Zaagkii Project

12th Anniversary Retreat
Spirit of Place
Encounters of Spirituality and the Environment

Wisdom in Wilderness: The Poetic Vision of Mary Oliver, a Spirit of Place kayaking trip retreat

Kayaking 40 miles along the shores of Lake Superior coastline

August 3-7, 2009

Cost: $850 (Limited to 10 persons)

Interfaith kayaking trip along 40 miles of Lake Superior shoreline, while reading journals of 16th Century Jesuit Missionaries to the Ojibwa tribe; discussions of spirituality and nature; hearty meals including smoked fish and homemade bread; Lodging in an Historic Inn and rustic lakeside cabins.

Facilitators: Rev. John Magnuson & Rev. Lee Goodwin

Retreat #2

God and the Bomb

Science, Faith and the Future of Nuclear Technology

Nov. 12-15, 2009

Pecos Benedictine Monastery, New Mexico

(20 miles north of Santa Fe and 60 miles from Los Alamos)

Historical perspectives on the development of the Atomic Bomb

Small group dialogues on the faith and science with psycho-social insights on the challenge of nuclear technology

Prayers and reflection with members of the Benedictine Community

Ethical considerations for the promise and threat of nuclear energy

Afternoons in Santa Fe and at the Los Alamos National Laboratory with daily hikes in the Sangre de Christo Mountains.

Presenters:

Larry Rasmussen, PhD., Reinhold Niebuhr Professor Emeritus of Social Ethics, Union Theological Seminary

Robert Kraus, PhD., Deputy Director of Research and Development, Los Alamos National Laboratory

Facilitator:
Rev. Jon Magnuson, Director, nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute,

Cost: $850
Limited to 12 persons

Registration Deadline: September 1, 2009

Requires a $250 deposit

Links:

Nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute presents: Lake Superior "Wisdom in Wilderness" Spirit of Place Kayak trip

Word Press story on Kayak retreat

Current TV link on Kayak Retreat

Current TV Link #2 on Kayak Retreat

Both 2009 Spirit of Place events:

http://earthkeeperinitiative.wordpress.com/2009/06/14/godandthebomblosalamoslab-2

Poet Mary Oliver on Wikipedia

Pet Mary Oliver on Poets.org

This is the sixth of seven EarthKeeping columns that were published in numerous Upper Peninsula newspapers about the 2009 EarthKeeper Tree Project. During the first two weeks of May, 12,000 trees were planted in all corners of northern Michigan and one town in Wisconsin.

By Kyra L. Fillmore, Catholic EarthKeeper team member and organized the distribution of 12,000 trees

Every year, spring seems like a miracle to me. Long months of cold weather had started to create some discontent and cabin fever within the four walls of our small home but on May 3 the open air and smell of earth had my three children smiling happily and laughing.

My kids, with trowels in hands dug a small hole and planted our “newborn”(my daughter’s word for our red pine seedling). There was a tiny squabble as to who would get to pour the water, but a quick compromise was met as both my 4 and 7 year old tipped the bucket together. Then they quietly, and reverently began to place stones around the base of the tree, “for protection,” my 7-year-old explained.

Kyra and Tim Fillmore's children, left to right, Jack, 7; Eileen, 4; and the baby Llewellyn. (Photo by Kyra Filllmore)

My family was not the only one to plant a tree last week. People from over 100 faith communities in all counties of the Upper Peninsula and even into Wisconsin took part in the EarthKeeper Tree Project, an interfaith initiative to plant 12,000 red pine seedlings with help from faith communities and organizations throughout the U.P.

Thank you to the Bishops and faith leaders of ten denominations, the Superior Watershed Partnership, the Cedar Tree Institute, the local conservation districts, and the hundreds of pastors and lay people who volunteered time and commitment to make this project happen. It took a lot of hard work and some faith in each other, but we did it.

After our tree was planted, my kids wanted to plant more. The spring winds and warm sunshine kept us outside most of the day, My husband brought out the small pepper, onion and tomato shoots that had been started indoors and we talked about how nice they would all taste in late summer salads.

The miracle of planting a seed and watching it grow into something beautiful, something nourishing had begun in our backyard.

Its because of hard work and faith that EarthKeepers has seen many seeds come to fruit over the years, household hazardous waste, e-waste and pharmaceutical collections, education on wise energy use and protection of Upper Peninsula rivers and streams.

Next year one of our hopes is to launch the Interfaith Garden Initiative, bringing folks together to plant seeds of faith whether it be to fill food pantries with fresh vegetables, offer places of solace to pray and meditate or places of serenity to promote healing. Just as a small tree seedling can bring a family together on a spring day, a community garden can allow folks from all religions and walks of life to come together to experience the mystery of the cycle of life.

Maybe it can allow us to grow a little closer with each other and give us time to marvel at the beauty around us. Maybe it can offer food and peace to those less fortunate. Maybe it will allow us to see miracles.

I will leave you with this vision of people planting trees and vegetables and flowers, of laughter and cooperation, of warm sun and dark earth. I’ll plant this seed…..and have a little faith.

By Kyra L. Fillmore, Catholic EarthKeeper team member and U.P. tree distribution coordinator

Editors Note:

This is the sixth in a series of seven columns being published in northern Michigan newspapers about the 2009 Upper Peninsula EarthKeeper Tree project.

During the first two week of May 2009, over 12,000 trees were planted across the U.P. thanks to thousands of northern Michigan residents from over 100 churches and temples.

Officially called the EarthKeeper "communications coordinator for faith communities," Kyra Fillmore organized the distribution of the 12,000 trees to the 100 churches and temples. This was not an easy task.

With three young children vying for her attention, Kyra stayed calm as her phone rang off the hook each day for weeks. Kyra's children helped plant some of the trees and she made sure they were always first.

Her husband, Tim, was supportive and kept his cool even though their home must not have had a quiet moment for several weeks. Krya will tell you her faith gave her the strength to take care of a family and a huge project.

The project ran smoothly because of Kyra's ability to juggle 12,004 things at one time.

Thank you Kyra.

This is the fifth of seven EarthKeeper columns being printed in northern Michigan newspapers about the planting of 12,000 trees across the Upper Peninsula. The trees were planted during the first two weeks of May 2009

By Rev. Jon Magnuson, EarthKeeper Initiative co-founder, campus pastor for Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northern Michigan University and the executive director of the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, MI

Sunday May 3, 2009 marked an historic moment for the interfaith community in Northern Michigan. Blessed by hymns and prayers, in three hours 12,000 trees were gently planted in yards, wetlands, on church properties, at campgrounds and cutover timberlands in all fifteen counties of the Upper Peninsula.

Thousands of volunteers from over a hundred faith communities representing ten religious traditions joined together in an unprecedented sign of hope and promise. Stories continue to be gathered celebrating this collaborative effort in our neighborhoods, villages, and cities.

A priest from a nearby Roman Catholic parish marked the day by reverently placing a small seedling in the hands of children receiving their first communion.

A rainbow formed an arc over a tiny Presbyterian church in Sagola as volunteers prepared dozens of trees for distribution in the community.

In a Lutheran parking lot, a Jewish physician blessed a dozen trees as he prepared to bring them back for planting near his Synagogue.

On that same Sunday, during an early afternoon potluck, a single small tree was presented to the only son of a soon to be ordained Methodist pastor, a single mother, to be planted next to a parsonage.

During a prior Saturday night evening service in my own community, I watched a steady stream of elders, some with canes, many worn and bent by life's hard journey, approach an altar at the close of the service to carry small seedlings back to their homes and apartments for planting.

Environmental challenges, globally and locally, that face us are inviting levels of response and collaboration that many of us have never witnessed in our lifetime. It's actually a time of great promise.

With support of our churches and quiet generous supporters, the interfaith EarthKeeper Initiative will continue its hands-on work alongside environmental groups to build a more sustainable and just world as part of this landscape we have come to call home.

Every generation faces forces of cynicism and despair. Ours is no exception. When it comes to emotional and physical health, there's plenty of increasing, frightening evidence about the negative impacts of pollution, economic stress and the consequences of failed environmental regulation.

In the 16th century, the protestant reformer Martin Luther was once asked what he would do if he knew the world would end tomorrow. His answer still rings across the centuries. It's been said that Luther paused, and thoughtfully responded, "I would plant a tree."

We have lived out, one recent afternoon, such a bold sign of hopeful defiance.

The EarthKeeper Initiative is a collaborative effort of ten traditions: Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, Zen Buddist, Quakers.

Kyra Fillmore services as Communications Coordinator.

Chairs of the EarthKeeping Vision Council are Paul Lehmberg and Gail Griffith.

Greg Peterson serves as media specialist.

The Cedar Tree Institute and The Superior Watershed Partnership, both Marquette-based nonprofits, continue to provide counsel and logistical support.

This column was written by Rev. Jon Magnuson, EarthKeeper Initiative co-founder

Presbyterian EarthKeeper Jill Martin of Ford River Township in Delta County writes the fourth of seven columns about the environment and the interfaith U.P. EarthKeeper Tree Project involving the planting of 12,000 trees across the Upper Peninsula

By Jill Martin, Presbyterian EarthKeeper team member, environmental scientist with Wilcox Professional Services in Escanaba, and a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Escanaba

The Giving Tree by Shel Silverstein comes to mind this year as the Earthkeeper's work to plant 12,000 trees across the U.P. If Mr. Silverstein were writing this book today, would he include other things the tree could give the little boy?

This book published in 1964 is a lesson in how the natural world contributes to humans in spirit, in basic needs, and in economic growth. In the twilight of the little boy's life, nature cycles back to give him rest and comfort.

The tree gives the little boy now an old man, a place to sit on its stump which is the only spiritual and creature comfort he needed. The tree sustains the life cycle needs of the boy and yet it ends on a very human note – "the tree was happy." Is this happy ending from 1964 still viable?

The problem as I see it is the math. It seems like it might take far more than one tree per person on the planet to sustain our recent rates of economic growth.

Last fall, I heard a radio report about work that NASA does where they look back to earth snapping pictures of the forests over time. This got one curious researcher, Nalini Nadkarni interested in determining the number of trees on the planet and the ratio of trees to humans (Going Out On A Limb With A Tree Person Ratio).

Turns out there are over 400 billion trees on the planet. At the time of this work a simple math exercise involving the number of trees on the planet divided by the number of people on the planet equals 61 trees per person. The story went on to say that while not everyone uses that many trees in a lifetime, some use more and some use less. This depends on where you live and the resources available to you and the prosperity and economic model of your culture.

The report also talked about all the ways wood products are used, but it did not mention the ecological contributions such as species preservation, biodiversity, habitat, water quality contributions, soil amendments, and as we are learning now, the contribution toward stabilizing global climate change.

Forests contribute a significant role in removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, a major greenhouse gas. In the process, carbon is sequestered in the tree over the life of the tree typically referred to as a carbon "sink". The carbon stored in a tree is limited when the tree reaches maturity and then the "sink" is full.

When trees are cut down, they are mostly put into manufacturing processes that then release carbon dioxide by producing the wood products we consume. Now the key here is keeping the forest stocks greater than the use to let trees do their natural thing by removing carbon dioxide.

In the tropical forest, each year, about 1.5 billion tons of stored carbon is converted by deforestation into about 6 billion tons of carbon dioxide, and emitted into the atmosphere. Thus, although the stock of tropical forest carbon is very large, and only about 0.5% of it flows from forest to atmosphere annually this flow into the atmosphere is what matters for global warming (Union of Concerned Scientist ).

So keeping a large forest stock and reducing our demand for consumption of forest products beyond what the forest can assimilate will help in reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere.

Earthkeepers have been active over the past couple years in nudging us to reduce our carbon footprint. In partnership with the Superior Watershed Partnership and the Cedar Tree Institute they have been advocating life style changes to reduce carbon emissions through conservation practices and reduced consumption of goods and services that either contributes directly or indirectly in carbon emissions.

Last year (2008), over 3 million pounds of carbon emissions were reduced through conservation activities in one month alone by undertaking activities on a checklist. This year planting 12,000 trees are estimated to capture 3 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually.

That amounts to approximately 150 million pounds of captured carbon dioxide, assuming the trees live 50 -100 years after being planted.

So, is the happy ending portrayed in Mr. Silverstein's 1964 book still viable? I would argue yes! As a global community, we need to act locally. I tend to agree with Professor Nadkarni, "I don't want people to feel guilty about their relationships with trees. We may be falling behind in our tree count, but it's not only possible, it's deeply appealing, to go out into the woods or the backyard or the hillside with a seed and a shovel and repair the damage."

This year, put your faith to work and act locally with your friends and neighbors, plant some trees.

Editor's note:

This is the fourth of seven columns about the environment and the interfaith 2009 U.P. EarthKeeper Tree Project. The column was written by Presbyterian EarthKeeper Jill Martin of Ford River Township in Delta County.

The EarthKeepers planted 12,000 trees across the Upper Peninsula during the first two weeks of May 2009 thanks to thousands of volunteers and over 100 churches/temples.

Over 12,000 trees planted by Northern Michigan interfaith EarthKeepers during early May across 400 miles of northern Michigan and Minocqua, Wisconsin

