Category Archives: Green Sangha Chapter News

Marin events in March

Green Gulch. Join us for our seasonal afternoon of Inner & Restoration at Green Gulch Farm this Sunday, Feb 26, noon to 6 pm. It’s Arbor Day, and we’re assured a friendly crowd of sustainable activists planting trees and breathing in nature’s fullness. Click here for all the details.

Mindful Activism Training. Refresh and renew your skills of communication, organization, and peaceful action. Session 2 of this three-part series takes place Saturday, March 3, at the Venture Greenhouse of Dominican University. Theme: Integrated Leadership. Instructor: Nancy Roberts, Green MBA, with Stuart Moody, M.A. For a full description, and to register, click here.

Rethinking Plastics. San Rafael City Council will have a study session on Monday, March 5, 6:30-7:00 pm to hear a staff report on single-use plastic bans. If you care about reducing the stream of waste leaving stores and getting into our streets, parks, and waterways every day, here is a strategic moment for you to make a difference. Show up and support this important step in our journey to zero waste!

Rethinking Plastics II. March is our fullest month ever, with an evening presentation to the League of Women Voters in Piedmont on Thursday the 22nd, and four events in Marin County:

Plastics 360 is a two-day conference on Fri-Sat Mar 16 & 17.
Trashing the Planet consists of two follow-up seminars on Saturday Mar 24 & 31, through the Environmental Forum of Marin.

Retreat. Following the Plastics 360 conference, featured speaker Beth Terry will stay over in Marin to lead the discussion at our Sunday, March 18, retreat in Tiburon, looking at “Lessons from The Lorax.” Green Sangha member Beth Terry is an activist blogger at www.MyPlasticFreeLife.com and author of the upcoming book Plastic-Free: How I Kicked the Plastic Habit and How You Can Too.

Call or write if you have any questions or ideas to share!

Stuart
Stuart Moody, President of the Board
Arbor Day at Green Gulch Farm & Zen Center! Sun, Feb 26, 12-6 pm: lunch, ceremony, tree planting, tea, and meditation.

Cultivating the Inner Activist

Learn the art of Sustainability from Within, Saturday April 14, 2:00-5:30 pm, United Church of Christ, 825 Middlefield Drive Petaluma.
The World Federation of Scientists has identifed 63 “planetary emergencies” threatening our earth’s life-support systems. With issues such as soil erosion, deforestation, ocean acidification, and increasing concentrations of industrial chemicals in all of our bodies, environmental protection and restoration is the immediate and personal requirement of our every significant individual, and it cannot wait for tomorrow.

In the face of this great need, how do we maintain our balance, sustaining our own lives as we work on behalf of the life we hold in common? You may be writing letters to Congress and the EPA, organizing an action group, setting up a green committee at your work place, or leading a large organization. Whatever your field of action, you need deep inner reserves to continue the work with energy, confidence, and effectiveness.

Sustainability from Within is designed to give you the skills you need to start the day with grace, renew and recharge yourself throughout the day, and let go of stress at will. Stuart Moody, certified yoga teacher and President of Green Sangha, will share a treasury of simple, rejuvenating exercises for tension release and settling into silence for deep meditation. To complement these practices, we will also explore the technique of Passage Meditation as taught by Eknath Easwaran, and the use of a mantram for calming the mind and deepening awareness.

“Sustainability from Within” means taking care of yourself, practicing the same personal stewardship that we all need to practice in regard to our common body, the earth.

At the deepest level, practicing sustainability from within not only sets a standard for material well-being, it also opens the door for spiritual progress — the restoration of our sense of oneness and expansion of the qualities of the heart. Friendliness, compassion, happiness, and impartiality are the fruits of inner development, and are the fundamental interpersonal qualities at the basis of a culture of cooperation and peace. In this way, mindful practice lays the groundwork for a new earth community.

