tagged w/ Earth Keepers
-
The Michigan Earth Keeper Initiative and the Earth Healing Initiative promote interfaith connections.
America's top Muslim Imam brought that message to Marquette, MI on Oct. 22, 2008 at the Lutheran Campus Ministry (LCM) Lothlórien House.
Imam Hassan Qazwini, head of the Islamic Center of America, says all religions, people are basically the same.
Northern Michigan University (NMU) Professor Mohey Mowafy introduced the Imam:
Imam Hassan Qazwini:
“I was born in Iraq (1964) in a city called Karbala. It’s a holy city in Iraq. After that I went to Kuwait and then to Iran. (studied in Iran). In 1992 I came to the United States.
Up until I came to the United States in 1992, I knew there were Christians in Iraq but I never had any interaction with Christians. I never had any interaction with Jews in Iraq. I lived my own inner world. In Karbala, everybody is Muslim. There were Christians, there were Jews and obviously other denominations in Iraq, but I lived my own inner world. In Karbala, everybody is Muslim, so I really did not have any interaction beyond my little world.
It was in the United States when I have my first encounter with non-Muslims.”
Imam Qazwini told a story about riding in a car with his brother in California and stopping into a busy Christian church - and discovering that all religions believe the concept of love.
He said to Muslims - Jesus is as respected and revered as Mohammad.
Imam Qazwini said all religions and peoples basically “hold the same values - the same beliefs.”
“We passed by a church in a city called West Covina. So I see a church, it was Sunday, it was a church and the parking lot was full. Probably there was over 300 to 400 cars. So I asked my brother ‘What was going on here?’ He said the pastor is giving a sermon.”
“He said ‘Are you sure you really want to go inside the church?’
I said ‘Yes.’ He said “What do you do?’ I said ‘Come on, I’m not going to covert to Christianity. What’s going on here?” (laughter) I said ‘I have a chance to see what does the pastor have to say when he speaks to this congregation.’
“And I listened ...”
“All I heard him talking about was love. Jesus loving you. You love Jesus. And about the concept of love. So as he’s talking I am listening.”
“I said to myself ‘Look, in our religion we also talk about love.”
“Muslims believe that God has 99 names. And one of his names is Al-Wadud. And Al-Wadud is “The Loving One.”
“I said to myself ‘Look almost everything he is talking about is there in my religion.’ And how similar we look. And for every word he says quoting Jesus. I have a word to quote from Mohammad. As Muslims, Jesus to us - he is a prophet as well. He is as respected as Mohammad and as revered as Mohammad because we Muslims believe there are five superior messengers - Mohammad, Jesus, Moses, Noah and Abraham.”
“So we place Jesus almost in the same place - or status - as we place Mohammad.”
“In my mind as I am listening (to the Christian pastor) These words he was uttering are resonating in my mind. And reflecting my own faith system.”
“When we do not see each other, when we do not interact with each other. We think of each other - that we are weird. I think you are weird. You may think that I am weird. You may thing that I harbor some very weird thoughts. I could be a very weird person. I could be someone who does not think like you think. And probably I would have the same thought about you.”
“But when we meet, and we mingle, and we exchange thoughts, we find how striking our similarities are.”
Be Muslims, Christians, Jews or what else - non-denominational - basically we hold the same values - the same beliefs. And we worship God with different tongues and different languages and different styles - but the direction is the same.”
www.icofa.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hassan_Al-QazwiniThe Michigan Earth Keeper Initiative and the Earth Healing Initiative promote... more
-
-
Ashland, Wisconsin residents Alissa Weitz, 26, and Brian Castillo, 23, will soon be completing their 1,300 mile journey around Lake Superior.
They are a couple in love with Lake Superior and each other - on a modern day lover's adventure.
They arrived in Marquette in late July and spent Lake Superior Day hiking with friends and swimming including jumping off the tall cliffs at the city’s “black rocks.”
A big part of their quest is educating the public about the environmental value of Lake Superior.
Averaging 25 miles a day - with their longest day over 40 miles.
They encountered water temperatures as low as 38 degrees, fog outside of Marquette, rough waves outside of Houghton, Michigan that prevent them from rounding the tip of the Keweenaw Peninsula - and instead cut through the Keweenaw Waterway.
They left Ashland, Wisconsin on July 1 and hope to complete their two-month journey around the first week of September.
Weitz is a native of Dubuque, IA & Castillo is a native of Madison, WI.
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.
They are documenting their adventure at:
http://www.sessiononsuperior.blogspot.com
Thanks to Down Wind Sports in Marquette, Brian picked up a new kayak due to problems with the one used during the first part of the trek. Sea Kayak Specialists of Marquette provided tools and space to repair their equipment.
This video was made in cooperation with the Cedar Tree Institute, Earth Keeper Initiative, Earth Healing Initiative and Turtle Island Project, all northern Michigan non-profits protecting Lake Superior.
Special thanks to the Lake Superior Binational Forum for helping make this video possible.
