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02:35:59 12/02/11
How to Thrift Store Shop for clothing:
[LESS INFO] 11 VIEWS | ADDED 02:35:59 12/02/11
FACT: Thrifting can be overwhelming:
> What store do I chose?
Once inside, where do I start?
When should I go?
Do I need cash?
Because those thoughts can flood your brain, its understandable why many of you just don’t do it all. BUT if you don’t do it all, then you are missing out on a really invigorating shopping experience.
I like to think of it as treasure hunting.
Every time I go to a thrift store I walk away with an amazing, unexpected find, at a remarkably bargain of a price. Best of all…it’s recycling!
>
I started thrifting because I love fashion, but could never afford (without going into debt) to buy trendy and designer clothing. I learned from an old friend who was a fashion stylist and another friend who used to work at a thrift
store how to navigate them successfully.
Step#1:
Before you even go into a thrift store you need to establish why you are going. (At least if you are a newbie.) This will prevent the feeling of being overwhelmed and frustrated. The best way to do that is to list what you need.
If I don’t have something in particular that I am looking for, like a brown cardigan or sequins dress, then my strategy is to hit up certain things that I know that I will always need, like flowy work blouses.
> Here’s my personal l ist of things that I always check when shopping at a thrift store:
Leather
Sequins
Jewelry
Dresses
Blouses
But I do recommend that you skip out on buying lingerie, bathing suits…you know items that get really personal.
Step#2
Research thrift stores in your area. Each one offers something different. I categorize the in three ways: pure thrift, general thrift, and boutique thrift.
Pure Thrift: usually bigger, warehouse stores.
Sorted only by sections like women’s blouse and men’s blazers. And also sorted by colors. Some even just have big piles of clothes that you have to dig through. They are generally not sorted by brands or quality, so this is where you really can treasure hunt and really find “gold.” This type of thrift store is my preference. I find top brand names, clothing with tags on it, etc. Because they are minimally sorted, the prices are usually the cheapest. But you have to thoroughly check for quality, flaws, weird stains, etc.
In the Southeast, Value Village is the best example. Also, oodwill Warehouse’s (not to be confused with standard Goodwill Stores)
Other thrift stores are sorted a little more. I call these general thrift stores.
You are familiar with their names mostly because of the charity they serve.
These places have less selection and the prices can be about 100 percent higher
and are conting ent on the brand name. Meaning, a dress that cost $4 at Value
Village can cost anywhere between $5 and $10 depending on the brand name.
Examples of these thrift stores are Goodwill and the Salvation Army.
Next we have boutique thrift stores.
Usually, these places also offer consignment items. (*Stay tuned for post on how
to shop and sell at consignment stores.) Wanna know how the owners of these
stores stock their shelves? They basically shop Pure Thrift Stores (see above).
These stores don’t take donations unless they are top label brand names in mint
condition, and most of the time, if it’s in that’s the case, they will either
flat out buy it or co nsign it for you. So for all of their work, you can expect,
cha-ching, higher prices for second-hand clothing.
In your area, you can google “boutique or designer thrift store”. Consignment usually comes up next to the stores, but I just explained why above.
Step#3
Once you determine which store type (see Step#2), research the nuances about that store. Does it have sale days? Does it open early? Is there a day that they get fresh shipment and stock the shelves? Do they have dressing rooms? Doing these extra steps will help you save more money and have an efficient shopping trip.
More tips before you enter:
* If you can, go early. Some thrift stores open as early at 7:30 am.
* If possible, choose a sale day or a restocking day.
* Dress comfortable…so you can
easily try on clothes.
*Even if there are no dressing rooms, if you wear
comfortable clothes you can easily throw on items in the isle, run to the mirror
to see if works for you.
* E xpect to spend a couple of hours shopping, at
least. Prepare for that.
* Do you shop with friend?
*I personally do better alone. I need to concentrate. If with friend, make sure they know the time that it will take. Also, what’s their purpose: to help dig or be second
eye. Make sure you know because it’s not a typical shopping trip.
Now, you’re ready to go inside.
Step#4
Once inside:
1. Get cart if you can.
2. Pick a section…for newbies, I say look for just try two. For example, long skirts and blazers.
3. Then go through that section piece by piece. Touch them all! As you get better, you’ll go faster, and take on more sections. Remember you’re digging for treasures, and the best treasures are usually hidden. So dig, dig, dig!
4. Try on and make sure you like the looks you’ve selected. If you’re going vintage, are the sleeves from the ‘80’s? Do you like the look after all when it’s on your body? Is the number size that you know fits you too small after all? Is it ill-fitting? Can it be tailored?
Trying on clothes is essential, especially in a thrift store . Again, if you don’t like it when you get home, you know that you won’t wear it and it will just eventually be donated back.
Now, let me dispel a myth.
“It’s a thrift store, so I shouldn’t have high expectations on quality and condition.”
Absolutely not! Why would anyone ever want to put on trash? You don’t have to settle for that. I only buy things that are perfect for what I need at thrift stores. If it’s not, I put it back.
You don’t have to resolve for less than wonderful: bad stains, tears, smells, etc.
Now, if it is something you really love, like a great leather coat and you think that you can work with the imperfection, then buy it. You have to weigh the blemish to see if it is fixable, cleanable or mendable…or if it is something that you can live with. If it is something that you can fix, how easy is that challenge? Do you want to send it to a tailor? Well then how much will that cost you? Weigh the costs, if it’s not worth it, then leave it alone! Walk away. You won’t wear it and will end up donating it back.
> My example: I am pretty handy with sewing simple projects, but I happened upon a
sequins dress made in the ‘80’s. I almost passed on it, but a friend that was
with me said…”You better not.” Now that I think about it, I should’ve bought all
the sequins I saw that day…and there was a lot. I got the dress for $5. I spent
$50 to shorten the hem. It was worth it, because sequins is impossible for the
novice to work with, and I didn’t want to ruin the dress. The dress was my New
Years Eve dress and it was amazing!
With that… Thirft stores are great places you can take fashion risks , with minimal costs and potential loss. You can pull an inspiration outfit online or just happen upon something funky. Buy it and work with it at home. If it doesn’t work out…oh well…it only cost you a few bucks, right? Now it’s time to donate it back.
