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| "Carpooling, nurturing honeybees, planting trees, cleaning the environment, waste management (reduction) and growing vegetables were recommended many years ago (by Amma) and Amma’s children are doing that. If we all get together and do it with more focus, we will be able to transform this earth into heaven. For that, we should first create heaven within ourselves. I pray to the Supreme to grace us with the blessings to do so."
Amma (from speech at the Special Envoy for the Protection of the Planet convened by President Francois Hollande 21 July 2015, Paris, France |
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GreenFriends
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| 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! For information on GreenFriends activities in your area, click on the Friends of GreenFriends link at the top of the page. |
| Amrita + Agriculture = Amritaculture! |
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If you listened to Amma's birthday message this Sept 27th, you know how important it is to start growing your own organic fruits and vegetables, and for us humans to reduce our environmental impact and get back into harmony with Nature. But if you've never grown your own food before, how do you start?. |
| Source Reduction Campaign |
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Amma has asked that we begin to concentrate our efforts of sustainable living on SOURCE REDUCTION. This means stopping waste before it begins. Instead of recycling plastics and other throw-away products that need to be processed for reconfiguration into another form, we need to start using products that are designed to last, or find an alternative way of living that eliminates the need for the product altogether. You can now download an inspiring PDF introducing the Source Reduction Campaign. |
| North America GreenFriends Newsletter |
| Read the Fall 2020 North America GreenFriends newsletter!
The Fall 2020 edition of the North America GreenFriends newsletter edition is jampacked with interesting personal experiences from devotees, tips on composting and taking care of house plants, guidance on how to shop consciously and reflections on Amma and her relationship with Nature. Plus, the pigeons are back! See the table of contents and subscribe to the newsletter... |
| Pacific Northwest GreenFriends Newsletter |
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| Download the January 2021 GreenFriends Pacific Northwest newsletter!
The PNW GreenFriends newsletter contains interesting articles and photos about gardening, nature, the PNW Litter Project, the Greenbelt Restoration Project and more... |
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Respect for All Life |
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| There is a story from Awaken Children 6 about Amma’s love and compassion shown through her concern for a single mango tree.
Read about Amma’s Respect for All Life… |
| Listening to the Trees |
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| For Amma, talking to and listening to trees, plants, rocks, animals, birds, bugs, and the ocean, is quite normal. A great soul, a Mahatma, who sees herself in all beings, and all beings within herself, is quite at home and familiar everywhere. That is her constant experience.
Swamini Ambikamrita Prana reflects on Amma’s and our relationship with Nature in Listening to the Trees… |
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Confessions of a Cloth-O-Holic |
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| Everyday we are bombarded by messages about how much better life could be if we just bought the latest, in-season clothing or some fancy new gadget. In this “tell-all confession, a devotee shares her story of addiction to clothing and some facts and figures she learnt about the clothing industry. |
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My First Vegetable Garden |
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| In her Guru Purnima address this year, Amma said that planting trees is the right thing to do to help heal nature, but that we must also “tune into the divine will.” A devotee shares her trials, tribulations, and the fruit of her efforts in following Amma’s advice.
Read more about her experiences with her First Garden… |
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Trench Composting |
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| Looking for an easy way to get nutrient-rich compost? How about easy ways to get rid of your food scraps without having to use a compost bin, worms or turn the compost? Learn one of the easiest methods to create compost from your food scraps. It’s a lot less work than traditional composting and your plants will love it, too!
Read more about Trench Composting… |
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The Healing Benefits of the Humble Houseplant |
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| Houseplants offer a sense of consistency and comfort in this ever-changing world and provide a simple way to connect with Mother Nature right from the comfort and safety of our own homes. Here’s some inspiration to bring the connection to Nature indoors as we enter the cooler winter months.
Read about the Healing Benefits of the Humble Houseplant… |
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Conscious Shopping by AYUDH Diksha |
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| In North America we live in a “throw-away” society. Many products may be one-time use or may be inexpensive, but are short-lived before they break. One way to benefit Mother Nature is to try to end any dependence we have on throw-away or limited use products, Conscious shopping is the process of thinking before buying.
Read about how to become a more Conscious Shopper… |
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The Pigeon Chronicles |
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| Nature is full of gifts. When we surrender to her and serve her, these gifts become even more apparent and abundant.
