tagged w/ Northern Michigan
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Some of Michigan's elected officials - like Governor Jennifer Granholm - are selling out the beautiful streams and lush forests of the Upper Peninsula in exchange for some quick cash.
Many people who once loved our governor - now think Granholm doesn't deserve to be a democrat - because she's acting like a Republican.
Granholm and others - like famous actor/director Jeff Daniels - proclaim their love for the Upper Peninsula but are remaining strangely silent in the fight to stop Kennecott Minerals and other mining companies from building sulfide mines nicknamed "acid" mines.
Granholm, Daniels and others with power should be leading the fight to stop the Eagle Project.
In fact - the governor's top Upper Peninsula aide - her point man on the mine issue - recently quit his job to take a lucrative position with Kennecott''s parent company. That speaks volumes as the gov remains tight-lipped.
The National Wildlife Federation has produced a documentary about the gallant fight to protect the Upper Peninsula.
The public is invited to a free showing of the film om Dec. 5, 2008 in Marquette at Northern Michigan University.Some of Michigan's elected officials - like Governor Jennifer Granholm - are... more
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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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Once again, the Diebold Optical Scan Voting System is in question for not counting all ballots.
(Marquette, MI) - Cathy Church, Independent Candidate for Marquette County Prosecuting Attorney, filed a Petition on Wednesday November 12, 2008 for a Full Recount of the ballots cast in the General Election on November 4, 2008 and posted a $400.00 deposit with the Marquette County Clerk.
The decision to petition for a recount was made after reviewing the total vote counts for Marquette County precincts, learning about voting irregularities within Marquette County during the general election and investigating the performance history of similar optical scanners used by various jurisdictions during recent elections.
Some of the information considered in reaching this decision included, but was not limited to:
Two absentee voters’ selections for a write-in candidate were not posted in the precinct’s final tally. (The write in candidate received 0 votes despite two voters casting their vote for the candidate.) Many voters had difficulty getting the optical scanners to accept their ballots and had to load and reload the ballots more than once before the scanner accepted them.
Different Marquette County precincts provided different marking instruments for the ballots ranging from pencils, ink pens and felt tip pens. When one voter attempted to mark his/her absentee ballot with an ink pen at one precinct, he/she was told to use a felt tip pen because the optical scanner in use might not read ink from a regular pen.
If a voter checked their ballot with a check mark or X, the optical scanner might not register these legitimate votes because of limitations on the scanners reading abilities.
In Ohio’s primary election this spring, the same scanners as used in Marquette County, malfunctioned in 11 out of the 40 Ohio Counties where they were in service, resulting in dropped votes. This situation prompted the scanner manufacturer to issue a nationwide customer alert in August 2008. Approximately 1,750 jurisdictions used the flawed system.
In Barry County, Michigan, a glitch in a computer program was believed to be the cause of a problem with the voting machines the first time they were used in 2006. All of the ballots had to be counted by hand after county officials noticed the optical scan machines scrambled the results. This glitch affected 15 of the 16 Barry County townships, including the city of Hastings and resulted in 1500 dropped votes.
Cathy Church stressed she has the utmost confidence in all the precincts, election officials and poll workers who performed their duties diligently and conscientiously during the election.
This recount request is based on the limitations of the technology of the optical scanners, NOT the election officials or poll workers’ work product or ethic.
The recount is also requested because to Cathy’s knowledge, a county-wide recount has not been done since these scanners came into service in every precinct in the county.
Cathy believes that the only way to measure the performance of the optical scanners is by a hand count of the ballots. As a candidate in the last election, Cathy is one of the few people permitted by law to petition for a recount.
Given all of this information, Cathy felt it prudent to petition for a recount to assure that all individuals who voted in the past election, and those who will vote in future elections in Marquette County, had and will have their votes accurately counted. A recount is the only method available to Cathy that will check the accuracy of the scanners and their technology.Once again, the Diebold Optical Scan Voting System is in question for not counting all... more
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The Native Village website does stories on Native Village youth and education. Each month this unique website puts out an issue of news about Native youth.
http://www.nativevillage.org
In the November 2008 issue, Native Village takes an extensive look at the Zaagkii Wings & Seeds Project in Michigan's Upper Peninsula.
