Born to a renowned architect and his wife in Montreal, the intrepid Baha’i Mary Maxwell later became known by the honorific title of Amatu’l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, meaning “handmaiden of glory.”

As a young woman, she married Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, cementing the close ties between East and West called for by the Baha’i principle of the oneness of humanity, exemplified in this passage from the writings of Abdu’l-Baha:

… in this age of splendours, teachings once limited to the few are made available to all, that the mercy of the Lord may embrace both east and west, that the oneness of the world of humanity may appear in its full beauty, and that the dazzling rays of reality may flood the realm of the mind with light.

RELATED: Tunupa, the Aymara Messenger of God from Lake Titicaca

A world citizen, a world traveler, and a great lover of Indigenous peoples all over the world, Ruhiyyih Khanum crossed Africa and South Asia by foot, car, train, and plane. She inspired and educated Baha’is and those interested in the Baha’i Faith in cities, small towns, and remote villages alike. In her later life, she followed the yearnings of Abdu’l-Baha, who said “Oh! that I could travel, even though on foot and in the utmost poverty, to these regions and … in cities, villages, mountains, deserts and oceans, promote the Divine teachings!”

Despite the shock of Shoghi Effendi’s sudden passing in 1957, Ruhiyyih Khanum fulfilled her yearning to “promote the Divine teachings” and travelled the world announcing the coming of Baha’u’llah’s revelation to the people she met.

The Baha’i communities in Latin America grew rapidly in the 1960s and 70s. To reach out to the Indigenous peoples there, Ruhiyyih Khanum decided to make another extraordinary journey in 1975. She had travelled in the air and on the ground, but this time she would go a whole new and much more adventurous way: by water. 

The Amazon is the largest river in the world. It discharges more water into the ocean than the next seven largest rivers in the world combined. Twenty percent of all the river water that flows into the ocean comes from the Amazon. North of the Amazon is another mighty river: the Orinoco, the fourth largest river in the world and one of the longest. Flowing through the countries of Colombia, Venezuela, and Suriname, many Indigenous people lived along it in lush forests. 

Ruhiyyih Khanum decided to go upriver on the Amazon and the Orinoco, and called her riverine travels The Green Light Expedition. She believed that Shoghi Effendi would have wanted her to make a special effort to meet Indigenous people all over the world. As the last living link to the holy family of the Baha’i Faith, she had already helped to uplift the hearts and visions of the Baha’is across more than thirty African countries. 

Before going to Africa for the first time, Ruhiyyih went to pray at Shoghi Effendi’s grave in London. On her way back to Haifa (where the World Centre of the Baha’i Faith is situated) after an absence of more than three and half years, she once again went to bow her head in gratitude at the resting place of her beloved husband. When asked about her previous African trip and its physical challenges she said: 

I am a widow, sixty-two years old; I have no children, no sisters, no brothers, no parents. The only reason I have come to Africa, at this age, is in response to the beautiful words of Abdu’l-Baha, and because the only time the beloved Guardian gave any indication of what I might do after him, was one day, when suddenly, he looked at me and said, ‘What will become of you after I die …?’ This distressed me very much and I pleaded with him not to say such a terrible thing, that I would never live after he was dead; but he continued and said, ‘I suppose you will go and visit the [Baha’i] friends in different countries and encourage them.’ 

Ruhiyyih Khanum told the Baha’is “If I can do this at my age, of course you can do it too.” Her account of what came to be called “The Green Light Expedition” in South America tells the amazing stories of her arduous trip up the Amazon and the Orinoco to meet and greet the Indigenous people who lived there. She mischievously named their little 60-foot barge “The Queen Mary,” and minimized the arduous nature of the trip as she reported on her party’s progress upriver:

Every evening our boat was moored on a sand bank for the night. Our first job in the morning was to roll up our hammocks and get them out of the way. Life aboard the Queen Mary was in no way difficult. In fact, the only real inconvenience were the black flies which in this particular moment were so vicious that I wore my mosquito net hat. Wonderful as the water was for drinking it was usually very dangerous to swimming. 

The [Indigenous people] always seemed to know where is safe to go in and our captain strongly advised the men that they should only bathe from the rocks. We soon found out why. I caught three man-eating piranha fish in less than two minutes. Every morning we held prayers for the success of our expedition and that we would be guided to do the right thing and meet the right people during the day. 