My thing is that I love to repurpose outfits. Many of my shopping trips have been just to pick up things to repurpose. I may like the texture (leather), or the pattern of a dress (but plan to turn it into a blouse), I may find a dress but it’s too long, so I’ll shorten the hem; the same with sleeves. *Stay tuned for upcoming posts and videos on how to repurpose things.
For families...
Probably the best secret is taking advantage of thrift stores. Little kids, especially babies, get very little wear out of their c lothing. So scour the thrift stores for everything from packaged onesies to baby formal wear. You can find designer jeans and many things with tags still on.
Now that you have your big bag of goods. Next…what to when you get home….
*Check my thrift store challenge video on my show Charlotte Today.
2 Views
21:45:00 11/18/10
Video: FDA seeks information, potential lead contamination
[LESS INFO] 2 VIEWS | ADDED 21:45:00 11/18/10
CINCINNATI The recent report by a newspaper in Tampa, Fl. has caused retailers and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the lead levels of reusable shopping bags. "The health of our customers and their families is our top priority," explained Kroger Public Relations Manager, Rachael Betzler. "Kroger independently tests our reusable bags for the presence of lead and we also receive periodic test results from our suppliers." Betzler said that Kroger is retesting the stores recyclable bags for lead, as a precaution. In 2006, the FDA had concerns gave warnings to lunch box manufacturers about migration of lead from the container to food. "We take very seriously any potential food adulteration by heavy metals such as lead," said FDA's Douglas Karas. "If a lead containing additive that was added to the plastic used as the interior surface of the lunch boxes transferred into food, that food would be adulterated." The concern for the reusable bags is that the painted decals and decorations on the exteriors could transfer to food inside the bag. "FDA is seeking additional information regarding this potential contamination," explained Karas. Jessica Carlson with Target said, "The Target bags tested by the Tampa Tribune are compliant." She continued by email with, "And in fact, contained trace levels that were well below the national product safety standard." Area shoppers using various brands of recyclable bags had their concerns. "I won't be using them much more anymore," explained Betty Bailey. Her concern was not with lead transferring to her food, "My grand babies play with these bags some." "I trust them," explained Ivan Jackson. He was using his bag to carry personal items while he walked from a barber shop. "I don't think it'll effect me one way or the other. I'm hoping." Kroger's Betzler stressed, "We take these issues very seriously and expect all of our bag suppliers to follow all state and federal regulations on this subject." While Kroger and Target self test their products, Karas with the FDA said there is "…little or no likelihood of migration to food."
3 Views
21:45:00 11/18/10
Video: FDA seeks information, potential lead contamination
[LESS INFO] 3 VIEWS | ADDED 21:45:00 11/18/10
CINCINNATI The recent report by a newspaper in Tampa, Fl. has caused retailers and the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to investigate the lead levels of reusable shopping bags. "The health of our customers and their families is our top priority," explained Kroger Public Relations Manager, Rachael Betzler. "Kroger independently tests our reusable bags for the presence of lead and we also receive periodic test results from our suppliers." Betzler said that Kroger is retesting the stores recyclable bags for lead, as a precaution. In 2006, the FDA had concerns gave warnings to lunch box manufacturers about migration of lead from the container to food. "We take very seriously any potential food adulteration by heavy metals such as lead," said FDA's Douglas Karas. "If a lead containing additive that was added to the plastic used as the interior surface of the lunch boxes transferred into food, that food would be adulterated." The concern for the reusable bags is that the painted decals and decorations on the exteriors could transfer to food inside the bag. "FDA is seeking additional information regarding this potential contamination," explained Karas. Jessica Carlson with Target said, "The Target bags tested by the Tampa Tribune are compliant." She continued by email with, "And in fact, contained trace levels that were well below the national product safety standard." Area shoppers using various brands of recyclable bags had their concerns. "I won't be using them much more anymore," explained Betty Bailey. Her concern was not with lead transferring to her food, "My grand babies play with these bags some." "I trust them," explained Ivan Jackson. He was using his bag to carry personal items while he walked from a barber shop. "I don't think it'll effect me one way or the other. I'm hoping." Kroger's Betzler stressed, "We take these issues very seriously and expect all of our bag suppliers to follow all state and federal regulations on this subject." While Kroger and Target self test their products, Karas with the FDA said there is "…little or no likelihood of migration to food."
13 Views
16:34:03 12/15/09
Youngsters Learn Recycling Nmu Earth Keeper Student Team Eco Christmas
[LESS INFO] 13 VIEWS | ADDED 16:34:03 12/15/09
Teaching youth: Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper Student Team Eco-Christmas(Marquette, MI) - Dozens of youngsters from across Michigan created recycled holiday cards and homemade tea bags for gifts this weekend during the Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper's Eco-Christmas Workshop at the Peter White Public Library in Marquette.The Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper (NMU EK) Student Team hosted the workshop from 1-4 p.m. across from the children's library attracting several mothers from the Lower Peninsula and a teacher from Paradise in the eastern Upper Peninsula who plans to bring the idea into her classroom.While finding ways to entertain and educate her children while her husband checked out job offers in Marquette, Tara Strong of downstate Grand Blanc brought her young daughter and baby son to the Upper Peninsula Children's Museum and then the Peter White children's library.“My husband is here interviewing for a residency position for after med school,” said Strong. “We just found out about the project from the librarian.”“I love it. I love the recycling idea. We're also on a very limited budget and so I really like the idea of recycling and hand making things. I think it's great.”Strong said she and her daughter “are having great fun.”“I've been making crafts,” said four-year-old Anja Strong. “I made a tea bag and I have a honey bear stick”Joined by her brother and a friend, 18-year-old NMU EK Student Team member Ellen Lindblom said the end of the semester meant lots of scrap paper lying around the university.“School just ended and people have lost of papers left over” that was cut into tiny pieces by NMU EK team members, said Lindblom, an NMU freshman “You put it in the blender with a little bit of water and you blend it until it looks a little bit chunky like this.”“You put it in a screen flatten it out - pat the water out,” said Lindblom, while using a towel and iron to dry and flatten the multicolored wet paper as 21 year-old NMU EK Student Team Director Ben Scheelk of downstate Charlevoix used a small hair dryer to speed up the process.