Raging forest fires underline importance of planting trees

Earth Day 2009: First tree planted and blessed by northern Michigan bishops and faith leaders on Earth Day 2009 near shores of Lake Superior at Presque Isle in Marquette (Marquette, Michigan) - Northern Michigan residents planted more than 12,000 trees in early May across a 400-mile area of the Upper Peninsula and in northern Wisconsin during the 2009 interfaith EarthKeeper Tree Project. White Spruce and Red Pine seedlings measuring 12 to 16 inches tall were given to over 100 churches and temples in all 15 Upper Peninsula (U.P.) counties and Minocqua, WI, said Catholic EarthKeeper Kyra Fillmore of Marquette, the project distribution coordinator. "We hope these trees grow strong and tall," Fillmore said. EarthKeeper volunteers planted the 12,000 trees by homes, camps, parks, American Indian reservations and many other places with help from hundreds of chilren ranging in age from two-years-old to twenty-two. In a tragic irony, within hours of the last trees being planted two raging forest fires erupted in Marquette and Alger counties. In Marquette County, 33 structures were destroyed including 12 homes. In Baraga County, an EarthKeeper tree planter was preparing to bury a cousin at the Pinery Cemetery when the wildfire ripped through the Native American cemetery destroying 45 spirit houses. Fortunately there were no deaths or serious injuries reported. Untold thousands and thousands of trees were burned in the forest fires. The fires underline the need for people to plant trees and remove dead underbrush from around your home. "My kids and I had a great time packing trees and planting trees," said Carl Lindquist, who has a son Nels, 13, and a daughter Ingrid, 11, and is executive director of the nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership in Marquette. "I think everyone likes to feel like they are part of something much bigger than they are." The EarthKeeper team includes ten faith traditions with over 150 participating churches/temples (Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, Zen Buddist, Quakers), plus the nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership, the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute, and the Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper (NMU EK) Student Team. Three Native American sisters and their mom volunteered at the Marquette tree distribution center. The girls planted trees behind their Gwinn, MI home hoping to attract more wildlife to what has turned into a nature preserve of sorts with a wide variety of wild animals and birds. "We've decided to do a wildlife sanctuary in our backyard because we already have deer and many other animals come," said Pamella Vincent, 17, a senior at Gwinn High School. "It will be really cool to see different animals come because of the trees." In the eight-acre area, "we already have Sand Hill Cranes, and deer and coyotes there, so we are trying to get more animals to come," said Paige Vincent, 14, an eighth grader at Gwinn Middle School. The youngest sister, Gilbert Elementary School sixth grader Paula Vincent, 12, said she has spotted cranes and "had popcorn in my hand and a crow came to eat out of my hand. The Vincent family are members of St. James the Less Episcopal Church in Harvey, MI. The girl’s mom Theresa Vincent said her great-grandpa was a Cherokee chief in Maryland who was joined by other relatives in walking the "Trail of Tears" into the Appalachian foothills. Vincent said she has taught her daughters about the respect Native Americans have for the land and wildlife. "We're here to help keep the earth green and the trees are important," Theresa Vincent said. The family believes it's important to "keep in touch with Mother Earth" in ways that include "recycling, reducing (energy consumption) and reusing" manmade products. The sisters said Americans Indians have always respected the environment. "It's always been tradition for natives that if you take something away from the earth, you have to give it back - or give a blessing - so normally we would give tobacco or (in this case) plant trees," Paige Vincent said. "We're planting trees to give back to Mother Nature." The trees were purchased or donated by the U.P. EarthKeeper team, Superior Watershed Partnership, Holli Forest Products, the Forestland Group, Plum Creek Timber Company and Meister's Greenhouses. Some groups and individuals have donated money to help the tree project including Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Western U.P. Chapter 30918 in Ironwood, MI. The EarthKeepers is "focused on how the faith communities can work together" despite theological differences, said Northern Great Lakes Synod Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes. "Religious differences are a huge factor in many parts of life and certainly there are big differences between different religious communities," said Bishop Skrenes, the head of 94 U.P. Lutheran congregations with 40,000 members. Skrenes asked "where is it that we can find ways to work together?" "Nature is one of those places and EarthKeepers has provided us the opportunity to again renew our relationship with people who are very different in some ways and yet very similar," said Skrenes, an original signer of the EarthKeeper Covenant. Volunteer Johnny Bryant delivered 3,000 seedlings - one fourth of the entire planting effort - from a Marquette warehouse to Messiah Lutheran Church that served as the Marquette County distribution center for 25 churches and temples. In a parking lot of the Marquette distribution center, the trees were blessed by numerous other faith traditions as the seedlings were picked up including a Catholic and Jewish blessing. After speaking in Hebrew, Dr. Michael Grossman, a member an Ishpeming Synagogue, translated what he had said into English and explained some of the Jewish beliefs about protecting the environment. "We have blessings for everything in Judaism, so I just blessed the trees," said Grossman, a member of Temple Beth Sholom in Ishpeming. "We are grateful to God for bringing trees from the earth - when we eat we bless the bread - when we drink wine we bless the fruit." "Trees are symbolic of life," Grossman said. "Trees are very important in Judaism as I am sure they are important to all faith traditions." Grossman then planted the trees at several locations in west Marquette County and in the city of Negaunee with help from two employees from his office. "We jumped at the chance to help plant the trees," said Rachel Riley, 25, hile standing next to fellow volunteer Kim McCarthy, 35, both of Negaunee. After the long winter, "I've been meaning to get out and do some work." Gail Griffith of Marquette, the EarthKeeper Implementation Team co-chair, brought trees to her congregation at the Marquette Unitarian Universalist Church (MUUC). The MUUC planted seedlings in a Memorial Garden on their property near Harvey, MI and other trees as a future noise buffer to the heavy M-28 traffic that passes by their meeting house. The MUUC donated some of their trees to youth projects including 30 seedlings to a 4-H group. ‘We had a blessing of the trees as part of our service," Griffith said. Powell Township students (above) in the first through fourth grades planted about 30 seeedlings donated by the UU congregation. In Big Bay, MI, the first through fourth graders at Powell Township Schools planted about 30 of the UU trees at several locations including in the schoolyard and at near-by Perkins Park. “The students really took on a great deal of empathy for the trees - they carefully placed them in the holes, tucked the dirt around, created moats, stood up the sticks,” said teacher Kathy Wright. “Most kids visit their trees faithfully, sometimes leaving little special rocks or giving the trees and extra drink.” The students and teachers “thank the Unitarian Universalist congregation for the opportunity to connect with our Mother Earth, and for the vehicle to teach our kids about the value of trees and earth stewardship,” Wright said. MUUC member Nancy Irish the planting was more fun than work. "We were digging and watering," Irish said. "We talked about how big they would be 20 years from now, and how we might drive by and remember the day that 12,000 trees were planted all across the U.P." Northern Michigan Quakers planted approximately 50 trees during the EarthKeeper project. The Lake Superior Friends is one of two U.P. Quaker groups in northern Michigan (the other is Keweenaw Friends Meeting in Houghton). David McCowen of Lake Superior Friends said at one of their recent meetings a seven-year-old girl said planting trees is one way to respect the planet. "I think it is important to help the earth by planting trees, because it is giving and good for the earth," the youngster said. In accordance with their religion, the Quakers quietly support the EarthKeepers and seldom publicly discuss their daily actions that show respect for the earth, wildlife and people, McCowen said. One of the basic testimonials of the Quakers is "Simplicity of Living," McCowen said. "A modern outgrowth of that testimonial is care for the environment." "Being planters of the trees helps us personally take part in continuing that creation," McCowen said. "Here in the UP it is easy to take trees for granted, but trees are a major part of the surroundings that we love." "The technical benefits of trees are well known: carbon sequestration, sound buffers, wind breaks, wildlife habitat, fuel source, cellulose fiber source," McCowen said. "But faith communities have the privilege and responsibility of unselfishly considering the natural environment as being inherently desirable." Lake Superior Friends Meeting member Jim Smit of Harvey said that "stewardship of the earth finds its roots in the biblical account of creation." "Adam's job was to cultivate a garden filled with beautiful trees that produced good fruit," Smit said. "Six times in the creation story the writer pauses to say that God looked at what he had made, and behold, it was very good," Smit said, adding "the implication is that we are meant to celebrate the earth and protect it." Smit said an example of Quaker views on the environment was explained during the Faith and Practice book written based on the North Pacific Yearly Meeting that reads in part: "We are obliged to cherish the earth, and to protect all its resources in a spirit of humble stewardship, committed to the right sharing of these resources among people everywhere." "Friends use questions or queries to approach issues of faith, implying that each of us is a seeker after truth," Smit said. The Faith and Practice book from the Friends' (Quaker's) 1972 Philadelphia Yearly Meeting questioned human impact on the environment: "Are you concerned that our increasing power over nature should not be used irresponsibly but with reverence for life and with a sense of the splendor of God's continuing creation?" McCowen said passages in the Bible books of Genesis, Isaiah and Leviticus reflect the Quaker view on nature, land and the Earth: "God saw all that he had made, and it was very good." - Genesis 1:31 "You will go out in joy and be led forth in peace; the mountains and hills will burst into song before you, and all the trees of the field will clap their hands." - Isaiah 55:12 "Your land must not be sold on a permanent basis, because you do not own it; it belongs to God, and you are like foreigners who are allowed to make use of it." - Leviticus 25:23 In Chocolay Township, seven-year-old Isabelle Gostomski was dressed in her finest Sunday dress as she and her father planted a seedling in their front yard. "I got it from church and it's a tree - today was my first communion and I got this for a present." said Gostomski, the daughter of Jennifer and Greg Gostomski. The family attends St. Louis the King parish in Harvey, MI. Several faith leaders gave examples how the tree is used in religion in both a literal way and in a figurative way as in the "tree of life." Whiling hosting a planting party on a Bahá`í holy day, Steve Lockwood showed the amateur foresters "some trees that he planted that are twenty years old and they were a lot taller than me," said Eve McCowen, 12, about her fourth participation in a hands-on EarthKeeper environment project. 12-year-old Eve McCowen of Marquette, a veteran of several EarthKeeper projects, helps plant trees. (Photo by Dennis McCowen) "I knew they (the seedlings) might be really big trees in 20 years," said the home-schooled sixth grader who is more active in community projects than many of her public school peers including Girl Scouts, piano, cross-country skiing, being in the outdoors and always the enthusiastic Earth Keeper volunteer. She is the daughter of Dennis and Lisa McCowen of Marquette, MI. Eve remembers well being a nine-year-old unloading cars and stacking broken computers almost a big as she was during the 2006 EarthKeeper Electronic (e-waste) Clean Sweep that garnered over 320 tons of e-waste across the Upper Peninsula. The next year Eve dumped countless bags of old medicines and personal products like shampoo into the proper containers during the 2007 Earth Keeper Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep that saw over one ton of pills turned in by northern Michigan residents. The e-waste was recycled and the pharmaceuticals destroyed using EPA guidelines to ensure the medicines were not flushed only to end up in America's drinking water. The Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá`ís of Marquette are among the congregations of over 100 churches and temples from ten faith traditions who planted 12,000 trees across 400 miles of northern Michigan during early May 2009. "If we cut down all the trees there wont be any more trees," Eve McCowen said. "The animals can't live in nests in trees if there are no trees." Bahá`ís took turns using a heavy steel rod to poke planting holes in the soil and planted the seedlings," she said. "After we put the tree in the ground and we put dirt around it." Eve said she realized that logging was necessary to provide paper for schools and wood to build homes, but added "some people just have fun cutting down tree." If you cut down a tree you have to replace a tree," she said. "When you breathe we get oxygen from the trees and the trees pick up your carbon dioxide and turns it into oxygen." Trees and the environment are much more than a cause to Bahá`ís because "this world and nature is the embodiment of the name of God, the creator, the maker," said Marquette Bahá`í local chair Dr. Rodney Clarken while explaining the Bahá`í faith to NMU students during the "Sacred Planet" series sponsored by the NMU Earth Keeper Student Team. "When we look at nature, we see the name of God reflected in all of God's creation - but in nature particularly we see that image of God in the same way we see the image of God in the human being," Clarken told the students. There are about 40 Bahá'ís in the Marquette area, 144,000 in the United States and six million around the world, said Clarken, the director of the NMU School of Education, associate dean of Teacher Education and professor. Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, a Soto Zen Buddhist priest, told the NMU Sacred Planet forum how 2,500 years ago "the Buddha sat under a tree" called the Bodhi Tree until he discovered "the root of suffering - and how to rid one's self of suffering." "The leaf of the Bodhi Tree is one of the symbols of Buddhism, said Lehmberg, head priest of Lake Superior Zendo, a Zen Buddhist temple in Marquette, MI. "It's shaped a little bit like a poplar leaf but it's got kind of a little tail - like a heart with a tail." "It's said the descendants of this Bodhi Tree are still alive, probably because we want them to be alive. We want this connection between us and the Buddha 2,500 years ago," said Lehmberg, who is also an English professor at Northern Michigan University. "The natural world is very important in Buddhism, particularly in Zen," said Lehmberg, the co-chair of the EarthKeeper Implementation Team. Rev. Lehmberg told the forum a story about Dogen, a Japanese Monk who founded Zen Buddhism in the Thirteenth Century. "When Dogen would dip water from a stream or a well to drink, he would always pour half of it back," Lehmberg said. "He would pour half of it back as a sign of respect for the natural world, as a symbol that he is a part of the natural world and must treat that natural world with great care." Lehmberg said that "Lake Superior Zendo was honored to once again participate with other EarthKeeper congregations in this important work." "We must - we absolutely must - care for mother earth," Lehmberg said. "Human life, literally and figuratively, is inseparable from mother earth," Lehmberg said. "We are inextricably threaded to her - in caring for her, we care for ourselves." Negaunee Township resident Ronald Heikkila spent several days this week planting 31 red pine seedlings around his home. "What you do is to try not to get roots in their," Heikkila said while planting tree number seven. "Look at all the nightcrawlers," Heikkila said "I can't believe the quality of this soil - if you wanted to go fishing here would be the place to come." "I am going to get some good topsoil and put it in their - and if it rains a little bit, it's going to settle the soil," said Heikkila, his hands covered in black dirt. On Sunday (May 3), eight Copper Country residents including two elementary school children, planted 12 trees in the 16-acre Calumet Township Waterworks Park on the shores of Lake Superior. "We received permission from the Calumet township supervisor, Paul Lehto, to plant the trees," said Susan Rokicki. "We gave three (seedlings) to township treasurer, Debra Aubin, to plant in her yard." "We supported the trees with sticks to keep them visible and safe," Rokicki said. "We will return from time to time to see if our dozen need anything." A natural fit with the interfaith EarthKeepers, some of the planters are members of Soka Gakkai International (SGI) Buddhist Network's Copper Range district. The three SGI members are Susan Rokicki, Jorge Kurita and Jean Larson; plus friends Margo McCafferty-Rudd, Joseph Mihal and Maureen Tobin, and children Max Rudd and Rebecca Naumenko. The SGI Buddhist network "actively promotes peace, culture and education through personal transformation and social responsibility, originating in Japan," said Rokicki, who is restoring a Norwegian Lutheran Church in Calumet and is a Lutheran church pianist/organist. "We are one of the originators of the Earth Charter and the act of planting and dedicating trees is embedded in our tradition," Rokicki said. In Sault Ste. Marie, Father Bob Aldrich blessed seedlings at the St. James Episcopal Church. Some of the trees were planted in front of the church by by Father Aldrich with help from Rev. Larry Rice, deacon; and sexton David Cook, said Pam Briglio, the St. James office administrator. In Escanaba, MI EarthKeeper volunteers - from the First Presbyterian Church and the Central United Methodist Church - separated and bagged 1,000 trees. In Cornell, 100 red pines were planted Wednesday night (May 6) at a camp about 12 miles from Escanaba owned by Paul and Denise DeHaan, who are members of the First Presbyterian Church in Escanaba. "We planted approximately 100 trees on an area of clear cut land," said Presbyterian Earth Keeper Jill Martin of Ford River Township. & Paul DeHann said his daughter Maggie "will remember planting these trees and come out here as an adult to see them quite a bit bigger." DeHann gave strict instructions his daughter that the planted area would now be off limits to ORVs because the trees needed protection to grow. Jill and her husband Hal Martin then walked along the Ford River to check out the water levels. A member of First Presbyterian Church in Escanaba, Martin said on May 3 children at her church "planted three trees into planters in the sanctuary." Martin said a young girl jumped over a planted seedling so that when the tree was big she could say: "I jumped over that tree." "The message was that seedlings are like child trees, when we plant them, we nurture them and watch them grow up to be big and we love the kids and trees like crazy," Martin said. "Many people told me they were going straight out to camp or the farm to plant the trees," Martin said. A Presbyterian member of the EarthKeeper team, Martin said the project made her feel "like the tree lady this year." Martin said Monday (May 4) a young man playing tennis shouted out: "Hey, I planted my trees." "Many people paused in thought when I suggested that a Red Pine could live 400 years," said Martin, an environmental scientist with Wilcox Professional Services in Escanaba. "It is a wonderful feeling when you know that 400 years into the future this simple act in God's creation could still be here as testament to our faith." In Marquette, Lutheran Pastor Tim Bernard blessed the same group of trees three times on Sunday (May 3) during two services at Messiah Lutheran Church and one service at St. Mark's Lutheran Church. "These trees have been blessed three times which is a very Trinitarian number - they will grow profusely and abundantly," Rev. Bernard joked at the final service evoking laughter from the congregation. Dozens of second grade children ages 7 and 8 spent the week planting seedlings they were given Saturday (May 2) during a rehearsal of their first communion the next day at St. Michael Catholic Church in Marquette. "Dear God, bless these trees in the name of all that is holy and divine - Amen," said Rev. Monsignor John "Jed" E. Jenkins while forming the sign of the cross and sprinkling holy water on the seedlings that were then given to the children. "We sprinkle them with this holy water as a sign of the blessing." Giving trees to the St. Michael students to commemorate their first communion "is sponsored by our Christian Service Committee here at the parish," said Sally Luft of Marquette, a committee member. "The committee sees to the needs of the concerns of our environment and of the needy among us." In Sagola, MI, a rainbow appeared over the Grace Presbyterian Church as about 30 EarthKeeper volunteers spent three hours bagging 1,500 seedlings. The trees were blessed by Rev. David Anderson and then prepared to be delivered or picked up by seven other churches including Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian and a non-EarthKeeper but welcomed congregation - the Mission Covenant Church in Foster City. The Presbyterian and Catholic volunteers in Sagola came in all ages and included three generations of one family. Young children were taught by adults how to properly bag the seedlings and as the night ended the kids scurried around the church picking up pine needles to help with the clean up. Sue Piasini of Sagola said her two-year-old grandson Mason Anderson planted trees at his home in Felch and on Tuesday (May 5) outside her office at the North Dickinson Head Start Center. "Mason put every tree into every whole he was told - he was so cute," Piasini said. "He watered the trees with the watering can." Mason is the son of Fawn and Steve Anderson of Felch. At the North Dickinson Nordic Head Start, students planted trees with help from preschool assistant classroom coordinator Mary Beth Schuiteman of Kingsford, MI and preschool classroom coordinator Sue Piasini. Above photos by Alex Schuiteman Schuiteman is a member of First Presbyterian Church in Kingsford. Piasini is a member of the Grace Presbyterian Church in Sagola and was coordinator of the distribution of 1,500 trees to churches of several faiths in Dickinson County. Schuiteman is a member of First Presbyterian Church in Kingsford. Piasini is a member of Grace United Methodist Church in Sagola and coordinated the distribution of 1,500 trees to numerous churches of various faiths in Dickinson County. A group of volunteers planted several trees in Michigamme, MI at the United Methodist Church Camp Michigamme. Late Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan Bishop James Kelsey was remembered at several events during the tree planting including at the Page Center. One of the bishop's favorite places, the Kelsey Cottage is named in his honor at the recreation and retreat area in Little Lake, MI. Members of the Episcopal Ministry Discernment Team representing the 27 congregations of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan gathered at the center on May 2 “for a time of reflection and fellowship.” Two red pine trees were planted on either side of the main entry to the Kelsey cottage, one seedling was planted in memory of Bishop Kelsey, and the second as symbol of diocese renewal. Members present included Nancy Auer, Judy Britton, Susan Harries, Mary Johnson, Kathy Lenten, Charlie Piper, Rayford Ray, Suzanne Ray, Sharon Stenglein, Mary Sullivan, and Bob Trautman. Bishop Kelsey, one of the founders of the EarthKeepers and the first signer of the interfaith EarthKeeper Covenant, was killed in a June 2007 traffic accident that claimed two lives. "I think he'd try to find a place for a tree in his own yard for one and he'd want to plant one at the Page Center at one at the office," said Jane Cisluycis, Diocesan Operations Coordinator. "He'd be really pleased. Since his mantra was about inclusiveness, the fact that the circle is widening would have been really important to him." Kelsey would be "pleased that the EarthKeepers are getting stronger and continuing and more people are getting involved - it hasn't stopped," said Kathy Lenten a member of the diocese Episcopal Ministry Support Team. The EarthKeeper Tree Project "had people of all ages and faiths working together towards another common goal; improving the Great Lakes environment that we live in," said Lindquist, who co-founded the EarthKeeper Initiative with Rev. Jon Magnuson, the executive director of the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette. "Every EarthKeeper project furthers the long term Great Lakes protection and restoration goals of the Superior Watershed Partnership," Lindquist said. The tree projects fits well with the goals of the Superior Watershed Partnership including its other projects like protecting water quality and preventing erosion, said Natasha Koss, Superior Watershed Partnership development director. Trees are a "symbol of life and they represent something that is living and something we can easily put into the ground," Koss said. Trees are a sign "of how well the environment is doing," said Larry Pagel, Messiah Lutheran Church congregation president. Humans "are connected to the earth through our trees." In addition to providing oxygen, trees have practical benefits like offering recreational opportunities including providing shade on a hot day, said Pagel, an NMU business professor. That simple act of sitting under trees is a uniquely human desire that will be fulfilled for centuries to come because of the planting project, said Bishop Skrenes. "Just think of the people that will sit under these trees, admire these trees, look at these trees and breathe the oxygen produced by these trees - just think of all those people for centuries ahead," Skrenes said. Experts say 12,000 mature trees absorb 3 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually and produce enough oxygen to support 24,000 humans. EarthKeeper background: This is the fifth year that the U.P. EarthKeepers have launched an Earth Day environment project. From 2005-2007, over 15,000 U.P. residents turned in more than 360 tons of household hazardous waste at a dozen collection sites across the U.P. Most of the items were recycled and the remainder was properly disposed under federal guidelines including electronic waste (e-waste) like computers, monitors and printers plus cell phones, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, herbicides, oil-based paint and vehicle batteries. Last year the EarthKeepers provided a household energy conservation checklist that prevented over 3 million pounds of carbon from being released into the atmosphere, Lindquist said. Related Links: Interfaith EarthKeeper Team Nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership Nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute This rainbow appeared late in the day on April 30, 2009 over the Grace Presbyterian Church in Sagola as an interfaith group prepared seedlings for planting. It was taken by many as a sign that the 2009 interfaith EarthKeeper Tree Project was a good thing being done by people who care. (Photo by Jessica Schultz) The 2009 Sacred Planet series sponsored by the Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper Student Team

It's Happening! And it's colorful!

Update as rainbow marks start of EarthKeeper Tree Project: Across northern Michigan 12,000 trees bagged, delivery for Sunday, May 3 record planting

Rainbow appears over Grace Presbyterian Church in Sagola as volunteers across northern Michigan prepare 12,000 trees for planting by about 100 churches and temples during interfaith Upper Peninsula EarthKeeper Tree Project. (Sagola Photos provided by Jessica Schultz, EarthKeeper volunteer)

Volunteers at the Central United Methodist Church in Escanaba bag and prepare seedlings. (Escanaba photos provided by Jill Martin, Presbyterian EarthKeeper Volunteer)

(Upper Peninsula of Michigan) - Across northern Michigan, 12,000 trees are being delivered to about 100 churches and temples across northern Michigan as the EarthKeeper Tree Project kicks into high gear in preparation for planting at thousands of locations on Sunday, May 3.

On Thursday, April 30 volunteers were bagging the seedlings that are being given to ten faith traditions.

In Sagola, Michigan, a rainbow appeared over the Grace Presbyterian Church as about 30 EarthKeeper volunteers spent three hours bagging 1,500 seedlings.

The trees were blessed by Rev. David Anderson and then prepared to be delivered or picked up by seven other churches including Catholic, Lutheran, Presbyterian and a non-EarthKeeper but welcomed congregation - the Mission Covenant Church in Foster City.

The Presbyterian and Catholic volunteers in Sagola came in all ages and included three generations of one family. Young children were taught by adults how to properly bag the seedlings and as the night ended the kids scurried around the church picking up pine needles to help with the clean up.

Among those volunteering in Sagola were Marie Anderson, Sue Piasini, Gabriella Schultz, age 3; Chrissy Pringle, Brooke Hesse, Yvonne Schultz, Mary Schuteman, Jeff and Shelia Mott and their children Celia and Medoria Mott; Kassandra Donaldson, Mary Brault, Mara Smith, age 11 and Cameron Schultz, age 6.

EarthKeeper volunteers at Grace Presbyterian Church in Sagola, MI prepare 1,500 trees for planting and distribution in Dickinson County as 12,000 trees will be planted by about 100 churches and temples during interfaith Upper Peninsula EarthKeeper Tree Project. (Sagola Photos provided by Jessica Schultz, EarthKeeper volunteer)

EarthKeeper volunteers from the Presbyterian and United Methodist churches in Delta County separated and bagged 1,000 trees on Thursday (April 30) at the Central United Methodist Church in Escanaba.

Bagging was also underway in Marquette and numerous other locations.

Among those bagging trees in Escanaba were First Presbyterian Church members Kathy Christiansen and Jill Martin, plus Central United Methodist Church members Lois Nordin, Rocky Blixt, Bron Harmon, Cat Lindberg and Pat Rogers; all are Escanaba area residents.

Among the Delta County churches participating (followed by the approx. number of trees each will receive) are St. Stephen’s Episcopal, Escanaba (150); Bethany Lutheran, Escanaba (250); First Presbyterian, Escanaba (150); Escanaba Central UMC, Escanaba (150); Trinity Episcopal, Gladstone (150) and Calvary Lutheran, Rapid River (150).

Among the Dickinson County churches participating (followed by city and the approx. number of trees each will receive) are St. Rose Catholic, Channing (180); Zion of Metropolitan Lutheran, Felch (180); Our Saviour Lutheran, Iron Mountain (180); First Presbyterian, Kingsford (180); St. Mary Queen of Peace Catholic, Kingsford (180); Sagola Presbyterian, Sagola (420); and the Felch and Foster City churches including Mission Covenant Church in Foster City (180).

