Sunday, May 25, 2008

Bishop Thomas Skrenes cites interfaith and other successes of EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge

An Earth Healing message, thank you and congratulations  from Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes about the success of the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge



A Lutheran Bishop who has participated in interfaith Earth Day recycling projects for four years in a row said "the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge has been a success."

Celebrate - what a great day Earth Day has been 2008," said Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes of the Northern Great Lakes Synod (NGLS) of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "The Earth Healing Initiative has been a great success this year."



"Computers have been recycled, pharmaceuticals have been brought together for proper disposal," Skrenes said.

"What a great opportunity it has been to be part of the ecumenical work and interfaith work of assisting others to see the environmental concerns set before us," said Bishop Skrenes of Marquette, Michigan.

With hundreds of thousands of people participating across eight states in the Midwest and Northeast, Bishop Skrenes said interfaith environment projects like the EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge will help ensure a better future for all humans.

"It is a sign of great significance that people can join hands and work together," Skrenes said. "So celebrate - it is a good day for the environment and it is a good day for all of us together."

Bishop Skrenes thanked the EPA, faith communities and "people of goodwill throughout the upper Midwest who have been a part of this work."

"It has been a great day, a great week, a great Earth day 2008," Skrenes said.

"The EPA Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge has been a part of the lives and will be a part of the future of this whole area."

Bishop Skrenes is one of the original nine faith leaders who signed the Earth Keeper Covenant in Michigan's Upper Peninsula in 2004 that lead to many interfaith projects

Background: Earth Healing Initiative and the Michigan Earth Keeper Initiative

The 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 college students, at-risk teens, American Indian tribes and others.
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The CTI Earth healing Initiative is developing the same relationship with the same faith communities in northern Michigan and others across the Great lakes.

The faith communities include Roman Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, The Religious Society of Friends (commonly known as the Quakers) and Zen Buddhist.


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