“We took a towel and pressed the water out to speed up the drying process a little bit,” she said. “Then flattened it out a little harder with an iron. I think it looks nice.”His hand atop the lid on a blender that whirred with red, blue, purple and white bits of paper, Mike Robinson, a 21-year-old NMU senior geography major, from downstate Grosse Pointe, said the project is a “good holiday craft.”“We are taking some scrap paper from various places and construction paper and making it into some pulp in a blender with some water,” said Robinson, a member of the NMU EK Student team.Pressing the bits of soggy paper into a screen with borders, 16-year-old Negaunee High School junior Phil Lindblom said “this is what they call extreme pulp.”“I am taking this wet paper and putting it on these screens and pushing water out of it,” said Lindbloom, whose sister is a member of the NMU EarthKeepers. “I am making new paper which is pretty exciting.”Escanaba native Carole Beck, who teaches in third through fifth grade at the White Fish Township Community School in Paradise, said she'll take the NMU EarthKeeper's idea into her classrooms and maybe make Valentines Day cards.“We're trying to figure out how we could create the screen there that would be the only thing that we would need extra,” Beck said. “We should be able to do that.”The student put out bowls with spearmint, raspberry leaves, juniper berries and rose hips that the youngsters used to “make a green tea - a detoxifying beautiful beverage,” said 21-year-old NMU EK Student Team Event Coordinator Amanda Emerson of Cary, Ill. “We also have honey sticks to go along with the tea.”The herbs were donated by Catholic EarthKeeper Kyra Fillmore and the Marquette Food Co-op.“You just wrap those up herbs in an eco-friendly coffee filter and tie it with a string in a nice little bow and there you go,” said Emerson, an NMU Senior Majoring in International Studies (emphasis on Latin America) and Earth Science (emphasis on rocks and minerals). “There's your gift - a homemade card and homemade tea bags.”Protecting the earth and teaching the young to respect the planet are major goals of the EarthKeepers, said 21-year-old NMU EarthKeeper Leandra Dziesinski of Alpena, MI.“It's very important to care care of your things and the earth is absolutely our thing - it's where we're at - so we have to take care of it we only have one earth, said Dziesinski, an NMU senior graduating in May with a bachelor's degree in marketing. I think if we have a happy, safe and a clean place to live that just makes our population that much more happy.”In September, the NMU EarthKeepers cleaned up hundreds of pounds of litter at the Upper Dead River Falls, a popular studnet hangout, Scheelk said.The NMU EKStudent Team is the youth wing of the Upper Peninsula EarthKeepers, an interfaith environment group involving over 150 churches and temples across northern Michigan.The EarthKeeper Initiative is co-sponsored by the nonprofit Cedar Tree Institute, the nonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership, the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community and 10 faith communities: Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, Quakers (Religious Society of Friends) and Zen Buddhist.For more information on the Michigan EarthKeepers email or call the following contacts:Ben Scheelk, Director of NMU EK Student Teambscheelk@nmu.edu231-675-0121Rev. Jon Magnuson, Co-Founder of EarthKeeper Initiativemagnusonx2@charter.net906-228-5494Greg Peterson, news reporter and volunteer media advisor for the EarthKeepers and other projectsearthkeeper@charter.net906-401-0109U.P. EarthKeeper Team:http://www.upearthkeepers.orgNonprofit Superior Watershed Partnership in Marquette, MIhttp://www.superiorwatersheds.orgNonprofit Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette, MIhttp://www.cedartreeinstitute.org
0 Views
00:51:59 04/30/07
United Methodists Vital Part Of 2007 Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep Across Northern Michigan On Earth Da
[LESS INFO] 0 VIEWS | ADDED 00:51:59 04/30/07
The following written news story and photos from the United Methodist News Service is being posted with written permission from United Methodist Communications.Any links to this story or photos must expressly credit the United Methodist News Service.The United Methodist Church is one of 9 faith communities with 140 churches and temples who are members of the Earth Keeper Initiative in Michgan's Upper Peninsula.The following story is by United Methodist Communications and the United Methodists News Service.Reporter Lilla Marigza has the print version of a United Methodist Communications TV story by reporter Reed Galin that was videotaped in Marquette, MI on Earth Day weekend 2007 during the third annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep.Background on the 2007 Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep:Northern Michigan residents turn in one ton of drugs plus additional narcotics worth estimated $500,000 at 19 free collections sites across the Upper Peninsula.The Earth Day 2007 project targeted all old and unwanted pharmaceuticals and personal care products like shampoos, lotions and perfumes.The third annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep was sponsored by nine faith communities (Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, and Zen Buddhist), the Superior Watershed Partnership, the Cedar Tree Institute, and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.About 2,000 people turned in drugs that many collected from family and friends.Assistance was provided by the Michigan Pharmacists Association and numerous law enforcement agencies including the DEA and Michigan Sheriff's Association.Funded by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Thrivent Financial, the EPA says pharmaceutical collections are important because when flushed or dumped down the drain trace amounts of the medicines return in drinking water and rivers because water treatment plants are not designed to remove those chemicals that are harmful to wildlife and possibly humans.Northern Michigan religious leaders says the results show their environmental message is being heard.Previous collections netted nearly 400 tons of household poisons, vehicle batteries, old computers and cells phones - all recycled or properly disposed.UMNS photos by Reed Galin.A UMNS Report by Lilla MarigzaApril 25, 2007It is Clean Sweep Saturday, and a woman with a grocery bag full of outdated and unwanted medicines walks toward Grace United Church in Marquette, Mich., ready to do her small part to help keep the environment clean.Pharmacists in white lab coats stand ready to sort through her pills and liquids to make sure the discarded drugs don't end up polluting the municipal water supply.The collection drive is one way that United Methodists across northern Michigan are taking action to protect the environment from household toxic waste."A part of our faith life is to take care of creation," says the Rev. Charlie West, pastor of Grace United Methodist Church, which serves as a collection site for the annual environmental initiative.It is a message embraced by some 130,000 churchgoers taking part in the cleanup. Each Earth Day weekend for the last three years, the Earth Keeper Clean Sweep project has helped people of faith and other environmentally conscious people dispose of hazardous waste. The effort is sponsored by United Methodists and eight other faith communities: Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish and Zen Buddhist.The first year, 45 tons of household poisons, such as pesticides and car batteries, were collected and safely discarded. In 2006, the focus was on unwanted electronic equipment. More than 320 tons of old computers, cell phones and other ‘E-waste’ were amassed for recycling.This year, on April 21, volunteers