Program: The workshop will focus on the following ideas and skills fundamental to awakened activism:

Somatic awareness

Greeting the day with energy and alertness
Simple movements for releasing tension and improving posture
Moving into stillness

Spiritual development

Calming the inner chatter
Concentrating the mind
Passing the time with purpose

Price: $30 (Green Sangha members: $20)
To Register: Stuart@greensangha.org

Instructor: Stuart Moody, MA
Saturday, April 14, 2012, 2–5:30 pm. United Church of Christ, 825 Middlefield Drive, Petaluma, CA 94952

“This is a gift to yourself. Leaders feel such heavy burdens with so much to accomplish and with such little time and money to do vital work. Mindfulness for leaders helps us go to our strong and calm center and let go of the burden. It nourishes the soul and frees the spirit.” Maureen Parton, County Supervisor’s aide

Arbor Day at Green Gulch – Sun, Feb 17, 2013

Of all the actions we can take to calm the climate, one of the most satisfying is to plant a tree. Arbor Day is a perfect time, and Green Gulch a perfect place to do it.

National Arbor Day is a traditional way to celebrate the many gifts of trees – shelter, beauty, clean air, soil conservation, habitat for wild animals, and the great cooling effect of shade and CO₂ consumption. Signs of climate change – melting ice caps, rising sea levels, the increasing number of severe weather events – only make our love of trees more intense.

Across the country, tree-lovers celebrate Arbor Day according to the local climate. Nebraska, home of the National Arbor Day Foundation, celebrates on the last Friday of April. On the Pacific Coast, though, we are preparing beds for summer vegetables as early as February.

So, join us at Green Gulch Zen Center and Organic Farm for a gathering of earth stewards to plant native trees on Sunday, February 17, 2013.

SCHEDULE
2:00   Ceremony and Tree planting
4:30   Refreshments
5:00   Meditation in the Zendo
6:00   Homeward

Bring layers for changeable weather, hat and other sun protection, long pants and boots or other strong shoes, gardening gloves if you have (extras on hand), water bottle if you wish (no throw-away plastic bottles).

To reserve your spot, call (510) 532-6574 or write info@greensangha.org

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Come to Green Gulch Farm for Inner and Outer Restoration

Join us once a season at Green Gulch Farm near Muir Beach for an afternoon of Watershed Stewardship and Inner Refreshment. After a delicious organic lunch, we gather for an overview and selectioni of jobs according to our heart’s desires. Tasks can include: removal of invasive weeds, trail improvement, planting of natives shrubs, wood gathering, and sheet mulching. After a couple of hours’ work, we reconvene for tea and scrumptious muffins.

We then hold a short Green Sangha meeting, whose content varies according to the season and our collective inclination – from sharing news and plans, to a letter-writing action, to a walk down to the beach.

We end with deep silence, meditating with the larger community in the Zendo. Bring comfortable layers for changeable weather, sturdy shoes, a hat, and gloves if you have them.

Fall-winter schedule
November 11, 2012; February 17, 2013 (Arbor Day)

Program
12:15 Lunch in the dining room – organic, farm-grown, vegetarian
1:00 Orientation
3:30 Refreshments
4:00 Green Sangha meeting or walk in Garden
5:00 Meditation in Zendo
6:00 Homeward
Arbor Day schedule is slightly different; click here to view.

Reservations for lunch required. RSVP to info@greensangha.org or (510) 532-6574. We organize carpools from the East Bay and San Rafael.

Special Training Day in 2013. Join the Teen Environmental Leadership Academy for farm work, lunch, and mindfulness instruction on Tuesday, July 16, 2013, 10 am to 2:30 pm (tent.)

Garden Work Party Success!

GARDEN WORK PARTY SUCCESS!
Many thanks to all the volunteers who showed up on Saturday, February 4, for a morning of loving labor at the Davidson Green Schoolyard. We got a lot of things done. For example: we dug up fennel from the Riparian Zone:

Some of the roots were amazingly long:

We trimmed back the dreaded pampas grass:

. . . and carted it away to our junk pile:

Inside the Garden, we harvested and staked the fava beans, trimmed flowers, and transplanted the artichokes:

The compost was full of worms! We removed barrels of finished compost to fill the Garden beds, then organized the two bins into: a) nearly-done, and b) add-more-trimmings-here.

