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The National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration
reported that last month’s
average temperatures were the
hottest in its 127-year recorded
history — 2 degrees Fahrenheit
higher than the average
temperature from 1991-2020.

“We’ve had more heat
advisory days than we’ve ever
had,” said Colleen Lane, program
coordinator at KleinLife in
Philadelphia, host of a Jewish
summer day camp. There were
five heat advisory days in the
first 15 days of camp.

For some day camps,
many outdoor activities, such
as kickball and archery, are
swapped for indoor ones, like
art and board games.

“We’d rather them be
outside playing, but their safety
comes first,” Lane said.

Aquatics are the exception
to this rule: In addition to
increased time at the pool, lake
or splash park, campers are
encouraged to visit cool down
stations and drink water, albeit
from reusable water bottles
instead of the thousands of
plastic cups used in previous
years. But changes in the climate
haven’t just brought the heat.

“It’s less about the rising
temperatures, which is something
that we can count on. We’re
now having to pay attention
to unusual weather patterns,”
David Weiss, executive director
of Camp Galil Habonim Dror in
Bucks County, said.

Sara Sideman,
camp director for JCC Camps at
Medford, said there’s been
more storms this year than
in previous years, relegating
campers indoors for the day.

“It impacts the day and
impacts the camper experi-
ence,’’ Sideman said. “It’s not
something we have control
over.” Camp administrators are
used to greeting challenges
with spontaneity and creativity,
even when
organizing JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
Camper Max at Camp Shalom, one of the JCC Camps at Medford, at the
lake’s Wibit Park
Courtesy of Stephanie Dworkin
indoors activities.

Jordan Bravato, director of
Camp Kef at the Kaiserman
JCC in Wynnewood, helped
organize a paper airplane
contest indoors for his
campers, and Camp Kef hired
an occupational therapist to
come in and set up obstacle
courses indoors.

However, with so many
new changes in programming,
Camp Kef has had to tweak its
spending. “When we were sitting down
and working on our camp
budget, we were being much
more mindful of the amount
of money that we’re going to be
spending programmatically,”
Bravato said. “We did have to
create these new programs that
could be done indoors.”
While financial implica-
tions were program-oriented
for some, for Camp Galil,
addressing warmer weather
meant building new cabins
with good insulation to keep
the heat out. These cabins have
cost the camp $55,000 over the
past couple years.

But despite so many
changes, counselors have taken
schedule changes in stride,
adapting quickly, Bravato says.

Camp Galil switched its
electrical power to source solar
and wind power; Camp Kef
has worked on ways to make
its air conditioning system
more efficient; the JCC Camps
at Medford have a “green
committee” in the works with
the counselors.

Though camps feel empow-
ered to take action, there’s a
looming feeling that this work
isn’t enough — that more will
have to be done. Many camps just
don’t know what the future will
hold, what actions to take next.

“It’s absolutely something
that our campers and
counselors worry about: the
notion of global warming
and global climate change,”
Weiss said. “They are incred-
ibly aware that this is going
to impact them for the rest of
their lives.” l
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gling at times.

215-832-0741 While many are happy to be
able to return to camp this year
after last summer’s pandemic
restrictions limited camps’
capacities, mask-wearing in the
heat is unbearable for some.

Gersh has had to deal with
his 9-year-old campers having
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“meltdowns,” refusing to wear
masks because of the heat.

“It’s really bad,” he said.

For Gersh, climate change
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feels more dire than just
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navigating more water breaks
and kids wearing masks. He
Evening Gowns
feels that campers have to
Suits/Separates pay the price for actions of
the older generations, “people
Cocktail Dresses
polluting in a way that contrib-
utes to global warming.”
“The fact that it’s now their
burden that impacts their
61 Buck Road
summer and their experiences
in their life — It’s just really an
Huntingdon Valley,
injustice,” Gersh said.

PA 19006
Many of these Jewish summer
camps that weave Jewish values
www.elanaboutique.com and lessons into their camp
(215)953-8820 activities are trying to take
action to combat climate change.

They are turning to the concept
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of tikkun olam, repairing the
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world, to try to take action to
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become more “green”.

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JULY 15, 2021
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