turned their attention to pharmaceuticals.The Environmental Protection Agency reports that trace amounts of prescription and nonprescription medications are finding their way into streams and drinking water. The agency cites a U.S. Geological Survey study that sampled 139 streams in 30 states and found 80 percent of them contaminated with trace amounts of chemicals commonly found in prescription drugs."I thought it is a pretty good idea to keep our water clean," says Edith Prosen, who brought her own unneeded medicines for the cause. "Up to now, I must confess, I've been flushing them down the toilet. That's what I was told to do."Nineteen Clean Sweep collection sites were set up across 14 counties surrounding Lake Superior, one of the world's more pristine bodies of water -- but also a place where medicinal chemicals have been detected.Organizers estimate that Clean Sweep collected more than a ton of unusable medications -- mostly pills but also creams, cough medicines and other over-the-counter items. The drugs were to be sorted and most incinerated, with controlled substances turned over to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.Susan LaFernier is a United Methodist and the tribal council president of Michigan's Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which helps sponsor Clean Sweep.LaFernier notes that the Chippewa Native Americans of Lake Superior have been known for their stewardship of the earth since the 1600s. "I just want to say thank you to everyone because it is everybody's responsibility to take care of the precious earth that the Lord has given us," LaFernier says.John Perrecone, an EPA project manager in Michigan, says offering environmental awareness through churches has proved more successful than through traditional media outlets."(Churches) have a good distribution system that works," he says. "People trust it. The message was there, and they're motivated to come forward and take action."Marigza is a freelance producer in Nashville, Tenn.News media contact: Fran Coode Walsh, Nashville, Tenn., (615) 742-5470 or ---Photo 1The Rev. Charlie West, pastor of Grace United Methodist Church in Marquette, Mich., holds discarded medicines collected during an interfaith environmental cleanup project. UMNS photos by Reed Galin.Photo 2More than 1 ton of outdated and unwanted medicines were collected during this year's Earth Keeper Clean Sweepproject April 21. Photo 3Pharmacists sort through discarded drugs collected at Grace United Methodist Church, one of 19 collection sites in 14 counties across northern Michigan.
113 Views
03:43:16 04/28/07
Northern Michigan Residents Turn In Tens Of Thousands Of Pharmaceuticals Weighing Over One Ton
[LESS INFO] 113 VIEWS | ADDED 03:43:16 04/28/07
Narcotics Have Estimated Street Value of $500,000Third Annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep Targeted All MedicinesEarth Day: 2007 Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep(Marquette, Michigan) - Northern Michigan residents honored Earth Day by turning 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.The 2007 Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep targeted out-of-date and unwanted medications of all kinds, according to Carl Lindquist, executive director of the Superior Watershed Partnership.Earth Keeper TV will soon have an updated videos and stories about the pharmaceutical collection.Lindquist estimated that over one ton of pharmaceuticals and personal care products were turned in by the public.The "controlled substances" turned in have an estimated street value of $500,000 including narcotics in pill and liquid form, clean sweep organizers said.Several police officers estimated that each one of the narcotics and other controlled drugs had a street value ranging from $5 to $25 per pill.“We had a great public turnout, a lot of people showed up with old medications,” said Lindquist said. “We are again breaking records for the Great Lakes and maybe the nation.”Lindquist said the exact number of controlled substances turned in was still being tallied.About 2,000 people turned in items but the many had also collected pharmaceuticals from other family and friends, organizers said.The 2007 clean sweep went off without a hitch thanks to the U.P. chapter of the Michigan Pharmacists Association, and numerous law enforcement agencies including the DEA and Michigan Sheriff's Association, organizers said. Pharmacists and law enforcement officers were present at all collection sites to ensure security and proper collection of the pharmaceuticals, Lindquist said.The third annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep was coordinated by the Superior Watershed Partnership and the Cedar Tree Institute, both Marquette-based non-profit environmental groups.The clean sweep was again sponsored by nine U.P. faith communities with 130,000 members (60 percent of U.P. residents), the Superior Watershed Partnership, the Cedar Tree Institute, and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.The project involves the congregations of over 140 churches and temples representing nine faith communities (Catholic, Episcopal, Lutheran, Presbyterian, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Jewish, and Zen Buddhist).The clean sweep had over 400 volunteers including 150 members of Thrivent Financial and 40 Northern Michigan University (NMU) students.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.Rev. Jon Magnuson, Earth Keeper Initiative founder, said "one of the gifts that the faith community brings to the environmental movement is that the external damage done in the environment is a reflection of what is going on in the human condition, in the human heart - so as we heal and cleanse the Earth, we are also healing the human heart.”“We are in trouble with the way we live with the Earth, we have lost our balance" but projects like the clean sweeps are one example of humans correcting man-made problems, said Rev. Magnuson, co-organizer of the clean sweeps and the head of Lutheran Campus Ministry at NMU.Lindquist said the pharmaceuticals will be taken to an EPA-licensed incinerator at Veolia Environmental Services near St. Louis, Missouri.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.EPA official John Perrecone from Chicago visited several of the collection sites and praised the Superior Watershed Partnership and the Earth Keeper team for its organization and success pulling off the largest geographical pharmaceutical collection in U.S. history.“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 Perrecone, Ecosystem Projects Manager at the Midwestern Region office of EPA located in Chicago.The 19 Earth Keeper sites collect “the whole gamut” of over-the-counter and prescription medications including a wide range of narcotic pain killers, sleeping pills, syringes/needles, and antibiotics.The public also turned in a wide range of personal care products like shampoo, lotions and soaps.Although an environmental project, the pharmaceutical collection had several great side-effects like removing drugs that could be accidentally consumed by children thinking the pills were candy, and preventing diversion of controlled substances such as narcotics by people addicted to prescription medications.Some of the medication was over 100 years old, including 18 large dust-covered antique bottles filled with liquids and powders that Lutheran Mary Sloan Armstrong of Harvey brought to the Messiah Lutheran Church collection site in Marquette.Armstrong said the medicines - some with Latin labels - belonged to her late father J.K. Sloan, who ran Sloan’s Pharmacy in Galva, Illinois for decades prior to his death.