The tool shed needed organizing, too! So, Luat and Ashley spent the whole two hours clearing things out . . .

And putting them back in . . . with right-sized containers, and LABELS!

That wasn’t all. We had a great time doing it!

Thanks, everyone! See you next time: Saturday, March 3, 9:30-11:30 am at the Davidson Middle School Garden. (School address is 280 Woodland Avenue in San Rafael. We’re way in the back of the school, by the wooden bridge over the Riparian Zone.)

Mindful Activism training

MINDFUL ACTIVISM TRAINING
At the heart of Green Sangha activism is personal grounding in inner peace and skillful action. Mindful Activism Training is designed to refresh and enhance your practice of a range of leadership practices, from meditation and relaxation to constructive communication and organization. In three workshops we will explore these foundational skills and the Green Sangha Principles of Activism.

Session 3: Sustainability from Within
Saturday, April 14, 2:00-5:30 pm
Learn mindfulness practices for relaxation, renewal, and peace throughout the day. These exercises will help you increase inner clarity, calm, and confidence in all of your endeavors. Instructors:

Michael Nagler, President, Metta Center for Nonviolence
Stephanie Van Hook, Executive Director, Metta Center for Nonviolence
Stuart Moody, MA, President of Green Sangha

Location: United Church of Christ, 825 Middlefield Drive Petaluma, CA 94952
Cost: $30 for the workshop (Green Sangha members $20)

                          When the mind rests steady and pure,
                           then whatever you desire
                           those desires are fulfilled,
                           and whatever you think of
                           those thoughts materialize.
                           So, you who desire good fortune
                           revere the knower of the Self.

Mundaka Upanishad

Climate Justice Fast Update

Organizers of Climate Justice Fast have issued an invitation for those concerned about climate change to engage in 1 additional day of fasting on Thursday, December 17. I am joining them. In my RSVP to the invitation, I have mentioned my membership in Green Sangha, which has inspired me to work more consistently for environmental justice-you can see my posting at the Climate Justice Fast web page-“about us”, under the U.S. flag: http://climatejusticefast.com/pages/debra-birkinshaw/. Several Green Sangha Sonoma County chapter members have joined me in this action, in solidarity with over 1,000 Climate Justice Fast activists who are holding press conferences in Copenhagen.

Green Sangha Sonoma County Joins Climate Justice Fast

Tomorrow, December 7, is the first day of the Copenhagen climate talks. After reading about Climate Justice Fast, I organized a 12 hour fast for this day, in solidarity with activists from 23 other countries that are fasting for this cause. Several Green Sangha Sonoma County chapter members are joining me. We are donating the equivalent of what we would normally eat during the day to the Redwood Empire Food Bank, to call attention to the link between climate change, drought and famine world-wide. Here is a video that tells the story: Climate Justice Fast

Visit the link to the Climate Justice Fast Website. Our local action is listed under the United States flag as “Sonoma County Community Fast” : http://www.climatejusticefast.com/about-us/

Symbol for the United Global Action Calling for Climate Justice

Song of the Builders

On a summer morning
I sat down
on a hillside
to think about God –

a worthy pastime.
Near me, I saw
a single cricket;
it was moving the grains of the hillside

this way and that way.
How great was its energy,
how humble its effort.
Let us hope

it will always be like this,
each of us going on
in our inexplicable ways
building the universe.
Mary Oliver

27 members of Green Sangha Sonoma County played their own part in building the universe on October 24th, the 350.org global call for action on climate protection measures. We joined hearts, minds and hands together to till the earth, to enrich the soil, and plant vegetables. We have planted hope, nourished friendships, and initiated the building of community.

