Nigel Savage

Nigel Savage (born 1970) is a British environmental activist and founder of Jewish environmental nonprofit organisation Hazon. Beginning his career working in finance, in 2000 he founded Hazon and was CEO until its merger with the Pearlstone Retreat Center in 2021. He has been named twice as one of the Forward 50, and was a founder of Limmud NY. One of Savage's initiatives to help Jews live more sustainably include the Seal of Sustainability for Jewish institutions. He also named and catalysed the JOFEE (Jewish Outdoor, Food, Farming & Environmental Education) movement, including the JOFEE Fellows program.

Early life (1970–2000) Nigel Savage, the son of Shirley and Gerry Savage, was born and raised in the Sunnybank area of Bury, Greater Manchester. He went to cheder at Bury Hebrew Congregation, and was educated at King David Junior and Manchester Grammar School. Savage is Jewish. He also executive produced a number of independent films including Leon the Pig Farmer (1992) and Stiff Upper Lips (1997).

Savage has a master's degree in history from Georgetown University and has studied at Pardes, Yakar, and Hebrew University. As the inaugural event of Hazon, he organised the first Cross-USA Jewish Environmental Bike Ride to raise environmental awareness in the American Jewish community. Nigel was included in the Forward 50, an annual list of the most influential Jews in the United States, and Hazon was named one of 50 top faith-based environmental organisations by the Sierra Club in 2008. That year he also developed a shared non-profit space called Makom Hadash, Hebrew for 'New Place', which would cut overhead costs by sharing office space and fund raising staff.

In 2009, he led the Jewish delegation with Rabbi Yedidya Sinclair at the ARC and UN conference "Many Heavens, One Earth" in Britain. In 2013, Hazon partnered with Pearlstone and Isabella Freedman to organise the inaugural Jewish Intentional Communities Conference. That year, Hazon merged with the Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center, and Savage became CEO of the merged organisation. Savage coined the phrase "Jewish Food Movement" as an umbrella term for the various people and projects in the field; at the time typing “Jewish food movement” in quotes into Google and receiving zero search results but by 2014 this search term yielded 81,300 hits.

The Jewish Theological Seminary gave him an honorary doctorate in 2015. In 2021, Hazon merged with the Pearlstone Retreat Center, and Savage stepped down as CEO to spend shmita in Israel. In 2022, Savage was the keynote speaker at the 2022 Cape SAJBD’s AGM and Conference entitled Community for Change: Creating a Sustainable Environment. In response to Savage's keynote speech, Cape Jewish Chronicle wrote that he "presented a powerful address to galvanise our community to becoming change-makers in the fight against climate change".

Philosophical views Savage has stated many positions on the Jewish food movement. To The Times of Israel he commented, "the Jewish community has always cared about social justice — and we've always loved food", and believes that the term food justice revolves around "health, sustainability, local food, organic food, traditional issues around kashrut", and universal access to nutritional food. Savage argues that the Torah is a dedication to food and food production because "all the holidays focus around Earth-based, agriculture-based events". According to The Forward, Savage has brought the obscure practice of shmita into the 21st century through his work at Hazon.

Published works 2011 - A Wild Faith: Jewish Ways into Wilderness, Wilderness Ways into Judaism , with Rabbi Mike Comins. 2011 - The Sacred Table: Creating a Jewish Food Ethic, wrote preface 2013 - Jewish Megatrends: Charting the Course of the American Jewish Future , one of many contributors.