“These are drug bottles that were in the basement of my dad’s pharmacy,” said Armstrong. “We’ve had them for about 30 years (since her father’s death) and haven’t done anything with them. We thought this would be a good chance to get rid of the contents.”Pharmacists gathered around Armstrong’s car to get a look at the century old drugs that had a variety of deteriorating cork-like lids.“This stuff goes back about one hundred years, “ said Marquette pharmacist Dave Campana, while lifting several of the bottles out of an old wooden crate.“These are really old powders that they used to make up medications - you don’t find these in pharmacies anymore because they don’t have a need for it. But they used it years ago,” Campana said. “These powders and liquids are considered hazardous waste but they are drugs.”A member of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Harvey, Armstrong said some of the bottles have pre-civil war patents and her family plans to search her late father’s basement for more bottles after learning the importance of proper disposal of medicines through the clean sweep.Meanwhile at the St. Peter Catholic Cathedral collection site in Marquette, one person dropped off a “turn-of-the century” black folding case containing eight small bottles filled with powders.“This is what would have been a doctor’s traveling pharmacy,” said Marquette pharmacist Kent Jenema, while showing the leather zippered case to an EPA observer. “This has a lot of old patent type medications from mostly natural sources that predates some of the pharmacy that we know today.”The third annual Earth Keeper Clean Sweep was praised by America’s Drug Czar, law enforcement officers and prosecutors."Prescription drug abuse is a serious problem across the Nation, increasingly affecting families who have been untouched by illegal drug use," said U.S. Drug Czar John Walters, the director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) and a member of the President's CabinetWalters cited the 2007 Pharmaceutical Clean sweep across northern Michigan as an example of “community engagement in properly disposing of pharmaceuticals (that) will help us stop and prevent prescription drug abuse, and the harm it can cause.”Remote areas like Michigan’s Upper Peninsula are not immune to prescription drug abuse.About 14 percent of students in Alger and Marquette counties admit using prescription medication to get high, according to a 2006 survey by the Great Lakes Center for Youth Development."And in our own community here in the U.P., it's an under-reported problem and a lot of times prescription drugs that are suitable for abuse can be stolen from people for whom they are prescribed,” said Paul Olson, a licensed social worker who works for the Great Lakes Center for Youth Development in Marquette.Katherine Geier removed all the narcotics from her home, delivering OxyContin and other medication to the collection site at St. John the Evangelist Catholic Church in Ishpeming.“My mother had become addicted to prescription pain killers and sleeping pills, so I ended up hiding them from her,” Geier said. “So I had all these narcotics and I did not know what to do with them.”“I did not want to flush them down the toilet,” Geier said. “So I finally found a proper was to dispose of them.”Drug addicts and burglars “will break into people’s homes and steal these narcotic drugs for their own personal gain - they will either use it themselves or sell it on the streets,” said Ishpeming Police Officer Robert Sibley, one of dozens of law enforcement officers stationed at the 19 collection sites. “This is a big problem and we are working on it all the time.”Police were pleased the clean sweep prevented lots of “controlled” drugs from possible diversion to the street.“This is great,” said Marquette Police officer Brandon Boesl, while transferring counted narcotics to a special holding container during the collection at the Messiah Lutheran Church in Marquette.“Some of the most abuse things in the area are prescription drugs and a lot of people after they get their prescription refilled don’t use them - and other family members or children can get a hold of them - and this is a great way to get rid of them,” officer Boesl said.Marquette General Hospital Pharmacist Bob Hodges said “these are controlled drugs and we are inventorying them so that we will have a better record of the drugs that are being collected - it’s required by law.” After counting pills from a dusty bottle filled with narcotics, Ishpeming pharmacist Steve Lyford said “to dispose of these medicines in a safe way is a real good idea.”Over 100 people dropped off pharmaceuticals at the First Presbyterian Church in Escanaba, MI. Including over 3,700 (controlled substance) pills.Some participants held medications "for many years after the death of a relative because they did not know what to do with it," said Jill Wiese Martin, site manager and a member of the First Presbyterian Church in Escanaba, MI."Most people were relieved to be able to bring this material in without any hassles and many were very aware that this material should not be just flushed," said Wiese Martin, adding many participants were frustrated that left over medicine goes to waste when it is replaced by new treatment."We need a systematic way to routinely and safely dispose of unused and unwanted medications," said Wiese Martin, an environmental scientist. "An organized means for collection and disposal just does not exist."Removing pharmaceuticals and personal care products is important to protect the many rivers in the Escanaba area, and on Lake Michigan bays that are world renown walleye fisheries."Little Bay de Noc is a very rich ecosystem, one of the richest due to it's complex geology, geography and the many surface water streams that discharge in to it," Wiese Martin said.In addition to being an environment professional, Wiese Martin says protecting the water is important part of her Presbyterian faith."We need to protect and preserve God's creation for all, even to the extent that future adverse outcomes can be avoided and minimized," Wiese Martin said. "It provides an another mission opportunity in God's world and hope to our children that we care about the world we are leaving them."The city of Escanaba, Bay de Noc Community College and public school educators are "actively promoting a number of issues" including "the importance of wetlands to the entire bay ecosystem," creating "a walkable community" and reducing the "human/consumer waste stream," Wiese Martin said.At the First Lutheran Church in Gladstone, about 75 people dropped off medicines and security was provided by Michigan State Police and Gladstone Public Safety Officers, including some in plain clothes."This was a wonderful event - a perfect marriage of two concerns - care of the environment and the need to remove drugs that might otherwise be abused from the community," said Pastor Jonathan Schmidt.Delta County Prosecutor Steve Parks visited the Gladstone clean sweep location and told the site manager he was pleased to see narcotics and other prescriptions drugs removed from his community.Northern Michigan University student Miranda Revere said while volunteering at the First Lutheran Church in Gladstone she learned how severe the prescription drug abuse problem is from the Delta County prosecutor and the pastor.“Delta County has a problem with teens abusing prescription drugs, so finding people to help at the pharmaceutical collection was not difficult at all,” said Revere, a 21-year-old business management major from Clio, MI.