Volunteers at the Central United Methodist Church in Escanaba bag and prepare seedlings. (Escanaba photos provided by Jill Martin, Presbyterian EarthKeeper Volunteer)

EarthKeeper volunteers at Grace Presbyterian Church in Sagola, MI prepare 1,500 trees for planting and distribution in Dickinson County as 12,000 trees will be planted by about 100 churches and temples during interfaith Upper Peninsula EarthKeeper Tree Project. (Sagola Photos provided by Jessica Schultz, EarthKeeper volunteer)

Most of the 12,000 12 to 16 inch White Spruce and Red Pine seedlings in the EarthKeeper Tree Project will be planted on Sunday (May 3).

The EarthKeeper co-founders are Carl Lindquist, executive director of the nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership, and Rev. Jon Magmuson of Marquette. Magnuson is campus pastor for Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northern Michigan University and executive director of the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette.

The Earth Keeper Implementation Team co-chairs are Gail Griffith, who is a member of Marquette Unitarian Universalist Congregation, and Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, head priest of Lake Superior Zendo, a Marquette Zen Buddhist Temple.

The EarthKeeper team includes ten faith traditions (Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, Zen Buddist, Quakers) with over 150 participating churches/temples, the nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership (SWP), the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute (CTI), and the NMU EK Student Team.

The trees were purchased or donated by the U.P. EarthKeeper team, SWP, Holli Forest Products, the Forestland Group, Plum Creek Timber Company and Meister's Greenhouses.

Some groups and individuals have donated money to help the tree project including Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Western U.P. Chapter 30918 in Ironwood, Michigan.

Experts say 12,000 mature trees absorb 3 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually and produce enough oxygen to support 24,000 humans.

This is the fifth year that the U.P. EarthKeepers have launched an Earth Day environment project.

From 2005-2007, over 15,000 U.P. residents turned in more than 360 tons of household hazardous waste at a dozen collection sites across the U.P. Most of the items were recycled and the remainder was properly disposed under federal guidelines including electronic waste (e-waste) like computers, monitors and printers plus cell phones, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, herbicides, oil-based paint and vehicle batteries.
Last year the EarthKeepers provided a household energy conservation checklist that resulted in over 3 million pounds of carbon being.

For details on the tree distribution call Catholic EarthKeeper Kyra Fillmore, the project faith community communications coordinator, at 906-228-2388.

For tree planting information contact the SWP at 906-228-6095.

Related websites:

U.P. EarthKeeper Team

Nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership in Marquette, MI

Nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, MI

Earth Day 2009 & The interfaith Upper Peninsula EarthKeeper Tree Project: Faith leaders bless and plant the first of 12,000 trees across the Upper Peninsula

The Earth Day 2009 interfaith EarthKeeper Tree Project "Blessing of the Trees" ceremony was held next to the pavillion at Presque Isle, a popular Marquette, Michigan nature area - that is surrounded on three sides by Lake Superior. Faith leaders blessed a three-foot native species white spruce - the first of 12,000 trees to be planted across the Upper Peninsula on May 9 at over 100 churches and temples. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

On Earth Day 2009 near the shores of Lake Superior, northern Michigan bishops and other faith leaders explain the connection between religion and protecting the environment to Marquette reporters including from two TV stations - WBUP/WBKP TV 5&10 and WLUC TV-6 - and two newspapers - the Mining Journal in Marquette and the U.P. Catholic. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

(Marquette, Michigan) - Despite a major snowstorm a day earlier, bishops and leaders from northern Michigan's largest faith communities planted the first of 12,000 trees during an Earth Day ceremony on the shores of Lake Superior.

Standing on a hillside surrounded by huge pine trees two bishops and several other faith leaders blessed a three-foot native species white spruce tree and took turns putting shovels full of dirt into the hole.

With a cold wind blowing and icy waves of Lake Superior crashing in the background, the Earth Day 2009 late afternoon blessing of the trees ceremony was held on Presque Isle - that is surrounded on three sides by the largest freshwater lake on the planet.

The storm dumped up to 20 inches of snow in parts of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, however several weeks of mild weather ensured the ground was not frozen.

Anticipating the cold April weather, organizers earlier decided to plant the rest of the trees on Sunday, May 3 when the weather is more appropriate for planting the 12,000 12-to-16-inch seedlings at numerous locations across northern Michigan including 100 churches and temples.

Superior Watershed Project Executive Director Carl Lindquist explain how his nonprofit organizations has handled some of the technical aspects of the many EarthKeeper projects since 2004. The EarthKeeper Initiative co-founder, Lindquist said EarthKeeping ideas are spreading to other communities. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

The concept of "EarthKeeping goes beyond the Upper Peninsula" because throughout the Great Lakes states "we're having a ripple effect" as people and groups "are replicating the work that the EarthKeepers have done here," said Carl Lindquist, SWP executive director. "They are patterning their events after some of the successful programs we have had here."

Leaders from northern Michigan's largest faith communities gathered in the Presque Isle Pavillion to speak to those gathered for the Earth Day 2009 event.

EarthKeeper Initiative co-founder Rev. Jon Magnuson, the NMU Lutheran Campus Ministry pastor, talks about the effectiveness of faith communities to turn out volunteers for environment projects (Photo by Greg Peterson)

"This is very much a marvelous moment in the life of our work together as faith communities," said Rev. Jon Magnuson, CTI executive director and EarthKeeper Initiative co-founder.

"This is another step in our interfaith work," Magnuson said. "We have found an expression of our faith in very, very hands-on work like this the EarthKeeping Tree Project."

The EarthKeeper team includes ten faith traditions (Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, Zen Buddist, Quakers) with over 150 participating churches/temples, the nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership (SWP), the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute (CTI), and the NMU EK Student Team.

Meanwhile, the next day Thurs., April 23, several EarthKeeper faith leaders spoke about the project and protecting the environment to students at Northern Michigan University.

It was the final of numerous "Sacred Planet" events on campus sponsored by the NMU EarthKeeper (NMU EK) Student Team.

NMU EK leaders Ben Sheelk, speaking above, and Sarah Swanson joined faith leaders for the Earth Day tree blessing, coordinated the Sacred Planet series, and the entire team will help plant the 12,000 trees.

Singing, drums and guitar music were a big part of the final Sacred Planet lecture series at NMU.

Those speaking at NMU were Dr. Michael Grossman of Jewish Temple Beth Sholom in Ishpeming; Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, head priest of the Zen Buddhist temple Lake Superior Zendo; Catholic EarthKeeper Kyra Fillmore, the project faith community communications coordinator; and Dr. Rodney H. Clarken, chair of the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Marquette. (Above photos by Greg Peterson)

The faith leaders spoke to members of the Marquette media inside the Presque isle Pavillion just prior to the tree blessing ceremony.

All humans "are called to be steward's of God's creation - and no matter what faith tradition we come from that responsibility lies with us human creatures," said Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette Bishop Alexander K. Sample.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette Bishop Alexander K. Sample speaks to reporters prior to the tree blessing on Earth Day 2009. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

"Those of us endowed with intelligence and with the ability to choose good and avoid evil," said Bishop Sample, who oversees 94 U.P. parishes and missions with 61,000 members.

Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette Bishop Alexander K. Sample, pictured center in front of the tree, holds a blue bible he used during the blessing of the trees on Earth Day 2009. (Photo by Greg Peterson)

Holding an open bible, Bishop Sample said the book of Revelations "speaks of the life-giving power of water and how the tree draws its life from the water."

Bishop Sample said he grew up in the desert southwest and "didn't see a lot of water" or the "beauty of the forests and trees."

Sample said "I truly thought I had entered paradise" when he moved with his family to the Upper Peninsula at the age of 17.

Northern Great Lakes Synod Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes of Marquette speaks to the media, above, on Earth Day 2009 and a short time later leads a blessing outside, below, for the first of 12,000 trees that the interfaith EarthKeepers will plant across northern Michigan on May 3. (Photos by Greg Peterson)

"This whole movement has focused on how the faith communities can work together to preserve this great gift that we have here in the Upper Peninsula - this great watershed and it's wonderful combination of lakes and streams - and forests everywhere," said Northern Great Lakes Synod Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes.

"Trees cover the earth and trees are part of healing the earth," said Skrenes, the head of 94 U.P. Lutheran congregations with 40,000 members.

The Earth Keeper's ten faith communities have "various ways of doing things and looking at life" but "come together for this important task," said United Methodist Church (UMC) Marquette District Superintendent Grant R. Lobb.

United Methodist Church (UMC) Marquette District Superintendent Grant R. Lobb told the media that the EarthKeeper Tree Project will be planting thousands of gifts for the next generation. (Photos by Greg Peterson)

"We are glad to be part of EarthKeepers," said Lobb, whose district has 8,372 parishioners and 60 northern Michigan congregations.

"Planting a tree is a gift for the next generation and the generation beyond that," Lobb said. "We are going to be giving thousands of gifts for the generations to come."

Reverend Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, the EarthKeeper Implementation Team co-chair, is pictured above talking about the environment and the Zen Buddhist faith.

The head priest for the Lake Superior Zendo temple in Marquette, Lehmberg is pictured below adding soil to the base of the tree, and blessing the tree with folded hands. (Photos by Greg Peterson)

The head priest for Lake Superior Zendo, a Marquette Zen Buddhist Temple, said "the trees - in effect - will be planting us."

"We consider ourselfs very fortunate to be participating with EarthKeepers - if we are going to accomplish anything we (all faiths) need to come together," said Reverend Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, EarthKeeper Implementation Team co-chair.

Baha'is believe that "nature is to be respected and protected as a divine trust for which we all answerable," said Dr. Rodney H. Clarken, chair of the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Marquette.

"How great it is to be in this beautiful community of Marquette in these very beautiful surroundings" and "celebrate together with our friends, colleagues and our co-religionists in our various faiths traditions" while "saving and celebrating of God's creation," Clarken said.

There are about 40 Bahá'ís in the Marquette area, 144,000 in the United States and six million around the world., Clarken said.

REMEMBERING LATE EPISCOPAL BISHOP JIM KELSEY, THE ULTIMATE EARTHKEEPER

Two employees of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan couldn't help reflect on what the event would have meant to late Bishop James Kelsey, one of the founders of the EarthKeepers and the first signer of the interfaith EarthKeeper Covenant.

"I think he'd try to find a place for a tree in his own yard and he'd want to plant one at the Page Center and at one at the office," said Jane Cisluycis, Diocesan Operations Coordinator. "He'd be really pleased."

"Since his mantra was about inclusiveness, the fact that the circle is widening would have been really important to him," said Cisluycis, referring to the recent addition of another faith tradition to the EarthKeepers "The more people included the better."

Pictured above on top left, Jane Cisluycis, Diocesan Operations Coordinator; and Kathy Lenten a member of the diocese Episcopal Ministry Support Team; are pictured sharing a smile while remembering late Bishop Jim Kelsey.

Bishop Kelsey loved God, his family, his friends, the EarthKeepers, his serene Page Center, people and life.

Bishop Kelsey would be "pleased that the EarthKeepers are getting stronger and continuing and more people are getting involved - it hasn't stopped," said Kathy Lenten a member of the diocese Episcopal Ministry Support Team.

Kelsey was killed in a traffic accident about six weeks after he and thousands of Episcopalians participated the April 2007 EarthKeeper Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep.

On Sunday June 3,2007, Kelsey had visited services at diocese churches in the far eastern U.P. when he lost control of his vehicle on the long drive home. He is fondly remembered as the "Earth Bishop."

Marquette Unitarian Universalist Congregation (MUUC) celebrant coordinator Nancy Irish said "the image of people of all ages and faiths across the Upper Peninsula planting 12,000 trees in their respective sacred spaces is a most beautiful and fitting one to us - if an image were a sound it would be like a glorious interfaith choir singing to our pretty planet."

"The connection with and stewardship of the earth is central to Unitarian Universalism," Irish said.

Imitating the adults who were covering the spruce roots with shovels full of dirt, a 6-year-old boy grabbed the shovel and put in his share of soil into the hole.

Dakota "Cody" Farwell is the son of Frank and Laura Farwell, who are members of St.Paul's Episcopal Church in Marquette. The family moved to Marquette from Madison,Wisconsin in 2006.

"Cody loves trees," said Laura, a former adjunct professor and Fortune 500 business consultant who now volunteers with the Labrador Education and Rescue Network.

Cody said "trees are good - they are plants."

"I shoveled a scoop of dirt," the precocious youngster said apparently enjoying the excitement he created in the crowd including smiles on the faces of the faith leaders.

The trees were purchased or donated by the U.P. EarthKeeper team, SWP, Holli Forest Products, the Forestland Group, Plum Creek Timber Company and Meister's Greenhouses, said Lindquist, EarthKeeper Initiative co-founder.

Some groups and individuals have donated money to help the tree project including Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Western U.P. Chapter 30918 in Ironwood, Michigan.

In addition to providing oxygen trees are important for other scientific, economic and practical reasons from soil health to being "fun for children to climb," said Presbyterian Earth Keeper Jill Martin of Ford River Township.

"They have a substantial cooling effect on summer temperatures particularly the deciduous trees," said Martin, an environmental scientist with Wilcox Professional Services in Escanaba.

"They are also important from a biological integration standpoint - they help sustain the ecological web from the soil organisms to birds that nest in their trees," Martin said.

"Trees are a big part of the economic commerce of this part of the world," Martin said. "The upper Midwest is very tightly integrated to the forest as a sustainable resource."

"Presbyterians view ourselves as servants in gods world and this effort is service to sustaining God's world, " said Martin, a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Escanaba.

Respecting a tree: SWP Executive Director Carl Lindquist digs a hole for the blessing of the spruce tree and after the ceremony makes sure the soil and other conditions are perfect. (Photos by Greg Peterson)

It is not too late to request trees, organizers said.

"We cannot guarantee the number or species of trees but we want all faith communities to participate," said Catholic EarthKeeper team member Kyra Fillmore, the project's communications coordinator for faith communities.

"This is about more than putting trees in the ground it's an expression by the faith communities of love and care for God's creation."

Experts say 12,000 mature trees absorb 3 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually and produce enough oxygen to support 24,000 humans.

This is the fifth year that the U.P. EarthKeepers have launched an Earth Day environment project.

From 2005-2007, over 15,000 U.P. residents turned in more than 360 tons of household hazardous waste at a dozen collection sites across the U.P.

Most of the items were recycled and the remainder was properly disposed under federal guidelines including electronic waste (e-waste) like computers, monitors and printers plus cell phones, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, herbicides, oil-based paint and vehicle batteries.

Last year the EarthKeepers provided a household energy conservation checklist that resulted in over 3 million pounds of carbon being reduced.

The Media: Two Marquette newspapers and two Marquette TV stations covered the blessing of the trees on Earth Day 2009.

The EarthKeepers thank all the national, state and local media who have spread the word about our projects over the past five years, (Photos by Greg Peterson)

Unable to attend the blessing ceremony and living two hours from Marquette, Episcopal EarthKeeper team member Nancy Auer of Houghton, MI said there are good reasons to plant trees "in a region of the country known for trees" including minimizing the effects of logging.

"We harvest those trees," Auer said. "Every tree has value in that they absorb our carbon emissions and those carbon emissions are increasing therefore we need more trees."

"God asks us to be stewards the earth and it can be as simple as planting a tree," Auer said.

David McCowen, a member of Lake Superior Friends one of two Quaker groups in the U.P., said trees provide "wind breaks, wildlife habitat, fuel source, and a cellulose fiber source."

McCowen said "it is easy to take trees for granted" in the U.P. because "trees are a major part of the surroundings that we love."

"Faith communities have the privilege and responsibility of unselfishly considering the natural environment as being inherently desirable," McCowen said.

An annual Jewish holiday celebrates the blossoming of the almond trees in Israel at the start of spring, said Dr. Constance Arnold, president of the board for Temple Beth Sholom.

"Tu B'Shvat is a very ancient holiday we observe yearly," said Arnold. "This is a reminder of the importance of trees."

Arnold said Tu B'Shvat marks the "New Year of Trees"and Jewish customs include tree planting and eating dried fruits and nuts during an evening meal.

"We get together on that day and have something to eat from as many of the fruits of the tree as you can come up with," Arnold said. "We bring apricots, cherries, olives, dates, pomegranates and cinnamon."

The EarthKeeper Tree Planting Project is "another opportunity to work cooperatively with God and nature to replenish the earth," said Pastor Dave Anderson of Grace Presbyterian Church in Sagola and chaplain for the Dickinson County Healthcare System.

The EarthKeeper Covenant signer on behalf of all northern Michigan Presbyterians, Rev. Anderson said planting trees is important because "there is so much harvesting going on just for profitability" and planting a tree "can stand in contrast to a materialistic mindset."

"Trees can be enjoyed for their beauty and charm, without always having to be seen for their market value," Anderson said. "Let's plant this year to beautify the Earth and to enjoy God's creation for the right reasons."
Andersons' Southern U.P. church is going green in many ways and the congregation can't wait to help.

"I am thrilled about this - when my kids were little they planted trees," said Sue Piasini, a member of Grace Presbyterian in Sagola and the mother of four grown children. "Now the tree they planted are huge - they're about 20 feet tall."

Planting the trees is "like coming full circle," said Piasini, a Presbyterian EarthKeeper team member from Channing, Michigan.

"We're so lucky and blessed to live in beautiful area" with beautiful forests, said Piasini, who is helping coordinate the tree project for numerous Dickinson County churches of all faiths including in Felch, Kingsford and Iron Mountain "We're going to plant one tree in our church yard and dedicate it and inspire our people" and the rest of their share of the seedlings will be given to church members and others.

"Our church is going green and we are getting rid of all Styrofoam cups and plates" used during the weekly coffee hour after the service," Piasini said. "You can't imagine all the Styrofoam that is thrown away."

"We are only going to use biodegradable paper products," said Piasini, adding the church is trying to arrange a free energy audit to with a "goal to be more energy efficient."

Catholic EarthKeeper team member Linda O'Brien said "from the beginning of time God has called us to be good stewards of the earth."

"Our Catholic tradition allows us to embrace the EarthKeeper Tree Project as a way to continue our good stewardship of the earth," O'Brien said.
Congregations can still request trees by calling Catholic EarthKeeper Kyra Fillmore, the project faith community communications coordinator, at 906-228-2388.

For tree planting information contact the SWP at 906-228-6095.

Related Links:

Interfaith EarthKeeper Team

Nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership

Nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, MI and its environment projects:

Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project: Native American and Marquette area teens protecting pollinators project:

Zaagkii TV on youtube

Zaagkii Project Story Part 1 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project Story Part 2 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project hailed as success by U.S. Forest Service

Zaagkii Project blog on wordpress

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Non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative: Numerous environment projects across the Great Lakes Basin in cooperation with the EPA, American Indian Tribes and local governments

http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org

Earth Healing TV on youtube

Earth Healing TV on bliptv

Earth Healing Initiative was part of the first EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge with youtube and bliptv videos.

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Cedar Tree Institute: Founder of EarthKeeper Initiative, Earth Healing Initiative, Manoomin Project and Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project:

http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org

EarthKeeper TV on youtube has EarthKeeper and Manoomin Project including stories and a Manoomin Project music video & more

Manoomin Project story in Indian Country Today

Manoomin Project Story in World Magazine

Turtle Island Project: Respecting the heritage, culture and rights of Native Americans and other Indigenous Peoples and the environment

http://www.TurtleIslandProject.org

Turtle Island TV on blip tv

Turtle Island TV on youtube

Turtle Island Project myspace page

Turtle Island Project blog on wordpress

Turtle Island Project on MSN

Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bahá'í Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website

Call Justice St. Rain at Interfaith resources:
1-800-326-1197

Justice St Rain:
justice@special-ideas.com

Interfaith Resources
P.O. Box 9
511 Diamond Rd
Heltonville IN
47436

Planting 12,000 Trees: Interfaith Upper Peninsula EarthKeeper team to plant a forest across northern Michigan for Earth Day 2009

(Marquette, Michigan) - The Upper Peninsula interfaith EarthKeepers will create the equivalent of a forest for Earth Day 2009 as 12,000 trees are planted by about 100 churches and temples across northern Michigan.

