Eco-Friendly Lifestyle News — plants RSS

  The Netherlands Senior Expert Ineke Poort-Van Eljk, Bag Crafter Pa Sa, Consultant/Volunteer Vandara, Bag Crafter Som confer before a workshop session.   For Nature Bag crafters Pa Sa and Som, the 5 day trip to learn about using natural colors in the stain-resistant JungleVine® fiber of their bags was a major life experience.  Although the journey from their rural villages to near UNESCO World Heritage Luang Prabang took only a day, neither had ever been so far away from home or away from home for so long. Pa Sa had traveled 80 km (64 mile) to a Khmu village near her provincial capital of Oudomxai 6 years ago to be a bag crafting trainer for a United Nations Industrial...

'Teach them to love the insects'   When the Dalai Lama was asked the most important thing to teach children, his response was (reportedly) "teach them to love the insects". It's not uncommon to fear or loathe insects and "creepy crawlies". It's not an instinctive thing; rather learned behavior in many cases. Just as beauty among humans is often perceived based on what society dictates rather than the eye of the beholder, so to is it in regard to other creatures on our planet. Our views may also be shaped through limited experiences with a species. I remember seeing an experiment many years ago where a harmless spider was placed in the presence of a mother and very young child....