News coverage of Alissa, Brian:
Marquette:
http://www.miningjournal.net
http://www.miningjournal.net/page/content.detail/id/513083.html
BlogsMonroe:
http://www.blogsmonroe.com/expatriate/2008/07/25/pair-attempts-to-circle-lake-superior-in-kayaks
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
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
Clean Wisconsin:
http://cleanwisconsin.org
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
http://www.glsks.org/sam_crowleypage.htm
Nancy Uschold
906-250-4238
Other links:
http://caskaorg.typepad.com/caska/2008/07/superior-sessio.html
UM Sea Grant
http://www.seagrant.umn.edu
http://www.seagrant.umn.edu/ais/fieldguide
EcoSuperior Enviro:
http://www.ecosuperior.com
Environment Canada:
http://www.ec.gc.ca
Turtle Island Project official website:
http://www.turtleislandproject.org
Earth Healing Initiative:
http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org
Cedar Tree Institute: Michigan Earth Keepers, Manoomin Project & 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
Ashland, Wisconsin residents Alissa Weitz, 26, and Brian Castillo, 23, will soon be... more
-
-
Above Photo of Lake Superior shoreline © Jim Kruger
Please read the Christian Century Article by Rev. Jon Magnuson on the "Acid Mine" that threatens Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
An ELCA Lutheran pastor, Rev. Magnuson is known across northern Michigan for creating numerous interfaith environment initiatives and other projects projects involving over 150 churches/temples, American Indian tribes, college students, at-risk teens, health care professionals and many others.
If this mine opens along Lake Superior, it could leak sulfuric acid into the Great Lakes.
It's the first of countless sulfide and uranium mines planned for Northern Michigan.
Besides unproven "new" technology, the mine will be open for only seven years - and create only about 150 short-term jobs. It's a drop in the bucket compared to the economic impact of the U.P.'s longstanding iron ore mines.
A lot of greed for a smattering of nickel and other minerals that will be sucked out of our precious soil.
The international mining company that wants to set up shop in Marquette County is Kennecott Minerals - an outfit with a dismal environmental record that has closed other acid mines without proper cleanup apparently finding it cheaper to fight in court than pay for the proper cleanup of the now vacent mine sites.
Photo of Lake Superior shoreline © Jim Kruger
Inland drilling: A debate over mining in Upper Michigan
http://www.christiancentury.org/article.lasso?id=5020
Many fear that the aicd mines - that will be joined by uranium mines - are a death-knell for northern Michigan and its bread-and-butter tourism economy.
Who will want to visit an area dotted by hundreds of acid pits and possibly polluted rivers, lakes and streams.
There are recent swirling rumors that Kennecott took state officials on junkets and other allegations of wrongdoing as their deep pockets wooed local and state leaders.
If true, it would not be the first scandal involving the local operation named the Kennecott Eagle Minerals Company - as an important study critical of the mine were not made public by state officials until the information was leaked. Just an innocent oversight - the state claimed.
Do you hear the whirring sound? - it's Marquette's founding fathers are spinning in their graves.
For more information on the effort to stop the mines - visit Save the Wild UP website:
http://www.savethewildup.org
Above Photo of Lake Superior shoreline © Jim Kruger
Please read the Christian... more
-
-
(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 July 1 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."
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 prevent 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.
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
This video 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 this video possible..
Greg Peterson for Earth Keeper, Earth Healing and Turtle Island TV
---
News coverage of Alissa, Brian:
Marquette paper:
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
---
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
---
Down Wind Sports:
http://www.downwindsports.com/index.html
Owners: Bill Thompson, Todd King, Jeff Stasser and Arni Ronis
Marquette: 906-226-7112
Houghton: 906-482-2500
---
Sea Kayak Specialists:
http://www.seakayakspecialists.com
Sam Crowley, Nancy Uschold
906-250-4238
---
EcoSuperior Enviro:
http://www.ecosuperior.com
Environment Canada:
http://www.ec.gc.ca
---
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(Marquette, Michigan) - It’s a 1,300 mile, two month odyssey - kayaking around... more
-
-
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 videos 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.
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 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 to ancestral spawning grounds.
The students whitewashed gang graffiti at a skateboard park replacing it with American Indian art.
"The younger students put their hands in paint and made flower hand prints on the wall," said teacher Beth Waukechon.
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.
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.
More than four tons of e-waste and other recyclables were removed from the reservation during April.
At the College of Menominee Nation, 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.
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 and the U.S. Post Office in Keshena.
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.
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 Region 5 office in Chicago, and the EPA Great Lakes national Program Office 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.The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin contributed over 4 tons of electronic and... more
-
-
(Chicago, Illinois) - Faith leaders across eight Great Lakes states are urging their members to participate in an Earth Day 2008 challenge to collect one million pounds of electronics and more than one million pills because trust is needed between all people to stop “an environmental crisis.”
The U.S. EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge is in high gear with more than 100 projects involving hundreds of communities collecting pharmaceuticals, electronics and household poisons.
An EPA grant to the non-profit interfaith Earth Healing Initiative (EHI) is mobilizing religious communities in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania.
A Lutheran Bishop who has participated in numerous interfaith Earth Day recycling projects hopes people of all faiths will help protect the environment.
“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 kind of a mother to all of us" in the Midwest.