The public is invited to an Earth Day 2009 blessing of the trees ceremony at 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22 next to the Presque Isle pavilion. The bishops and other leaders from ten faith traditions will plant the first of 12,000 12 to 16 inch White Spruce and Red Pine trees.

Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bahá'í Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website

"The EarthKeeper project this year is one where people from across the Upper Peninsula will see tangible results of their earth stewardship," said Gail Griffith, EarthKeeper Implementation Team co-chair. "I hope that congregations involve their young people in their planning and planting."

The EarthKeeper team includes ten faith traditions with over 150 participating churches/temples, the nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership (SWP), the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute (CTI), and the Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper Student Team.

Founded in 2004, the Earth Keeper Covenant has been signed by the bishops/leaders of ten faith communities: Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, Zen Buddist and the Lake Superior Friends (Quakers).

"Each year the staff at the Superior Watershed Partnership looks forward to helping the EarthKeepers coordinate an event," said Carl Lindquist, SWP executive director. "It's fun and it helps further our long term protection and restoration goals for local watersheds and the Great Lakes."

The trees have been purchased or donated by the U.P. EarthKeeper team, SWP, Holli Forest Products, the Forestland Group, Plum Creek Timber Company and Meister's Greenhouses.

Some groups and individuals have donated money to help the tree project including Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Western U.P. Chapter 30918 in Ironwood, Michigan.

On Saturday, May 2 northern Michigan churches and temples participating in the project will pick up their share of the trees at local conservation district offices and have been asked to bless the seedlings before planting at numerous locations the next day (Sunday, May 3) assisted by the NMU EarthKeeper Student Team and other volunteers.

Pictured holding the a list of EarthKeeper Initiative accomplishments and plans through 2009 are Ben Scheelk (left), the new Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper (NMU EK) Student Team project coordinator from the Student Leader Fellowship Program and Sarah Swanson (right), the former NMU EK project director who is leaving for Nicaragua. The students held an "Eco-Christmas" in December 2008 and are helping with the planting of 12,000 trees for Earth Day2009 and will be planting community gardens at Upper Peninsula churches and temples. The NMU EK students were part of a Marquette ceremony on Thursday (Nov. 13) 2008 as the Michigan Sierra Club presented its "White Pine Award" to the Upper Peninsula EarthKeepers.(Photo by Greg Peterson, Cedar Tree Institute)

"Our interfaith tree planting effort is more than another conservation project," said Rev. Jon Magnuson, CTI executive director and EarthKeeper Initiative co-founder. "With prayers, hymns and the blessing of 12,000 seedlings, it's a gentle proclamation of a new consciousness and commitment among our faith communities to care for God's creation."

Organizers said congregations can still request trees.

"We cannot guarantee the number or species of trees but we want all faith communities to participate," said Catholic EarthKeeper team member Kyra Fillmore, the project's communications coordinator for faith communities. "This is about more than putting trees in the ground it's an expression by the faith communities of love and care for God's creation."

Catholic EarthKeeper team member Linda O'Brien said "from the beginning of time God has called us to be good stewards of the earth."

"Our Catholic tradition allows us to embrace the EarthKeeper Tree Project as a way to continue our good stewardship of the earth," O'Brien said.

Pictured in the rear, left to right, are David McCowen of Lake Superior Friends (Quakers); Rev. Jon Magnuson, EarthKeeper Initiative co-founder and executive director of the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute; Dr. Jon Rebers, chair of the Sierra Club Central U.P. Group; Dr. Rodney Clarken, leader of the Marquette Baha'i Community and one of the original signers of the EarthKeeper Covenant; Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, head priest of Lake Superior Zendo, a Marquette Zen Buddhist temple; Nancy Irish, a representative of the Marquette Unitarian Universalist congregation; Natasha Koss, a representative of the Superior Watershed Partnership; (front) Sarah Swanson, the outgoing Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper (NMU EK) Student Team project director; and Ben Scheelk, the new NMU EK project coordinator from the Student Leader Fellowship Program. (Photo by Greg Peterson, Cedar Tree Institute)

Lindquist said the trees "will be wrapped individually in a plastic bag with planting instructions."

"Kids love helping to plant trees," said Linquist, EarthKeeper Initiative co-founder. "We encourage people to take them home or camp and to plant them as soon as possible and to water them."

The positive environment effects of 12,000 mature trees includes absorbing 3 million pounds of carbon dioxide annually and producing enough oxygen to support 24,000 human beings, according to a treebenefits.com calculator.

The faith leaders participating in the projects said they hope their congregations will request trees.

"To the Catholic community of the Upper Peninsula, I speak words of encouragement to participate fully in this EarthKeepers project," said Bishop Alexander K. Sample, Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette.

Bishop Sample said trees have a connection to the "Easter season."

"We have just celebrated Christ's victory over death, accomplished through the tree of his cross," said Bishop Sample, who oversees 94 U.P. parishes and missions with 61,000 members. "These new trees that will be planted can symbolize for us the new life that the Lord has won for us."

Northern Great Lakes Synod Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes said "trees matter" and encouraged Sunday school classes, confirmation classes, men and women groups and others to plant as many trees as possible.

"What a privilege to put your hands into God's soil and help a tree to grow," said Bishop Skrenes, the head of 94 U.P. Lutheran congregations with 40,000 members. "You can grow a forest."

One tree can provides many positive benefits "such as improving air quality, stabilizing the soil, providing shade, and giving beauty to our sight, to name just a few," said United Methodist Church (UMC) Marquette District Superintendent Grant R. Lobb.

"I have always believed that planting a tree is a gift for the next generation," said Lobb, whose district has 8,372 parishioners and 60 northern Michigan congregations. "Environmental health has always been a concern for United Methodists, so I am confident that many of the (U.P. UMC) congregations will continue their support of the EarthKeeper work, and will join in this wonderful goal of planting thousands of trees across our beautiful landscape."

An annual Jewish holiday celebrates the blossoming of the almond trees in Israel at the start of spring, said Dr. Constance Arnold, president of the board for Temple Beth Sholom.

"Tu B'Shvat is a very ancient holiday we observe yearly - this year it fell on February 9," said Arnold. "This is a reminder of the importance of trees."

The holiday marks the "New Year of Trees"and customs include tree planting and eating dried fruits and nuts during an evening meal.

"We get together on that day and have something to eat from as many of the fruits of the tree as you can come up with," Arnold said. "We bring apricots, cherries, olives, dates, pomegranates and cinnamon."

The EarthKeeper Tree Planting Project is "another opportunity to work cooperatively with God and nature to replenish the earth," said Pastor Dave Anderson of Grace Presbyterian Church in Sagola, MI and chaplain for the Dickinson Co. Healthcare System.

"There is so much harvesting going on just for profitability, that a planting like this can stand in contrast to a materialistic mindset," said Rev. Anderson, who signed the EarthKeeper Covenant on behalf of all northern Michigan Presbyterians. "Trees can be enjoyed for their beauty and charm, without always having to be seen for their market value,"

"Let's plant this year to beautify the Earth and to enjoy God's creation for the right reasons," Rev. Anderson said.

The connection between trees and a healthy world has long been taught in the Bahá'í Faith, said Dr. Rodney H. Clarken, chair of the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of Marquette. There are about 40 Bahá'ís in the Marquette area, 144,000 in the United States and six million around the world., Clarken said.

Clarken cited the works of well-known Bahá`í conservationist Richard St. Barbe Baker of England who is nicknamed the "Man of the Trees." A forester and author who inspired millions to protect what he called the "green mantle" of trees, St. Barbe brought "a message of preserving the natural environment especially trees,"said Clarken.

"Baker had an almost mystical vision about the vital role the world's forests play in the survival of mankind," Clarken said. Baker, who died in 1982 at the age of 92, said his lifelong protection of trees was rooted in his Bahá`í Faith, said Clarken.

As a young man working in a Canadian lumber camp, Baker witnessed the quick ruin of ecosystems when topsoil disappeared in the wind and rain after the clear-cutting of virgin forests, Clarken said.

From inspiring the planting of many thousands of seedlings in Africa to protecting the California Redwoods to his efforts to restore millions of acres of the Sahara Desert, Baker's entire life was dedicated to protecting forests right up until a few days before his death when he planted his last tree at the University of Saskatchewan, Clarken said.

The head priest for Lake Superior Zendo, a Marquette Zen Buddhist Temple, said "we absolutely must care for mother earth."

"Human life, literally and figuratively, is inseparable from mother earth," said Reverend Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, EarthKeeper Implementation Team co-chair. "We are inextricably threaded to her. In caring for her, we care for ourselves."

Planting trees is a "simple and meaningful way to put our environmental concern into action" because they "serve as lungs, shelter, inspiration, comfort, and sustenance for other living creatures," said Nancy Irish, celebrant/coordinator for the Marquette Unitarian Universalist Congregation.

"Planting trees together in our respective sacred spaces is like singing to our planet in a multi-generation, interfaith chorus," Irish said. "The Earth is what we all have in common and this common act of stewardship can only deepen awareness of that commonality."

Trees provide "wind breaks, wildlife habitat, fuel source, and a cellulose fiber source," said David McCowen, a member of Lake Superior Friends, one of two Quaker groups in the U.P.

"Here in the UP it is easy to take trees for granted, but trees are a major part of the surroundings that we love," McCowen said. "Faith communities have the privilege and responsibility of unselfishly considering the natural environment as being inherently desirable."

Episcopal EarthKeeper team member Nancy Auer of Houghton, MI said there are good reasons to plant trees "in a region of the country (the UP) known for trees" including logging.

"We harvest those trees," Auer said. "Every tree has value in that they absorb our carbon emissions and those carbon emissions are increasing therefore we need more trees."

"God asks us to be stewards the earth and it can be as simple as planting a tree," Auer said.

In addition to providing oxygen trees are important for other scientific, economic and practical reasons from soil health to being "fun for children to climb," said Presbyterian Earth Keeper Jill Martin of Ford River Township.

"They have a substantial cooling effect on summer temperatures particularly the deciduous trees," said Martin, an environmental scientist with Wilcox Professional Services in Escanaba.

"They are also important from a biological integration standpoint - they help sustain the ecological web from the soil organisms to birds that nest in their trees," Martin said.

"Trees are a big part of the economic commerce of this part of the world," Martin said. "The upper Midwest is very tightly integrated to the forest as a sustainable resource."

"Presbyterians view ourselves as servants in gods world and this effort is service to sustaining God's world, " said Martin, a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Escanaba.

A Dickinson County church that's going green in many ways is participating in the tree planting project.

"I am thrilled about this - when my kids were little they planted trees," said Sue Piasini, a member of Grace Presbyterian in Sagola and the mother of four grown children. "Now the tree they planted are huge - they're about 20 feet tall."

Planting the trees is "like coming full circle," said Piasini, a Presbyterian EarthKeeper team member from Channing, Michigan.

"We're so lucky and blessed to live in beautiful area" with beautiful forests, said Piasini, who is helping coordinate the tree project for numerous Dickinson County churches of all faiths including in Felch, Kingsford and Iron Mountain "We're going to plant one tree in our church yard and dedicate it and inspire our people" and the rest of their share of the seedlings will be given to church members and others.

"Our church is going green and we are getting rid of all Styrofoam cups and plates" used during the weekly coffee hour after the service," Piasini said. "You can't imagine all the Styrofoam that is thrown away."

"We are only going to use biodegradable paper products," said Piasini, adding the church is trying to arrange a free energy audit to with a "goal to be more energy efficient."

Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bahá'í Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website

This is the fifth year that the U.P. EarthKeepers have launched an Earth Day environment project.

From 2005-2007, about 15,000 U.P. residents turned in over 360 tons of household hazardous waste at a dozen collection sites across the U.P. Most of the items were recycled and the remainder was properly disposed under federal guidelines including electronic waste like electronic waste like computers, monitors and printers plus cell phones, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, herbicides, oil-based paint and vehicle batteries.

Last year the EarthKeepers provided a household energy conservation checklist that resulted in over 3 million pounds of carbon being reduced, Lindquist said.

In past projects, the EarthKeepers have partnered with numerous groups including the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Keweenaw Bay Indian community.

Congregations that have not yet requested trees should call Fillmore at 906-228-2388. For tree planting technical questions contact the SWP at 906-228-6095.

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Interfaith EarthKeeper Team

Nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership

Nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, MI and its environment projects:

Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project: Native American and Marquette area teens protecting pollinators project:

Zaagkii TV on youtube

Zaagkii Project Story Part 1 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project Story Part 2 Indian Country Today newspaper

Zaagkii Project hailed as success by U.S. Forest Service

Zaagkii Project blog on wordpress

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Non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative: Numerous environment projects across the Great Lakes Basin in cooperation with the EPA, American Indian Tribes and local governments

http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org

Earth Healing TV on youtube

Earth Healing TV on bliptv

Earth Healing Initiative was part of the first EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge with youtube and bliptv videos.

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Cedar Tree Institute: Founder of EarthKeeper Initiative, Earth Healing Initiative, Manoomin Project and Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project:

http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org

EarthKeeper TV on youtube has EarthKeeper and Manoomin Project including stories and a Manoomin Project music video & more

Manoomin Project story in Indian Country Today

Manoomin Project Story in World Magazine

Turtle Island Project: Respecting the heritage, culture and rights of Native Americans and other Indigenous Peoples and the environment

http://www.TurtleIslandProject.org

Turtle Island TV on blip tv

Turtle Island TV on youtube

Turtle Island Project myspace page

Turtle Island Project blog on wordpress

Turtle Island Project on MSN

Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bahá'í Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website

Call Justice St. Rain at Interfaith resources:
1-800-326-1197

Justice St Rain:
justice@special-ideas.com

Interfaith Resources
P.O. Box 9
511 Diamond Rd
Heltonville IN
47436

(Marquette, Michigan) - Northern Michigan teens are on a mission to protect pollinators by helping butterflies and restoring native plants to areas of the Upper Peninsula.

Perhaps the best know pollinators are bees - like honey bees and bumble bees.

Billions of these bees are dying across the world in a syndrome called Colony Collapse Disorder.

Zaagkii Project artwork created by a teen volunteer

Bees are disappearing and it’s not clear why - although human impact on the environment are among the suspected causes like pesticides and global warming.

A world without bees would mean world without food. - as was dramatically pointed out in the Jerry Seinfield 2007 comedy - Bee movie.

Bees go on strike causing plants across the world die - that means no food, no flowers, no trees - the death of civilization.

After bees, the next best pollinators are butterflies.

Marquette teens build a butterfly house in July 2008 in the parking lot of the Grace United Methodist Church.

The butterfly houses are longer than the better known birdhouses and are lined with bark.

Marquette, Michigan area teens and Native American youth spent the summer of 2008 building butterfly houses - that are longer and slimmer than birdhouses and are lined with bark.

Teens participating in the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community Summer Youth Program built and painted the houses at the tribe’s Natural Resource Department along Lake Superior.

KBIC Natural Resource Department Director Todd Warner said the Zaagkii Project is a good way for youth to become aware of their connection to natural resources and nature.

The butterfly houses offer protection to butterflies that can enter thru tiny slits.

Butterfly houses, pictured above on poles, also offer rest to migrating monarchs and can be used for reproduction.

Marquete teens and two Zaagkii Propject volunteers are pictured in July 2008 planting native plant seeds at the Hiawatha National Forest Green House in Marquette, MI

Marquette teens have planted or distributed 26,000 native plant including at the Hiawatha National Forest greenhouse in Marquette.

In the spring of 2009 some of the plants will be planted at several areas across northern Michigan including at Sand Point - a beach that the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community has been repairing from the effects of copper mining.

The mine dumped copper processing waste into Lake Superior in the late 1800s and early 1900s - polluting miles of shoreline.

KBIC Photo of Sand Point

The tribe capped the pollution and the native plants will be used to attract wildlife and restore the ecosystem.

The Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project will enter its second year in the summer of 2009.

This is the first of several videos on the many aspect of the Zaagkii Project that was founded by the non- profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette that has sponsored numerous environment projects.

The three-year Zaagkii Project is sponsored by the CTI, Marquette County Juvenile Court, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) and the United States Forest Service (USFS).

Future videos will include a look at a bee farm in Marquette County that fascinated Zaagkii Project teens who received a close look at the hives and learned about the importance of pollinators.

Pictured above, the Cedar Tree Institute held a BBQ in July 2008 to honor the Zaagkii Project teens at Presque Isle Park in Marquette, MI.

The teens visited a KBIC pow-wow where they were recognized. And amongst numerous news stories done on project Jan Schultz of the USFS was interviewed by a California radio station about Zaagkii Project.

All this in future videos.

The Zaagkii Project is made possible by contributors like the Marquette Community Foundation, the Negaunee Community Fund, the Negaunee Community Youth Fund, the M.E. Davenport Foundation, the Kaufman Foundation, the Phyllis and Max Reynolds Foundation, with assistance from the Upper Peninsula Children's Museum in Marquette, Mich. and the Borealis Seed Company in Big Bay, Mich.

I’m Greg Peterson and you are watching Zaagkii TV

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Related items:
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Environment prayer thanks to EarthWords Dec. 14, 2008 issue - produced by Rev. Charlie West of the Grace UMC Church in Marquette - a leader in the Earth Keeper Initiative.

Eternal God, your amazing power to innovate goes on forever, but in our time we are seeing your glorious Creation slipping away.

Continue to touch our hearts with a concern for Creation; continue to give us wisdom and insight into Creation's healthy parameters; continue to draw us together on Creation's behalf and well-being.

Then as the earth brings forth its shoots may our lives bring forth your love and justice and grace.
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EarthWords Suggests - Give a native species plant:

Consider a (local) live plant gift, or perhaps even a contribution to purchase and preserve rain forest or some other wilderness place!

