Kindness to ourselves and others
- our worlds - is central to
all good lives and all good religion.
'earthkind' summarises our aim -
to encourage all of earthkind to
be kind to the earth.

A Year of Service and the Diamond Jubilee

Buddhist groups around the UK are organising and running community events as part of the national inter-faith ‘Year of Service’ during the Diamond Jubilee year in July 2012. Would your Sangha like to take part?

Throughout 2012 each major faith community is taking a month and a theme of their choice – the Buddhist community has committed to run events in July with an environmental theme, all under the banner of ’Earthkind – Buddhist Action Day’. July 3rd is the official ’Earthkind Day’ but your events may be planned for any time during July. Please put your thinking cap on and let us know!

If you have an idea for July 2012, and want to take part in Buddhist Action Day, then please let us know . You can propose something you are already planning or something new. You may already be involved in social action or in running events around this time in which case these could be registered as part of Buddhist Action Day.

Get Involved

It’s easy to get involved. Each local group or community simply needs to:

Identify one or two individuals to organise an event in July – on or around Buddhist Action Day on July 3rd – it can be any size
Base the event around an environmental theme
Invite volunteers from local Buddhist groups and broader community to undertake an ‘environmental’ activity of some sort
Include food as part of the event
Let the NBO know the plan so it can be publicised on the website
Publicise your event locally.
Invite other faith and interfaith organisations
Have fun
Take photos of the day

As all of the other UK faiths have their own months and themes and the same intention to involve those from all faiths and none in their local events, it is likely that you may be asked to get involved in Year of Service events starting from March onwards.

Ideas for Projects

Have a look at what’s already planned – or think of something new. The theme of the ‘environment’ lends itself to many interpretations. Since the Buddhist community are organising events in July, the weather should be good (!) and so outdoor volunteering activities should be possible.

You may have your own grounds in which work could be undertaken:

Clearing overgrown areas
Planting vegetables, shrubs or plants
Helping maintain woodland
Recycling
Establishing vegetables, fruit, or garden areas
Working on community farms

Or find an existing project and provide volunteers. You need to tell them that you are volunteers linked with the Year of Service initiative. Information on volunteering initiatives can be found at:

Your Buddhist centre
Your local Council’s website
British Trust for Conservation Volunteers (www.btcv.org/~) – you can search by area
London Wildlife Trust (London only – www.wildlondon.org.uk/~)
The National Trust (require volunteers at various times of the year)
Woodland Trust – note they have projects tying in with their Jubilee aims all-round the country Start here www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/~

Note that existing projects such as those above will have insurance for their volunteers which makes things simpler.

Publicity

Please download and print the Buddhist Action Day Poster, filling in the blank part (lower left) with details of your own project. Then display prominently!

Our partner in supporting Buddhist Action Day is the Network of Engaged Buddhists (NEB). You can find a growing library of useful resources and reference material here.

For inspiration from the Jewish faith have a look at the Mitzvah Day site. Mitzvah Day started some 5 years ago and has grown significantly over this time. It has very similar aims to our Buddhist Action Day.

And don’t forget to join the new BAD facebook group here. Spread the word!