An Interfaith environmental project for the Great Lakes basin in cooperation with the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).
The Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative is sponsored by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, MI and is collaborating with the EPA, cities, landfills, groups, state/local governments across the Great Lakes Basin to promote the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge - and to help arrange interfaith and Native American volunteers and participants.
All faith traditions, religions, minorities, tribes and other Indigenous peoples are encouraged to volunteer for and/or participate in the projects in your area. United States EPA Great Lakes National Programs Office grants are helping to fund this event across eight states in the Great Lakes Basin.
The Cedar Tree Institute (CTI) co-founded the interfaith Earth Keeper Initiative in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that works closely with ten faith traditions on a wide range of environment projects that include college students, at-risk teens, American Indian tribes and others.
The Earth Healing Initiative is developing the same relationship with these faith communities in northern Michigan and others across the Great Lakes.
The faith communities include Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, the Religious Society of Friends (commonly known as the Quakers) and Zen Buddhist.
An Earth Healing Message from Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes
about the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge
A Lutheran Bishop who has participated in interfaith Earth Day recycling projects for three years in a row encourages people of all faiths to get involved and help protect the environment.
Interfaith environment projects like the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge will help ensure a better future for all humans, according to Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes of the Northern Great Lakes Synod (NGLS) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The challenge involves about 40 projects in hundreds of communities across eights states including recycling electronics (e-Waste), properly disposing of pharmaceuticals and everyday poisons (called Household Hazardous Waste - HHW), and cleaning up communities across the Great Lakes basin.
The U.S. Environmental Projection Agency has provided grants to some of the cities and to the Earth Healing Initiative to help reach a goal of one million tons of electronics and one million pills.
The interfaith Earth Healing Initiative, based in Marquette, MI, is helping promote the challenge and coordinate interfaith volunteers and participation in some of the Great Lakes Basin cities.
Bishop Skrenes is among 10 faith leaders who have signed the northern Michigan Earth Keeper Covenant pledging to actively participate in environment projects, build bridges with others faiths, and reach out to Native American communities.
The ongoing project involves the congregations of over 150 churches and temples representing ten faith communities - Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Bahá'í, Jewish, Zen Buddhist and most recently the Religious Society of Friends - commonly known as the Quakers.
The Upper Peninsula Earth keepers set up collection sites across a 400-mile area of northern Michigan on Earth Day 2005-2007.
About 15,000 residents turned in over 320 tons of e-Waste, 45 tons of HHW including car batteries, oil-based paint, pesticides, liquid mercury, and other common poisons and over one ton of pharmaceuticals including $500,000 in narcotics.
Bishop Skrenes said the interfaith clean sweep is an example for other communities in the world because it shows like-minded people with good hearts can make a real impact in their communities when tackling environmental problem that seem daunting or too big for the average person to really make a difference.
Bishop Skrenes hopes everyone across the Great Lakes Basin will participate in their local project.
Christian Century Article by Jon W. Magnuson, M.Div., MSW:
BENEATH THE SURFACE: Pollutants from thousands of miles away
show up in Lake Superior, the world's largest freshwater lake, shown
here with the Apostle Islands off the tip of northern Wisconsin.
Earth Day 2008
For Earth Day 2008, US EPA challenges residents and communities around the Great Lakes to collect and recycle electronic waste and to properly dispose of unwanted medicines.
e-Waste
Electronic waste includes all those old or broken TVs, cell phones, computer components and similar gadgets that are part of our lives. E-waste contains possibly hazardous materials that can harm human health and the Great Lakes environment if disposed of improperly. In 2005 we discarded an estimated 2 million tons of TVs, computers and other electronic gear. Proper disposal and recycling are necessary to avoid unwanted pollution. When we reuse or recycle e-waste properly, we recover materials for re-use, save energy and reduce the environmental costs of raw material extraction and processing.
Medicines
Traces of medicines have been found in streams and the Great Lakes where we get our drinking water and have also been detected near wastewater treatment outflows. Some of these medicines can lead to reproductive and developmental problems in fish and other animals. We often treat leftover medicine as a common household waste. More than half of people surveyed throw their unused medicines in the trash while a third flush them down the drain. In both cases, the medicines have the potential to be released into our rivers and lakes.
The Challenge
U.S. EPA issues this Earth Day Challenge to residents, businesses and community organizations throughout the Great Lakes basin to plan or participate in collection events of e-waste or unwanted medicines during Earth Week April 19 - 27. Across the Great Lakes region, communities are stepping up, signing on to the challenge and adding their collection and take-back events to the efforts of thousands. This is a chance to see how much we can accomplish together. The Challenge is to collect a million pounds of e-waste for proper management and a million pills of unwanted medicines for responsible disposal during Earth Week.
e-Waste
Medicines
The Challenge