Q2 2024 GreenFriends North America Newsletter

Home > Newsletters > GreenFriends Newsletters

Home	Source Reduction	Friends of Green Friends	Newsletters
Gardening	Resources	What You Can Do	Embracing The Trees

Q2 2024 GreenFriends North America Newsletter

Welcome to the Q2 2024 GreenFriends newsletter!

Download the Q2 2024 newsletter in PDF format

This month’s newsletter features Amma’s 2024 Vishu message; followed by an illuminating historic background of an awesome tree planter, Johnny Appleseed; a fascinating satsang about how cows and other presumably insentient beings like plants respond to love and music; a reflection on what it is like living in an earthship in New Mexico; how Toronto residents transformed yard waste into rich compost to recycle back into their yard, and concludes with a beautiful photographic essay on the need to protect and appreciate Nature.

Amma's 2024 Vishu Message

Johnny Appleseed – An Awesome Tree-Planter

Nature & Amma

Living Off the Grid

Beauty in a Backyard Compost

Nature Offers Us the Most Precious Gift of Life!

Summertime and the livin' is easy. Nature offers her abundance as the summer solstice draws nigh. A time to celebrate the incredible richness of the warm summer sun, the smell of the damp soil and the glory of fully expanded plants.

As Amma says, "Loving and serving God's creatures is the easiest way to make our heart expansive."

May this issue inspire more people to focus more on Mother Nature for peace inside and outside, to contemplate our relationship with her, to value her, and put more effort into caring for her in small and big ways.

GreenFriends strives to communicate the importance of treating Nature with respect and gratitude. We invite each of you Green Friends to share your ideas and experiences of your own gardening efforts as well as experiences with nature.

Please send your stories, comments and feedback to info@greenfriendsna.org

Amma’s Vishu 2024 Message

Vishu is a festival that marks the beginning of the new harvest year in Kerala, India. In Amma’s 2024 Vishu message, she explains that humankind cannot exist without nature and that we need compassion towards all living beings and to restore Earth’s beauty.

Read Amma’s 2024 Vishu message…

Top

Johnny Appleseed – An Awesome Tree-Planter

Johnny Appleseed was not just a mythic figure; he was a real person who planted apple trees throughout his entire adult life.

Read about the life and legacy of Johnny Appleseed…

Top

Nature & Amma

Sri Shivaramakrishnan, a resident of Amritapuri, gave a scientifically based satsang about the impact of our intentions, thoughts and even music on animals and plants.

Read Sri Shivaramakrishnan’s satsang…

Top

Living Off the Grid

Earthships are an alternative type of home built partially down into the ground with parts of the walls utilizing tires filled with dirt. They are associated with ‘living off the grid’, meaning a sustainable housing environment that is not connected to any public utilities.

Read about how Savitri lived in an earthship in the mid-90s…

Top

Beauty in a Backyard Compost

A Toronto family embraced the challenge of composting waste without creating an eyesore in their yard. In spite of some resistance, they found a creative way to turn yard waste into rich soil that is immediately recycled into their backyard ecosystem.

Read Beauty in a Backyard Compost…

Top

Nature Offers Us the Most Precious Gift of Life!

Arun Narayan Toke spent five days camping, hiking and rafting for over 60 miles in the Owyhee River Canyon wilderness in Oregon. He also volunteers at a youth farm and commutes to work on a bicycle. In his photographic essay, he illustrates that Nature is our home which needs to be both protected and respected.

Read Nature Offers Us the Most Precious Gift of Life…

Top

Past GreenFriends Newsletters

Top

Home	Source Reduction	Friends of Green Friends	Newsletters	Resources	What You Can Do	Embracing The Trees
	For more information, e-mail info@greenfriendsna.org