Along the Orinoco River and also in the neighbourhood of Puerto Ayacucho itself there are a great many Baha’i communities … Over and over again after we had had prayers we found that the door would open in the most remarkable ways for us to meet the people that we wanted to see. The Piaroa […] invited us to their village, as it was an hour’s walk from the river they agreed to come back and take us there. The Mataco or Wichi are a group of tribes that speak the same language and live in Argentina and Bolivia. The Piaroa are an Indigenous people who have lived in the Orinoco River so that in this case seemed to be to make a great river journey up the Orinoco. 

RELATED: Bochica, Indigenous Messenger of God in Colombia

Masud Khamsi, a devoted Baha’i from Iran who served as a Baha’i Counsellor in South America helped organize this extraordinary trip. They began in the country of Venezuela, which borders the Atlantic Ocean. The Green Light Expedition became an amazing voyage, all recounted in Ruhiyyih Khanum’s own words: 

The small Baha’i community of Puerto Ayacucho met us at the airport and helped us load our provisions onto the truck. It took us over an hour to reach Venado a huge flat hunk of rock into the Orinoco river. This is the place where all traffic above Puerto Ayacucho leaves for the interior. Some weeks previous to our arrival, Mr. Khamsi had rented a large river barge which was waiting for us and for our 60 pieces of equipment, baggage and provisions. This was the ship that was going to take us 1700 km to visit 8 different Indian tribes in the interior. This is to be our home for 32 nights and we named her the Queen Mary. …

We met a Piaroa Chief. We invited him aboard our boat to have coffee. He said that fifteen years before he would have been afraid to go on a boat that was owned by white men … this shows how much people are changing. It also shows how the spirit of the Baha’is gives people confidence. He was a widower whose wife had died when their last child was born and he was bringing up a group of small children himself. The attachment of the children to the father and the extraordinary tenderness that he showered upon his children was very, very touching … 

We discovered that eight years ago the Piaroa Chief was already in contact with some of the Baha’is … If a man such as this accepts Baha’u’llah’s teachings he will not only be a very fine believer but instrumental in bringing in many, many of his people into the Cause of God. The Makos as a tribe have never been converted to Christianity. We were fortunate to meet their more important chief, who called a meeting to hear about the Faith … 

The Green Light Expedition continued for many months, and Ruhiyyih Khanum later called it one of the greatest adventures of her remarkably adventurous life.

This article is excerpted from the new biography Ruhiyyih Khanum, by Hussein Ahdieh and Hillary Chapman. If you’d like to read more about Ruhiyyih Khanum’s life and adventures, the book is available here and here.

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Greetings, fellow globetrotters with a heart for the Earth! As we lace up our “eco-friendly” sneakers and dust off our solar-powered suitcases (do those exist yet?), it’s time to embark on a journey that’s not only about seeing the world but also about saving it for generations to come. In what will follow, we plan on diving headfirst into a collection of incredible destinations that offer more than just pretty landscapes and yummy local delicacies. Yes sir! We’re talking about “green” getaways – those sustainable sanctuaries where you can explore while leaving the lightest footprint behind that is currently possible. Get ready to be enchanted by Mother Nature’s own list of the world’s top eco-friendly hotspots and get inspired to help the ol’ gal preserve them. So, buckle up your recycled seatbelt, as we traverse the globe with a sense of adventure and a whole lot of eco-consciousness.

Many airlines are taking the initiative to help preserve the planet; if you’re looking for an airport transfer company that also cares dearly about mother nature, then look no further than the friendly folk over at AtoB Airport transfer, who are aiming at offering numerous options to reduce their footprint. Not only do they take nature seriously, they also offer one of the best services out there, with a wide range of vehicles, all of which can be personalised with their many extra add-ons, wherever you plan to visit on this list, let them take you there!

1. Costa Rica

Image Credit: Etienne Delorieux on Unsplash

Our first stop is a country that practically invented “green” living – Costa Rica. This Central American gem is a biodiversity hotspot, a place where sloths might just move faster than your heart beats in excitement. From the lush rainforests of Corcovado National Park to the beaches of Manuel Antonio, Costa Rica is a playground for nature lovers. Zipline through the canopy, swim beneath cascading waterfalls, and spot colorful toucans as they pose for their next Instagram post – all of this without leaving so much as a toe-sized carbon footprint! And remember, every time you say “Pura Vida,” a sea turtle gets its flippers.