The Zaagkii Project thanks and honors Native Village and its Editor Gina Boltz for the excellent story and all the work and effort that went into creating the impressive layout.
To contact Native Village staff or for more info, please email:
NativeVillage500@aol.com
Native Village is a supporter of the Link Center Foundation:
http://www.linkcenterfoundation.org
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This summer, Keweenaw Bay Indian Community (KBIC) youth and Marquette, MI teens built the first of dozens of butterfly houses and planted 26,000 native plants that help pollinators thrive.
The three-year project is important because bees are disappearing around the world at a shocking rate.
It's called Colony Collapse Disorder and the cause is unknown although human impact is suspected.
If all the world's bees disappear - all plant and human life will vanish in about 4 years.
The second biggest pollinator are butterflies - and that's why the Zaagkii Project is protecting butterflies and teaching youth about bees.
The Zaagkii Project contributors include 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 and the Borealis Seed Company in Big Bay.
The Zaagkii Project was founded by the non-profit Cedar Tree Institute (CTI) in Marquette whose other environment projects have included wild rice restoration (Manoomin Project) and Earth Day hazardous waste collections (Earth Keeper Clean Sweep).
The Zaagkii Project is sponsored by the KBIC, CTI, Marquette County Juvenile Court and the United States Forest Service (USFS).
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Keweenaw Bay Indian Community:
http://www.kbic-nsn.gov
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Rev. Jon Magnuson, Zaagkii Wings and Seeds founder & Executive Director of non-profit Cedar Tree Institute
906-228-5494
http://www.cedartreeinstitute.org
CTI volunteer media advisor Greg Peterson:
906-401-0109
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Jan Schultz, Botany & Non-native Invasive Species Program Leader
USFS Milwaukee, WI
(414) 297-1189
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Terry Miller, forest botanist
Hiawatha National Forest
Escanaba, MI.
906-789-3319
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Deb LeBlanc, WestSide Plant Ecologist
Hiawatha National Forest
Munising, MI
906-387-2512 ext. 19
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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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Upper Peninsula Children's Museum
http://www.upcmkids.org/
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Monarch Watch::
http://monarchwatch.org
Monarch Author Lynn M. Rosenblatt
http://www.monarchbutterflyusa.com/Magic.htmThe Native Village website does stories on Native Village youth and education. Each... more
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Well, I finally met Cathy Church - who is running as an independent candidate for Marquette County Prosecutor.
A friend of a friend asked me to post her stuff because running an Independent means you need all the goodwill and support you can get.
I have nothing against the two major political parties - but I respect the gusto of people who do it on their own - thus are not beholding to the powers that be.
Tho I tend to vote Democrat - I never vote a straight ticket - because I like to choose the best person in each race - Democrat, Republican, Independent or any of the more obscure parties.
Plus Cathy Church is tough on domestic violence and one of my many projects fights family abuse.
During 14 years as an assistant prosecutor, Church sent numerous domestic violence offenders to jail. I have covered way too many murders and MI and GA that were the result of domestic violence.
Tho the victims are - by far - mainly female - there are some male victims of domestic violence.
As a guest of the non-profit Turtle Island Project, Lakota domestic violence activist Tillie Black Bear was speaking in Marquette recently - and that's where I met a friend of a friend who knew Cathy.
It's kind of ironic how I finally met Cathy Church.
I was telling a fishing buddy that I was posting info about her Independent campaign for prosecutor - and as the words came out of my mouth - there was Cathy's campaign vehicle and her mother.
We turned around - met Cathy - and I ended up taping an interview with her on Halloween.
That two part interview will be posted next.
This video is Cathy's message to the people about why they should choose an Independent candidate for Marquette County Prosecutor - instead of a longtime and powerful incumbent.