EarthWords is produced by Charlie West Ink

EarthWords website

email EarthWords

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Austin, Texas Honeybee video courtesy: Johnnie Hargrave

Photos by Richard Burkmar; Paul Billiet & Shirley Burchill

Wikipedia photos by (Usernames when real name not available): Tübingen-Hagelloch, Björn Appel, Warden, Debi Vort, Kristof Van der Poorten, John Severns, Waugsberg, Kenneth Dwain Harrelson, Derek Ramsey, John O'Neill

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KBIC Zaagkii Wings and Seeds Project contact info and web links
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Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) Contacts:

KBIC Tribal Chair Warren C. “Chris” Swartz Jr.
906-353-6623 ext. 4104
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KBIC Vice Chair Susan LaFernier
906-353-6623
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KBIC Natural Resource Department (NRD)

Todd Warner, NRD Director
KBIC Natural Resource Director
Ph: (906) 524-5757 ext. 13
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Evelyn Ravindran, KBIC NRD Natural Resources Specialist
906-524-5757 ext. 11
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KBIC NRD Staffers interviewed:
Katie Kruse, NRD Environment specialist
Char Beesley. Environment Specialist
Kit Laux, NRD Water Quality Specialist
(906) 524-5757
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Other KBIC Contacts:

Kim Klopstein, one of the summer youth supervisors for the KBIC Summer Youth Program
906-201-0020
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United State Department of Agriculture (USDA) oversees United States Forest Service (USFS)
USDA USFS
Forest Service Eastern Region
626 E. Wisconsin Ave.
Suite 700
Milwaukee, Wis.
53202
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USFS Official Jan Schultz speaks to Zaagkii Project supporters and volunteers in July 2008 at a Cedar Tree institute BBQ at Presque Isle Park in Marquette, MI

Jan Schultz, Botany & Non-native Invasive Species Program Leader
USFS Milwaukee
(414) 297-1189 (wk)
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Jane Cliff, USFS Public Relations in Milwaukee
(414) 297-3664
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Angie Lucas, contractor, Hiawatha National Forest Greenhouse Manager
(906) 228-8491
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Terry Miller, forest botanist
Hiawatha National Forest Office
Escanaba, Mich.
906-789-3319
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Deb LeBlanc, WestSide Plant Ecologist
Hiawatha National Forest
Munising, Mich. Office
Does Monach Workshops
906-387-2512 ext. 19
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Beekeeper Jim Hayward
Negaunee, Michigan
(906) 475-7582
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Carole Touchinski, Marquette & Negaunee community foundations
906-226-7666
http://www.mqt-cf.org
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Rev. Jon Magnuson, Zaagkii Wings and Seeds founder & Executive Director of non-profit Cedar Tree Institute (CTI)
(906) 228-5494 (hm)
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Links:
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United States Forest Service (USFS) celebrating wildflowers website:

http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/index.shtml

http://www.fs.fed.us/wildflowers/pollinators/index.shtml

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Cedar Tree Institute - non-profit in Marquette, Michigan:

http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org

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Keweenaw Bay Indian Community:

http://www.kbic-nsn.gov

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Marquette County Juvenile Court:

http://www.co.marquette.mi.us/probate.htm

http://www.co.marquette.mi.us/courts.htm

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Marquette County Juvenile Court & Project WEAVE:

http://www.reclaimingfutures.org/?q=locations_marquette

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Borealis Seed Company
Big Bay, Michigan
Run by mother-daughter team of Judy Keast and Suzanne Rabitaille cultivating about 5 acres of a 20-acre spread three miles south of Big Bay, Michigan.

http://www.ltbbodawa-nsn.gov/index.html

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Upper Peninsula Children's Museum
http://www.upcmkids.org

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Bee Movie:
http://www.beemovie.com

Created in 2007 by Jerry Seinfeld and DreamWorks Animation
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Monarch Watch::

http://monarchwatch.org

Monarch Author Lynn M. Rosenblatt
http://www.monarchbutterflyusa.com/Magic.htm

Numerous Monarch related links:
http://www.kidsgardening.com/pollinator/curriculum/resources.php

http://www.insecta-inspecta.com/butterflies/monarch/index.html

http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/monarch.htm

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/monarch

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Wikipedia on Monarchs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monarch_Butterfly

Female Monarch photo:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/6/63/Monarch_In_May.jpg

Wiki May 2007 Photograph of a Monarch Butterfly by Kenneth Dwain Harrelson

Male Monarch Photo by Derek Ramsey (Ram-Man) at the Tyler Arboretum
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/73/Monarch_Butterfly_Danaus_plexippus_Male_2664px.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Ram-Man

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Bees disappearing around the world:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator_decline
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bees_and_toxic_chemicals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pesticide_toxicity_to_bees
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imidacloprid_effects_on_bee_population
http://www.burtsbees.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ContentView?contentPageId=531&catalogId=10051&storeId=10001&langId=-1
http://www.polinator.org/
http://www.vanishingbees.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diseases_of_the_honey_bee
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endangered_arthropod

Wikipedia Honeybee Photos by Björn Appel, Wikipedia Username Warden.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Warden
Edit by Waugsberg (cropped)
A honeybee on an apiary, cooling by flapping its wings in Tübingen-Hagelloch.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Honeybee-cooling_cropped.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/df/Honeybee-cooling.jpg

Wiki Bee photos by Waugsberg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Waugsberg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/dc/Biene_88a.jpg
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Biene_88a.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Bienen_im_Flug_52e.jpg
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Bumblebees: Space For Nature Garden biodiversity forum

http://www.wildlife-gardening.org.uk/default.asp?gallery=GalleriesAnimalsInsectsBumblebeesbombus-pascuorum-040616.xml

Bumblebee Photo Copyright Richard Burkmar 2004. Permission is hereby granted for anyone to use this image for non-commercial purposes which are of benefit to the natural environment.
Richard Burkmar (editor of Space for Nature) graduated from the University College of Cardiff in 1984 with a degree in zoology and a PhD in avian ecology in 1989. He currently works for Merseyside Environmental Advisory Service where he manages the North Merseyside Biodiversity Action Plan (Liverpool, St. Helens, Knowsley and Sefton Boroughs).

richard.burkmar@eas.sefton.gov.uk
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Bumblebees: Buckingham Nurseries and Garden Centre
http://www.buckingham-nurseries.co.uk/acatalog/bumblebees.html
Bumblebee photo by Oxford Bee Company/Buckingham Nurseries and Garden Centre

Bumblebees by Christopher O'Toole
http://www.buckingham-nurseries.co.uk/acatalog/Index_Pollination_Bees_27.html#33171

Chris O'Toole is the director of Bee Systematics and Biology Unit at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History.
He has written many books on insect natural history including Bees of the World and Alien Empire.
Pictures and information provided by the Oxford Bee Company & Buckingham Nurseries and Garden Centre website
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Wind Pollinated plants like Rye are important but are not food sources for pollinators:
Wind Pollinated Rye photo by Paul Billiet and Shirley Burchill
http://www.saburchill.com/chapters/chap0044.html
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Wikipedia on Pollination:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollination

An Andrena bee collects pollen among the stamens of a rose. The female carpel structure appears rough and globular to the left. The bee's stash of pollen is on its hind leg.
By Debi Vort (Username Debivort)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Bee_pollenating_a_rose.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Debivort
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A European honey bee collects nectar, while pollen collects on its body.
A European honey bee (Apis mellifera) extracts nectar from an Aster flower using its proboscis. Tiny hairs covering the bee's body maintain a slight electrostatic charge, causing pollen from the flower's anthers to stick to the bee, allowing for pollination when the bee moves on to another flower.
Photo by John Severns (Wikipedia username Severnjc)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:European_honey_bee_extracts_nectar.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:Severnjc
---

Blueberries being pollinated by bumblebees. Bumblebee hives need to be bought each year as the queens must hibernate (unlike honey bees). They are used nonetheless as they offer advantages with certain fruits as blueberries (such as the fact that they are active even at colder outdoor ambient temperature) A picture showing blueberry pollination by bumblebees, aswell as the system of furrow irrigation using siphon tubes. Pictures were taken at "blueberry fields", Koersel, BelgiumA picture showing blueberry pollination by bumblebees, aswell as the system of furrow irrigation using siphon tubes. Pictures were taken in July 2008 at "blueberry fields", Koersel, Belgium.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:BlueberryPollinationByBumblebees.jpg
Photo by Kristof Van der Poorten Wikipedia username KVDP
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:KVDP
http://kvdp.blogspot.com
http://healingweb.blogspot.com

Environmental Health Science of Columbia University
60 Haven Ave.
Room 100
New York, NY
10032
http://www.mailman.hs.columbia.edu/ehs/index.html
E-mail:
environmentalprojects@gmail.com
---
Wikipedia on Cultivars & Hybrids:
A cultivar is a particular variety of a plant species or hybrid that is being cultivated and/or is recognised as a cultivar under the ICNCP. The concept of cultivar is driven by pragmatism, and serves the practical needs of horticulture, agriculture, forestry, etc.
The plant chosen as a cultivar may have been bred deliberately, selected from plants in cultivation, or discovered in the wild. Cultivars can be asexual clones or seed-raised. Clones are genetically identical and will appear so when grown under the same conditions.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cultivar

Viola 'Clear Crystals Apricot', a hybrid cross viola (Viola x hybrida), Victoria, Australia. Wikipedia photo by John O'Neill (Wikipedia username Jjron)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User_talk:Jjron
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:EmailUser/Jjron
---
Keweenaw Peninsula: Michigan's Copper Country:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper_mining_in_Michigan
http://www.unr.edu/sb204/geology/westernh.html
---
West Virginia White Butterfly & killer Garlic Mustard Seed plants:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Virginia_White
http://www.cbgarden.org/blog/index.php/tag/west-virginia-white-butterfly/
http://leapbio.org/west_virginia_white.php
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/5a/3402_white_WV_ws.jpg

West Virginia White, Pieris virginiensis on wild mustard Photo by Randy L Emmitt
http://www.rlephoto.com/butterflies/white_wv01.htm
---
Butterflies/Moths:
The Butterfly Site:
http://www.thebutterflysite.com/
Children's butterfly links:
http://www.monarchbutterflyusa.com/Links.htm
Butterfly Encounters:
http://www.butterflyencounters.com/
Butterflys and Moths of North America:
http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org
Opler, Paul A., Harry Pavulaan, Ray E. Stanford, Michael Pogue, coordinators. 2006. Butterflies and Moths of North America. Bozeman, MT: NBII Mountain Prairie Information Node. http://www.butterfliesandmoths.org
---
Deciduous forests:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deciduous
---
Viceroys:
Viceroy Butterfly mimics Monarchs
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viceroy_butterfly
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Viceroy_Butterfly.jpg
Wikipedia Viceroy photo by Piccolo “Pic” Namek
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/User:PiccoloNamek

Viceroy:
http://www.nhptv.org/natureworks/viceroy.htm
Photo by William T. Hark
---
Butterfly & endangered species hibernacula:
http://www.fws.gov/midwest/Endangered/lists/michigan-cty.html
http://www.naturenorth.com/summer/bgarden/bttgrdF.html
http://entweb.clemson.edu/museum/buttrfly/local/bfly12.htm
http://actazool.nhmus.hu/48/konvicka.pdf
http://earthcaretaker.com/naturalization/llamb.html
---
Mourning Cloaks aka Morning Cloaks:
http://www.sierrapotomac.org/W_Needham/MourningCloak_060319.htm
http://www.bentler.us/eastern-washington/insects/mourning-cloak.aspx
http://www.ivyhall.district96.k12.il.us/4th/kkhp/1insects/mourningcloak.html
http://www.naturenorth.com/spring/bug/mcloak/Fmcloak.html
---
Mason bees - bee houses in wood:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mason_bee
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/6c/Osmia_rufa_couple_(aka).jpg
Photo of an Red Mason Bee couple (osmia rufa) by André Karwath of German Wikipedia also known as AKA (André Karwath):
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Aka

Mason Bees:
http://www.farminfo.org/bees/mason-bees.htm

http://www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/animals/arthropods/insects/bees/mason_bee/
Photo by Kim Taylor of Bruce Coleman Inc.

http://www.masonbeehomes.com/bee_houses.php
http://www.pollinator.com/mason_homes.htm
http://www.insectpix.net/Homes_for_bees.htm
---
Brownfield sites:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brownfields
http://ncrs.fs.fed.us/4902/focus/restoration/brownfield/
---
Mass Mill - copper processing waste (stamp sands) cleanup:
(search for KBIC in followingf document)
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/tribalgov/ImprovingPartnerships.pdf
http://www.uprcd.org/projects.asp
http://www.upea.com/filesfordownloading/Baragadraft.pdf
http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/programs/tribalgov/ImprovingPartnerships.pdf
---
Dave Anthony & Northern Michigan University Center for Native American studies:
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies/SiteSections/Calendar/IEDSHighlights.shtml
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies/SiteSections/AboutUs/AboutUs.shtml

Manoomin Project:
http://www.indiancountry.com/content.cfm?id=1096416108
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org/wildrice2007.html
http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/news_press_release,215966.%20shtml
http://blog.americanfeast.com/indigenous_food
http://www.goodnewsdaily.com/show_story.php?ID=3500

Manoomin Project Videos:
http://blip.tv/file/549632
http://blip.tv/file/341528/
---
Dreamcatcher:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreamcatcher_(Native_American)
http://www.dreamcatcher.com/home.php
---
Northern white cedar:
http://forestry.about.com/library/tree/blntwh.htm
---
More on honeybee decline:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pollinator_decline
http://www.masterbeekeeper.org/pdf/pollination.pdf
The Value of Honey Bees As Pollinators of U.S. Crops in 2000 by Drs. Roger Morse and Nicholas Calderone of Cornell University (2000) :
Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD) is a poorly understood phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or Western honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, the term Colony Collapse Disorder was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honey bee colonies in North America in late 2006.
European beekeepers observed a similar phenomenon in Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain, and initial reports have also come in from Switzerland and Germany, albeit to a lesser degree. Possible cases of CCD have also been reported in Taiwan since April 2007.
---

National Wildlife Federation & Charles S. Mott Foundation sound warning cry for the future of Michigan's Upper Peninsula

Please God ! - Protect the northern Michigan wilderness from pollution & greed

Admission is free but donations are welcome at the Dec. 5, 2008 documentary event in Marquette, Michigan.

Despite a passionate outcry by the public, Michigan officials - including the Democratic governor - are allowing an international mining company with deep pockets to forever change the pristine wilderness known as the Upper Peninsula.

In fact, Governor Jennifer Granholm's top northern Michigan aide recently quit his job to become a government relations official (lobbyist) for the mine's parent company - no doubt a lucrative position.

When the friends of the wilderness betray nature - like our democrat governor - humans have sunk to a new low. Many call it an "Acid" mine because it's deadly byproduct is Sulfuric acid.

Despite a terrible track record and using unproven technology, Kennecott Minerals claim its Eagle mine project won't harm the environment. They must think Upper Peninsula residents are stupid - or greedy.

Once this sulfide mine opens near Lake Superior and beneath a pristine trout stream - the floodgates will open across the Upper Peninsula as numerous mining companies are planning to build acid mines and uranium mines.

The Eagle Project is located between many locations used to film "Anatomy of a Murder." In "Anatomy of a Murder: The Sequel:" Many fear it's northern Michigan's tourism industry that will be beaten to death in an environmental rape that will forever strip the innocence from the Lake Superior basin.

The Marquette Iron Range may not have been perfect as it mined iron ore - but those high paying jobs employed thousands for a century or more.

The sulfide mine is expected to close after about 7 years and employ between 100 to 150 workers.

When the mine managers leave -  what will be left behind?

The must-see documentary was financed by the Charles S. Mott Foundation and produced by the National Wildlife federation.

---

Related Links

---

National Wildlife Federation

Save the Wild UP

Save the Wild UP Blog

Save the Wild UP story on the Mining Madness documentary

Cedar Tree Institute

Governor Granholm's top U.P. aide goes to work for Kennecott parent company

Lansing City Pulse article with more on documentary, politics and Governor's Granholm's top aid - and point person on controversial mine - going to work for Kennecott parent company

(Marquette, Michigan) - It’s a 1,300 mile, two month odyssey - kayaking around the always beautiful and sometimes treacherous Lake Superior.
   
Ashland, Wisconsin residents Alissa Weitz and Brian Castillo are promoting the protection of Lake Superior - the world’s largest freshwater lake.

The twenty somethings departed Bayfield, Wisconsin on July1 and hope to complete their journey by September.

The kayaking duo left Marquette, Michigan on Tuesday afternoon, July 22, 2008 to continue their journey.

They arrived in Marquette for Lake Superior Day 2008 - this year that was July 20 2008.

Lake Superior Day is sponsored by the Lake Superior Bi-national Forum and is held annually on the third Sunday of July.

Alissa and Brian spent Lake Superior Day hiking with friends and swimming including jumping off the tall cliffs at the city's "black rocks."

It's a real Marquette thing to do.

A big part of their quest is educating the public about protecting Lake Superior and why the largest of the Great Lakes is so important.

The trek takes them through the Canada and the United States including Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. Averaging 25 miles a day - with their longest day was about 40 miles.

They encountered water temperatures as low as 38 degrees, fog outside of Marquette, rough waves outside of Houghton, Michigan that prevented them from rounding the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula - and instead cut through the Keweenaw Waterway.

Thanks to Down Wind Sports in Marquette, Brian picked up a new kayak because of problems with the one used during the first part of their trek. Sea Kayak Specialists of Marquette gave the couple tools and a place to work on their equipment.

Weitz is a native of Dubuque, Iowa and Castillo is a native of Madison, Wisconsin.
Alissa is 26 years old and Brian is 23 years old.

Graduates of the Northland College outdoor education program in Ashland, Wisconsin, the couple were competitors working for different kayak guiding companies when they met two years ago and fell in love.

The Kayaker's (Alissa Weitz, Brian Castillo) "Session on Superior" blog about trip around the lake:
http://www.sessiononsuperior.blogspot.com

Please check out their blog and our other videos about Brian and Alissa.

A video about the first month of their adventure was made in cooperation with the Cedar Tree Institute, the Earth Keeper Initiative, the Earth Healing Initiative and the Turtle Island Project – all northern Michigan-based non-profits seeking to protect Lake Superior.

And special thanks to the Lake Superior Binational Forum for helping make the video possible.

---
Related Links:
---
News coverage of Alissa, Brian:
Marquette:
http://www.miningjournal.net
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/513083.html
---
Ashland paper:
Marquette Photo:
http://www.ashlandwi.com/articles/2008/07/24/news/doc4888981f7b087681234763.txt

Story prior to trip:
http://www.ashlandwi.com/articles/2008/07/02/news/doc486b8dfe3df63322933742.txt
---
Madison, WI:
---
WX Channnel:
http://uservideo.weather.com:80/item/GY56YQ4K0TH0B3CS
---

Lake Superior Binational Forum
Lissa Radke, LSFB US Coordinator
715-682-1489
http://www.superiorforum.info
---

Northland College in Ashland, WI:
http://www.northland.edu/Northland
---
“Flying a kite” along Lake Superior
http://www.superiorforum.info/uploads/Kite_Poster.pdf
---

Down Wind Sports:
http://www.downwindsports.com/index.html
http://www.downwindsports.com/about.html
http://www.downwindsports.com/paddling.html

Owners: Bill Thompson, Todd King, Jeff Stasser and Arni Ronis

Marquette: 906-226-7112
514 N. Third Street
Marquette, MI
49855

Houghton: 906-482-2500
308 Shelden Ave.
Houghton, MI
49931
---

Sea Kayak Specialists:
http://www.seakayakspecialists.com
http://www.seakayakspecialists.com/html/about_sks.html
http://www.seakayakspecialists.com/html/contact_us.html

Sea Kayak Specialists
PO Box 94
Marquette, MI
49855

Sam Crowley
Nancy Uschold
906-250-4238
---
Other links related to trip:
http://caskaorg.typepad.com/caska/2008/07/superior-sessio.html
---
UM Sea Grant
http://www.seagrant.umn.edu
---

EcoSuperior Enviro:
http://www.ecosuperior.com
---

Environment Canada:
http://www.ec.gc.ca
---
This video made in cooperation with:
---

Turtle Island Project official website:
http://www.turtleislandproject.org

Earth Healing Initiative official website:
http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org

Cedar Tree Institute: (Michigan Earth Keepers, Manoomin Project and the 2008 Zaagkii Wings & Seeds project)
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org

---
Earth Keeper TV
http://www.youtube.com/yoopernewsman

Turtle Island TV (youtube)
http://www.youtube.com/MunisingWhiteHorse

Earth Healing TV
http://www.youtube.com/user/EarthHealingTV
---

Western U.P. electronic waste collections set: June 21 in Houghton and Keweenaw counties; July 12 in Baraga County; dates for other areas TBA

The Western Upper Peninsula Electronics Recycling Program, a project of the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), provides households with an environmentally and economically sound solution to disposing of electronic waste.

Residents of Baraga, Gogebic, Houghton, Keweenaw, and Ontonagon Counties, who have generated electronic waste in their household, may bring their items to e-waste collection sites on the specified collection dates in their area.

The initiative received grants and/or other assistance from the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality and United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

The northern Michigan collection is connected to the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge that involves over 100 projects in eight states across the Great Lakes Basin.

More than a dozen previous collections since 2005 have garnered nearly 48 tons of e-waste from over 850 participants.
---
2005: 8 collections, 26.5 tons
2006: 4 collections, 15 tons
2007: 1 collection, 6.25 tons
---
Commonly called e-waste, electronics waste includes old and broken computers, cell phones, TVs and other items found in many homes.

           
The collection for Houghton and Keweenaw counties will be on June 21 from 9 am to noon at the health department offices in Hancock.

An e-waste collection will be held in Baraga County on July 12 from 10 a.m. to noon at a site to be announced.

Collection events for other Copper Country counties will be announced in the future.

The cost to drop off e-waste is 10 cents per pound.

The Western Upper Peninsula Electronics Recycling Program will accept a wide range of e-waste during collection events including cell phones, computer and related equipment like laptops, monitors, towers aka central processing units, printers, scanners, keyboards and computer mice

Other e-waste accepted includes stereo equipment, televisions, VCR and DVD players, copiers, cordless telephones, fax machines, fluorescent light bulbs that are 4 to 8 feet in length, microwave ovens and batteries including alkaline, nickel cadmium, lead acid, lithium, mercury.

