We seek peace in our own lives through meditation and the study of the Dharma (the traditional Buddhist teachings). We contribute to peace in our communities through ecological restoration, as a remedy for some of the violence done by development.
At our Wild Plant Nursery and the field sites that it serves, we work to conserve the native plant communities of the greater Washington region, home to one of the richest floras in eastern North America. Our Tree Bank / Hispaniola is conserving the forests of central Hispaniola, the richest surviving remnant of the Caribbean forest biome, a global biodiversity hotspot.
We see ecological restoration as essential to conservation because many natural areas are now too small and isolated to persist over the long term in their current state. In the greater Washington region, we are reestablishing forests and meadows on degraded sites. In central Hispaniola, our Tree Bank farmers are replanting native forest on their lands.
Lisa Bright writes a regular e-mail letter that reports on the Sangha’s activities, both past and planned, and reflects on our practice. Lisa is a co-founder of the Sangha, its Dharma Teacher, and—by far—our most active presence in the field.
Lisa sends a letter out almost every week; sometimes, when things are busy in the field, she writes a couple of times a week. Her letters fall into two genres: some are primarily field notes; others are reflections of a more general character. Sometimes both genres appear in the same note. Click here to read a sample field note. To see some general reflections, look at Lisa's writing for the Speaking Broadly page. Most of her writing there is excerpted from her letters.
Lisa’s letter is the easiest way to keep current with the Sangha’s activities.
To subscribe to Lisa’s list, click here. Your e-mail program will generate a message that you can then send to our main address. No need to write anything else in the message.
To unsubscribe to Lisa’s list, click here and send us the resulting message. Again, no need to write anything else.
The Earth Sangha never shares its e-mail lists.
The Speaking Broadly page is intended to be a collective blog for the Sangha.
For more news from the field, read the News page and look at our newsletter, the Acorn.
For more discussion of our practice, visit the Meditation page.
Above: At the Wild Plant Nursery, Lisa and battered wheelbarrow approach.