Church for Prosecutor website:
http://www.ChurchForProsecutor.com
Well, I finally met Cathy Church - who is running as an independent candidate for... more
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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
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Philosopher Neil Evernden wrote that vivisectionists cut animal vocal cords so they did not have to hear the tortured animal cry as they conducted experiments.
Vivisectionists silenced the animal and therefore did not acknowledge it’s a tortured being.
Right of passage into the scientific way of being centers on the ability to apply the knife to the vocal cords - not just of the dog on the table - but to life itself. It’s about silencing voice then - and reflects the silencing of voices today.
“We are on the tip of an iceberg and the iceberg runs deep and the ship is running right into it. Industrial civilization is not sustainable. We all know that. It cannot be sustainable.”
“We could have solved these problems 50 years ago, but we are not going to solve these problems in the next 20 years. We can start, maybe. But I think we are in for a very, very difficult time. ”
“Dorothy is not in Kansas anymore. And Dorothy is not coming back to Kansas. This is not going to be easy. And like that Great Oz asked Dorothy and her friends - so are the politicians of our day - they ask us. Pay no attention the Great Oz says ‘to the man behind the curtain.’ Because the great deception is alive and well.”
Hubbard compares yellow brick road to gold & Emerald City to the green of money.
Oz is “this old white guy doing his thing, pulling hi levers, lying to the people to maintain is power. This is what we have been doing as a culture for how many years – ignoring the man behind the curtain. And now the chickens are going to come home to roost.”
A failed businessman/store owner, L. Frank Baum edited the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer newspaper before writing the Wizard of Oz..
After 1890 Wounded Knee massacre, Baum targets Native Americans in editorial for Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer on death of Sioux Chief Sitting Bull.
Hubbard: That was act one. The great Wizard silencing nature.
Baum editorial
Sitting Bull, most renowned Sioux of modern history, is dead. He was not a Chief, but without Kingly lineage he arose from a lowly position to the greatest Medicine Man of his time, by virtue of his shrewdness and daring. He was an Indian with a white man's spirit of hatred and revenge for those who had wronged him and his. In his day he saw his son and his tribe gradually driven from their possessions forced to give up their old hunting grounds and espouse the hard working and uncongenial avocations of the whites. And these, his conquerors, were marked in their dealings with his people by selfishness, falsehood and treachery. What wonder that his wild nature, untamed by years of subjection, should still revolt? What wonder that a fiery rage still burned within his breast and that he should seek every opportunity of obtaining vengeance upon his natural enemies. The proud spirit of the original owners of these vast prairies inherited through centuries of fierce and bloody wars for their possession, lingered last in the bosom of Sitting Bull. With his fall the nobility of the Redskin is extinguished, and what few are left are a pack of whining curs who lick the hand that smites them. The Whites, by law of conquest, by justice of civilization, are masters of the American continent, and the best safety of the frontier settlements will be secured by the total annihilation of the few remaining Indians. Why not annihilation? Their glory has fled, their spirit broken, their manhood effaced; better that they die than live the miserable wretches that they are.
Author Neil Evernden
http://www.derrickjensen.org/essay.html
http://haydon4.tripod.com/id20.htm
http://www.derrickjensen.org/books01.html
Vivisection
http://www.infonature.org/english/world_news/eng-nature_news_animal_torture.htm
http://www.tonglen.oceandrop.org/Letter_Ban_Vivisection.htm
Baum on Sitting Bull
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L._Frank_Baum
http://www.put.com/oz/ozdi/199712.TXT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wonderful_Wizard_of_Oz
Baum fans apology
http://www.dickshovel.com/roeschbaum.htmlPhilosopher Neil Evernden wrote that vivisectionists cut animal vocal cords so they... more
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President George W. Bush's apparent lack of understanding on tribal sovereignty is examined by Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, executive director and co-founder of the non-profit Turtle Island Project in Munising, Michigan.
This video was made as Hubbard made two presentations on September 24, 2008 during the third annual UNITED Conference at Northern Michigan University in Marquette, Michigan.