Read one devotee’s transformation into a kinder and gentler person after her encounters with a family of pigeons living in her balcony in The Pigeon Chronicles… |
| India's Enduring Love for Trees |
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In India, trees have been regarded with deep respect and reverence throughout the ages. IAmma, has told us that in ancient times in India, people would perform a puja to worship trees. If there was a need to cut a tree down, or even before plucking its fruit or leaves, they would seek its permission and apologize. "In the old days, there was no specific need for environmental preservation," Amma says, "because protecting Nature was part of worshiping God and life itself." "If people did need to kill a tree in those days, they would plant not just one, but several more to replace it." "More than remembering 'God', the people used to love and serve Nature and society." "They saw the Creator through the creation. They loved, worshipped and protected Nature as the visible form of God." |
| How to Harvest Acorns to Plant Oak Trees |
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Here are 4 easy steps to plant acorns for future oak trees:
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| MA Center Plants the 1000th Fruit Tree |
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Amma’s wish to plant 1000 fruit trees on the ashram grounds was finally realized when she blessed the 1000th sapling after the question and answer session at the 2019 San Ramon retreat. |
| Tree Planting Campaign |
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In honor of Amma's 65th birthday, an offering was made to Amma of a gift of trees to be planted all over North America. Over 6500 trees were planted as a result of the campaign! As Amma says, "Planting a tree is selfless service to society". In recent times, hundreds of thousands of North American trees have been lost in devastating forest fires, floods, tornadoes and hurricanes. While the campaign may be complete, we still need to keep planting trees. GreenFriends provides basic information on how to plant trees, and where you can plant them even if you don’t own property or don’t have room. |
| Ravi's Tips for Conserving Water and Energy |
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A website visitor who moved to the US from India nearly 45 years ago shares his personal experience with conserving both water and electricity. Read more... |
| Sustainable Dental Care |
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The new US Tour Greening Advisor writes about zero waste products, alternatives to plastic and alterative household cleaners. |
| AYUDH GreenFriends Initiative Plants 2200+ Trees and Plants on Deserted Island |
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14 year-old Ella Laird of Hawaii, along with 15 of her friends, planted more that 2200 trees and plants of a deserted Hawaiian island that was formerly used for military target practice. |
| GreenFriends at the Parliament of World Religions |
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GreenFriends and Embracing the World were represented at the 2018 Parliament of World Religions in Toronto, November 2 - 7, 2018. Green Friends was invited to host a booth as part of the Interfaith Family Festival (IFF). The IFF had the theme of “Plant an Interfaith Garden” and featured five days of "joyful, engaging, and experiential spiritual exploration for kids, teens, families, schools, and faith groups." Each booth in the Interfaith Family Festival had a theme and an activity focused on children. The GreenFriends/Embracing the World booth had the theme titled, "The Light of Diwali - The Light Within You". |
| Middle School Donates 17,000 Plastic Bags For Sleeping Mats for the Homeless |
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When Jones Middle School couldn’t find a recycler for their plastic bags, their teacher did an Internet search on recycling and reusing plastic bags and ended up at the Green Friends North America Plastic Challenge web page. The Middle School contacted the GreenFriendsNA.org website to find out if they could donate their plastic bags. A day later the greenhouse at Turtle Barn Farm was full from floor to ceiling with 17,000 plastic bags that volunteers can use to create sleeping mats for the homeless. |
| MA Center Chicago Responds to the Plastic Challenge |
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| Residents and community members from the Chicago MA Center responded to to the Plastic Challenge in a variety of ways, from recycling, to reusing plastic bags, to using alternative shopping bags, to using glass instead of plastic bottles, and many more source reduction strategies. |
| Good Environmental News! |
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| There are plenty of awful things happening on the planet these days, like marine plastic pollution, greenhouse gases increasing, rainforest degradation, sea levels rising, extreme weather... the list unfortunately goes on and on. But at the same time, there are a lot of good people doing a lot of good things to help save the planet.
Like news in general, good environmental news often goes unreported, or at least under-reported. |
| Amma is Presented with the Results of the Plastic Challenge |
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Amma was presented with the results of the Plastic Challenge in the form of a PowerPoint presentation while on the US tour. She had a very positive reaction when shown the plastic challenge results and was very happy it is happening. |
| Home | Source Reduction | Friends of Green Friends | Newsletters | Resources | What You Can Do | Contact Us |
For more information, e-mail info@greenfriendsna.org |
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