2. Copenhagen

Next on our eco-bonanza is the bike-loving city of Copenhagen, where bicycles outnumber cars and the air smells as fresh as a field of Danish daisies. Glide along the bike lanes, stopping to admire the innovative architecture and enjoy locally sourced treats at the Torvehallerne market. Don’t forget to book an airport taxi and visit Amager Bakke, a power plant-slash-ski slope that’s turning waste into winter wonder.

3. New Zealand

Image Credit: Ömer Faruk Bekdemir on Unsplash

Kiwis are known for their love of nature, and New Zealand is proof of that passion. From the geothermal wonders of Rotorua to the jaw-dropping fjords of Milford Sound, this country is a paradise for adventure enthusiasts seeking sustainable thrills. Hobbiton might seem like a fantasy, but the commitment to renewable energy and conservation here is as real as the air you’re breathing.

4. Portland

Get your fix of sustainable hipster vibes in the city of Portland, where keeping it weird and keeping it green go hand in hand. Hire an AtoB airport taxi and explore Powell’s Books, the world’s largest independent bookstore, and take a moment to appreciate the aroma of artisanal, small-batch, locally roasted coffee while discussing the finer points of recycling with a friendly local.

5. Bhutan

Venture into the serene mountains of Bhutan, a country that measures its success in Gross National Happiness rather than GDP. Trek to the iconic Tiger’s Nest Monastery, perched dramatically on a cliff, and absorb the tranquil energy of the place. Bhutan’s commitment to carbon-neutral living will leave you feeling lighter than a prayer flag in the wind.

6. Amsterdam

Image Credit: Javier M. on Unsplash

Float into Amsterdam, a city of canals, tulips, and eco-consciousness. Wander through the historic streets, admiring the gabled houses and savoring organic stroopwafels. Be sure to take an AtoB airport transfer and visit De Ceuvel, an upcycled shipyard turned sustainable urban oasis – a reminder that saving the planet can be as delightful as Dutch broodjes.

7. Patagonia

For those craving unspoiled wilderness, Patagonia is your calling. It isn’t just a clothes brand, in case you were wondering! Straddling Argentina and Chile, this region offers breathtaking landscapes that look like they’ve been lifted from a painter’s dream. Hike among glaciers, fjords, and snow-capped peaks, and let the crisp Patagonian air inspire you to embrace sustainable travel like never before.

8. Kyoto

We couldn’t mention eco-friendliness without heading over to the land of the rising sun. Step into the timeless elegance of Kyoto, where centuries-old temples stand in harmony with modern sustainability initiatives. Use an AtoB airport transfer to explore the Arashiyama Bamboo Grove, and let the towering bamboo stalks whisper tales of conservation and tranquility. Take part in a traditional tea ceremony while pondering how this city seamlessly marries its rich history with a forward-thinking environmental approach.

Embrace the Green, Embrace the Future

And there you have it, intrepid explorers of eco-consciousness! From the misty mountains of New Zealand to the bustling canals of Amsterdam, these “green” getaways offer much more than a mere vacation – they provide us an opportunity to immerse ourselves in the beauty of the planet while championing its protection. Remember, as you explore these destinations, you’re not just a traveler; you’re an advocate of a sustainable tomorrow. So, book an AtoB airport taxi and let’s continue exploring, learning, and laughing along the way, because as the saying goes, “Travel far, travel wide, and leave only footprints – and maybe a few jokes – behind.” Happy (green) travels!

(Devdiscourse’s journalists were not involved in the production of this article. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of Devdiscourse and Devdiscourse does not claim any responsibility for the same.)

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Pushpir Bhetia sells Depth N Green foods and goods at the Kendall Square Farmers Market in Cambridge on Thursdays. (Photo: Susanne Beck)

Serendipity would be a good brand name for Pushpir Bhetia’s life if not his line of high-quality Indian food products, better known by the label Depth N Green.

It was seemingly by chance, after all, that the then 26-year-old native of New Delhi landed in New York City in 1997 and moved quickly from doing odd jobs to owning a line of cellphone stores to finding himself in Boston, serving food as Guru the Caterer and now staffing a new business’ table at this summer’s Kendall Square farmers market. He will be at that location every Thursday from Noon to 6 p.m. until the market closes Nov. 16.

