Buddhists Join Other Faiths to Protect Your Drinking Water
This is a reply to what have Buddhists done - in northern Michigan the members of the Lake Superior Zendo Temple joined with 140 other churches/temples in a major Earth Day 2007 Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep (I am a news reporter and volunteer media advisor for the Earth Keeper Initiative).
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Northern Michigan Zen Buddhists Help Turn In Tens of Thousands of Pharmaceuticals Weighing Over One Ton
Narcotics Have Estimated Street Value of $500,000
(Marquette, Michigan) - Northern Michigan Zen Buddhists helped turn in tens of thousands of pills plus narcotics with an estimated street value of half a million dollars during the third annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep.
Over one ton of medicines and personal care products were turned in by the public during the 2007 Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep, said Carl Lindquist, executive director of the Superior Watershed Partnership.
The "controlled substances" turned in have an estimated street value of $500,000 including narcotics in pill and liquid form, clean sweep organizers said.
"We had a great public turnout, a lot of people showed up with old medications," said Lindquist said.
For the third year in a row, northern Michigan Zen Buddhists volunteered at the Grace United Methodist Church in Marquette.
Lake Superior Zendo head priest Paul Lehmberg said it is "the beginning of a tradition and it felt good to be back there on Earth Day" with UMC Rev. Charlie West and "his hospitable crew doing something for the earth and raising consciousness about yet another hazard that is degrading and poisoning our environment."
Quote:"Each year during the clean sweeps, I see wider involvement and more publicity, and each year I see more evidence of young people participating, which is absolutely a necessity over the long haul," said Reverend Tesshin Paul Lehmberg, leader of the Lake Superior Zendo - a Marquette Zen Buddhist temple.
The EPA is funding the collection of pharmaceuticals and personal care products because trace amounts of chemicals from those substances are turning up in America's drinking water because many treatment plants are not designed to remove the dangerous chemicals.
The clean sweep was sponsored by nine faith communities, the Superior Watershed Partnership, the Cedar Tree Institute, and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.
About 2,000 people turned in items but many had collected pharmaceuticals from family and friends, organizers said.
Assistance was provided by the Michigan Pharmacists Association and numerous law enforcement agencies including the DEA and Michigan Sheriff's Association, Lindquist said.
The annual Earth Day project involves over 140 churches and temples (Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church (UMC), Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, and Zen Buddhist).
Rev. Lehmberg said his 15-year-old daughter, Freya, and Rev. West's 13-year-old son, Christopher, were excited to volunteer.
Quote:"We're passing along our enthusiasms, and our worry" over the environmental condition of the earth and that youth concern for nature and involvement is essential to the future of the planet, Rev. Lehmberg said.
"The pharmacists brought knowledge of all the things we collect, the law officers praised us for getting these drugs in a secure place and out of the potential of being abused," said Michael Rotter, a senior majoring in botany.
Quote:"The amazing thing about the clean sweep, is me being a 21-year-old Buddhist college kid can sit down and talk to a 30 year old pharmacist father and we can both relate to the 50-year-old Methodist pastor," Rotter said.
"As we heal and cleanse the Earth, we are also healing the human heart," said Lutheran Rev. Jon Magnuson, Earth Keeper Initiative founder.
UMC Earth Keeper Rev. Charlie West said that the Zen Buddhist Earth Keepers and his church members "felt really good about providing this service for the community."
"These chemicals should not be loose in the creation - we're glad they will be disposed of carefully," said Rev. West of the Grace UMC in Marquette.
Financial sponsors again this year include the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and $15,000 from Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, a not-for-profit financial services membership organization and fraternal benefit society.
Quote:"We are in trouble with the way we live with the Earth" but the clean sweeps are humans correcting man-made problems, said Rev. Magnuson, co-organizer of the clean sweeps and the head of Lutheran Campus Ministry at NMU.
The pharmaceuticals will be taken to an EPA-licensed incinerator near St. Louis, Missouri.
Quote:"From the EPA's prospective this is an ideal approach for grassroots community members and the faith-based community to work with the federal government, American Indians and others to achieve environmental gain," said John Perrecone of the Midwestern Region office of EPA located in Chicago who visited collection sites.
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