A Kinder Way

Meet the co-founders of Living With Harmony, Andrea Rose and JP in this 12-minute video. See what inspired them to create Living With Harmony and see some of the PLANET-Based activities that they do on a daily basis.

Read the summary here:

Andrea Rose: As a child, I was always fascinated by nature and wildlife. I would spend many hours down by the creek in my neighborhood, looking at caterpillars and whatever else I could find, watching fish swim. When I was about nine or ten years old, they started clearing the forest where I lived, and I was really upset. I would see deer prints in the mud, knowing their home was being destroyed, yet no one else seemed concerned. When I asked my parents if we could do something, they told me it wasn’t our land and that its purpose was to build houses. I felt helpless, but at the same time, I knew there was something I had to do.

Around the time I was 13 and in eighth grade, I decided to stop eating animals. I progressed from there, and by the time I was 18, I decided to go vegan. I tried my best back then, but I never really had the resources we have today, and being in high school made it difficult. Eventually, I made a firm commitment that I was never eating animal products again. It has now been over 32 years since that decision, and I have never looked back. Over those decades, I continuously asked myself what else I could improve: am I doing things that harm animals, take away their habitat, or consume more than I need? I wanted to respect my resources, try to replenish them, reduce my impact, and live more gently on the planet.

For the last ten to twenty years, I have been working on refining and improving my lifestyle. It takes a lot of effort to reverse what society teaches as normal—to realize that standard practices aren’t normal and that choosing a different path might not always be well-received by others. You end up marching to the beat of your own drum, but I felt it was the right thing to do. Eventually, I met John Pierre, and we bonded over discussing how we could do better and contribute more. That shared vision led us to create Living with Harmony in 2013.

Since then, we have been working hard to build the organization, educate as many people as possible through our large online presence, and establish our sanctuary and educational center. We want to teach people how to live a life gentler on the planet, including how to garden veganically. Traditional organic gardening still relies on animal products like blood meal and bone meal, lots of plastic, and pesticides that break down over time. We want to avoid causing harm entirely by fostering healthy, sustainable soils. Through trial and error, we are bringing this model to our community garden so we can scale up those practices.

John Pierre: One of the central messages we share through Living with Harmony is that the Doomsday Clock is almost at midnight. We have been warning for ages that we need to be far more responsible for what and how much we consume, as well as where our products come from. Nature’s resources have clear limitations, and with a population boom pushing Earth to its tipping point, our demands are soaring. This over-indulgence stems from a lack of respect. Just as you attend a funeral to show respect rather than to receive thanks, we want to live respectfully toward Mother Nature and only take what we truly require.

We try our very best not to be mindless consumers. We shop at thrift stores to reuse what is already out there rather than creating new demands, and we prefer educating people over buying excessive gifts. Working with clients in nutrition, fitness, and emotional health, I often hear children say they wish their parents would spend more time with them instead of buying the latest computers or gadgets. My career background is in geriatrics, and in all my years working with seniors, I have never once heard someone on their deathbed say they wish they had more money, cars, or possessions. Instead, they always wish they had connected more deeply with family and friends, made that apology call, or chosen to give more of themselves.

Andrea Rose: A huge part of this mindful living involves recognizing our overwhelming reliance on plastic. You walk into a store today and everything is encased in plastic. The average person ingests microplastics equivalent to the weight of a credit card every week, stemming from packaging, food processing, and storage containers. Convenience kills, but we want to make eco-friendly habits easier for people. Simple changes—like using a water filter instead of buying plastic bottles, bringing a reusable coffee cup to a cafe, carrying your own restaurant container, or keeping utensils in your bag—drastically reduce single-use plastic dependency.

Every discarded plastic item ends up somewhere else: in a landfill, drifting into the ocean, inside an animal’s body, or eventually breaking down into microplastics that return to our bodies through our water. At our educational center, we showcase alternatives like native, water-wise landscaping instead of traditional lawns, and teach practical daily choices, such as making your own simple hummus in a blender rather than buying plastic tubs. Remember that all plastic is made from petroleum, meaning our disposable lifestyle directly keeps the petroleum industry alive. When you throw something away, where is away?

John Pierre: Ultimately, my work with professional athletes, seniors, people with cognitive and physical challenges, and wealthy individuals has taught me one universal truth: everyone carries hidden trauma or stress. Because of this, we should strive to be kind to everyone we meet, ensuring they leave our presence having experienced love and compassion. I often asked seniors in retirement homes how they would feel if someone they were short with in an elevator passed away the very next day, and they always agreed they would feel terrible. Conversely, if you respond to someone’s difficult day with empathy and kindness, you can rest easy knowing you tried your best. If we can extend that genuine kindness not just to people, but to animals and nature itself, we can truly become ambassadors and disciples of Mother Nature.