“I still love New York City,” Bhetia says wistfully, but after 9/11, “the whole city vibe became very odd, very different. I’m a Sikh. We have a beard and turban … our lives were not the same and our wives wanted to move a little farther away.”

Bhetia was standing at West 72nd Street and Broadway talking to his cousin soon thereafter, explaining his interest in moving not too far from his in-laws in Queens. “Suddenly I saw a Greyhound bus go by with a Boston sign,” he remembers. He asked his cousin if he knew anyone there. “He said he knows somebody who knows somebody.” Bhetia was on the road at daybreak the next day. By 10:30 a.m., he was walking down Newbury Street. “I called my wife by 11 o’clock and said, we are moving. She said, you’ve been there hardly for half an hour, but I said ‘Trust me. I feel like I’m really in America now.’”

Building on his New York experience, Bhetia launched another cellphone business, opening a quick succession of stores in his new city. But by 2004, “suddenly this whole partnership fell through big time. We lost a lot of money – more than half a million dollars.” Looking for guidance, he turned to his guru from India. “My guru had been telling me for a couple of years ‘You should get into the hospitality business and try making food.’ I said, ‘I don’t know how to cook anything.’ He said patiently: ‘You have to start practicing.’” Bhetia returned to India to consider the advice and to meditate, find peace and, possibly, learn how to cook.

Tiffin and Guru the Caterer

Months later, restored emotionally if not financially, he was ready for his next step. “I called one of my cellphone customers who worked at MIT. He’s from India.” Bhetia said he was considering making authentic Indian lunchboxes for MIT students – “food like our mothers would make,” he said. “Not American Indian food which has low-quality ingredients, bad spices and food coloring.” His MIT friend “jumped on the idea.”

Within weeks it seemed like most of the university’s Media Lab was ordering. “They started loving the food,” he says humbly. It reminded them of the food back home – and better. He booked commercial space in Somerville under the name Tiffin, the Indian term for lunchbox, to accommodate a clientele that began to include students and faculty from Harvard and Boston University. “I was serving lunchboxes to almost 120 students and faculty members within a year … and I was the only one cooking.”

The guru’s advice had clearly been on the mark. “Eventually all these big professors or other people started calling me and saying ‘Hey, would you be able to cater the event? We have 30 people coming, 40 people.’” Simple lunchboxes turned into a full-scale catering operation feeding the growing Indian workforce in Kendall Square’s tech firms as well as former Tiffin customers who were now interns or full-time employees there. “We became the No. 1 caterer in Boston,” Bhetia said, with a bit of wonder at his own good fortune. He stayed true to the basics he grew up on and laughs at the memory of new clients requesting things such as naan, a staple of Indian food in the states. “Naan?” he chuckled. “There is not one mother in India that serves naan!” He named his growing business Guru the Caterer. It and a restaurant called D’Guru were based in Somerville’s Teele Square.

Back in the kitchen

The birth of his first child – a daughter – in 2014 forced a change. “My wife was a vice president in the bank. She said, ‘I can use some break time.’ She said she would love to spend time living in India where, if you’re doing well, you can hire a chauffeur, you have a couple of cooks at home working, making breakfast, lunch for you. You can live large over there.” They agreed to sell the catering business and head home. It was near their guru, who had started a café called DepthNGreen Café in Bangalore, in southern India. “I could follow my guru, do some more meditation and reinvent myself,” Bhetia thought.

In no time, he found himself back in the kitchen, helping his mentor expand his menu in between contemplating his life and his future in the on-site meditation room. Bhetia credited his guru with his growing awareness, especially of the potential role of food in one’s life. If he could offer locally sourced, well-grown products, he wouldn’t just be serving meals, he would be serving health. 

He returned to the United States within the year, reinvigorated and with a new vision: a Depth N Green product line – spices, cookies and chutneys, which are available at the farmers market – and plans for a café like the one in India. “I’m looking for a location,” he said, describing a menu of traditional food with high-quality, organic ingredients as well as Indian-inspired sandwiches and smoothies. “We have also worked on our recipes for Indian-flavored ice cream.”