“The county prosecuting attorney discussed the committee that has been put together to help this problem,” said Revere, who has attended NMU for three years.For the year in a row, 10-year-old Eve McCowen volunteered at the Messiah Lutheran Church in Marquette and was assigned the task of taking bags full of personal care products and non-prescription medications and dumping them into large holding containers. “We came here to collect the vitamins, pills and any other medicines - so they won’t pollute the earth anymore,” said McCowen, a fourth grader, who volunteered with her parents and other members of the Marquette Baha'i Spiritual Assembly.“There has been a lot of stuff and I have been dumping them into this barrel,” said McCowen with a huge grin.The Northern Michigan University EarthKeeper (NMU EK) Student Team sent volunteers literally hundreds of miles to all 19 collections sites.NMU EK project director Jennifer Simula said the students really enjoy doing their part to protect the environment.“They are wearing green T-shirts and they all have smiles on their faces,” said Simula as three students each emptied several large shopping bags full of medicines and person care products.“The students are greeting everybody as they come in, providing hospitality and letting everyone know what’s going on and that they are involved in a great project,” said Simula, who is a student leader in Lutheran Campus Ministry at NMU.The students have many projects and are working on setting up chapters at three other U.P. universities while still keeping up with classroom assignments.“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.“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.The Earth Keepers “had people from the community drop off pharmaceuticals for friends and family members” adding it was such a “beautiful day” many walked to their collection site, said NMU EK Student Team member Ashley Ormson of Negaunee, a sophomore with a double major in International Relations and French.“I was very happy that everything went smoothly for the three hours, and we didn't encounter any complications,” said Ormson, a member of Messiah Lutheran Church and student leader with Lutheran Campus Ministry at NMU.NMU EK Student Team member Matt Nordine, who volunteered at the UMC church in St. Ignace, did not mind the four-hour round trip drive because “it was good to actively participate in Earth Day.”NMU EK team member Lauren Murphy said it is easy to mix her studies and getting good grades with several environmental projects because “we keep a good balance - on the weekends we go to our projects and help out and during the week we go to the Earth Keeper meetings after class.”“We collected a lot of medicines, old suntan lotions, eye drops, cosmetics and other stuff like that,” said NMU EK team member Kristy Knutson, while going thru bags of items dropped off by Marquette residents.“Lots of controlled substances came through that won't get sold or end up in the water,” said Rev. Tari Stage-Harvey, pastor of the Zion Lutheran Church in St. Ignace and Trinity Lutheran Church in Brevort (combined 100 parishioners).Rev. Jim Balfour, pastor of United Methodist of St. Ignace, said he was “happy to see people from so many churches help” with the clean sweep."It is wonderful to work in a community where the churches come together easily to address the threats to God's world," Pastor Balfour said.Pastor Balfour thanked Earth Keepers for the clean sweeps and literature that was passed out to the public because it helps "people understand how many of the common items of our daily lives can be a threat to the environment when they have out lived their usefulness."Presbyterian Earth Keeper team member Sue Piasini of Sagola said she "saw a flock of geese when I was going to the clean sweep and I thought ‘we are going to take care of the water for you' and it was such a nice sunny day."Three pharmacists from two retail stores "never stopped counting pills during the entire three hours," said Piasini, who volunteered at the Salvation Army Bread of Life Center in Iron Mountain."One plastic bag had over 2,000 pills and they had to sort them all out," said Piasini, a member of Grace Presbyterian Church in Sagola, MI.Members of several faith communities were among the volunteers and everyone was in a great mood "joking and having a fun time," said Piasini.Earth Keeper surveys were filled out by all 94 people, mostly senior citizens, who dropped off pharmaceuticals and many brought in drugs collected from family and friends, Piasini said."One person brought a full duffel bag" of pharmaceuticals, said Piasini, who has two grandchildren and is the mother of four grown children.Bishop Alexander K. Sample, Roman Catholic Diocese of Marquette, said he is “thrilled” with the results and was especially happy about the large youth involvement in protecting the environment and taking prescription drugs off the streets.“It is wonderful to see that the younger generation is at the heart of this Earth Keepers effort,” said Bishop Sample, who oversees 97 U.P. parishes and missions with 65,400 members. “They understand better than many, the connection between faith and care for creation, God's gift to us.”“We have to be concerned about our young people and the world we will hand on to them,” Bishop Sample said.“It is a way for us, as people of faith, to show our concern for the world that our Creator has entrusted to our care and stewardship,” Bishop Sample said.Catholic Earth Keeper team member Kyra Fillmore, a 29-year-old mother of two small children, said “people were unloading medicines from deceased relatives or from past illness.”"This collection was a quieter, more personal event," said Fillmore, a member of St. Louis the King Catholic Church in Harvey. “I'm grateful that Earth Keepers could provide a comfortable place for people to - in a sense - release past pains and help keep our water clean as well.”Catholic Earth Keeper Linda of Marquette, who drove five hours round trip to volunteer at the Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church in Ironwood, MI, called the clean sweep "a most spiritual event for cleansing the soul of medicinal toxins."O'Brien believes participants "shed the reminder of pain from loved ones or oneself physical medicinal needs.""Residents were able to make their home environment safer by disposing of unused or unwanted medicines and old health care products in an ethical way," O'Brien said. "They responded knowing that they are also contributing to the health and safety beyond their own doorstep."Retired steelworker Don Flint of Ironwood said his wife, Betty, cleaned out their medicine cabinets "to get rid of medications that we don't want any more" because "we've become more aware that it's not the right thing to do to flush pharmaceuticals down the toilet."A Lutheran, Flint, 64, dropped off old antibiotics, arthritis pain medicine, aspirin, Tylenol and lotions at the Our Lady of Peace Catholic Church collection site in Ironwood.The Flints are members of the (ELCA) Salem Lutheran Church in Ironwood, which recently formed the Christ Lutheran Parish with 3 other ELCA churches in Ironwood.Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan (EDNM) Bishop James Kelsey, who brought several old medications to a Catholic collection site, said he hopes that others will follow the example of the Earth Keeper team and that the clean sweeps are “a catalyst for a movement much bigger than our demographics” in remote northern Michigan with a population of about 260,000 people spread across hundreds of square miles.“Care for the environment is an expression of love for God and one another," said Kelsey, who serves as Bishop for 27 Episcopal congregations with 2,500 members in the U.P.Evangelical Lutheran Church of America Lutheran Bishop Thomas A. Skrenes of the Northern Great Lakes Synod (NGLS), who volunteered at the Fortune Lake Lutheran Bible Camp in Crystal Falls, said the public was happy to participate and had an “eagerness about being a part of the solution.”