Title: Michigan Lutherans to Dispose of Hazardous Waste on Earth Day ELCA NEWS SERVICE
April 2, 2007
Michigan Lutherans to Dispose of Hazardous Waste on Earth Day 07-050-GP*
MARQUETTE, Mich. (ELCA) -- For the third year in a row, thousands of Lutherans will turn in hazardous waste during the annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep on Earth Day, April 22, at collection sites across northern Michigan. This year the target is pharmaceuticals.
Members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) will join an environmental army comprised of the vast majority of Michigan's Upper Peninsula religious community, university students, several environmental groups and an American Indian tribe.
Nearly 400 tons of hazardous waste has been turned in during the past two clean sweeps, including 320 tons of old computers and cells phones on Earth Day 2006.
The Rev. Thomas A. Skrenes, bishop of the ELCA Northern Great Lakes Synod, Marquette, Mich., said, "Prescription drugs keep people out of the hospital, help many to heal and are an important part of our health care system."
"But like all good things, when they are abused or even just thrown away they can do damage to people and nature," said Skrenes, who leads more than 39,000 baptized Lutherans in 94 congregations across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and six counties in northeastern Wisconsin.
The 2007 Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep is targeting out-of-date and unwanted medications of all kinds, according to Carl Lindquist, executive director of the Superior Watershed Partnership.
The third annual clean sweep is sponsored by nine Upper Peninsula faith communities with 130,000 members, the Central Lake Superior Watershed Partnership, the Cedar Tree Institute, and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
More than one-third of the ELCA Northern Great Lakes Synod churches are participating in the clean sweep.
The synod also includes Finlandia University, Hancock, Mich., Fortune Lake Lutheran Bible Camp, Crystal Falls, Mich., and Northland Lutheran Retirement Community in Marinette, WI. Finlandia is one of 28 colleges and universities of the ELCA.
"We in the Upper Peninsula can protect our lakes and streams with an ounce of prevention," Skrenes said. "The streams and lakes demand our attention," he said.
"Earth Keepers is keeping the faith with God and with God's creation," Skrenes said. "The Church of Jesus Christ is stepping up to do its share with people of other faith communities to preserve and protect this awesome Upper Peninsula."
The project involves more than 120 churches and temples representing nine faith communities: Lutheran, Catholic, Episcopal, Presbyterian, United Methodist, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish and Zen Buddhist.
The leaders of all the faith communities and tribal officials strongly support the clean sweep.
"God is at work in the beauty of our lakes and streams and God is at work in the effort to preserve these waters by keeping medications out of them," said Skrenes.
A pastor of the ELCA, the Rev. Jon W. Magnuson, Earth Keeper Initiative founder and co-organizer of the clean sweeps, said that combining religion and environmental protection is a perfect fit.
"This will be another step of a deepening connection between the traditions of faith and the critical challenges of the environment," said Magnuson. "The clean sweep is one of many signs of a new awakening, an historic shift of consciousness into the mystery of God and a gentle love for the planet."
"This also has been a great witness to the secular community that has dismissed religion as out of touch," said the Rev. Tari K. Stage-Harvey, pastor at Zion Lutheran Church, St. Ignace and Trinity Lutheran Church, Brevort, Mich. "Our communities of faith when touched by the Spirit become powers that create amazing change."
Lutheran Earth Keeper team member Joy Ibsen, Trout Creek, Mich., warned that "drugs have side effects that are very dangerous if not properly understood and handled."
"Most of the environmental problems we have are side effects of the way we live in today's highly technological, often toxic and overly disposable world," Ibsen said.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) said trace amounts of pharmaceuticals are turning up in America's drinking water because most treatment plants are not designed to filter out these medications.
When pills or liquid medicines are poured down the sink or flushed in the toilet they remain diluted in the water supply after treatment, and these trace amounts are linked to health problems, according to the EPA.
"As leftover and waste pharmaceuticals get flushed down drains, research is showing that they are increasingly being detected in our lakes and rivers at levels that could be causing harm to the environment and ecosystem," said Elizabeth LaPlante, senior manager for the EPA Great Lakes National Programs Office, Chicago.
"Specifically, reproductive and development problems in aquatic species, hormonal disruption and antibiotic resistance are some concerns associated with pharmaceuticals in our wastewater," LaPlante said.
"The Earth Keeper Pharmaceutical Collection event is an excellent opportunity to prevent the introduction of these chemicals into Lake Superior and other water bodies," said LaPlante.
National studies show 80 percent of the rivers sampled tested positive for a range of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, birth control hormones, antidepressants, veterinary drugs and other medications.
Pharmaceuticals in some rivers are linked to behavioral and sexual mutations in species of fish, amphibians and birds, and compounds called endocrine disruptors are the apparent cause of neurological problems in children and increased incidence of some cancers, according to EPA studies. - - - *Greg Peterson is a freelance reporter in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and volunteer media advisor for the Earth Keeper Initiative.
Information about the ELCA Northern Great Lakes Synod is at http://www.nglsynod.org on the Internet.
A complete list of participating communities and Earth Keeper collection are at http://www.superiorwatersheds.org and click on "Earth Keepers."
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or news@elca.org http://www.elca.org/news ELCA News Blog: http://www.elca.org/news/blog