.

She suggested carpooling or driving a hybrid vehicle as solutions.

Weishaus said global warming has been documented by a number of scientific studies, including a group of 2,000 scientists surveyed by the United Nations, 90 percent of whom believed global warming was a reality.

Weishaus said if polices are not changed soon the rise in temperature could bring dire consequences. At the current rate of increase, by the turn of the next century average temperatures will rise an average of 11 degrees.

"That's the equivalent of the flip of an Ice Age." Between 15 and 35 percent of animal species could become extinct, she said, and human existence could be threatened by flooding, drought, severe hurricanes, typhoons, and other storms generated by the rising temperatures.

"Rivers are drying up," said Weishaus. "Glaciers are melting on every continent on Earth — not one, not three or four, but on every continent."

Average people can use both creative and practical means to stem global warming, she said. They can lobby their legislators to set higher fuel economy standards to reduce carbon emissions and increase funding for conservation and research and development of renewable energy technologies such as wind, geothermal, and solar.

People should form groups and meet with their town officials demanding they institute green polices, including planting trees, which absorb carbon dioxide.

For example, although Middlesex County recycles only number "1"or "2" plastics, Highland Park contracted with an outside company to recycle all seven types of plastic.

As part of its Jewish responsibility to care for the Earth, B'nai Shalom has scheduled a series of programs and actions to further efforts to protect the environment (see sidebar).

Weishaus, who became involved in the global warming issue as her own personal "mitzva for the Earth," added, "We must all do what we can to reduce our carbon footprint."

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