“Enjoy every aspect”

Bhetia hopes that when his customers enjoy his food and his market products, they, too, take the time to pause and become more aware. “We work so hard for what? Big cars, big houses or work. If we can’t enjoy one meal a day, then what’s the point of working hard? I personally feel people these days have taken their health for granted. It is one of the biggest privileges they have to enjoy at least one good meal a day,” he said.

He is not unsympathetic to those who work long hours; he has done the same. “I understand. People are rushing for work – lawyers, software engineers, whatever you are doing. But if you can’t sit for 30 minutes or even for 20 minutes, just chew your bite. Enjoy every aspect of that in your mouth – the spices, the flavor – and everything becomes very meditative.” And, according to Bhetia and his guru, life-affirming. Something to chew on, for everyone.

The Kendall Square Farmers Market, sponsored by BioMed Realty and produced by Mass Farmers Markets, showcases a variety of Massachusetts products and other goods at stalls open from noon to 6 p.m. Thursdays until Nov. 16 at 450 Kendall St.

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It took me 19 years to return to El Salvador — the place where I was born and emigrated from in 1999 when I was 9 years old. Dad fled in 1991, a year before the civil war ended and I was just a few months old. Mom emigrated weeks after I turned 5 because as a woman, every time she tried to get a job during “peacetime,” she was harassed — common practice in El Salvador.

Her younger sister, Mali, overstayed her tourist visa in 2002 after she lost her job due to the 2001 earthquakes; and their youngest sister, Lupe, ran away from her former-Batallón Atlacatl abusive husband in 2005. Despite what we have survived, none of our migrations have been deemed worthy enough of a legal status by the United States government, and so all of us have been undocumented for some, or all, of the years we’ve called California our home.

For 19 years, I watched my country from afar. At first, scouring Spanish language news for a brief mention of El Pulgarcito de América.

Then, in the mid-2000s, El Salvador was all over Primer Impacto. In the minds of many Americans, we went from obscurity to being equated with gang members. The nation my parents and aunts had left as young adults seemed to be reverting back to a time that closely resembled the civil war they seldom talked about.

When I graduated college, I was no longer undocumented but held temporary protective status (TPS) like many Salvadorans, Haitians and Nepalese. Even with TPS, I couldn’t return to my homeland because I didn’t meet the criteria for an “advanced parole” to legally return into the United States.

By 2014, El Salvador’s murder rate broke into English-language news. By 2016, we were lumped into “The Iron Triangle” and the “crisis of unaccompanied children at the border.” It was frustrating to see how Americans seemed to just be learning about gangs, Central America and child migration.

Whenever we watched the news, Dad — a survivor of a civil war — vowed to never return to El Salvador, even if he were granted a green card. Meanwhile, my Mom and aunts patiently hoped that President Bush, then Obama, then anyone, passed any sort of immigration reform.

Javier Zamora and one of his dad’s childhood friends at the town pier in La Herradura, El Salvador, Dec 2021.

(Jose Javier Zamora)

My grandparents didn’t fully tell us what they were living through in El Salvador: “Yeah, it’s bad in that part of the country, but not here. Don’t worry.” I only got real updates of “La Situación” from my brief Facebook interactions with my cousin Julia who was 5 years old when I emigrated in 1999.

“Here, we’re controlled by La MS, they don’t do anything to us, but over at the other end of town, we can’t go because that’s controlled by los de la 18,” was something that Julia, a teenager, might casually mention.

My obsession with gaining legal status in order to see my grandparents and the hometown I’d grown up in was now met with caution. I grew angry and frustrated that I felt safe in the United States but that safety was a privilege my family members in El Salvador didn’t have. Did I really want to return to a place I’d heard so many bad things about? But my grandparents said it wasn’t that bad.

Who was telling the truth?

I finally returned to La Herradura, when I was 28 years old. My long-awaited trip back wasn’t a celebration, but a mandatory “self-deportation” in order to interview at the U.S. Embassy for my extraordinary abilities (EB-1) visa. My case is one of the first to turn a TPS into an EB-1 visa, so my lawyers had many uncertainties about whether it would actually work.

I had my own uncertainties regarding Salvadoran security policies, particularly regarding tattoos (I have two large ones on my body). Maybe because the murder rate was still one of the highest in the world, or maybe because I’d internalized all of the foreign media coverage, or maybe because my own family members said they wanted those “tattooed gangsters dead.”

