GreenFriends Source Reduction Campaign at MA Center Chicago

Amma has said that Nature is out of balance because of humanity’s actions, and that we need to take bold action to greatly reduce practices that are detrimental to our planet’s precious ecosystems, giving Mother Nature an opportunity to restore balance. Some years ago, Amma asked that we begin to concentrate our sustainable living effort on source reduction, which basically means stopping waste before it begins. Instead of recycling plastics and other throw-away products that need to be processed for another use, we need to start using products that are designed to last or find an alternative way of living that eliminates the need for the product altogether.

GreenFriends conducted a Source Reduction Campaign throughout North America with wonderful results. The goal of the campaign was to encourage all of Amma’s children to take steps toward Source Reduction by providing them with information to help them make wise decisions and implement new ways of doing things. The campaign, while vitally important for Mother Earth, was also undertaken as a spiritual practice, to become more aware of how our actions impact others. Participants viewed it as an opportunity to open our hearts, self-reflect, to raise the awareness of our interconnectedness with all of creation.

MA Center residents and community members responded to the Plastic Challenge in a variety of ways, from recycling, to reusing plastic bags, to using alternative shopping bags, to using glass instead of plastic bottles, and more. Each individual's approach to source reduction can be different, with each person does what he or she can in his or her own way to address the problem. Every effort helps, and anyone can make a difference. When you read through the source reduction ideas (link "source reduction ideas" to http://www.greenfriendsna.org/chi_challenge.html) MA Center residents and community members came up with, you may find one that works for you. You can read all about the Source Reduction Campaign results at the GreenFriends North America website. (link the word "website" to http://www.greenfriendsna.org/)