tagged w/ environmental disrespect
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The Michigan Earth Keeper Initiative promotes interfaith environment projects and America's top Muslim Imam brought just that message to Marquette, MI
Imam Hassan Qazwini, head of the Islamic Center of America, spoke on Oct. 22, 2008 at the Lutheran Campus Ministry (LCM) Lothlórien House in Marquette.
Northern Michigan University (NMU) Health & Nutrition Professor Mohey Mowafy of Marquette introduced Imam Hassan Qazwini:
Imam Hassan Qazwini:
Quoting the Qur’an, Imam Hassan Qazwini said:
Corruption (Mischief) has appeared on land and sea because of (the meed) that the hands of men have earned, that (Allah) may give them a taste of some of their deeds: in order that they may turn back (from Evil).
“Corruption has appeared on the sea and on the land due to what the man did - or what the man does.”
Meaning that God created this very beautiful, splendid planet. And he gave it to us as a gift. But he asked us not to corrupt it, not to ruin it, not to destroy it.
Did you know that in this country, we only form five percent of the world’s population, but we consume 25 percent of the world’s energy. This means that I am taking my own share - yet I am taking the share of five other people in this world. I am using my own share plus the share that belongs to five other people - I am consuming.
It means that I am stepping over my limits. And I am doing such injustice to the environment. I am selfish. I want to enjoy myself. I don’t care about the environment. I don’t care about others. I want to use everything for my own benefit only.
Many of you love hunting. How many of you hunt?
Answering the Imam’s question, reporter Greg Peterson says “I am growing my beard (for deer season) right now.”
Imam Hassan Qazwini:
Hunting is a hobby that many people love to do. In Islam, my religion, two people can hunt only.
A hunter - meaning whose career is hunting, someone who makes a living out of hunting.
And the second one: A man who is wandering the desert or the woods. And he got so hungry, and he could not find anything to eat, he went and he hunted something. He ate. That’s fine.
But for someone to do it as a hobby - it’s prohibited (in Islam).
Because God allowed me, permitted me as a human being, he gave me the right to take the life of an innocent animal only when I need it. When I need to fill my stomach. When I am hungry. Or when I need to make a living because I have to make a living.
But for me to go out and enjoy myself with the cost of killing an innocent animal - God says: ‘Here your freedom is over.’ You can not take the life of an innocent animal simply because you wanted to enjoy yourself. Simply because you wanted to have some fun.
You may tell me: “I am not going to waste it.”
I know, but what was my incentive when I hunted this animal. My incentive was to enjoy myself not because I was hungry. My point that I am trying to say is this: That God want this equilibrium to be kept and to be preserved.
We Muslims refrain from eating so many kind of fish - the kind of fish that does not have scale on the skin - we cannot eat. Why?
Because we know that if we are allowed to eat everything in the ocean then the balance the equilibrium in the ocean will be upset.
Therefor - not only my well-being - the well-being of the environment will be in danger.
So the bottom line is - that Islam is one of the religions that emphasizes protecting the environment.
You can use from the environment as much as you need - not as much as you enjoy.
Imam Qazwini
http://www.icofa.com/aboutus/imam.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Al-Qazwini
Qur’an and environment:
http://www.blogtoplist.com/religion/blogdetails-17864-3.html
http://theislamicscience.blogspot.com/2007/04/man-and-pollution.html
Lutheran Campus Ministry Marquette
http://www.nmulutherans.org/
Rev. Jon Magnuson - Non-profit Cedar Tree Institute:
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.orgThe Michigan Earth Keeper Initiative promotes interfaith environment projects and... more
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Western Shoshone leader, Corbin Harney talks about his prophetic conversation with the waterWestern Shoshone leader, Corbin Harney talks about his prophetic conversation with the... more
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Youth and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin plan three events as part of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge
(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 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.
The projects are part of the eight-state Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge sponsored by the USEPA. 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" removed 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.
“We will do whatever it takes to do cradle to grave recycling,” Wolf said. "We are not making a profit off of it but it is the right thing to do."
On April 25 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. 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.
"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.
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.
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org/keshena.html
http://www.earthhealinginitiative.org
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov
http://www.menominee.edu
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov/earthWeekFlyer.pdfYouth and adults at the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin plan three events as part... more
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Call for Proposals: NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit
EXTENDED DEADLINE!
Northern Michigan University is seeking presentation proposals for the 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit to be held at NMU April 22-23.
This summit is made possible by the Center for Native American Studies, the Environmental Science Program and the Office of International Programs.
This summit will function as 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.
http://www.tkrp.com.au
Presentations should ultimately include ideas on how to address Indigenous environmental concerns. Topics include, but are not limited to, the following.
- 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
A variety of presentations are encouraged (music, art, films as well as papers and panels).
Activists, Native elders and Native community members are strongly encouraged to submit proposals.
Proposals should be 150-300 words in length. Deadline for submissions has been extended to Monday, March 17, 2008.
Send to:
cnas@nmu.edu
(attachments should only be in Microsoft Word or as a PDF)
Subject line: Indigenous Earth Day Summit Proposal
-or-
Center for Native American Studies
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Ave
Marquette, MI 49855
For more information call 906-227-1397
http://www.nmu.edu/nativeamericans
Call for Proposals: NMU 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit
EXTENDED DEADLINE!... more
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This makes me heartsick. Where are we going with this?//////by Staff Writers
Beijing (AFP) Nov 14, 2007
A record 30.5 billion tonnes of industrial, farming and human waste were dumped last year into China's Yangtze River, the country's longest, state media reported.
The quantity was twice as much as two decades ago and an increase of 900 million tonnes, or 3.1 percent, from the previous year, Xinhua news agency said late Tuesday.
The widespread dumping of industrial, agricultural and domestic waste has seriously polluted the Yangtze, a situation some ecologists warn will be worsened by the massive Three Gorges dam, which they say will create a "giant toilet bowl" of trapped sewage behind it.
The Asian Development Bank last month warned that water pollution in China, driven by rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, had reached "alarming" levels./////end of excerpt.
This makes me heartsick. Where are we going with this?//////by Staff Writers
Beijing... more
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