I spent my first five weeks back in my country mostly indoors at my grandparents’ house.

Javier Zamora’s grandparents, Dec. 2021.

(Javier Zamora)

My parents knew people who had returned to El Salvador and who told them “it wasn’t that bad, don’t believe the gringos.” What was my country really like? How had it changed in 19 years? I remember running through the neighbor’s yard, playing tag in the streets without adult supervision, people walking at all hours of the night. During my first five weeks, things felt different. My grandparents locked themselves in the house at 7 p.m.

Multiple nights I heard gunshots. Was I misremembering something? I was afraid for my safety. Had society changed that much? Was it only my family? My town? It’s this questioning that persists in immigrant communities. Most of us don’t have the privilege of returning and forming our own opinions of how our countries have changed.

So we listen to friends at best and read Facebook threads at worst. This opaqueness of what the external world that we have left behind is really like also permeates into our family dynamics.

People become opaque. Obscure. Changed over time, but how? Or why? What changed them? There is only so much a WhatsApp video call or a traditional phone call can do to keep you close to your own family members. Gaining a green card has shown me that much.

Get Involved

I no longer have the bliss of ignorance or the excuse of opaqueness. I can form my own opinions about “La Situación” and about how or why my family’s bonds have deteriorated. There is no manual for us transitioning between immigration statuses.

My family’s experience with this country’s immigration system has made all of us private people. I see this in my friends as well. I don’t remember ever talking to a friend who has had a family member or themselves change immigration statuses talk about the mental health costs, the emotional toll.

The conversations revolve around the material expectations that befall that lone green card holder in the family. I’m aware that I get to take as many things back to “fix” the house everyone left behind, and I get to bring back as much Pollo Campero on the flight back. This transaction everyone can recognize. But what about the guilt of being the only “legal” member? The shame of being granted easy
access back into the United States?

Javier Zamora, second from right, with his 4th grade friends, Alan, Alex, Fredy. Jan 2023.

(Jose Javier Zamora)

I remember telling myself that a green card would change all my problems, that that small plastic card would make me feel whole. “If I only had a green card …” began many thoughts in my mind that only made me feel like I had no agency, like I couldn’t control my own destiny. But now, I can move freely between countries, and yet, I find myself disillusioned with what immigration has done to family. I can see it. I can feel my grandma’s distance when I hug her, how difficult conversations are.

The six times I’ve returned to my hometown have also placed me in a role I never envisioned, that of my family’s translator. Not of language, but of the life in El Salvador and the life in the United States. In other words, a translator of trauma, of hurt. I find myself explaining to my cousin that her undocumented mother isn’t as rich or as well off as she may think. I find my U.S.-based family explaining that my grandparents don’t want a microwave they don’t know how to use, or a cellphone, or a washing machine. All they really want is more than a phone call, for their family members to return with love and not money.

I see how money is also a coping mechanism. We, as immigrants, need to make our life in a different country make sense, the easiest form to quantify that is through a literal number, a monetary value. There are parts of me that still believe that. I’ve internalized them.

Here, I want to mention that I also have the privilege of having access to a therapist, of time, and money to dedicate to my own well-being. All I’m advocating for, if anything, are more conversations in our communities about being honest about how hard life in this country is. How difficult it is to be away from your loved ones. To stop for a second, and see how we view money, love, distance, our homelands.

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If you’re reading this, all I want is to start conversations. If you talk about it, maybe it can help you understand a family member better. I’ll end with what the hardest thing for my family to understand has been: It’s impossible for people who have never been to the United States to really understand what life as an undocumented immigrant is really like in this country.

For those who are undocumented in this country, it’s impossible for them to truly comprehend how their country has changed. There is infinite room for nostalgia to enter the equation from the U.S. thinking of El Salvador. And there is an infinite amount of unrealistic material and emotional expectations from El Salvador looking north.

Let’s acknowledge how difficult it is to be uprooted, to love from afar.

Javier Zamora is the award-winning memoir ‘Solito’ about his harrowing journey as a 9-year-old from El Salvador to the United States. Zamora will write a monthly essay for De Los.