This video is about infamous comments about Native American Tribal Sovereignty made by President George W. Bush on August 6, 2004 at the UNITY conference in Washington D.C.
President Bush was asked the tribal sovereignty question by Mark Trahant, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer Editorial Page Editor, a member of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribe in Idaho and former president of the Native American Journalists Association.
Bush answered the question but that answer was so bizarre it caused journalists to laugh:
"Tribal sovereignty means that. It's sovereign," President Bush said. "You've been given sovereignty and you're viewed as a sovereign entity."
The conference involved about 7,500 journalists of color from the Native American Journalists Association, the National Association of Black Journalists, the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the Asian-American Journalists Association
Hubbard said it's funny, scary and sad that President George W. Bush doesn't understand the important issue of Native American tribal sovereignty.
The Turtle Island Project thanks Democracy Now for the use of their video of President Bush's remarks on tribal sovereignty.
http://www.democracynow.org
Related Links:
White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc. (WBCWS)
PO Box 227
Mission, S.D.
57555
http://www.wbcws.org
Javier H. Alegree
Public Relations Specialist
Media and Education
(605) 856-2317
(605) 856-2494 (fax)
Official website of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe - Sicangu Lakota
http://www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov/
Northern Michigan University (NMU)
http://www.nmu.edu/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_Michigan_University
NMU Center for Native American Studies
Northern Michigan University
1401 Presque Isle Avenue
Marquette, MI 49855
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies
906-227-1397
nasa@nmu.edu
April Lindala, Director
Grace Chaillier, NMU Adjunct Assistant Professor
Sicangu Lakota band of the Rosebud Sioux
906-227-1390
Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED):
http://www.nmu.edu/UNITED
http://webb.nmu.edu/UNITED/SiteSections/2008Schedule.shtml
Organizers:
Dr. Judith Puncochar, NMU Professor
906-227-1366
Turtle Island Project
Non-Profit Munising, Michigan
http://www.turtleislandproject.org
Founders:
Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard
Rev. Dr. George Cairns
Turtle Island TV bliptv
http://turtleislandtv.blip.tv
Turtle Island TV youtube
http://www.youtube.com/MunisingWhiteHorse
Turtle Island myspace
http://www.myspace.com/TurtleIslandProject
email:
TurtleIslandProject@charter.net
Anishinaabe News NMU Native American student newspaper
http://webb.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies/SiteSections/Resources/NAS/NishNews.shtml
Democracy Now:
http://www.democracynow.org
27 minutes into the 1 hour video Jesse Jackson jokes about comment & interview with reporter who asked Bush the question
Video & Audio - several formats:
http://www.archive.org/details/dn2004-0810_vid
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5xVRXLgLxw
White House Press Release: What Bush meant to say:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/08/20040806-1.html
"Pagans in the Promised Land" by Steven T. Newcomb (2008):
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28405454.html
http://www.indiancountrytoday.com/archive/28407494.html
http://www.indypendent.org/2008/04/25/discoverer-delusions
Lakota Sioux & Rosebud Reservation:
http://www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov/history.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosebud_Indian_Reservation
Native American Religious Freedom Act (1978)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Indian_Religious_Freedom_Act
President George W. Bush's apparent lack of understanding on tribal sovereignty... more
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Cathy Church, an Upper Peninsula advocate for protecting women and children from domestic violence, recently received the 2008 Sunshine Peace Award.
As an assistant prosecutor, Church put many abusers in jail.
The northern Michigan attorney has a long history of ongoing public service.
A longtime prosecutor of domestic abusers in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, Cathy Church (center) receives Peace Award from Doris Buffett (right) on August 9, 2008 in Wilmington, North Carolina.
The Sunshine Lady Foundation was established in 1996 through the vision and determination of Doris Buffett, the sister of financier and philanthropist, Warren Buffett.
Church was honored as one of twenty extraordinary individuals who have worked in the domestic violence field and made a positive difference in the lives of battered women and their children.
