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Posted: 11/2/2011
The founder of two interfaith environment groups is often asked by others to explain the best way to start effective interfaith groups in their own community.
Along the shores of Lake Superior, creating interfaith environmental groups was discussed by leaders of the Earth Healing Initiative and the Upper Peninsula Earth Keeper Initiative, both based in Marquette, Michigan.
The non-profit Earth Healing Initiative provided interfaith volunteers and participants top numerous cities during the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge.
The challenge recycled of millions of pounds of electronics and properly disposed millions of pills and other meds in April 2008 from over 100 projects across eight states that make up the Great Lakes Basin.
This warm day in May 2008 produced ripples in unusually calm Lake Superior as wildlife heralded spring in the background. A perfect serene setting to discuss interfaith environment work and how it can be created in other areas.
EHI founder Rev. Jon Magnuson co-founded the Earth Keeper Initiative that started when nine northern Michigan faith leaders signed the Earth Keeper Covenant in 2004.
The bishops and other faith leaders pledged to reach out to Native Americans and actively participate in interfaith environment projects.
This video includes thoughts of 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 Marquette Zen Buddhist temple; and Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes of the Northern Great Lakes Synod (NGLS) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
Rev. Lehmberg and Bishop Skrenes were among the nine original signers of the Earth Keeper Covenant.
The non-profit Cedar Tree Institute (CTI) co-founded the interfaith Earth Keeper Initiative in Michigan's Upper Peninsula that works closely with ten faith traditions on a wide range of environment projects that include colle