Organizers said it estimated that between 1997 and 2007, nearly 500 million personal computers will became obsolete.  That's almost 2 computers for every person living in the United States.

TV's and computer monitors contain an average of 4 pounds of lead, as well as other toxins.

According to Closing the Circle News, the manufacture of one computer consumes 529 pounds of fossil fuels, 49 pounds of chemicals, and 3,307 pounds of water.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency projects that nationwide nearly 250 million computers will become obsolete in the next five years.

For additional information contact the Western Upper Peninsula Electronics Recycling Program or RSVP at 906-482-7382.

The goal of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was the collecting and recycling of one million pounds of electronics (e-Waste) plus the collection and proper disposal of one million pills. The EPA says those goals were exceeded by 400 to 500 percent.

The Earth Healing Initiative assisted some challenge organizers by offering interfaith liaisons to volunteer and encourage members of local churches and temples to participate in the Earth Day related events in their area.

The Earth Healing Initiative has produced numerous videos about the projects connected to the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge that are made possible by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 office in Chicago, the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office also in Chicago in cooperation with the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI.

The EHI involves American Indian tribes and a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment.

---
Related websites:
---

Western Upper Peninsula District Health Department:
http://www.wupdhd.org
---
e-waste info:
http://www.wupdhd.org/rsvp/e-waste.html
---
RSVP:
http://www.wupdhd.org/rsvp/index.html
---
Contact info:
Western Upper Peninsula District Health Department and the Retired & Senior Volunteer Program
540 Depot Street
Hancock, MI
49930

Barbara Maronen
906-482-7382
---
EPA Region 5 Office in Chicago, Illinois
http://www.epa.gov/region5
---

Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative
http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org

906-401-0109
---

Cedar Tree Institute
http://www.CedarTreeInstitute.org
---

Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Baha'i Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website:
http://www.interfaithresources.com

Justice St. Rain
1-800-326-1197 (toll free)
1-847-733-3559 (wk)

Interfaith Resources
P.O. Box 9
511 Diamond Rd
Heltonville, IN
47436

Free, special collection for old prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals for residents of southwest Michigan set for June 21, 2008 in Kalamazoo County

Residents of the Kalamazoo area and all of southwest Michigan can to their part to protect the Great Lakes during a free public pharmaceutical collection later this month.

Old and unwanted medicines and personal care products will be accepted on Saturday, June 21, from 9 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the Loy Norrix High School, 606 E. Kilgore (off Lovers Lane) in Kalamazoo.

The pharmaceutical collection is sponsored by Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that provided a grant for the project.

The collection is connected to the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge that involves over 100 projects in eight states across the Great Lakes Basin.

Southwest Michigan residents can rid their home of unwanted prescription and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals plus personal care products.

For example - items that will be accepted include:

• Prescription medication, such as antibiotics, birth control, and insulin (but no sharps or syringes)

• Medication samples and over-the-counter medication, such as ibuprofen, aspirin, cold medicine

• Personal care products, such as medicated ointments, lotions, and shampoos

• Veterinary medications

Items that will not be accepted include:

• Medical waste like sharps and syringes

• Products containing mercury like thermometers
---
The collection is free to all households in southwest Michigan.

Organizers say the collection is important to protect Lake Michigan and other lakes and streams - like Arcadia Creek.

The reason - an investigation by the Associated Press found a wide variety of pharmaceuticals, including antibiotics, mood stabilizers and hormones, in the drinking water of 41 million Americans.

Most medications pass untreated through wastewater treatment plants because those facilities are not designed to remove the chemicals.

That means the pharmaceuticals are discharged into local rivers or groundwater.

For more information call 269-373-5211

Or visit the EPA and Kalamazoo County websites at these addresses:
http://www.epa.gov/ppcp
http://www.kalcounty.com/hcs

Again - a free pharmaceutical collection for residents of the Kalamazoo area and southwest Michigan will be held on Saturday, June 21 from 9 a.m.-1:00 p.m. at the Loy Norrix High School at 606 E. Kilgore (off Lovers Lane) in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The pharmaceutical collection is sponsored by Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

EPA Graphic: EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge beats goals by 400 to 500 percent

The goal of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was the collecting and recycling of one million pounds of electronics (e-Waste) plus the collection and proper disposal of one million pills. The EPA says those goals were exceeded many times over.

 

The Earth Healing Initiative assisted challenge organizers by offering interfaith liaisons to volunteer and encourage members of local churches and temples to participate in the Earth Day related events in their area.

The EHI is creating dozens of videos on the projects connected to the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge that are made possible by a grant from the US Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 office in Chicago the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office also in Chicago in cooperation with the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI.

The EHI involves American Indian tribes and a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment.
---
Related Links & Information:
---

Kalamazoo County Health and Community Services
http://www.kalcounty.com/hcs

Kalamazoo County Environmental Health Bureau
http://www.kalcounty.com/eh/index.htm

Kalamazoo County homepage:
http://www.kalcounty.com
---
EPA - Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs)
http://www.epa.gov/ppcp
---
EPA Region 5 Office in Chicago, Illinois
http://www.epa.gov/region5
---

Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative
http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org

906-401-0109
---
Cedar Tree Institute
http://www.CedarTreeInstitute.org
---
Kalamazoo - Southwest Michigan First
http://www.southwestmichiganfirst.com/index.cfm
Maps:
http://www.southwestmichiganfirst.com/pdf/Kalamazoo%20Region.pdf
http://www.southwestmichiganfirst.com/pdf/Kalamazoo%20County1.pdf
---
Kalamazoo Downtown Central City website:
http://www.central-city.net
http://www.central-city.net/festivalsite?mth=festivalsite&subc=festplanning
---

Kalamazoo Wikimedia:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Kalamazoo%2C_Michigan
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Kalamazoo.jpg
---
Kalamazoo River:
www.kalamazooriver.net
---

Loy Norrix High School:
http://www.kalamazoopublicschools.com/education/school/school.php?sectionid=24
http://www.kalamazoopublicschools.com/education/school/schoolmap.php?sectiondetailid=279&sc_id=1210344809
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Loy_Norrix
---

Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Baha'i Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website:
http://www.interfaithresources.com

Justice St. Rain
1-800-326-1197 (toll free)
1-847-733-3559 (wk)

Interfaith Resources
P.O. Box 9
511 Diamond Rd
Heltonville, IN
47436
-------
Kalamazoo County Environmental Health Bureau
3299 Gull Road
Kalamazoo, Michigan 49048
269-373-5210
---

 

(Keshena, WI) - The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in Keshena held massive electronic and pharmaceutical waste collections during the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge - involving over 100 projects across eight states that comprise the Great Lakes basin.

However, the tribe was creative as it added other facets to the challenge like teaching the children about its culture and the close relationship to the earth and its many lakes and streams.

All classes at the tribal school taught the students about the sturgeon, that is a vital part of Menominee legend and heritage, said Joe Awanahopay, language arts instructor at the Menominee tribal school.

Joe Awanahopay, Menominee Tribal School language arts instructor

Called the protectors of Menominee wild rice, the sturgeon used to spawn on the reservation until a man made dam blocked the route so the sturgeon could not reach their ancestral spawning grounds.

Earth Week tribal school classes applied subjects like math, history and others to different aspects of the life cycle, biology, habitat, legends, current/past spawning grounds and the cultural and practical value of the sturgeon, an important fish to the Menominee people since the dawn of their tribe.

"The sturgeon are a historic importance to our people," Awanahopay said.

"Since the beginning of time, our people have relied upon the sturgeons for various reasons including for food and scraping hides." "In our legends, the sturgeon are the protectors of our wild rice," said Awanahopay of the slow growing giant fish known for its thick hide and rubbery snout whose uses and related regulations have sometimes pitted white fishermen against American Indians.

"We have been engaging the students in the culture, language, science and the social studies of what the sturgeon mean to our people."

"In the science department they have been studying the anatomy and the physiology of the sturgeon," Awanahopay said. "In the language arts department they are looking at the sturgeon habitats and what the effects of pollution are."

"In social studies they are looking at the different migrations, the geography, the path the sturgeon used to take to come to their home here - their traditional spawning grounds on the Menoninee Indian reservation," Awanahopay said. "Because of two dams that are here now south of our reservation, sturgeon are no longer able to come home here to their ancestral spawning grounds."

The tribal school students are immersed in Menominee culture and learn to speak the language and its meaning.

This was applied to the sturgeon lessons.

"In the language and culture room, I focus on the historic importance and the legends of the sturgeon and how these things were passed down from one generation to another generation and why it’s important for our youth to hang on to that," Awanahopay said.

The students learn "to look forward into the future with the knowledge of the sturgeon, but yet hang onto their spiritual and cultural heritage that is so rich."

The tribal school students have a vast reservoir of sturgeon knowledge that the elders are happy to pass on.

"We are so fortunate to have so many elders that we still work with that are able to give us this knowledge and pass it from one generation to the next, despite all of the forced assimilation and the changes in our youth, who are trying to make their way in modern society yet integrate the traditions with the technology in today’s world," Awanahopay said.

Other tribal projects during the challenge included a collection of unwanted medications and e-waste at the College of Menominee Nation and the clean up of two reservation communities by tribal school students, the Menominee Teen Court Panel, and many other volunteers.

The students also whitewashed gang graffiti at a skateboard park replacing it with American Indian art.

Adults participated in the challenge in a big way - as the tribe's Solid Waste and Recycling Department held curbside e-waste collections during Earth week 2008 - and all month accepted e-waste at the transfer station. Cardboard and other items are also recycled by the Menominee tribe

Native American and other students also made garbage monsters at the Keshena Public Schools with help from their parents using common every day trash from home. The students made a presentation on how to be reuse stuff they normally thrown in the trash like plastic jugs.

More than four tons of e-waste and other recyclables were removed from the reservation during April.

Faculty and students brought their old computers, cell phones and medicines to an e-waste and pharmaceutical collection site at the tribal college in Keshena, Wisconsin to help a federal Earth Day challenge to clean up the Great Lakes Basin, while younger students cleaned up the reservation and whitewashed gang graffiti.

At the College of Menominee Nation, the Earth Day 2008 e-waste and medicine collections went smoothly as people turned in hundreds of items.

Over 23 pounds of medicines were turned in including 100 bottles of pills, more than 25 computers and dozens of related components like hard drives, printers, keyboards and speakers; televisions, radios, DVD players, 12 cell phones and over 100 small batteries.

The collection is among numerous Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin (MITW) projects that are part of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge that runs through the end of April.

Gang graffiti was whitewashed from a skateboard park wall near the tribal school by K-8 students. The MITW youth honored Earth Day and replaced graffiti with positive Native American symbols.

"The younger students put their hands in paint and made flower hand prints on the wall," said teacher Beth Waukechon. "All week students have been cleaning up the reservation, and one student was so inspired she wants to start an Earth Club."

On Friday, April 25, over 180 students cleaned up litter around the community of Neopit.

"The students are giving thanks to Mother Earth for all that she had done," Waukechon said. "They are taking a moment each day to do that."

"We know that Mother Earth can shake us off at any moment," she said. "We are the ones that need her, she doesn't need us."

"Clean up the Rez Day" was held on Thursday, April 24 at the tribe's Youth Development and Outreach program. The Menominee Teen Court Panel and volunteers cleaned up garbage, said Claudette Hewson, MITW Restorative Justice Coordinator.

The teen panel, ages 14 to 17, is a peer review for youthful offenders sentenced in tribal court who "need to learn healthy behaviors," Hewson said. On May 2, at-risk teens will paint over more reservation gang graffiti.

Sponsors include the tribe's Community Resource Center, Menominee County Police, Menominee Tribal Police, Tribal Clinic Wellness Program (Maehnowesekiyah), Probation and Parole, Community Recycling Project, Recreation Department, EarthHealing.org and the U.S. Post Office in Keshena.

Earth Week tribal school classes applied subjects like math, history and others to different aspects of the life cycle, biology and value of the sturgeon, an important fish to the Menominee tribe.

Overseeing the pharmaceutical collection was Heidi Cartwright, a part-time Manawa police officer and college police science instructor.

While hosting the collection, the college's Implementing Sustainable Development class found out they won the National Recycling Coalition Bin Grant through Coca-Cola, said professor William Van Lopik, Ph.D.

"One of premises of the class is to do things, not just talk about what we are going to do and how the world is going to be changed, but having students do things," Dr. Van Lopik said.

The grant pays for 50 recycling bins.

The class has participated in the ten-week Recycle Mania project two years in a row that involves weighing recyclables as they leave the building. This year, the class ranked 136 out of 200 colleges and universities with 8 pounds of recyclables per person, beating out Ohio State and Georgetown, Van Lopik said.

The MITW held curbside pickup of electronics during Earth Week. A couple thousand pounds of electronics were turned in at the MITW transfer station since April 1. The total is expected to reach several tons.

Native American students recently created "Garbage Monsters" out of bottles, paper and other items found in their trash in a project at the Keshena Public Schools, said Diana Wolf, MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator. After naming their monsters, the students explained other uses for the garbage.

This video on the projects connected to the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 Office in Chicago, the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office, also in Chicago, in cooperation with the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI.

The EHI involves American Indian tribes and "a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment," said EHI founder Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, Michigan.

---

I'm Greg Peterson and you're watching Earth Healing TV

---

Related website about Keshena, Neopit, the College of Menominee Nation and Menominee County, WI:

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin official website - homepage:

http://www.menominee-nsn.gov

MITW Tribal School website:

http://mts.bia.edu

---

College of Menominee Nation:

http://www.menominee.edu

---

Earth Healing Initiative Keshena, WI page:

http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/keshena.html

Earth Healing Initiative:

http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org

---

MITW Maehnowesekiyah Wellness Center:

http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/healthFamily/maehnowesekiyah/maehHome.php

http://www.wcadv.org/index.cfm?go=about/news_pressrelease&id=26

http://www.reznetnews.org/article/news/scared_and_scarred

---

University of WI Cooperative Extention wesbsite page for Menominee tribe info like schools, college:

http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/menominee/index.html

---

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Youth Development & Outreach

http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/healthFamily/youthDevel/youthHome.php

---

Youth Development and Outreach

W3191 Fredenberg Drive

P.O. Box 910

Keshena, WI 54135

715-799-5137

715-799-5227 (Fax)

Director: Darwin Dick

---

Great Lakes Inter Tribal Council

http://www.glitc.org/pages/mtw.html

---

Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bah'i Community) of Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website:

http://www.interfaithresources.com

http://www.interfaithresources.com/subcategories.php?dir=leftMenuSub&template=default&id=10

http://www.interfaithresources.com/products.php?id=2469

---

Call Justice St. Rain at Interfaith resources:

1-800-326-1197

---

Interfaith Resources

P.O. Box 9

511 Diamond Rd.

Heltonville, Indiana

47436

---

"Bah'u'llh, the One who founded the Faithclaims to fulfill the prophecies concerning the Promised One of all religions. His life and teachings are worthy of further study to determine the goodness of His fruit, and the validity of His claim."

Quote from "Finding Common Ground"

How many beliefs do you share with members of the Bah'i Community?

You may be surprised!

By Justice St. Rain

(Bloomington, IN: Published by Special Ideas, 1997), p. 11

Interfaith graphics located with help from Bahai Media and Public Information specialist Ellen Price

wk: 847-733-3559

http://www.bahai.us

---

Samuels Recycling - Green Bay, WI:

http://www.samuelsrec.com/mapmenu.htm

---

Links to sites about Samuel's Recycling in Green Bay (Buyer Mike Zastrow - 1-920-494-3451)

http://www.altermetalrecycling.com/Green_Bay_WI.jsp

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/markets/matcompany.asp?sortby=city

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/markets/comp_detail.asp?id=400

http://search.greenbaypressgazette.com/sp?aff=109&catId=19220500

--

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_the_Menominee_Nation

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keshena%2C_Wisconsin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neopit%2C_Wisconsin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menominee_County%2C_Wisconsin

http://www.wisconline.com/counties/menominee/

http://www.wisconline.com/counties/menominee/data.html

---

>

College of Menominee Nation: EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge and a lesson in Great Lakes recycling 101

Dr. William Van Lopik, College of Menominee Nation professor of the Implementing Sustainable Development classes

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin contributed over 4 tons of electronic and pharmaceutical waste to the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge.

This is the first of several vidoes explaining the tribes numerous projects that included cleaning up the reservation, replacing gang symbols with Native American art, teaching youth about the legend of the sturgeon and its place in tribal culture.

In part one, the non-profit interfaith Earth Healing Initiative looks at the many recycling projects of the College of Menominee nation.
---

(Keshena, WI) - The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in Keshena is being praised for its massive cleanup projects during the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge - involving over 100 projects across eight states that comprise the Great lakes basin.

The college of Menominee Nation held a pharmaceutical and electronic waste collection as part of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge.

Other tribal projects during the challenge included the clean up of two reservation communities by tribal school students, The Menominee Teen Court Panel, and many other volunteers.

All classes at the tribal school taught the students about the sturgeon, that is a vital part of Menominee legend and heritage.

Called the protector guardian of Menominee wild rice, the sturgeon used to spawn on the reservation until a man made dam blocked the route so the sturgeon could not reach their ancestral spawning grounds.

The students also whitewashed gang graffiti at a skateboard park replacing it with American Indian art.

Adults participated in the challenge in a big way - as the tribe's Solid Waste and Recycling Department held curbside e-waste collections during Earth week 2008 - and all month accepted e-waste at the transfer station. Cardboard and other items are also recycled by the Menominee tribe.

Native American and other students also made garbage monsters at the Keshena Public Schools with help from their parents using common every day trash from home. The students made a presentation on how to be reuse stuff they normally thrown in the trash like plastic jugs.

More than four tons of e-waste and other recyclables - plus litter - was removed from the reservation during April.

Faculty and students brought their old computers, cell phones and medicines to an e-waste and pharmaceutical collection site at the tribal college in Keshena, Wisconsin to help a federal Earth Day challenge to clean up the Great Lakes Basin, while younger students cleaned up the reservation and whitewashed gang graffiti.

At the College of Menominee Nation, the Earth Day 2008 e-waste and medicine collections went smoothly as people turned in hundreds of items.

Over 23 pounds of medicines were turned in including 100 bottles of pills, more than 25 computers and dozens of related components like hard drives, printers, keyboards and speakers; televisions, radios, DVD players, 12 cell phones and over 100 small batteries.

The collection is among numerous Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin (MITW) projects that are part of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge that runs through the end of April.

Gang graffiti was whitewashed from a skateboard park wall near the tribal school by K-8 students. The MITW youth honored Earth Day and replaced graffiti with positive Native American symbols.

"The younger students put their hands in paint and made flower hand prints on the wall," said teacher Beth Waukechon. "All week students have been cleaning up the reservation, and one student was so inspired she wants to start an Earth Club."

On Friday, April 25, over 180 students cleaned up litter around the community of Neopit.

"The students are giving thanks to Mother Earth for all that she had done," Waukechon said. "They are taking a moment each day to do that."

"We know that Mother Earth can shake us off at any moment," she said. "We are the ones that need her, she doesn't need us."

"Clean up the Rez Day" was held on Thursday, April 24 at the tribe's Youth Development and Outreach program. The Menominee Teen Court Panel and volunteers cleaned up garbage, said Claudette Hewson, MITW Restorative Justice Coordinator.

The teen panel, ages 14 to 17, is a peer review for youthful offenders sentenced in tribal court who "need to learn healthy behaviors," Hewson said. On May 2, at-risk teens will paint over more reservation gang graffiti.

Sponsors include the tribe's Community Resource Center, Menominee County Police, Menominee Tribal Police, Tribal Clinic Wellness Program (Maehnowesekiyah), Probation and Parole, Community Recycling Project, Recreation Department, EarthHealing.org and the U.S. Post Office in Keshena.

Earth Week tribal school classes applied subjects like math, history and others to different aspects of the life cycle, biology and value of the sturgeon, an important fish to the Menominee tribe.

