Have you heard about this exciting new web site that partners issues of social justice and environmental causes? I think you should check it out.

Black. Brown. Green. is a web portal of resources and information that integrate people of color and our needs and issues with the movement for environmental sustainability. It's also a place for people of color to learn about green living and develop an understanding of how issues of social justice and environmental sustainability are interlinked not only in the political world, but in our daily lives. Black. Brown. Green. is solution oriented. We hope to spread the understanding that all things are connected and that we are stronger when working together than we are when we are tearing each other apart.

The BBG philosophy combines the principles of permaculture and non-violent social change into a clear blueprint for how to create a world that sustains us all. (see below this is how we do it)

Our history page tells the stories from people of color who have come before us and valued sustainability long before the modern popular green trends. Have we forgotten that green living is in our blood? BBG helps all of us remember.

BBG provides a cache of articles and videos that address the interconnectedness of green and social issues. Learn how deeply entwined we are with the fate of the planet. Learn why issues remain segregated even after we've fought long and hard for equality. Educate yourself and others about the history and current situations of people of color around the world. Debate hot topics. Expand the definitions of green.

BBG's e-newsletter helps you to stay up to date on the issues and policies that affect your daily lives. We also connect you with the many resources that provide excellent news coverage of the things you need and want to know, and the people who are working towards a socially just, green world. We don't want to re-create the wheel, we want to get your wheels in motion.

BBG's living section gives you practical day-to-day ways to live a green life. Many people of color choose to live in an environmentally sustainable way because we know first-hand the damage that oppression can do to any being, including our planet. You can share your ideas, tips with a community of people who are committed to living a BBG lifestyle.

This is how we do it.

The BBG Philosophy partners the 12 principles of Permaculture with the 6 principles and 6 steps of Nonviolent Social Change to create an outline for living the best lives we can and creating the healthiest future for our world. We don't reinvent the wheel. We build connections between cooperating wheels to create smooth-running, interconnected, powerful gears. To this end, we don't re-write or re-create. We pair and partner to bolster communities, combine goals and strengthen our culture as a whole.

The 12 partnered principles are:

1. Observe and Interact + Gather Information.

2. Catch and Store Energy + Educate Others.

3. Obtain a Yield + Choose Loving Solutions, Not Hateful Ones.

4. Apply Self-Regulation and Accept Feedback + Remain Committed.

5. Use and Value Renewable Resources and Services + Peacefully Negotiate.

6. Produce No Waste + The Entire Universe Embraces and Deserves Justice.

7. Design from Patterns to Details +Take Action Peacefully.

8. Integrate Rather Than Segregate + Defeat Injustice, Not People.

9. Use Small and Slow Solutions + Reconcile.

10. Use and Value Diversity + Seek Friendship and Understanding Among Those Who are Different from You.

11. Use Edges And Value The Marginal + Suffering Can Educate and Transform People and Societies.

12. Creatively Use And Respond To Change +This Is A Way Of Life For Courageous People.

Permaculture is a broad-based and holistic approach that has many applications to all aspects of life. At the heart of permaculture design and practice is a fundamental set of 'core values' or ethics which remain constant whatever a person's situation, whether they are creating systems for town planning or trade; whether the land they care for is only a window box or an entire forest.

Designed by David Holmgren, permaculture is based on three ethics: Care of the earth (because all living things have intrinsic worth); care of the people; and reinvest all surplus, whether it be information, money, or labor, to support the first two ethics.

• Earthcare - recognizing that the Earth is the source of all life (and is possibly itself a living entity- see Gaia theory) and that we recognize and respect that the Earth is our valuable home and we are a part of the Earth, not apart from it.

• Peoplecare - supporting and helping each other to change to ways of living that are not harming ourselves or the planet, and to develop healthy societies.

• Fairshare - ensuring that the Earth's limited resources are utilized in ways that are equitable and wise by placing limits on consumption.

Permaculture has come to mean more than just food sufficiency in the household. Self-reliance in food is meaningless unless people have access to land, information, and financial resources. So in recent years it has come to encompass appropriate legal and financial strategies, including strategies for land access, business structures, and regional self financing. This way it is a whole human system.

Nonviolence is a powerful tool for creating social change in our countries and around the world. When we work to remedy one issue, we affect all issues. The issues change in accordance with the political and social climate of our nation and world. Nonviolence is not only a method for social change, but a positive way of life that becomes a part of all of our personal relationships and everything we do in our homes, communities and political and business life. It is a permanent attitude that is reflected even in the choice and tone of words, in body language and way of thinking.

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. defined six principles of nonviolence which were the heart of his philosophy of nonviolence. A commitment to these six principles is the key to making nonviolence a way of life in our personal relationships and in resolving conflicts, reconciling adversaries and creating social change at the community, national and international levels. He also identified the six steps of nonviolence as a methodology for applying the six principles in solving problems and resolving conflicts peacefully.