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One of the most significant studies in this area was conducted in Denmark, where researchers examined the link between green spaces and mental health. The study found that people who lived within 300 meters of a green space had a 50% lower risk of developing a mental illness than those who didn’t. The study also found that people who spent at least 30 minutes in a green space each week had a lower risk of developing a mental illness.

Another study conducted in the UK found that people who spent time in nature had lower levels of cortisol, a stress hormone that is often associated with depression. The study also found that people who spent time in green spaces had higher levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter that is often referred to as the “feel-good” hormone.

So, why does spending time in nature have such a positive impact on our mental health? One theory is that nature provides a sense of calm and relaxation that is hard to replicate in urban environments. The sounds of birds chirping, the smell of fresh grass, and the sight of trees swaying in the wind can all have a calming effect on the mind.

Another theory is that spending time in nature allows us to disconnect from the stresses of our daily lives. In today’s fast-paced world, we are constantly bombarded with emails, social media notifications, and other distractions. Spending time in nature allows us to unplug and focus on the present moment, which can be incredibly beneficial for our mental health.

Of course, not everyone has access to green spaces, which can make it difficult to reap the benefits of nature. However, even small changes, such as adding a potted plant to your workspace or taking a walk in a local park, can have a positive impact on your mental health.

In conclusion, the link between green spaces and mental health is becoming increasingly clear. Spending time in nature can act as a natural antidepressant, reducing stress levels and improving our overall sense of well-being. So, if you’re feeling down or stressed, why not take a walk in a local park and see how nature can help you feel better?

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After 32 years at Starbucks, Leslie Wolford thinks a lot about the word heritage. She’s had a career that started as a barista near the downtown Seattle public library, a career during which she’s helped develop some of the brand’s most iconic coffees, including Pike Place Roast® and Veranda Blend®.  

“When a lot of people think about heritage, we talk about 1982 when Howard Schultz started, the past, dark roasts, black coffee, all those things,” says Wolford, a lead on the Starbucks coffee development team.  

“That’s why Green Apron Blend is a milestone because it creates a new heritage. It creates a stepping stone to the next generation of partners (employees) about what heritage looks like.”  

Green Apron Blend is Starbucks newest coffee, launching in stores May 9, and is unique because it was created by Starbucks store partners (employees). Nearly 24,000 idea submissions from store partners shaped its flavor and roast profiles, as well as which regions the coffee was sourced from, and the look and feel of the packaging.  

As part of Starbucks ongoing commitment to partners, $5 per each one-pound whole-bean bag of Green Apron Blend and, for a limited time, 10 cents per each brewed cup will go to the Starbucks Caring Unites Partners (CUP) Fund, an emergency resource started 25 years ago by partners for partners to help in times of need, such as a family emergency or after a natural disaster. 

“At the end of the day, the partners in the stores are the ones selling the coffee, so we should recognize that they have a lot of opportunity to lean in,” Wolford says. “How great is that when we can build something together?” 

For Wolford, this project was an opportunity to think about coffee in a different way. She acknowledges how times and tastes have changed. A whole new generation of baristas and customers have grown up around iced beverages, refreshers and cold brews, Wolford says, and don’t think about coffee heritage the same way she does.  

Last year, Starbucks reported that cold beverages accounted for almost 75 percent of its drink sales. 

“Green Apron Blend has to fire on a lot of different levels and not just live on the shelf as a packaged coffee, so how can we reinvent it in different ways and bring it to life?” Wolford says.  

“When you experiment with this coffee, whether brewing it as hot in the Bunn brewer, Clover Vertica or in a coffee press, you really get more of the citrus notes from the African origins and the toasty graham cracker notes from the Latin American components. Then when you introduce it in a cold style such as iced or cold brew, that’s going to be more sweet-forward. It’s super refreshing and it has an energy which I think is really going to be exciting over ice.” 

The input gathering process was meaningful for Wolford as well. Store partners were coming off the isolation and stress of the COVID-19 pandemic when the Green Apron Blend project launched, and while themes emerged about the direction of the coffee itself, partners also responded deeply and emotionally to the open-ended questions, Wolford says.  

“We offered up a bunch of questions: What’s your favorite coffee? How do you celebrate coffee? How do you like to drink coffee? What’s your favorite origin? Really coffee-related,” Wolford says. “But threaded through were all these narratives about self-care, being a group that supported each other, not being left behind, diversity and inclusion.” 