“It was a morning of solutions to difficult problems and I am proud of my church," said Bishop Skrenes, the head of 91 U.P. Lutheran congregations with 40,000 members.The NGLS also includes Finlandia University in Hancock and the Northland Lutheran Retirement Community in Marinette, WI.Jewish Earth Keeper Jacob Silver of Negaunee Township said future health of the planet will depend on how youth are motivated by adults - and protecting nature is clear in the annual teachings and observations of Tikkun Olam and Passover. “It is important that adults and parents are seen by youth to be carrying out the moral obligation for Tikkun Olam,” said Silver, one of 70 members of Temple Beth Sholom in Ishpeming, MI. “This creates a reality for the youth - thus, it spreads the message to care for the environment across generations.”Silver said “for Jews, the Earth is all we have.”“There is no mention, thus no concept, of existence after death in the five books of Moses, our Torah,” Silver said. “So, the welfare of the planet is always a prime commitment for Jews.”“There is nowhere else, and if we foul the Earth, we can be left ultimately homeless,” Silver said.Silver added that “the welfare of the Earth, and its parts, is a primary commitment for Jews.”“The Earth Keepers provide, not only an opportunity to help heal the Earth, but also collaboration with members of faith communities in the area - it is a wonderful organization,” Silver said.For the third year in a row, northern Michigan Zen Buddhists volunteered at the Grace United Methodist Church in Marquette, and the head priest 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.""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.Rev. Lehmberg said his 15-year-old daughter, Freya, and Rev. West’s 13-year-old son, Christopher, were excited to volunteer."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.Dr. Rodney Clarken, chair of the Marquette Baha'i spiritual assembly who volunteered at a Lutheran church, said "the interfaith aspect of this project has given it a unique energy and power - when you see the results over the past three years" adding that he hopes people will see the connection between protecting the Earth and their spiritual beliefs."The environmental crisis is foundationally a spiritual crisis, and until you address those spiritual issues you will not have significant impact on the environment. ," said Clarken, NMU interim associate dean of Teacher Education and director of School of Education, adding there are about 40 members of Baha'i in Marquette (about 100 in Upper Peninsula) , and 144,000 in the United States (about 6 million world wide)."In our world of rapid and accelerating change, protecting our environment, both physically and spiritually, is increasingly critical and challenging," Clarken said. "Baha'is believe that only in seeking spiritual solutions to our material problems will we be able to sustain and advance civilization."Clarken said that Baha'ullah - the Prophet-Founder of Baha'i - wrote: "The earth is but one county, and mankind its citizens."United Methodist Church (UMC) Marquette District Superintendent (DS) Grant R. Lobb said the words "cleaner water" kept popping into his mind as he stood in "the warm parking lot watching a number of individuals and couples bringing in their outdated pills, tablets and syringes" into the basement of the Grace United Methodist Church in Marquette.The clean sweep means "cleaner water for all of us," said Lobb, DS of the Marquette District of the Detroit Annual Conference UMC, which has 8,372 parishioners and 60 northern Michigan congregations.Supt. Lobb said he is "impressed by the participation of our senior citizens, who not only took the time to look through their cupboards and cabinets for outdated medicines, but also made the effort to drive to the collection sites in order to turn in their items."Catholic Earth Keeper team member Kelly Mathews of Big Bay, and her husband, Chris Mathews, 45, brought numerous medicines bottles to the collection including 18-year-old prescription sinus medication they found while recently cleaning out their medicine cabinet.Mathews said she “could not believe the amount of unused medication” adding America’s medical system needs to find a way to prevent the waste of these drugs.“Some people brought in bottles with 50 to 80 more pills,” said Mathews, a 36-year-old mother of two who says her family switched to natural remedies years ago because they believe those medications are usually safer than prescription medicines.“I found the financial waste was totally unnecessary; those drugs were paid by someone - who would have thought that there would be so much going to waste,” Mathews said. “Many people commented on how much the drugs had cost and that they never actually used them. I wonder, why the excess?”Marquette Unitarian Universalist Congregation (MUUC) Earth Keeper team member Gail Griffith of Marquette agreed with Mathews that the waste of medicine in America is sad.“The pharmacist at Grace United Methodist told me that a drug I turned in, with an expiration date in 1992, was worth over $600,” Griffith said. “It had been prescribed but not completely used.”“It's too bad that so much money is used to buy pharmaceuticals that end up as trash, but we need to insure that trash doesn't end up harming our waters,” Griffith said.Presbyterian Earth Keeper team member Lynnea Kuzak, who volunteered at the First United Methodist Church in Manistique, said she was thanked by a resident who lost her husband to cancer last September and wished that all his medication had been properly disposed."Another person told me ‘I didn't like putting them down the toilet,’ " said Kuzak, 28, the director of Christian Education at First Presbyterian Church in Marquette.Presbyterian Pastor Dave Anderson of Iron Mountain is thankful for the interfaith clean sweeps because “I worry about the legacy our generation will leave for future ones, but it is good to know that we are doing something about it through opportunities like this.”Rev. Anderson, who serves as the chaplain for the Dickinson County Health Care System, added that “we all need to realize that the pick up and disposal of polluting waste like electronic equipment and outdated pharmaceuticals is making a big difference now and for future generations.”"As God's children, we feel like we are provided a concrete, tangible way to make a difference in our environment,” said Rev. Anderson, who is pastor of the Grace Presbyterian Church in Sagola.”Lutheran Joy Ibsen said on the Sunday morning following the clean sweep her Lutheran congregation sang “We Gather at the River-- the beautiful, the beautiful river.”I couldn't help but think how perfectly that song was for us on Earth Day,” Ibsen said. "To me, there is a special symbolism in this year's Clean Sweep--preventing pharmaceuticals from entering our water systems.”Ibsen said she was struck by how many prescriptions were thrown away because of serious side effects despite advances in medical care.“So many of our environmental problems come from the side effects of our advanced society - and every prescription has side effects,” said Ibsen, the organist at Trinity Lutheran Church in Trout Creek, MI.“One woman told me she had paid $140 for a certain prescriptions which gave her nothing but welts - she could not take it because of her allergic reaction, said Ibsen, lay minister, vice president of the church council at Trinity Lutheran.Ibsen said, like people, “the earth and water is allergic to many powerful prescriptions and chemicals.”Mary Klups of Ontonagon County brought in several types of pain and blood pressure medication, including two bottles of morphine, leftover from her late husband’s cancer treatment.