Interfaith environment projects like the challenge will help ensure a better future for all humans, Skrenes said, adding “sometimes it's trusting each other that really counts in environmental work.”
“The culture, the society and the environment are now connecting in some fantastic new ways to build relationships between people,” Skrenes said. “We are building trust along and across denominational lines.”
The EHI is a coalition of American Indian tribes and a "partnership of churches, synagogues and other faith traditions joining together and sharing their projects and resources to heal, protect and defend the environment,” said founder Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, Michigan.
Saying “it’s not your grandfather’s environment movement anymore,” Skrenes said that environmental work is now more mainstream and no longer “an obscure thing for a certain group of people” unlike 40 years ago when he was in high school “and I dare say some of my relatives said it was kind of a hippie movement.”
“The church is called to bring people together to be part of the healing,” Skrenes said. “This interfaith earth healing effort is really a great gift that has been given to all of us."
Interfaith organizations assisting the EHI include the University of Minnesota Lutheran Campus Ministry, the Arrowhead Interfaith Council in Duluth, the Marquette University Ministry outlets in Milwaukee, several Catholic interfaith groups and the ELCA office of Ecumenical Formation and Inter-Religious Relations.
The interfaith EHI is one of numerous environment and Native American projects founded by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, Michigan including the Earth Keepers, who removed more than 370 tons of e-Waste, pharmaceuticals and household poisons during three Earth Day clean sweeps.
The northern Michigan Earth Keeper project involves the congregations of over 150 churches and temples representing ten faith communities: Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Bahá'í, Jewish, Zen Buddhist and the Religious Society of Friends commonly known as the Quakers.
The EHI is coordinating the same interfaith relationships. For more info call 906-401-0109(Chicago, Illinois) - Faith leaders across eight Great Lakes states are urging their... more
-
-
During 2008 a solar fountain will flow - and wild flowers will bloom - in a native plants garden that has replaced the lawn at the Lutheran Campus Ministry "Lothlorien" house for students at Northern Michigan University in Marquette.
An interfaith "Blessing of the Garden" ceremony included chanting, incense and other religious traditions from several faith communities.
Earth Keeper Initiative volunteer media advisor Greg Peterson has the story.
The producers thank Lutheran Campus Ministry student leader Sarah Swanson, NMU sophomore from Rapid River, MI for her videography and photography talents that helped make this video possible
(Marquette, Michigan) - In the spring of 2008 a solar fountain will flow and flowers will bloom in a northern Michigan native plants garden nurtured by university students that was blessed by a Buddhist head priest and a Lutheran pastor
A "Blessing of the Garden" ceremony was held in October 2007 at Lothlorien - the Northern Michigan University Lutheran Campus Ministry house near Lake Superior.
A heavy rain poured the entire day almost causing the ceremony to be moved inside, but the sun came out for 20 minutes and the rain resumed just as the blessing and a tour were completed.
Performing the blessing was Rev. Jon Magnuson, director of Lutheran Campus Ministry (LCM) at Northern Michigan University (NMU) in Marquette, MI; and Rev. Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, head priest of Lake Superior Zendo, a Zen Buddhist temple.
The Lothlorien lawn has been turned into a native plants garden that includes rocks from three of the Great Lakes.
The LCM house name, Lothlorien, comes from the Lord of the Rings trilogy by J.R.R. Tolkien.
The garden includes Michigan plants and others from the Boreal border regions of the northern United States including Black Eye Susan, aster, dogbane, bluestem, and Sensitive fern.
Prayers, incense, bells, and chants were part of the ceremony that included a tour of the garden by NMU Student Michael Joko Rotter, a member of Lake Superior Zendo.
"Lothlorien is a magical kingdom part of what Tolkien called Middle-earth - where time passes differently," said Rev. Jon Magnuson, a Lutheran pastor, who founded the NMU EarthKeeper Student Team. Many of the campus ministry students belong to the interfaith NMU EK Student Team.
"Our natural native plants landscaping - our Lothlorien garden - is a sign of a new way of living with the world," Magnuson said. "It honors the indigenous and native plants of our region."
"Lothlorien came into being first as a song," Rev. Magnuson said. "The garden will be a haven for birds and other small creatures."
"The fountain represents the water of Lake Superior and the waters of our baptism," Magnuson said.
The Central Upper Peninsula Chapter of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans donated $1,600.
"Students are involved - and we like to support things that young people are going to be enthusiastically involved in like this native plants garden," said Judy Quirk, president of the Thrivent central U.P. chapter.
A fountain in the garden is going to be converted to solar power in the spring of 2008 and the sun will charge a battery allowing the water to flow in cloudy weather.
"We hope this will inspire people to learn the benefits that native plants have, such as requiring a third less water, and no pesticides or fertilizers," said Rotter.
Rotter said the "garden represents the hope of the future."
Cedar Tree Institute:
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org
Lake Superior Interfaith Communication Network:
http://www.lakesuperiorinterfaith.com
Thrivent Financial for Lutherans:
http://www.thrivent.comDuring 2008 a solar fountain will flow - and wild flowers will bloom - in a native... more
-
