Awe From Nature An excerpt from Awestruck On a beautiful spring day several years ago, I went for a hike in the Muir Woods National Monument, just north of San Francisco. It was a glorious day, with perfect temperatures and sunshine. But despite being in a place some might describe as heaven on earth, my [...]

An Essay by Joanna Macy From A Wild Love for the World In early 1985, I was offering workshops across Australia to activists resisting nuclear testing, uranium mining, and the logging of their last old-growth forests. They found that the Despair and Empowerment work freed them from burnout and kindled their love for one another. [...]

An Intimate Ecology Excerpt from Conversations with Trees Inside the meditation hall I sit with my hands in my lap, breathing into the hollow of my palms. Left hand lying gently inside the right, thumb tips just barely touching, center point of concentration in the posture of Zen meditation. Back straight, mind deep in the [...]

By Tias Little, Author of The Practice Is the Path The Christian mystics talk about “fasting of the heart” in their postures of solitude and time in communion with a divine order. Removed from the bustle of the marketplace and in isolation, this “fasting” is a time of reflection and being in the presence of [...]

Stephanie Kaza, author of GREEN BUDDHISM: Practice and Compassionate Action in Uncertain Times, in conversation about her life as a UC Santa Cruz biologist, a writer, a professor, and a Buddhist.     Green Buddhism$18.95 - PaperbackBy: Stephanie Kaza Add to Cart Books by Stephanie Kaza See All Books

Emotional Needs of the Animals We Care For An Excerpt from Kindness for All Creatures Core Needs What do animals need? Basics include food, water, shelter, rest, safety from undue fear and harm, opportunities for play, company, solitude, territory (a nest), enrichment (stimulation), toys and activities, and healthy interactions. Most pets need praise and positive feedback. [...]

Following the Green Practice Path An Excerpt from Green Buddhism Understanding Our Impact Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement, cancelling clean-water regulations, stalling on clean-energy projects—the recent years under a climate-change-denying political administration have been very discouraging, indeed. Day after day, we seem to hear only about backward steps and policy losses on environmental issues. The [...]

Clarify Your Definitions We have all been in gardens—even very costly ones—that we find oddly uninspiring. There are the landscapes around mansions where money has been lavished on moving trees, building pools, patios, and fire pits, and planting lush lawns, yet we don’t much enjoy being in those spaces and may even find them stale [...]

“This is something that needs explaining, how light emerges from darkness, how comfort wells up from sorrow. The Earth holds every possibility inside it, and the mystery of transformation, one thing into another. This is the wildest comfort. That's what this book is about.” (xi) In an effort to make sense of the deaths in [...]

by Lindsay Michko As spring begins, warmer temperatures and longer days call upon us to deepen our connection to the natural world. We begin spending more time outside and taking notice of all the new growth and colors popping up in the world around us. As a celebration of Earth Day, Shambhala Publications has compiled [...]