Candidates for the prestigious award are selected from across the nation for excellence in developing resources and facilitating the social change necessary to end violence against women and children.Cathy Church, an Upper Peninsula advocate for protecting women and children from... more
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Tillie Black Bear is the Ex. Dir. and a founder (31 years ago) of the White Buffalo Calf Woman Society, Inc. (WBCWS) serving the Lakota Sioux Rosebud Reservation in Mission, SD
She spoke to the Northern Michigan University 2008 Uniting Neighbors in the Experience of Diversity (UNITED) Conference on Sept. 23, 2008.
With traditional sage burning, Black Bear sings as she and the crowd face the four directions - West, North, East, South and honor the Sky and Earth. Her visit was coordinated by the NMU Center for Native American Studies and the non-profit Turtle Island Project (TIP) in Munising, MI. The TIP has held several concerts and other events to raises funds for the WBCWS. TIP Dir. Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard travels several times a year to the Rosebud Reservation. Black Bear was greeted by Dr. Judith Puncochar, NMU Professor & an organizer of the annual UNITED Conference. Tillie Black Bear was introduced by Grace Chaillier, an NMU Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Center for Native American Studies and registered member of the Sicangu Lakota band of the Rosebud Sioux.
Black Bear is a member of the Sicangu Lakota Nation/Rosebud Sioux Tribe and a leading expert on violence against women and children. She's a founding mother of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) and a founder of the South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault (SDCADV&SA). She's the first woman of color to chair NCADV and is on the SDCADV&SA Board of Directors.
Black Bear is on the advisory board of National Sexual Assault Resource Center, Pennsylvania and a past member of the professional advisory board of the National Domestic Violence Hotline, Austin, TX. Black Bear received the 1988 U.S. Department of Justice award for work with crime victims and is one of President Bush’s 1989 “Points of Light”.
Black Bear is one of 10 people recognized as a founder of the domestic violence movement in the U.S. at the 1999 Millennium Conference on Domestic Violence in Chicago, IL; received an Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award in 2000 by President Clinton and was a recipient of the first annual LifeTime Achievement Award from LifeTime Television. She is one of 21 Leaders for the 21st Century award by Women’s eNews in 2004. She received a 2005 award from NOW & is retired from Sinte Gleska University as a part-time instructor in Human Services; Casey Foundation as a licensed foster parent. She's a teacher of 13 years including a course on cross-cultural ministry at Catholic Theological Union through Shalom Ministries in Chicago, IL. Black Bear and colleague Sally Roesch Wagner, Ph.D. have completed a poster series on Lakota women elders on each of the nine Dakota/Lakota Nations in South Dakota entitled: Lakota Women – Keepers of the Nation. She organizes workshops on issues of Racism and Cultural Diversity, is a therapist, certified school counselor, administrator, college instructor and comptroller. She holds a Master of Art (1974) from the University of South Dakota, Vermillion, SD; Bachelor of Science (1971), Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD. She has served on the St. Francis Indian School Board of Directors, St. Francis, SD; and Sinte Gleska University Board of Regents, Mission, SD. Black Bear is single mother of 3 girls, grandmother of thirteen and survivor of domestic violence.
NMU Center for Native American Studies
www.nmu.edu/Centers/NativeAmericanStudies
nasa@nmu.edu
April Lindala, Director
906-227-1397
Grace Chaillier, NMU Professor
WBCWS
www.wbcws.org
Javier H. Alegree, WBCWS Public Relations Specialist
605-856-2317
Rosebud Sioux Tribe Sicangu Lakota
www.rosebudsiouxtribe-nsn.gov
UNITED
www.nmu.edu/UNITED
Turtle Island Project Munising, MI
Co-founders Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard, Rev. Dr. George Cairns
http://turtleislandtv.blip.tv
www.youtube.com/MunisingWhiteHorse
www.myspace.com/TurtleIslandProject
TurtleIslandProject@charter.netTillie Black Bear is the Ex. Dir. and a founder (31 years ago) of the White Buffalo... more
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The White Buffalo Calf Woman Society has a month-long series of events during October 2008 to celebrate 31 years serving all women and children on the Lakota Rosebud Indian Reservation in South Dakota.