“My takeaway is when we are sharing this coffee and celebrating it, everyone can feel proud. We really wanted to make sure that our partners voices were heard.”  

The Roaster and the coffee 

Long before he was promoted to the role of master roaster at the Starbucks Augusta Roasting Plant in Georgia, Ryan Kirkland worked as a chemical operator, helping build an organic compound used for synthetic fibers.  

“Never in a million years,” he says, could he have imagined himself not only appreciating new coffees, but searching for subtle tasting notes of honeybell orange and graham cracker.  

“At that point in time, it was, coffee tastes like coffee. I couldn’t taste the difference in any of it,” Kirkland says. “But now going through sensory (experience training) and really focusing in on these different attributes… My wife calls me a coffee snob.”  

At Augusta, Kirkland oversees the production of the Green Apron Blend, a 50/50 blend of coffees sourced from Latin America and Africa that – after it’s roasted light and fast – give it the aforementioned flavors. The overall profile is sweet, citrusy, fruity and nutty.   

“The roast profile we chose to run this coffee on is extremely fast,” Kirkland says. “It’s much lighter than what we would normally run most Starbucks coffees to. Because of how we roasted it, we didn’t generate quite as much acidity as we would have with other coffees. 

“By having something that’s really well-rounded, it makes it really easy to brew, no matter what brewing method you choose.” 

Augusta, which opened in 2012, is Starbucks newest roasting plant. It produces almost all the Frappuccino powder that’s used at Starbucks around the world and much of the Starbucks Blonde Espresso sent to stores. It roasted the initial batches of Green Apron Blend that were first tasted by partners, last October during the District Manager Leadership Experience and with in-store partner tastings across the United States and Canada.  

As a master roaster, Kirkland makes sure his plant’s systems are set up to be reliable and consistent, so each particular coffee tastes the same today as it will five years from now and tastes the same as what’s made at other Starbucks roasting plants around the world.   

“Having a bag of coffee and having the plant partners taste it and pick up on the attributes, that is rewarding because we’re actually doing the coffee justice,” Kirkland says. “We’re taking the time to not only roast the coffee, but pick up on the attributes that could have gotten lost had somebody else gotten a hold of that coffee.” 

Behind the new bag design

Once the recipe and the roast were perfected, Bridget Shilling in the Starbucks Creative Studio was tasked with the design for the packaging. A bag of Starbucks coffee is like a blank canvas for designers to tell the story of the coffee inside.

For her composition, Shilling was drawn to the stories of Wolford, Kirkland and the thousands of partners who submitted their ideas, as well as the distinctive flavor notes of Starbucks® Blonde Roast coffee. 

“Celebrating green apron partners is the heart of this design and some of my favorite details are the apron strings that flow about the composition,” Shilling say. “They shine through in a silver foil and celebrate our partners tying on the green apron, weaving in and out of each other behind the bar, crafting beverages, passing cups, knowing exactly where to be around one another. There’s also the perspective of synergy in how the coffee was created from our partners in the roasting plants, our coffee buyers and the farmers who grew the coffee trees.”

The design of Green Apron Blend celebrates the contributions of partners in the journey of coffee with symbols representing the care that goes into each step from bean to cup: 

Aprons: The green apron is the symbol of Starbucks and represents the 400,000 partners who connect with customers every day. The design features aprons in motion with apron strings that weave through the design to represent the synergy of partners working together.



Cups: The iconic Starbucks cup is a vessel, and an inviting and familiar part of the daily routine. The orange tones call to mind the honeybell orange notes of the coffee while shimmering golden hues recall the roast. (Honeybell orange, by the way, is a honey-sweet hybrid of tangerine and grapefruit.)



Coffee: Golden coffee are playfully sprinkled throughout the design to signify the roast chosen by partners while swirls of steam evoke the warm energy of Starbucks stores.



Craft: In the background, the marbled texture represents the care that goes into blending, roasting, brewing and hand-crafting beverages.

Andy Brawner, lead copywriter on the project, wants partners to see their contributions reflected in the design when they pick up a bag of Green Apron Blend. 

“I hope partners see themselves in it; that it feels like the story they would want to tell,” Brawner says. “This paying tribute to our green apron partners, and I hope they feel pride and that it resonates with them.” 

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