wfn.org | Hundreds of Lutherans to help plant 12,000 trees honoring Earth Day

[<NEWS@ELCA.ORG>]

>ELCA News Blog

>April 22, 2009  

Hundreds of Lutherans to help plant 12,000 trees honoring Earth Day

by Greg Peterson, freelance reporter and media advisor for Earth Keeper

In Michigan's Upper Peninsula, hundreds of Lutherans will
help plant 12,000 trees in honor of Earth Day, April 22. As
part of the Earth Keeper Tree Project, Lutherans and other
people of faith will bless and plant trees across the region
at various times on May 3.  Founded in 2004, Earth Keeper is
supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
and nine other faith groups.  The ELCA's social statement
about creation and the environment is Caring for Creation:
Vision, Hope and Justice.

"God is in the tree-planting business," said the Rev. Thomas A.
Skrenes, bishop, ELCA Northern Great Lakes Synod, Marquette,
Mich. "Trees matter," he said. "What a privilege to put your
hands into God's soil and help a tree grow." Skrenes and others
will plant the first of 12,000 trees -- 12- to 16-inch white
spruce and red pine -- on April 22.  Other volunteers will pick
up tree seedlings at local conservation district offices on May
2 for planting the next day.

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

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