Overseeing the pharmaceutical collection was Heidi Cartwright, pictured on the left above, a part-time Manawa police officer and college police science instructor.

While hosting the collection, the college's Implementing Sustainable Development class found out they won the National Recycling Coalition Bin Grant through Coca-Cola, said professor William Van Lopik, Ph.D.

"One of premises of the class is to do things, not just talk about what we are going to do and how the world is going to be changed, but having students do things," Dr. Van Lopik said.

The grant pays for 50 recycling bins that the college plans to share with the tribal school.

The class has participated in the ten-week Recycle Mania project two years in a row that involves weighing recyclables as they leave the building. This year, the class ranked 136 out of 200 colleges and universities with 8 pounds of recyclables per person, beating out Ohio State and Georgetown, Van Lopik said.

The MITW held curbside pickup of electronics during Earth Week. A couple thousand pounds of electronics were turned in at the MITW transfer station since April 1. The total is expected to reach several tons.

Native American students recently created "Garbage Monsters" out of bottles, paper and other items found in their trash in a project at the Keshena Public Schools, said Diana Wolf, MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator. After naming their monsters, the students explained other uses for the garbage.

This video on the projects connected to the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge was made possible by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the EPA's Region 5 office in Chicago, the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office, also in Chicago, in cooperation with the non-profit Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative in Marquette, MI.

The EHI involves American Indian tribes and "a coalition of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together to heal, protect and defend the environment," said EHI founder Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, Michigan.
---

I'm Greg Peterson and you're watching Earth Healing TV
---
Related website about Keshena, Neopit, the College of Menominee Nation and Menominee County, WI:
---
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin official website - homepage:
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov

---
MITW Tribal School website:
http://mts.bia.edu/

---
College of Menominee Nation
http://www.menominee.edu
---
Earth Healing Initiative Keshena, WI page:
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/keshena.html

Earth Healing Initiative:
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org
---
MITW Maehnowesekiyah Wellness Center:
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/healthFamily/maehnowesekiyah/maehHome.php
http://www.wcadv.org/index.cfm?go=about/news_pressrelease&id=26
http://www.reznetnews.org/article/news/scared_and_scarred
---
University of WI Cooperative Extention wesbsite page for Menominee tribe info like schools, college:
http://www.uwex.edu/ces/cty/menominee/index.html
---
Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Youth Development & Outreach
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/healthFamily/youthDevel/youthHome.php
---
Youth Development and Outreach
W3191 Fredenberg Drive
P.O. Box 910
Keshena, WI 54135
715-799-5137
715-799-5227 (Fax)
Director: Darwin Dick
---
Great Lakes Inter Tribal Council
http://www.glitc.org/pages/mtw.html
---
Samuels Recycling - Green Bay, WI:
http://www.samuelsrec.com/mapmenu.htm
---
Links to sites about Samuel's Recycling in Green Bay (Buyer Mike Zastrow - 1-920-494-3451)
http://www.altermetalrecycling.com/Green_Bay_WI.jsp
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/markets/matcompany.asp?sortby=city
http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/markets/comp_detail.asp?id=400
http://search.greenbaypressgazette.com/sp?aff=109&catId=19220500
--
From Wikipedia:
The College of the Menominee Nation (abbreviated CMN) is one of 34 tribal based community colleges in the United States. The college's main campus is in Keshena, Wisconsin and has another campus in Oneida, Wisconsin. The college is one of two tribal based colleges in Wisconsin.
The tribal college was chartered in 1993. The college began offering classes in the 1993 Spring semester. The College of Menominee Nation was granted full accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission on August 7, 1998. The college is a member of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/College_of_the_Menominee_Nation
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keshena%2C_Wisconsin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neopit%2C_Wisconsin
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Menominee_County%2C_Wisconsin

http://www.wisconline.com/counties/menominee/
http://www.wisconline.com/counties/menominee/data.html

Recycle Mania:
http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/overview.htm
http://www.recyclemaniacs.org/university_detail08.asp?ID=4018

National Recycling Coalition Bin Grant through Coca-Cola:
http://www.nrc-recycle.org/bingrantrelease.aspx
http://www.nrc-recycle.org/coca-colanrcbingrantprogram.aspx
http://www.prnewswire.com/cgi-bin/stories.pl?ACCT=104&STORY=/www/story/04-22-2008/0004797928&EDATE=

Menominee tribal school students remove gang graffiti, pick up litter; College students collect 23 pounds of pills; dozens of computers in Earth Week projects connected to the EPA Great Lakes Earth Day Challenge

The College of Menominee Nation e-waste and pharmaceutical collection pulled in 23 pounds of pills, and dozens of computers, related equipment and cell phones. Pictured, above left to right, are Heidi Cartwright, a part-time police officer in the town of Manawa and a police science instructor at the college, who guarded the drugs; College of Menominee Nation event co-organizer and student Cheyenne Caldwell; her daughter, Jazzmin Caldwell, 7 years old, first grade student at Keshena public schools; and Diana Wolf, MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator. (Photo courtesy tribal college professor William Van Lopik, Ph.D., who teaches the Implementing Sustainable Development classes)

(Keshena, WI) - Faculty and students brought their old computers, cell phones and medicines to an e-waste and pharmaceutical collection site at the tribal college in Keshena, Wisconsin to help a federal Earth Day challenge to clean up the Great Lakes Basin, while younger students have been cleaning up the reservation and whitewashing gang graffiti.

At the College of Menominee Nation, the e-waste and medicine collections went without a hitch as people turned in hundreds of items on Tuesday, April 22, 2008 at the campus commons.

Over 23 pounds of medicines were turned in including about 100 bottles of pills, more than 25 computers and dozens of related components like hard drives, printers, keyboards and speakers. American Indian households are dropped off televisions, radios, DVD players, 12 cell phones and over 100 small batteries used to power the electronics.

Pictured, above left to right, is Jazzmin Caldwell, 7 years old, first grade student at Keshena public schools; and her mother, College of Menominee Nation event co-organizer and student Cheyenne Caldwell, who are showing computers and other e-waste gather as part of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge.

Tuesday’s six-hour collection is among numerous Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin projects that are part of the United States Environmental Protection Agency Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge that runs through the end of April.

MITW students says no to gangs, replace negative graffiti with positive Native American artwork

Gang graffiti was whitewashed from a wall at a skateboard park near the tribal school this week by K-8 students on the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin reservation who wanted to clean up the area in honor of Earth Day and replace the negative message with a positive Native American symbol.

"The younger students put their hands in paint and made flower hand prints on the wall," said teacher Beth Waukechon. "All week students have been cleaning up the reservation, and one student was so inspired she wants to start an Earth Club."

On Friday, April 25, over 180 students continued cleaning up litter around the community of Neopit, one of four towns on the 234,000-acre reservation known for its thick forests and 24-miles of the pristine federally protected Wolf River.

"The students are giving thanks to Mother Earth for all that she had done," Waukechon said. "They are taking a moment each day to do that."

"We know that she (Mother Earth) can shake us off at any moment," Waukechon said. "We are the ones that need her - she doesn’t need us."

Another project, "Clean up the Rez Day" was held on Thursday, Aopril 24 based at the tribe’s Youth Development and Outreach program.

The Menominee Teen Court Panel and other volunteers cleaned up litter and garbage, said Claudette Hewson, MITW Restorative Justice Coordinator.

The litter was separated and when possible recycled through the MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Department.

The panel is comprised of teens, ages 14 to 17, some of whom have been in minor scrapes with the law. The teen panel acts as a peer review for youthful offenders sentenced in tribal court who "need to learn healthy behaviors," Hewson said.

On May 2, at-risk teens sentenced to probation and parole will paint over gang graffiti around the reservation.

Sponsors of the ongoing project include the tribe’s Community Resource Center, Menominee County Police, Menominee Tribal Police, Tribal Clinic Wellness Program, Maehnowesekiyah, Probation and Parole, Community Recycling Project, Recreation Department, EarthHealing.org and the U.S. Post Office in Keshena.

Tribal School students used April to learn about many aspects of the planet and the environment including the legendary sturgeon, that's much more than a fish to Menominee Indians.

In many ways, the Menominee culture revolves around the sturgeon and satudents learn its value from a young age.

During Earth Week all classes at the MITW tribal school have been applying subjects like math, history and others to different aspects of the life cycle, biology and value of the sturgeon, an important fish to the Menominee tribe

The MITW students learned a wide range of facts including about sturgeon habitat, its cultural and historical value to their tribe, why it grows so big and lives longer than many fish

The college’s Implementing Sustainable Development classes, that sponsored e-waste and medicine collections, found out Tuesday during the project that they had won the National Recycling Coalition Bin Grant through Coca-Cola, said class professor William Van Lopik, Ph.D.

"One of premises of the class is to do things, not just talk about what we are going to do and how the world is going to be changed, but having students do things," Dr. Van Lopik said.

The college was among 75 colleges and universities, and the only tribal college, to receive the grant out of over 1,100 applicants, Van Lopik said.

The grant pays for 50 recycling bins to be placed around the campus and other areas.

The class has participated in the ten-week Recycle Mania project two years in a row that involves weighing recyclables as they leave the building. This year, the class ranked 136 out of 200 colleges and universities with 8 pounds of recyclables per person, beating out Ohio State and Georgetown, Van Lopik said.

The MITW held a curbside pickup of electronics for members during Earth Week, April 21-24.

A couple thousand pounds of electronics was turned in at the MITW transfer station since April 1 and the total weigh of circuit boards to be recycled is expected to reach several tons.

"Garbage Monsters" give students a friendly environment scare

Native American students, their parents and others recently created "Garbage Monsters" out of bottles, paper and other items found in their trash in a project at the Keshena Public Schools, said Diana Wolf, MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator. After naming their monsters, the students gave a presentation on other uses for the garbage they used to make the creatures.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued the challenge to Great Lakes basin residents participating in over 100 projects in literally hundreds of communities that are collecting pharmaceuticals, electronics and household poisons. The EPA awarded grants to some of the projects.

The MITW and interfaith groups are volunteering in the challenge to help the EPA reach its goal of one million pounds of e-waste and one million pills across the Great Lakes basin states of Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania.

"We will do whatever it takes to do cradle to grave recycling," Wolf said, adding the tribe follows EPA guidelines. "We are not making a profit off of it but it is the right thing to do."

With assistance from an EPA grant, the new non-profit Earth Healing Initiative (EHI) is offering a wide range of free services to the MITW and some of the cities to hold e-waste and pharmaceutical collections.

The EHI involves American Indian tribes and "a coalition and partnership of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together and sharing their projects and resources to heal, protect and defend the environment," said EHI founder Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, Michigan.

Trust between religions and Native American communities including participating in joint environment projects are vital to protect the future of the earth, said a Lutheran bishop, who has participated in numerous Earth Day recycling projects.

"We are in an environmental crisis in many ways," said Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes of the Northern Great Lakes Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "The Great Lakes watershed is really a kind of a mother to all of us here in the populated areas of the upper Midwest."

Interfaith and Native American participation in environment projects like the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge will help ensure a better future for all humans, Skrenes said.

The Earth Healing Initiative volunteers are working with challenge project organizers in numerous cities including Milwaukee, Chicago, Duluth and the Greater Cleveland Area.

Related Links:

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin Youth Development & Outreach

http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/healthFamily/youthDevel/youthHome.php

Youth Development and Outreach

W3191 Fredenberg Drive

P.O. Box 910

Keshena, WI 54135

715-799-5137

715-799-5227 (Fax)

Director: Darwin Dick

---

Earth Healing Initiative Keshena, WI page:

http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/keshena.html

Earth Healing Initiative:

http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org

---

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin homepage

http://www.menominee-nsn.gov

College of Menominee Nation

http://www.menominee.edu

Earth Week Flyer - Call: Diana 715-799-5189 or Jeremy 715-799-5710 :

http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/earthWeekFlyer.pdf

---

Great Lakes Inter Tribal Council

http://www.glitc.org/pages/mtw.html

---

Samuels Recycling - Green Bay, WI:

http://www.samuelsrec.com/mapmenu.htm

Links to sites about Samuel's Recycling in Green Bay (Buyer Mike Zastrow - 1-920-494-3451)

http://www.altermetalrecycling.com/Green_Bay_WI.jsp

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/markets/matcompany.asp?sortby=city

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/markets/comp_detail.asp?id=400

http://search.greenbaypressgazette.com/sp?aff=109&catId=19220500

More Garbage Monsters - from the hearts and hands of children - a message to adults about reuse of stuff we throw in the trash:

At the Metcalfe Federal Building, the unwanted medicines collection continues under the supervision of two plainclothes Chicago police officers. (Photo courtesy EPA Flow of the River Blog)

EPA Regional Administrator Mary A. Gade encourages public to participate in  EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge; lauds the wonder of the Great Lakes and reminds audience how much progress has been made since Earth Day started nearly 40 years ago

 

 

 

Speaking during Earth Day  2008 ceremonies at Daley Plaza in Chicago on April 21, 2008 is Mary A. Gade, the EPA Region 5 Administrator and the Great Lakes National Program Manager. The Regional Administrator reports directly to the EPA Administrator in Washington, D.C. (Photo courtesy EPA Flow of the River Blog)

(Chicago, Illinois) - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Regional Administrator Mary A. Gade celebrated Earth Day 2008 with crowds gathered at Daley Plaza in Chicago.

Gade encouraged everyone to participate in the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge that runs through the end of April.

While some events were held last weekend, many of the challenge electronic and pharmaceutical collections are this Saturday, April 26 across eight states.

During the event, Gade and other EPA officials dropped their unwanted medications into a collection barrel.

The unwanted meds collection in the EPA building filled almost the whole barrel. Looking pleased (below) are Vicki Thomas (Great Lakes Program), Region 5 Administrator Mary Gade, and Great Lakes National Program Office Director Gary Gulezian. (Photo courtesy EPA Flow of the River Blog)

With grant money from US EPA, the City of Chicago has purchased pharmaceutical collection boxes (above) like this one. (Photo courtesy EPA Flow of the River Blog)

Photo by treehugger.com

Gade noted how far the fight to protect the environment in America has come over the past 40 years - reminding Chicago residents there was a time when it was necessary to turn on their car headlights to navigate through steel mill pollution that hung thickly in the air on the south side of Lake Michigan.

Cuyahoga River fire: On June 22, 1969, industrial pollutants on the Cuyahoga River caught fire in Cleveland, Ohio, drawing national attention to environmental problems in Ohio and elsewhere in the United States. It was the latest in a series of fires on the river beginning in mid 1800s. Fires occurred on the Cuyahoga River in 1868, 1883, 1887, 1912, 1922, 1936, 1941, 1948, and in 1952. The 1952 fire caused over 1.5 million dollars in damage.

Gade reminded those gathered of the times when American rivers caught fire from industrial pollution in big cities like the infamous blazes on the Cuyahoga River in Ohio.

Gade thanked the city of Chicago, the Chicago Police Department, the U.S. General Services Administration, the U.S. Post Office, the state of Illinois, the Illinois EPA and many others for working with the USEPA to make the challenge possible and for helping to ensure the busy collection sites operate without a problem.

The city of Chicago has another pharmaceutical collection scheduled this Saturday from 8 a.m. to 3 pm on Goose Island at the Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Facility, 1150 N. North Branch St.(Goose Island), Chicago.

In addition to serving as EPA Region 5 Administrator, Gade is the EPA Great Lakes National Program Manager.
---
Related Links:
---
Flow of the River EPA Blog on Chicago Earth Day event:
http://flowoftheriver.epa.gov/greatlakeschallenge/2008/04/earth-day-in-re.html
---
ABC 7 News Chicago:
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=news/local&id=6093572
---
Medil Reports video Earth Day message In Chicago: Making small changes in your daily routine can lead to big changes in the environment
http://news.medill.northwestern.edu/chicago/news.aspx?id=86655
---

Earth911 Story on EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge:
http://earth911.org/blog/2008/03/14/epas-great-lakes-2008-earth-day-challenge-a-prescription-for-healthy-great-lakes/
---
EPA Region 5 Office in Chicago, Illinois
Mary A. Gade, Regional Administrator, Great Lakes National Program Manager
The Regional Administrator reports directly to the EPA Administrator at EPA Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

312-886-3000
gade.mary@epa.gov

http://www.epa.gov/region5
---

The interfaith Earth Healing Initiative:
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org
---
Cuyahoga River fires:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River
http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/events/earthday/welcome.html
http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/entry.php?rec=1642
Photos of numerous fires on Cuyahoga River:
http://web.ulib.csuohio.edu/SpecColl/croe/accfire.html
---
Lake Michigan south shore steel mills pollution in 1970s caused car headlights to be needed in South Chicago, East Chicago, and Gary:
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2007/10/us_steel_joins.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Michigan
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/ecbig/landscap.htm
http://www.encyclopedia.chicagohistory.org/pages/638.html
---
EPA Press Release:
Ask Not What the Environment Can Do For You this Earth Day
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/dc57b08b5acd42bc852573c90044a9c4/bb279434e6f40c6e8525743200582794!OpenDocument
---
USA Today story on Lake Superior Climate Change:
http://www.usatoday.com/weather/climate/globalwarming/2008-04-21-climatechange_N.htm
---

Illinois EPA website:
http://www.epa.state.il.us

Ill EPA Spring HHW collections:
http://www.epa.state.il.us/land/hazardous-waste/household-haz-waste/hhwc-schedule.html

---

Alliance for the Great Lakes
http://www.greatlakes.org
-------
Two Chicago area Earth Day 2008 related events:
-------
Event #1 was held on April 19, 2008 in Cook County and involved the collection of HHW and Unwanted Medications at the DeVry Technical Institute, 3300 North Campbell in Chicago, Illinois

For more information on event #1 in Chicago contact: Illinois EPA David Walters
217-785-8604
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Event #2

April 26, 2008
City of Chicago

Unwanted Medications
8 to 3 pm

Chicago Household Hazardous Waste facility on Goose Island
Household Chemicals and Computer Recycling Facility
1150 N. North Branch on Goose Island
Chicago, Ill
60622

Contact:
312-744-7672

Alliance for the Great Lakes
Lyman Welch, Alliance for the Great Lakes water quality manager
312-939-0838 ext. 230

This event is being sponsored by the Alliance, IEPA, EPA and the City of
Chicago. At the event, anyone can bring (at no charge) unused or expired
prescription and non-prescription drugs including inhalers and mercury
thermometers for collection for proper disposal.
---

Project sites include locations in eight states:

Illinois:
Alton, Beecher, Bellwood, Bolingbrook, Carol Stream, Channahon, Chicago, Elk Grove Village, Elmhurst, Glenview, Joliet, Lockport, Lombard, Mount Prospect, Northbrook, Park Ridge, Romeoville, Shorewood, Villa Park, West Chicago, Wheaton, Woodstock

Indiana:
Columbia City, Hammond, Knox, LaPorte, Fort Wayne, Rushville, Valparaiso

Michigan:
Bay City (two events), Benton Harbor, Bloomfield Hills, Dearborn Heights, East Lansing, Farmington Hills, Goodells, Grand Rapids (two events) Harbor Springs, Lansing, Midland, Monroe, Royal Oaks, Sault Ste. Marie, Southfield, Traverse City

Minnesota:
Blaine, Brooklyn Park, Duluth, Eagan, Eden Prairie, Madison, Maple Grove, New Ulm, Saint Cloud, Shakopee, St. Louis Park, St. Paul

New York:
Brockport, Buffalo, Fredonia, Rochester (two events), Syracuse (two events).

Ohio:
Cleveland, Grove City, Kent, Perrysburg, Sandusky, Springfield, Toledo, Warren

Pennsylvania:
Erie, Lancaster

Wisconsin:
Appleton, Brillion, Chilton, Crandon, Green Bay, Keshena (Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and College of Menominee Nation), Manitowoc, Milwaukee, New Holstein, Oshkosh, Plover (two events), Racine, Superior, Waupaca.

---

 

  

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Youth and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin holds three events for EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge

Spread over 234,000 acres just south of Green Bay, the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin reservation is known for it's beauty

By planning numerous Earth Day 2008 projects and other environment awareness campaigns, the tribe is preserving the dignity of its reservation.