Founded in 1977, it was the first domestic violence shelter in the world for women of color - although it also serves "our white sisters," according to Tillie Black Bear, one of several courageous native women who created the shelter.The White Buffalo Calf Woman Society has a month-long series of events during October... more
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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
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(Marquette, Michigan) - Many of the rich around the world view Indigenous Peoples, women and children as “expendable commodities,” said Turtle Island Project Director Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard during Northern Michigan University 2008 Indigenous Earth Day Summit.
Hubbard added he fears for the future of mankind and the planet because “we have lost any sense of the sacred.”
The summit was held on Earth Day 2008 on the NMU campus in Marquette, Michigan near the shores of Lake Superior.
The two-day summit - the first of its kind at NMU - was April 22-23.
Read more by clicking on link.(Marquette, Michigan) - Many of the rich around the world view Indigenous Peoples,... more
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Residents of three states and Canada will celebrate the world's largest, deepest and coldest freshwater lake.
Lake Superior Day will be held on July 20, 2008Residents of three states and Canada will celebrate the world's largest, deepest... more
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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
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(Marquette, Michigan) - The Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge is in its biggest week with help from interfaith groups and American Indians in reaching the goal of one million pounds of electronics and one million pills.
The EPA issued the challenge to Great Lakes basin residents participating in over 100 projects that are collecting pharmaceuticals, electronics and household poisons. The EPA awarded grants to some of the projects.
Interfaith groups are involved in Michigan, Illinois, Indiana, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania. An EPA grant helped start the non-profit Earth Healing Initiative (EHI).
Trust between religions and interfaith 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. "The Great Lakes watershed is really a kind of a mother to all of us here in the upper Midwest."
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 founder Rev. Jon Magnuson of Marquette, Michigan.
The Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin (MITW) is holding a curbside pickup of electronics for members during Earth Week, April 21-24. Over 1,000 pounds of electronics have been turned in at the MITW transfer station since April 1. The College of Menominee Nation hosts pharmaceutical/electronics collections on April 22.
On Friday, April 25, students at the tribal K-8 school are picking up litter and cleaning up the a reservation community. Students recently created "Garbage Monsters" out of bottles other items found in their trash, said Diana Wolf, MITW Solid Waste/Recycling Coordinator. Students gave presentations on other uses for the garbage.
"This interfaith earth healing effort is really a great gift that has been given to all of us," Skrenes said. “The church is called to bring people together to be part of the healing."
Examples of established interfaith organizations that are assisting the EHI include the University of Minnesota Lutheran Campus Ministry, the Duluth Arrowhead Interfaith Council, Marquette University Ministry in Milwaukee, several Catholic interfaith groups and the ELCA office of Ecumenical Formation.
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 hazardous waste during three Earth Day clean sweeps.
The northern Michigan Earth Keepers belong to ten faith traditions with 150 churches and temples including Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Bahá'í, Jewish, Zen Buddhist and the Quakers. The EHI is working with the same faith traditions.
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EPA:
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/earthday2008
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/earthday2008/events.html
EPA Press Release:
http://yosemite.epa.gov/opa/admpress.nsf/dc57b08b5acd42bc852573c90044a9c4/bb279434e6f40c6e8525743200582794!OpenDocument
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Earth Healing Initiative:
http://www.EarthHealingInitiative.org
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Interfaith graphics by Justice St. Rain (Bah'i Community)
Interfaith Resources - Special Ideas website:
http://www.interfaithresources.com
1-800-326-1197
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Duluth
University of Minnesota LCM:
http://www.d.umn.edu/lcm/index.html
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Arrowhead Interfaith Council:
http://www.arrowheadinterfaith.org/home.html
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Milwaukee
Marquette University LCM:
http://www.mulutherans.com
http://www.marquette.edu/um
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Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin:
http://www.menominee-nsn.gov
College of Menominee Nation
http://www.menominee.edu(Marquette, Michigan) - The Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge is in its biggest... 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
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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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Racism, spiritual terrorism and the loss of Indigenous culture are among numerous social issues targeted by the Turtle Island Project, founded in northern Michigan in August 2007.
