How a Twin Cities Jewish summer camp is responding to climate change and warming temperatures

EMILY BRIGHT: It's 12:41. I'm Emily Bright with Minnesota Now. That poor air quality we just talked about with Paul Huttner is affecting all kinds of traditional summer fun activities-- picnics, and sports outside, time at the lake, and, yes, summer camp. Camp Teko is a Jewish summer camp in Long Lake to the west of the Twin Cities metro area. It's one of many camps affected.

And they have plans in the works to respond to climate related changes in the area. Marcia Zimmerman is a Senior Rabbi of Temple Israel in Minneapolis which runs Camp Teko, and she joins me now to talk about how Rehkamp is going this year plus their plans to make the camp carbon neutral. Rabbi Zimmerman, thanks for being here and welcome back to the show.

MARCIA ZIMMERMAN: Thank you, Emily. This is really special to be here.

EMILY BRIGHT: Well, I'm happy to talk to you. And first, let's just talk about today, this week. I know when you're running a camp, you always have to make plans for rainy days. Well, this summer it's been more heat and air quality than rain. But what are campers up to this week with the air quality we have?

MARCIA ZIMMERMAN: Yeah. Well, first, they're having fun. That is the first thing they're up to. The second is we are keeping them hydrated with the heat, and really important for us at Teko. And the other is just watching and making sure that it's an outdoor camp with indoor facilities when needed so that we have facilities that we can go into if the air quality becomes in any way not good for the kids to be outside.

Then we have a lot of indoor activities, and young, eager counselors, and amazing director, and assistant director. So they'll have fun no matter what, but we have plans for the future to not only make Camp Teko sustainable, but to actually make it resilient and putting things back into the Earth to restore the Earth and make it healthier.

EMILY BRIGHT: Yes. This is so exciting. I know that this plan has been in the works for a long time. So please, tell me more about it.

MARCIA ZIMMERMAN: Sure. So we are really creating a new part of Teko, new facilities to meet the goal of our board to be net zero carbon emissions and net zero waste by 2030. So what that means is we have miles and miles of geothermal piping, solar powered energy. We are cleaning the rainwater before we put it back into Lake Minnetonka.

We are doing everything in our power to make sure that we provide resiliency for our land. And we want our kids to feel the weather and to know that Earth is a precious resource for us to take care of.

EMILY BRIGHT: Yeah. I imagine that working to go carbon neutral and live lightly on the land was a faith driven decision, in part.

MARCIA ZIMMERMAN: It is very faith driven. We are told in the book of Genesis, and the Jewish community has upheld the idea that no one owns the land. We are stewards of the land. And we place minerals and healthy resiliency back into the Earth.

That is what we are driven to do. It is what God tells us to do. And it is very much a Jewish idea to care for our land, and to make it sustainable, and not to take things out, but to put things back in.

EMILY BRIGHT: And that sounds like such a great conversation to have with the campers. Where are you in the building process?

MARCIA ZIMMERMAN: Yes. We have been working on this project for a very long time. This is the second year of building. Last year, we completed our lakeside renovation where there was great erosion and other aspects of swimming and boating that were not easily accessible because of erosion.

And so we have now cleaned that up and really brought it back to new life-- a path between boating and swimming has been renewed. And it's really beautiful solar powered boat houses down there. So we are very excited.

And then from last summer until this moment, we have built a discovery center that has a teaching kitchen that is zero carbon emissions. We have a large enough space for kids to go into and play if necessary because of the climate that we're experiencing-- the heat or severe weather. We have also a welcome center where rain comes down, where kids can actually see the water coming off the roof going into a reservoir, where there's geothermal piping, and it gets cleaned out, and used again, and put back into the lake.

So we have all of that. And that will be completed October 1. Solar powered, geothermal piping-- it's all about teaching kids what it means to put things back into the Earth that are positive and healthy, and for us to be a positive source for our climate.

EMILY BRIGHT: That sounds so important, and forward thinking, and also fun for kids. Did you go to camp yourself as a kid?

MARCIA ZIMMERMAN: I did. I did go to camp myself. I went to day camp, and summer, and overnight camp. I grew up in St. Louis. So I went to the Ozarks. And, again, the Jewish camping experience was very, very phenomenal part of who I have become as a rabbi.

And I think the other part is just I remember digging up sassafras root to make our own sassafras tea. And we are going to have gardens, and herbs, and things for the kids to actually be able to plant, to tend to, and to use in cooking so that they can see truly land to table, farm to table right in the 18 acres of Teko.

EMILY BRIGHT: Say, last question, just segueing off of something I heard you say-- what's the importance of a specifically Jewish summer camp? Sounds like that was really important for you growing up.

MARCIA ZIMMERMAN: It was. It was and it is for everyone. Being Jewish, you often are a minority in your school or in other places. And so to be in a camp situation five days a week in a row, sometimes camping or provides you with just the daily activities from a Jewish lens, what it means to come together as a community-- and it is how to swim. In the Talmud, which is a Jewish sacred text, it tells you you have to teach your children to swim.

Remember, we were in the Middle East. We are surrounded by water. You go to Tel Aviv in Haifa, it's water. So it's a commandment to have to teach your children to swim. So Teko teaches our children to swim.

EMILY BRIGHT: Well, there you go. Rabbi, thank you so much for your time. And I wish you a great summer.

MARCIA ZIMMERMAN: Thank you. You as well. Take care.

EMILY BRIGHT: Thank you. Rabbi Marcia Zimmerman is the Senior Rabbi at Temple Israel in Minneapolis, which runs Camp Teko in Long Lake.