Students and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin are joining forces for Earth Day 2008 and cleaning up the reservation, recycling electronics and properly disposing of old/unwanted medicines.

These photos show the large 30-yard dumpsters filled with electronics at the Menominee Tribe of Wisconsin solid waste transfer station in Keshena, WI.

"Tribal members living on the reservation bring electronics and other stuff to the transfer station," said Diana Wolf, the MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator. "We compact cardboard and breakdown electronics at the transfer site." (Photos by Diana Wolf)

(Keshena, Wisconsin) - As the students of all ages plan a major hands-on clean up of a tribal community and the recycling of electronics and proper disposal of unwanted medications to honor Earth Day 2008, adult members of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin in Keshena, WI have already turned in several thousand pounds of electronic waste as part of a national Earth Day Project.

The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin (MITW), located about 30 miles south of Green Bay, is collecting e-Waste all month including during the tribe's regular curbside bulk items Spring Cleaning collection on April 21-24 (Monday thru Thursday).

"We are getting lots of electronics right now," said Diana Wolf, the MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator.

Meanwhile - tribal grade and middle schoolers are planning an outdoor cleanup project for the last Friday in April, and the students at the tribal college have scheduled an April 22 collection of e-Waste and unwanted pharmaceuticals.

The three projects are part of about 37 events planned across 8 states in hundreds of cities as part of the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

The events are being promoted by the interfaith Earth Healing Initiative that teams numerous faith communities and American Indian tribes with local challenge organizers to be volunteers and participants in the projects spread across the Great Lakes basin.

During the first week of April, the tribe’s drop-off sites collected several thousand pounds of electronics including 919 pounds of "low-grade circuit boards" that tribal employees remove from TV sets, stereos, high quality computers, cassette players and other electronics.

Wolf estimated that about two tons (4,000 pounds) of electronics will be turned in by the end of the month.

Wolf said that the 919 pounds of e-recyclables (circuit boards) represents about 100 individual TVs, computers or other electronics.

The circuit boards and some other the electronics are turned over to Mike Zastrow, a buyer for Samuels Recycling in Green Bay.

Plastics and wood from electronics collected by the tribe are recycled by Waste Management Inc. in Antigo, WI

"The electronics contain silver and gold and we give it Samuel's Recycling in Green Bay - they pay us 12 cents per pound," Wolf said. "We are assured it is recycled correctly."

The tribe pays Lamp Recyclers Inc. of DePere, WI to remove hazardous materials like fluorescent light bulbs, batteries and some parts of TVs and computer components.

"We will do whatever it takes to do cradle to grave recycling," Wolf said, adding the tribe follows EPA guidelines for electronics and other recyclables.

When you add up the labor to break up the electronics and other costs the tribe is losing cash money but are gaining something much more important - a clean community that the adults can proudly leave their children.

"We are not making a profit off of it but it is the right thing to do," Wolf said.

On Friday, April 25, 2008, the 183 students at the Menominee Tribal School (k-8) will be cleaning the area around the school of litter and recyclables and other downtown areas of Neopit, one of four communities on the reservation.

The tribe's 234,000-acre reservation includes the communities of Keshena, Zoar and South Branch.

"The students will be picking up litter and recyclables - and anything that's on the roads or sidewalks or the yards," Wolf said, adding the students will be planting 50 saplings.

The tribal school cleanup project will be followed by a potluck picnic lunch of native foods plus Sloppy Joes, potato chips and Kool-Aid, Wolf said.

"We are inviting the parents to bring a potluck and there will likely be wild rice and other Native American dishes," Wolf said.

The lunch will include a drama performance and include Native Music involving the "Wind Eagle Drum" or the "high school drum" consisting of students who are learning the music of the Menominee tribe's history.

"Our school is very much a cultural-motivated school," Wolf said. "The school teaches about the Menominee culture and language. The students learn about our Menominee history and our language amongst the non-native teaching."

"My children speak fluent Menominee because they have been in the school for three years," Wolf said.

The MITW has nearly 10,000 members including an enrolled population of 8,471 (most of whom still live on the reservation) and 1,268 enrolled descendants.

"We believe it's important for our Tribal members to recycle, reduce waste and energy consumption, and reuse items," said Wolf.

Wolf said her office does everything they can to educate youngsters about protecting the environment. Wolf said every year her co-workers have to clean up illegal dumping sites in the tribe's 234,000 acres of forest.

The tribe's solid waste facility has annually collected up to five tons of computers and other electronics over the past decade.

Meanwhile in a separate event, Menominee tribal college students are doing their part to protect the planet with e-Waste and pharmaceutical collections.

The College of Menominee Nation (State Hwy. 47/55) in Keshena, is accepting e-waste and unwanted medicines on April 22 from 9 a.m. to noon - and accepting e-Waste from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the commons building.

The college’s Implementing Sustainable Development class is hosting the collection with help from the tribe's solid waste coordinator.

The e-Waste collection will accept electronics including old/broken computers, cell phones and batteries. The pharmaceutical collection is accepting old and unwanted medications that must be in their original bottle or container.

---

Keshena, Wisconsin:

(all month) April 21, 2008

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin

Diana Wolf (715-799-5189)

e-Waste

Collected with regular curbside bulk items Spring Cleaning collection.

---

Keshena, Wisconsin:

April 22, 2008

9 a.m. to 3 p.m. (e-Waste)

9 a.m. to noon (Pharmaceuticals)

College of Menominee Nation - commons building

Cheyenne Caldwell

715-851-3240

e-Waste and Unwanted Medications

State Hwy. 47/55

Our college will collect e-waste and expired medicines and work with the Solid Waste Coordinator of the Menominee Indian Tribe in the disposal of this material.

---

Related Links:

Earth healing Initiative Keshena, WI page

Earth Healing Initiative website

Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin homepage

College of Menominee Nation

Tribal Earth Week Flyer

Call: Diana 715-799-5189 or Jeremy 715-799-5710

Samuels Recycling - Green Bay, WI:

Links to sites about Samuel's Recycling in Green Bay: (Buyer Mike Zastrow - 1-920-494-3451)

Alternative Metal Recycling page on Samuels Recycling

Wisconsin DNR page about Samuels Recycling

WI DNR Recycling page

Green Bay newspaper info about Samuels Recycling

The 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit is April 22-23 at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, MI

This summit is made possible by the Center for Native American Studies, the Environmental Science Program and the Office of International Programs.

This summit is a call to action on Indigenous environmental issues in the Great Lakes area, on Turtle Island and around the world.

An Aboriginal Australian delegation from the Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways project will be featured as keynote presenters and will provide musical entertainment.

Traditional Knowledge Revival Pathways project

Presentations include ideas on how to address Indigenous environmental concerns.

Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, founder of the Turtle Island Project, has two presentations at the NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day.

The day/time will be announced soon.

Turtle Island Project Presentation #1

In the Spirit of the Earth Ecologico-Poetics: Native American story telling and the Ecological Challenge

The first presentation will focus on the relationship between language and earth based spiritualities.

Rev. Hubbard will first establish the many similarities between the functioning of a language and a religion within a particular cultural context - suggesting that the original language of human beings is poetry, and that poetry (mytho-poetics) is the true and proper language of religious consciousness.

Dr. Hubbard speak of the limitations of rational discourse (the inability of logic to express the truth of mythos) and suggest that indigenous language, as expressed through the many stories involving human and animal interactions, holds the key to the creation of an ecological-poetic understanding of the world, an understanding that can function as a corrective to traditional Euro-American forms of religion and science, which have helped to contribute to the current global ecological crisis.

---
Turtle Island Project Presentation #2:

In The Absence of the Sacred Ecologico-Spirituality: Sacred Land and the struggle for Human Liberation

"Sacred places are the foundation of all other beliefs and practices because they represent the presence of the sacred in our lives." Vine Deloria, Jr.

Human societies have traditionally made either nature or history determinative of reality.

It is clear that traditional western forms of spirituality prefer history as the source of divine revelation, and hence use temporal metaphors for expressing their sense of the sacred, which is often understood as existing apart from the natural processes of the physical world.

Indigenous forms of spirituality prefer nature as a source of sacred knowledge, and use primarily temporal metaphors to express their sense of the sacred, which are often tied to a specific time and a specific place.

In this presentation, Dr. Hubbard will the examine the implications of these differing metaphors in relationship to the idea of sacred Land.

What is the sacred?

What do we mean by sacred land?

Is it possible for modern Euro-Americans to understand such a concept?

What is the relationship of Sacred Lands to global ecological concerns?

Does western culture, still have a notion of the sacred?

Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard bio:

Lynn Hubbard M.DIV. D.MIN. is founder and director of the Turtle Island Project (TIP) in Munising, Michigan.

He is currently the minister of Eden on the Bay Lutheran Church in Munising.

In addition to graduating from Valparaiso University and holding advanced degrees from the Lutheran School of Theology and Chicago Theological Seminary, Lynn has studied at the Pedagogishe Hochschule in Reutlingen, German, the Religious Studies Department at the University of Indiana, and the Divinity School at the University of Chicago.

For many years he worked as the Associate Dean of Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago.

He has served a number of churches throughout the Chicago area, and lived on the island of St. Croix, in the Virgin Islands, pastoring two Afro-Caribbean Lutheran congregations.

He has had extensive experience in both the interfaith and ecumenical communities, and served as the Director of Development for the Parliament of World’s Religious.

Most recently, in working in his capacity as spiritual director for Juvenile sex offenders, he has given national and international conference presentations on "Creating Ritual Process for Juvenile Sex Offenders from a Cross Cultural Perspective".

He travels regularly to the Lakota Sioux reservations in South Dakota, where he helps prepare graduate theological students in cross-cultural ministerial training.

He has been honored by members of the Sigancu tribe of the Lakota people in being asked to serve as a fire keeper for their Sundance ceremonies.

Summary of Turtle Island Project websites & TV (video) sites:

Turtle Island Project website

Turtle Island Project Whispering Turtle website

Turtle Island TV on Blip TV

Turtle Island TV on you tube

Turtle Island Project on myspace

---

Topics include:

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (T.E.K.)

Education and Indigenous environmental concerns

History of industrialism, industrial threats, Indigenous peoples and the Earth Economic globalization and Indigenous peoples

Indigenous languages and the Earth Solutions in Indigenous cultures to environmental problems

Indigenous subsistence rights and protection of sacred land Global poisoning and the impact on Indigenous peoples Climate change and its impact on Indigenous peoples

---

Center for Native American Studies

Northern Michigan University

April Lindala, Director

112F Whitman Hall

Marquette, MI

49855

For more information:

NMU Center for Native American Studies homepage

NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit page

Office: 906-227-1397

Fax: 906-227-1396

Environmental tipping point: Faith communities have a duty to protect the Earth, and Native Americans, other Indigenous peoples can teach us a lot about respecting nature

(Marquette, Michigan) - The new non-profit Earth Healing Initiative, based in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, is honoring faith-based and Native American environmental projects across the Great Lakes.

The interfaith Earth Healing Initiative (EHI) is currently collaborating with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to promote the Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge involving about 37 projects in eight states including providing faith community volunteers where needed and spreading the word about the event in churches and temples.

Faith communities across the Great Lakes basin will be involved in the challenge and other Earth Day events.

The EHI is one of several faith-based environment projects created by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, Michigan.

Rev. Jon Magnuson said it is important for people of faith to do their part to protect the environment adding the Christian is at a “tipping point” in its relationship with itself and the Earth - adding “the church needs to be here.”

Quoting nineteenth century theologian and social reformer Walter Rauschenbusch, Magnuson said “if a man or woman wants to be a Christian - she or he - must stand over and against things as they are - and condemn them in the name of a higher conception of life revealed by Jesus.”

“I believe the environmental crisis that we are now involved in is a great tipping point in the church’s own evolution of its self-understanding,” Magnuson said while sitting on the stoops of his Marquette home near the shores of Lake Superior.

Roman Catholic theologian Thomas Berry “talks about three rivers converging at this time in human history,” said Magnuson, who is the executive director of the Cedar Tree Institute and the founder of the Earth Healing Initiative.

“The first river is an avalanche and explosion of scientific knowledge that is pointing to the interconnectedness of everything,” Magnuson said.

“The greatest polluter of Lake Superior has recently been identified as a major factory in China,” he said.

“We have what we call atmospheric loading here where contaminants are carried over by wind currents and then deposited in rainfall,” said Magnuson with seagulls from Lake Superior squawking overhead.

“But along with the interconnectedness of everything, the second stream (mentioned by author Thomas Berry) is the health crisis that is facing us - the CDC (the federal Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta) suggests now that 80 percent of all cancers are environmentally triggered,” Magnuson said.

“The third river is what Thomas Berry calls ‘Indigenous wisdom” - wisdom from the native communities around the world that is resurging,” Magnuson said. “For instance, their protection and use of plants - both in Latin and South America as well in parts of north America - the protection of sacred sites,” he said.

“We realize now these are connected to protection of plants, animals and an ecosystem that hilds great medicinal qualities for communities and individuals,” Magnuson explained.

“So these rivers are coming together,” said Magnuson, raising his hands and interlacing his fingers in a gesture representing the merging of Berry’s three great rivers.

“It is an historic time - it is a tipping moment - a tipping point - the church needs to be here,” Magnuson said.

Magnuson recognized the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin near Green Bay that has three projects connected to the EPA’s Earth day Challenge and thanked the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) and other northern Michigan tribes that have participated in other Cedar Tree Institute events like the four-year restoration of Upper Peninsula wild rice beds by at-risk teens and tribal elders.

KBIC CEO Susan Lafernier, above, attends April 2006 press conference with Upper Peninsula bishops and other faith leaders to announce the creation of the Northern Michigan University EartyhKeeper student team.

The KBIC participated in the three Earth Keeper Clean Sweeps that saw the public turn in over 370 tons of hazardous waste, pharmaceuticals and electronics across northern Michigan.

The annual Earth Day (2005-2007) collections were part of the interfaith Earth Keeper Initiative.

“The Native American community has been a partner with us from the very beginning on everyone of our projects,” Magnuson said. “They have not only sent volunteers but on one particular instance they provided several trucks to be able to haul polluted materials and hazardous waste.

“So we are thankful to many of the tribes here in northern Michigan for being partners and we look forward to working with tribes in the Earth healing Initiative,” Magnuson said.

The Cedar Tree Institute co-founded the Upper Peninsula Earth Keepers who work 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 CTI Earth healing Initiative is developing the same relationship with the same 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.

---

Related Links:

---

Interfaith Earth Healing Initiative homepage

EPA GLNPO Official challenge link

List of events for EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge

EPA Press Release on challenge

EPA "Flow of the River" Blog for Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge

Earth 911

---
Theologian and social reformer Walter Rauschenbusch:

Walter Rauschenbusch (1861-1918) was a Baptist minister among the poor and the industrial workers of New York city

Rauschenbusch began his first long-term pastorate at the Second German Baptist Church in New York, in a poor and dangerous neighborhood called "Hell’s Kitchen," on 1 June 1886.

Robert T. Handy records that the young pastor began his tenure intending to evangelize first and foremost, but that his education "in individualistic conservatism" had not prepared him for the poor standards of living, lack of education and danger.

Sharpe concurs, informing us that in the eleven years he spent in Hell’s Kitchen, Rauschenbusch decided "that industrial crises" existed due to the capitalistic system under which the poor struggled, exacerbating sickness, violence, and problems presented by bad food.

http://www.somareview.com/wrestlingwithrauschenbusch.cfm

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url?%5Fencoding=UTF8&search-type=ss&index=books&field-author=Walter%20Rauschenbusch

http://www.rauschenbusch.org

http://www.amazon.com/Walter-Rauschenbusch-Contribution-Social-Christianity/dp/1556354177/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

http://spider.georgetowncollege.edu/htallant/courses/his338/students/kpotter

http://theologytoday.ptsem.edu/apr1989/v46-1-bookreview9.htm

http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/rausch-socialgospel.html

http://www.rauschenbusch.org/subpages/employment.html
----

Roman Catholic Theologian Thomas Berry:

Berry calls himself a "geologian" rather than a theologian.

http://www.northland.edu/NR/rdonlyres/F759A7A1-55B2-4AB5-B8F5-0DF7A9B5AB6D/0/ConvergingStreams4.pdf

Thomas Berry: "The universe is a communion of subjects, not a collection of objects."

http://www.thomasberry.org/Essays/IntroductionToTheSpecialEdition.html
---

http://www.earth-community.org
http://www.earth-is-community.org.uk/aboutthomasberry.htm
---

Thomas Berry:
http://www.bullfrogfilms.com/catalog/tb.html
---
‘A Communion of Subjects’ By Stephen B. Scharper

(Evening Thoughts By Thomas Berry and Mary Evelyn Tucker - Sierra Club Books. 173 p $19.95)

I n future years, when the history of our lagging environmental consciousness is written, there may well be a special place devoted to the work of Thomas Berry.

Berry, a Passionist priest, cultural historian and self-described “geologian,” has for almost four decades been writing and reflecting on the place of the human within an awe-inspiring, unfolding and increasingly mysterious cosmos.

His speculations are fueled not simply by intellectual curiosity, but by a deep concern about the baleful plundering of the planet.

Formerly director of the Riverdale Center of Religious Research and founder of the history of religions program at Fordham University, Berry served as environmental advisor to the Clinton administration; and through his numerous lectures, media appearances and writings, like The Dream of the Earth (1988) and The Great Work (2000), proved an inspiration to countless environmental scholars and activists, especially among religious communities.
---
http://www.americamagazine.org/content/article.cfm?article_id=5373&s=1
---
http://www.natcath.com/NCR_Online/archives/081001/081001a.htm
http://ofm-jpic.org/ecology/relorders/dominican.html
http://www.wie.org/j19/bookreview.asp
http://www.nccecojustice.org/rasmussen.pdf
---
Atmospheric Loading - China pollution reaches North America:

http://www.physorg.com/news124991552.html

http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/features/pollution_measure.html

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/mar2008/2008-03-17-04.asp

Air pollution blankets a large region of central China so thickly that in places it completely obscures the surface from the satellite’s view. As acquired by the MODIS instrument on the Aqua and Terra satellites, early 2003. (Image courtesy NASA)

Coal-fired power plant in the East China province of Jiangsu (Photo by China Resources Power Holdings Co)
---
Sacred Sites:
http://www.sacredland.org/PDFs/csr_dl.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_of_life

Sacred Places website
http://www.NorthAmericaSacredPlaces.org
---
Scientists Report 80% of Cancer Cases Caused by Environmental & Food
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) released Friday shows that 64 percent ... environment toward cancer risk is about 80-90 percent.

http://www.organicconsumers.org
---
Turtle Island Project websites:
http://www.turtleislandproject.org
Other sites:
http://groups.msn.com/WhisperingTurtle
http://turtleislandproject.wordpress.com

Turtle Island TV - Video sites:
(blipTV)
http://turtleislandtv.blip.tv
(youtube)
http://www.youtube.com/MunisingWhiteHorse
(myspace)
http://www.myspace.com/TurtleIslandProject
-----

United States

For Earth Day 2008 residents and communities around the Great Lakes are being challenged to collect and recycle electronic waste and to properly dispose of unwanted medicines.

Collections are being held in large cities and surrounding areas like Chicago, Milwaukee and Cleveland.

Cities/Collection sites include locations in eight states:

Illinois:

Beecher, Bolingbrook, Channahon, Chicago, Elk Grove Village, Glenview, Joliet, Park Ridge, Romeoville, Shorewood, West Chicago, Wheaton

Indiana:

LaPorte, Fort Wayne, Rushville, Valparaiso

Michigan:

Benton Harbor, Traverse City

Minnesota:

Duluth, Madison, New Ulm

New York:

Syracuse

Ohio:

Cleveland, Perrysburg, Sandusky, Springfield, Warren

Pennsylvania:

TBA

Wisconsin:

Appleton, Brillion, Chilton, Keshena (Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and College of Menominee Nation), Milwaukee, New Holstein, Oshkosh, Racine, Waupaca