Several of our chapter members are joining the organization Climate Action Fast in their effort to awaken everyone to the necessity for climate protection measures. Our part is to fast on December 7, the first day of the Copenhagen talks, from 7 AM to 7 PM. We have pledged to donate the equivalent of what we would normally eat that day to our local food bank. The purpose of this action is to call attention to the plight of those who suffer drought and famine throughout the world, due to climate change. We have invited several local leaders to join in this day of action, to bring awareness of the Copenhagen talks and to garner legislative support for strident targets to reduce CO2 to under 350 ppm.

On December 12, several members of our chapter will attend a planning meeting on local food production organized by Transition Sebastopol. Members living in West County will support the ongoing efforts in Sebastopol and Cotati, while members living in Central County will collaborate with other sustainability-oriented organizations to create a Transition City initiative in Santa Rosa. The Transition Town movement has as its goal to build resilience in preparation for the post-carbon era.
Our focus in the ongoing work with the Garden Wheel project will be on healthy, local and accessible food production, which is a part of all Transition Town initiatives. Wendy Krupnick, instructor in the Sustainable Horticulture program at SRJC, aptly calls the series of Garden Wheels we hope to establish in different neighborhoods, “less like wheels-more like gears set in motion.” She offered to help us connect with the “I Grow” county program through the Sonoma County Health Services department.

Together we move more “grains of the hillside” than we would be able to do alone. Sangha is community, and community contains its own joyful power.

Planting the Seed: October 24 350.org Global Day of Action

Loaves and Fishes

This is not the age of information.
This is not
the age of information.

Forget the news,
and the radio,
and the blurred screen.

This is the time
of loaves
and fishes.

People are hungry,
and one good word is bread
for a thousand.

~ David Whyte ~ from The House of Belonging

The pilot project garden in the Santa Rosa Junior College neighborhood is thriving. Green Sangha Sonoma County met for retreat today and tasted the fruits of our labors. It feels so right to plant, tend, and harvest local organic food right in our own community, rather than depending so heavily on produce transported by polluting vehicles.

Of the Green Sangha Sonoma County Garden Wheel Project, Joanna Macy has this to say:

Dear Debra,

Thank you for sending this inspiring report of the Garden Wheel Project.
What a beautiful example of the Great Turning in action. I love to think of the lives it touches and the connections it weaves!

Warmly,

Joanna

Our Sangha is aligning with 350.org to launch our Green Sangha Sonoma County Garden Wheel project on October 24. As many ecological activists know, “350” is the magic number used to empower our legislators to act on climate protection. No more than 350 parts per million of carbon in our atmosphere will sustain a planet “similar to the one on which civilization developed and to which life on earth is adapted,” according to Bill McKibben of 350.org. Yet scientists report that through non-sustainable practices, we have exceeded this number-the latest report indicates that there are 399 parts per million of carbon in the atmosphere.

Bill McKibben will be speaking in Santa Rosa the evening of October 2 at Sonoma Country Day School, Jackson Theatre. This will be the kick-off event which propels us into joining 80 other countries to create a global day of action in preparation for the upcoming Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December.

We will have our retreat on the October 24 day of action, and plant the first of four edible landscapes that will benefit neighborhood food exchange and food donations at FISH, (Friends In Service Here) Food Pantry in Santa Rosa which provides 24-hr. emergency supply of food to hungry people, no questions asked. The days of creating miracles, with loaves and fishes, (tomatoes, lettuce and apples…) has arrived.

During our retreat today, our letter action revolved around inviting our federal, state and local legislators to both of the events planned in Sonoma County. Our mission is to invite our leaders to join us in supporting the decisions that come out of Copenhagen, and to be a part in actualizing real climate protection initiatives in our county.

This is like a final exam for human beings. Can we muster the courage, the commitment, and the creativity to set this earth on a steady course before it’s too late? October 24 will be the joyful, powerful day when we prove it’s possible. Bill McKibben, www.350.org