Welcome To The BK Environment Initiative

Om Shanti! In December of 2009, a major Conference of the Parties under the UN ‘Climate Change Convention (COP15)’, will take place in Copenhagen.  The Brahma Kumaris will be participating in this conference and we would like to invite your participation in developing greener practices at our centres as a preparation for our participation and as our contribution to a greater awareness of sustainable living. Many of you attended one of the sessions in Madhuban where we introduced:

The Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiative 2009

We hope you will use the material on this blog to inspire the BK Family to make all centres into Green Centres.  In this way, let us serve the five elements practically with the right consciousness, and let us also share pure thoughts and good wishes will all souls concerned.

We suggest that each Centre appoints a Green Co-ordinator who will personally adopt a Green Spiritual Footprint and:

•          Inspire projects and provide information, in co-operation with national and centre co-ordinators

•          Inspire Green Workshops in the country

•          Be a point of contact for the Green Team

•          Send news to this blog

•          Make contact with Green Organizations for further collaboration The Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiative needs help with following:

•          Green experts to provide technical information or weblinks for those interested

•          Someone to develop seminar content and trainings for seminar leaders (suggested topics for workshops are attached). Please, do not hesitate to contact the BK Green Team for further information. We welcome any suggestions or additional proposals. Our email address is: environment@bkwsu.org In Baba’s yaad and seva, BK Green Team

The Pilot Regional Eco Retreat In Italy

Following the Copenhagen Climate Conference 2009, at which the Brahma Kumaris had a strong presence, it was felt that the BKs, as an organisation, needed to review and consolidate its stance on environmental issues. Therefore it was decide to convene a retreat for BKs with particular interest and speciality around environmental topics to address this issue.

The “Green” Retreat 20th - 24th May pulled 14 enthusiastic BKs to the retreat centre and ecological farm of Casa Sangam, Gubbio, Italy. There was good representation from Europe. The invitation was extended to other regions with Sr. Pratibha from Nairobi and Sr. Irina from Moscow both attending. It was considered to adopt the title of BK Ecological Initiative because the word ecology comes from the Greek word Oikos which means house. Ecology therefore means the study or knowledge of the House, i.e. the planet and all it inhabitants. This title also reminded us of Baba’s play on the words eknami and economy. Br. Michael from London shared that when Global Cooperation House in London was evaluating its waste management and recycling systems, the BKs working on the project were known as The Eco-angels. We remembered with lots of love Brahma Baba’s closeness to nature, and outdoor yoga bhattis and training to serve the elements in the early days of the Yagya. The general view of the group is that the BK Eco Initiative will be welcomed by the BK family as it was felt that many BKs bring an interest in the natural world.

Casa Sangam provided the ideal setting for this retreat with lots of greenery, biodynamic farming and locally grown organic food. Our host Br. Piero explained that his interest in how to link environment and spirituality was awakened by Dadi Janki’s programme, ‘Care for life’, in Paris in 2005 on the topic of Sustainability and Spirituality.

The group had dialogues about how consciousness is a key link between matter/environment and spirituality. Purity and simple living is the foundation of living in harmony with nature. Br. Francois from Paris brought us into the depth of his churnings and into the recent research of the nature of matter. He talked about the need for a paradigm shift from consumerism to a holistic world of balance and respect for both people and nature. He expounded on quantum theory and posed the question: What is our role, as BKs, in a world in crisis caused by following a linear system on a limited planet!

There were reflections, meditations and visualisations presented by Sr. Valeriane from Switzerland and Sr. Wendy from Italy to stimulate our inspirations and closeness to the Creator and creation. The reflections will also provide input into the development of future BK Environmental position statements and policies. A great deal of importance was given to discussions about the purpose and message of the new BK Eco Initiative.

What came out of the discussions was the feeling that raising the awareness in the BK community about the link between our spirituality and nature will help us to understand what practical spirituality, or ‘applied spirituality’ looks like - what it means to ‘walk the talk’. It will provide an ongoing platform for the BK community to address global issues with a clear spiritual message. To ground the programme and to create a balance between spiritual theory and practice we had walks in nature to serve the elements. This was facilitated with a commentary from our host delivered via individual FM head sets. There was also a powerful silence walk through the scenic countryside of Umbria. The finale of the weekend was a visit to observe the organic farm in operation. This included seeing the cows and goats being hand milked (also trying milking!) and an interesting insight into traditional organic cheese making.

Intended projects coming from this initiative are hoped to include: a review of ‘green’ practices within the BK organisation; development of workshops in environmental awareness; further seminars and ‘green’ events; and linking with other interested organisations to further explore the aspect of spirituality and the natural world. To keep updated visit the blog (website): http://environment.brahmakumaris.org Further BK Eco-retreats are planned in Australia in June, Mauritius in August 2010 and again in Casa Sangam Italy 2011. If you are interested please contact your NC or write to the Eco team via the blog.

BK Environmental Initiative In Portuguese

Iniciativa Medioambiental BK en castellano_2_ -

Consciousness and Climate: Confluence of Two Living Systems

Consciousness and Climate: Confluence of Two Living Systems -

Interview With Didi Sudesh

Interview between Didi Sudesh and Brother Arnold (Green Team) about our relationship with the environment.

Listen To The Interview by clicking the Download Button. This will download the mp3 file to your computer.

BK Environmental Initiative 2

Brahma Kumaris Environment Initiative