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Green Sangha

Green Sangha is dedicated to restoring our sense of oneness -- healing our communities and the earth through mindful practice and awakened action.

Description:
Like all ecologists, we see human society as inextricably linked with life systems all over the planet. We seek to raise awareness among all people, whatever their religious or spiritual outlook, of the impact of individual lifestyle decisions on our collective well-being.

Meditation is the core practice that grounds us in the awareness of interdependence. From this awareness naturally spring love, understanding, and forgiveness.
Key principles guide us as well – core ideas such as oneness, acceptance, and holding our roles lightly. Rather than seeing ourselves as separate from the people and forces which are destroying the planet’s life-support systems, we see our shared humanity. We approach even those who harm the environment with friendliness, compassion, and impartiality. This makes our work to protect the planet a spiritual practice itself, affirming the limitless creative potential of people working together.

VISION

We share the vision of environmental organizations around the world: rivers and oceans clean and teeming with life; skies clear and the air healthy to breathe; forests vast and soil rich; cities, farms, and wild lands co-existing in harmony. In this world, children are well-fed on nutritious, natural foods, people of all ages enjoy the fruits of sustainable agriculture, abundant parks offer open space for recreation and spiritual renewal, and the family of nations prospers in peace.

PROGRAMS

As a grassroots organization, Green Sangha creates opportunities for individuals to come together to: 1) meditate, 2) educate and support one another, and 3) perform direct environmental action.

1. Meditation, as we see it, is the natural process of turning the attention inward, allowing the mind to experience quieter and more refined levels of awareness. We now know through science what spiritual teachers over the ages have been saying, that the calming effects of meditation reach into every aspect of life – improving mental clarity, releasing physical tension and emotional stress, expanding the heart and cultivating a more loving relationship with all of life. To root our actions in love, therefore, we make meditation a daily practice, and open every Green Sangha meeting with deep meditation.
   
   
2. Education is a central part of our work. Modern culture is saturated with messages, transmitted through every possible medium, urging us and our children to buy and to use more and more things without thought to their impact on the environment or our health. We educate ourselves and each other in order to see the true costs of consumer choices and to learn how to live more wisely on the earth. We focus not so much on opposing destructive government, corporate, or consumer practices, as on finding and promoting life-affirming alternatives. We speak to the good in others to inspire their participation in making the world a better place. We educate through action sheets on issues selected by chapters (e.g., “An Eco-Guide to the Holidays”), through a visible presence at environmental festivals, and through direct outreach (speaking at schools, social clubs, churches, and community venues). In the spirit of sharing, in two years we gave away hundreds of water-saving aerators for sink and shower, rolls of toilet tissue made of 100% recycled paper, and compact fluorescent bulbs – all accompanied by action sheets explaining how these items contribute to a sustainable future.
   
   
3. Our direct actions address a wide range of issues, from encouraging government and business to increase recycled content of paper to testifying at public hearings on air pollution. These actions are generated by individual chapters and may be done separately or with the support of other chapters.

Chapters collaborate with other environmental groups, joining in letter-writing campaigns, and working together on target issues (e.g., advocating for Zero Waste policies). We also collaborate in direct service. Since 2005, for example, we have worked with Green Gulch Organic Farm in Marin County, helping them restore their riparian habitat. Our programs keep growing, in response to the ideas and interests of our members.

History:

HISTORY

Jonathan Gustin, a Marin therapist and teacher, founded Green Sangha in 2000. To help citizens lighten their environmental footprints, the Fairfax chapter gave away hundreds of faucet aerators, showerheads, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and toilet tissue made from recycled fibers. Chapter members spoke in schools and churches, and provided education at local conferences and festivals. Since 2006, our Rethinking Plastics campaign has reached thousands of individuals through lectures, workshops, a traveling display, and printed publications. We have advocated and catalyzed plastic reduction ordinances in city and county governments, and are promoting Zero Waste policies in businesses and government operations. In addition to participating in this action, the East Bay chapter has organized Low Carbon Diet groups for families and businesses that want to reduce their climate impact. They are now developing the Cool Campaign to help cities move quickly towards carbon reduction goals in their Climate Action Plans.

This spring, the Sonoma chapter joined with others to initiate the Garden Wheel project, a collective effort to help establish water-conserving, crop-yielding home gardens.

Contact people:

Stuart Moody, President, (phone), (email) Elizabeth Little, Program Director, (phone), (email)

Main office number: (510) 532-6574
TDD number: (510) 532-6574

Address:

PO Box 20261 Oakland, CA 94620

Web Site: http://www.greensangha.org

Directions:

n/a

Last updated on April 6, 2010