|
|
|
|
GreenFriends
|
|
|
|
GreenFriends is an international, volunteer-based movement that promotes environmental awareness and participation at the individual and community levels. GreenFriends' goal is to promote environmental awareness by inspiring people to serve and protect Nature.
GreenFriends started in India in 2001 as a project of Embracing the World and has since spread across the globe, with thousands of members today throughout the United States, Europe, Australia and Asia. The mission of GreenFriends is to create a loving bond between humanity and Nature and to promote conservation through constructive action. Any service-oriented activity to protect and promote awareness and conservation of Nature can be considered a GreenFriends activity.
"Look at Nature. Nature is a text book from which we must learn. Each object in it is a page from that book. Each and every object in Nature teaches us something. Renunciation and selflessness are the greatest lessons we can learn from Nature. Nature sacrifices Herself for humans; whereas, we not only exploit Her, but destroy Her. Yet Nature serves us. The earth is serving us; the sun, moon and stars serve us. What to we do in return for their selfless service? Nothing except harm.
The unintelligent beings and things have no thinking power, yet they selflessly serve each other and humans. Humans have discrimination and yet they are utterly selfish. They are not even clearing their debts to Nature." - Amma
|
| May all beings and life-forms live and thrive in harmony upon the Earth! |
Top
|
|
|
|
| Pacific Northwest GreenFriends Newsletter
Download the September 2016 GreenFriends Pacific Northwest newsletter!
The newsletter contains articles on:
- Pacific Northwest Gardening
- Saving the Earth's Resources
- Nature
- Pacific Northwest Litter Project
The Litter project picked up more than 25,000 cigarette butts at the last Litter Project work party and turned them into plastic pallets!
For information on GreenFriends activities in your area, click on the GreenFriends in North America link at the top of the page.
|
 |
Top
 |
Farmer's Yoga on International Day of Yoga and Harvests at Turtle Barn Organic Farm in Edmond, OK
Here is what Turtle Barn Organic Farm Crew did to celebrate The International Day of Yoga:
Farmers Yoga:
|
|
103-Year-Old Woman Planted and Cared for 384 Trees, While Living In Abject Poverty
Saalumarada Thimmakka lives in the Hulikal village of Karnataka. As a young girl, she was married off to a farmer who made a meagre income and was looked down upon by his fellow villagers for not fathering a child with his new wife. Instead of following social protocol, they decided to plant tree saplings and tend to them as their own children.
Now at 103, she manages nearly 400 fully grown banyon trees worth over 22,000 US dollars, even though her imncome puts her well below the poverty line. She is a staunch supporter of afforestation and does all she can to spread awareness. Her belief is that every person should leave behind an asset that benefits all humanity.
Read more...
|
 |
Top
Jean-Francois Monier/AFP/Getty Images |
Oregano, Cow Burbs and Climate Change
More than one third of methane generated by human activity comes from livestock farming, and a significant portion of the methane comes from cow burps. This is a serious problem, given that methane is 25 times more powerful than carbon dioxide at trapping heat.
A Danish research team that is testing out one potential solution to the problems in the form of feeding cows oregano.
"Oregano has essential oils with a mild antimicrobial called carvacrol, which can kill some of the bacteria in the cow's rumen that produce methane..."
Read more...
|
Top
 |
Los Angeles Arbor Day
On National Arbor Day, Los Angeles Green Friends and Burrito Projects are inviting their members to volunteer with the LA City’s non-profit organization, City Plants, to plant 150 trees with 100 volunteers in South LA. City Plants will provide all the trees, materials, lunch, together with large non-profit tree planting experts (LA Conservation Corps), to support the tree planting project.
This is training in tree planting for MA Center LA volunteers so tree planting can get started to support Embracing the World’s 6 million new trees goal!
Download the Arbor Day flyer.
|
Top
|
Top
| GreenFriends Farm News |
 |
Tree Planting
On Saturday, January 30th, a young group of Montessori students and their parents arrived ready to plant trees. Up in the orchard, the children joined our GreenFriends Farm volunteers and a few members of the local chapter of the youth group, AYUDH.
By the time they were all finished, 18 new trees were planted; 5 Hachiya Persimmons and 13 Sundowner Apples.
Read more...
|
Top
| Doing Something About It - Healing The Ocean With A Garden of Coral |
Coral reefs are an essential component in insuring the health of our oceans. Reef degeneration is becoming very widespread, primarily due to over fishing and global warming.
Ten percent of the world's reefs have already been completely destroyed. Ken Nedimyer of the Coral Restoration Foundation is a "coral farmer" who transplants coral from an offshore nursery near the Florida Keys to the wild reefs
Read more...
|
|
Top
 |
NY Times: Scientists Warn of Perilous Climate Shift Within Decades, Not Centuries
According to an article in the NY Times, an European science journal, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, has published an article purporting that by burning fossil fuels at a prodigious pace and pouring heat-trapping gases into the atmosphere, humanity is about to provoke an abrupt climate shift in the next few decades. This will lead to not only rising sea levels, but the disintegration of large parts of the polar ice sheets and the creation of killer storms stronger than any in 120,000 years.
View more...
|
|
Charles Ommanney/The Washington Post, via Getty Images
|
|
Top
| How A Great Teacher Cultivates Veggies (And Kids) In The Bronx
Stephen Ritz is one of National Public Radio's (NPR) '50 Great Teachers. His Bronx classroom, a refurbished school library, has more plants than desks. He calls the room his National Health, Wellness and Learning Center. It's got tower gardens, gleaming cabinets and counters, an industrial sink and a new, mobile cooking station.
"In this class, we go from seed to tower to table to plate in 20 feet," Ritz says. "What we're seeing is kids coming in here, getting excited about healthy food — about vegetables. About beans. Who knew beans could be so exciting, but they are!"
Read more...
|
 |
Top
Top
|
Why Organic Food Might Be Worth the High Price
A new study shows the benefits of organic farming. The review study, published in Nature Plants, shows that while crops grown organically normally yield 10 to 20 percent less food than conventional farming, during drought they actually produce more food than conventionally-grown crops.
Organic farming uses less energy than conventional farming and is significantly more profitable for farmers.
Read more...
|
| Regrowing Rain Forests May Help Curb Climate Change More Than We Thought
Newly grown tropical forests can capture harmful carbon from the atmosphere at a rate up to 11 times faster than older forests, according to a study published in the journal Nature.
The researchers say their findings provide support for policies that minimize forest loss and promote forest restoration.
Read more...
|
 |
Top
|
 |
More Pollinator Species In Jeopardy, Threatening World Food Supply, New Report Says
A U.N.-sponsored report drawing on about 3,000 scientific papers concludes that about 40 percent of invertebrate pollinator species (such as bees and butterflies) are facing extinction.
About 75 percent of the world's food crops, the report notes, depend at least partly on pollination.
Read more...
|
Top
|
|
| Bill Nye Says a Single Scientific Fact Refutes Climate Change Deniers
In a video from Business Insiders, "Unstoppable" author Bill Nye explains the clear science around climate change, and how the 2016 presidential election will impact Earth's future.
Read more...
|
 |
Top
|
|
 |
Planting for Pollinators
By the US Fish and Wildlife Service
There is increasing evidence that many pollinators are in decline. However, there are some simple things you can do at home to encourage pollinator diversity and abundance. Read this amazingly simple and helpful guide to encouraging pollinators to you home and garden. Simple directions on how to plant a pollinator garden, build a bee box, reduce pesticide use and more...
|
|
Top
|
|
|