Two Midwest pastors started the Turtle Island Project because the world is sitting on the brink of important cultural, economic and religious issues that will either allow humans to prosper in harmony with the Earth or become the only species to cause its own extinction.
Rev. Dr. Lynn Hubbard and Rev. Dr. George Cairns say some if not many Christians belittle the knowledge and heritage of Indigenous cultures like Native Americans, Celts and other centuries-old religions/beliefs aligned with nature and the environment.
They believe we can all learn a lot about nature and the environment by listening to Earth-based cultures.
Rev. Hubbard is a Lutheran pastor. Rev. Cairns is an ordained United Church of Christ minister.
Both have extensive backgrounds in interfaith and multi-cultural work.
The Turtle Island Project in Michigan's Upper Peninsula promotes respect for the environment and Native Americans.
Turtle Island Project volunteer media advisor Greg Peterson reports
On Sept. 25, 2007 Rev. Hubbard spoke to college students, tribal educators and others at the annual United Conference at Northern Michigan University.
Topics included diversity and issues like the abuse and sexual mutilation of girls and women in Africa and racism against Native Americans
Rev. Hubbard said some Christians are too quick to dismiss Native American teachings.
Hubbard said whites can learn a lot from NA storytellers, myths and other Earth-based teachings.
Rev. Hubbard says Native Americans know that not everything can be described in words alone.
On August 11, 2007 - Dr. Hubbard spoke to religious scholars and authors in Ann Arbor - during the kick off of the Read the Spirit project.
Hubbard warned that some Christians think their beliefs are perfect to the exclusion of all others.
On August 28, 2007, Rev. Hubbard was invited to join a national Native American radio talk show conversation on racism by whites who live in towns bordering reservations - the same issue that Nimrod Nation highlighted as Watermeet, Michigan is on the edge of a reservation.
During Native America Calling, Rev. Hubbard told host Harlan McKosato that racism in northern Michigan is insidious.
Turtle Island Project main website:
http://www.turtleislandproject.org
Turtle Island (myspace)
http://www.myspace.com/TurtleIslandProject
Turtle Island Project websites/Blogs:
http://groups.msn.com/WhisperingTurtle
http://turtleislandproject.wordpress.com
TurtleIslandProject@charter.net
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Lakota words for God, Creator, Grandfather: Tunkasila Wakantanka Gitchi Manitou
Lakota: Mitakyasi: "all my relatives"
http://www.dlncoalition.org/home.htm
Heraclitus "The essence of things"
http://www.thebigview.com/greeks/heraclitus.html
http://www.spaceandmotion.com/books/philosophy-book-heraclitus.htm
Bishop Rt Rev. Steven Charleston
President and Dean of Episcopal Divinity School, Professor of Theology
Cambridge, Mass.
http://www.eds.edu/indexDyn.asp
http://www.wfn.org/1999/05/msg00107.html
http://www.nah.uiuc.edu/faculty/treaty/NCcharleston.html
http://www.anglican.ca/news/news.php?newsItem=2001-07-05_st.news
http://www.bluecloud.org/shiningthrough.html
http://www.thewitness.org/agw/charleston042204.html
http://edoc.vox.com/library/posts/tags/steven+charleston/
http://www.interfaithcreationfest.org/program.html#keynote
Jamestown summit remembers Native saints, prepares for future generations:
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/78695_91767_ENG_HTM.htm
http://www.episcopalchurch.org/hires-image/elo_jamestown1_lg.tif
Photo by Carlyle Gravely
© 2007 Episcopal Life Online
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February 2008 United Nations Report on Racism and Human Rights violations and racial discrimination reported by Indigenous Peoples.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/I_P_I/message/18971
http://www.treatycouncil.orgRacism, spiritual terrorism and the loss of Indigenous culture are among numerous... more
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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
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