“I had several drugs I have kept, waiting to dispose of in the right way,” said Klups, while dropping off pharmaceuticals at the White Pine Community United Methodist Church.“I also have several of my own medications including some very expensive medicine that did not work out because I had an allergic reaction to it,” Klups said. “I really appreciate having a way to get rid of all this.”White Pine pharmacist Chuck Blezek said “for years we told people to flush old prescriptions down the toilet - it is only lately that we have found out that it is the wrong thing to do.”“This is a very worthwhile thing Earth Keepers is doing,” Blezek said.Wayne Sparks of White Pine said he dropped off drugs “because I don’t have any other good way of disposing of these medications.”UMC Earth Keeper team member Rev. Charlie West said that 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, pastor of the Grace UMC in Marquette and project director of the first clean sweep. "We had some over the counter medicine from 20 years ago - and we saw a lot of the same people we have seen over the past two years” at the previous clean sweeps.Two weeks after a lengthy blizzard that dumped over five feet of snow, those participating enjoyed sun with temperatures in the 70's, that Rev. West described as “a good day to be disposing of chemicals carefully - so the creation will continue to be healthy and wholesome.”Messiah Lutheran Church Pastor Nancy Amacher praised the police for standing watch, pharmacists “who utilized their knowledge and expertise,” NMU students that “helped wherever needed” and others for “helping out on a sunny Saturday morning when they could have been sleeping in or doing their own thing.”“As people of faith we believe the earth is God's created gift and part of our stewardship is to care for ourselves as well as the forests, waterways, and their inhabitants,” said Rev. Amacher.Munising United Methodist Church site coordinator Phil Hansen said many participants collected from family and friends and “almost all people brought in large quantities of items” filling plastic grocery bags.“We had more controlled substances turned in than we expected,” said Hansen., adding security was provided by Munising Police Chief Steven Swanberg and Lt. Mike Nettleton. “People were happy that a pharmacist was on duty and their privacy was protected.”Hansen said many people were previously “unaware that throwing away medicine or flushing it was harmful and they will not do that in the future.”Gee Petruske collected items from his community in remote Grand Marais and made an hour-long special trip to Munising to deliver the items. Background:The EPA and Lindquist said the clean sweep targeted medicines because trace amounts of pharmaceuticals are turning up in America's rivers, lakes, and drinking water.The EPA says most treatment plants are not designed to filter out these medications.When pills or liquid medicines are poured down the sink or flushed down the toilet they remain diluted in the water supply after treatment and these trace amounts are suspected of causing a range of 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 in Chicago, Ill"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, therefore, is an excellent opportunity to prevent the introduction of these chemicals into Lake Superior and other water bodies," LaPlante said.Lindquist said that recent national studies have documented that over 80 percent of the rivers sampled "tested positive for a range of pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, birth control hormones, antidepressants, veterinary drugs and other medications."Lindquist said some urban centers have even detected "traces of pharmaceuticals in their tap water."Pharmaceuticals in some rivers have also been linked to behavioral and sexual mutations in species of fish, amphibians and birds, according to EPA studies.Pharmaceutical compounds known as endocrine disruptors have even been linked to neurological problems in children and increased incidence of some cancers, Lindquist said.There were 19 drop off sites across a 400 mile area (and in all 15 counties) of Michigan's Upper Peninsula that open Saturday, April 21, 2007 from 9 a.m. to noon local time on Earth Day eve.In 2006, over 320 tons of electronic waste (old/broken computers, cell phones etc.) were dropped off in just three hours by an estimated 10,000 U.P. residents. It took 9 semi trucks to haul the e-waste to an EPA approved recycling centers in the Lower Peninsula.In 2005, the first clean sweep collected 45 tons of household poisons and vehicle batteries. The hazardous waste, including over two pounds of mercury, were properly disposed of in various ways according to EPA and state guidelines.Both previous clean sweeps broke EPA collection records for the Great Lakes, organizers said.Thrivent Financial for Lutherans donated $5,000 for the 2006 clean sweep.Thrivent Financial also awarded a $75,000 Youth Leadership Initiative grant to Northern Michigan University’s Lutheran Campus Ministry in 2006 for development of an on-going program for college students to become involved in the ecological stewardship of the environment. Three other universities are also involved in the program, including Michigan Tech, Finlandia University and Lake Superior State University.Partners who helped make the clean sweep a success include U.S. Senator Carl Levin's Office, U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, the NMU Environmental Science Program and many others.Last fall, the Earth Keeper Initiative and its partners were honored with three international awards.The Earth Keeper Initiative received several prestigious awards in 2006 including an international Environmental Stewardship award from the Lake Superior Binational Program and the State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference (SOLEC) Award.The Earth Keeper Clean Sweep was named one of the 15 hardest working non-profit projects in America in 2006 by World Magazine, an international religious publication.The NMU EK team was created last April as the student wing of the Earth Keeper Intiative. The In addition to assisting in the annual clean sweeps, the NMU EK Student Team has numerous projects including (Adopt-A-Watershed) cleaning, testing, and developing a plan for six tributaries to three of the Great Lakes, recruiting students for chapters at three other U.P. universities, plus youth and adult outreach on practical everyday ways people can reduce human impact on the environment.The Superior Watershed Partnership has on-going programs that including Adopt-Your-Watershed, public environmental education, summer youth programs, land conservation, habitat restoration, energy conservation and numerous opportunities for volunteers to get "hands-on experience" in their communities, national parks, national forests and their local watershed, Lindquist said.For more information on the clean sweep (or the other projects) contact the Superior Watershed Partnership at 906-228-6095 and Greg at 906-475-5068, or email: earthkeeper@charter.netEarth Keeper TV:http://earthkeepers.blip.tv/Earth Keeper related website addresses are:The Superior Watershed Partnershiphttp://www.superiorwatersheds.orgThe Cedar Tree Institute:http://www.cedartreeinstitute.com/The Lake Superior Interfaith Communication Network:http://www.lakesuperiorinterfaith.com/
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13:48:54 04/11/07
Seeds Of Hope Update 2007 Earth Keeper Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep On Earth Day Across Northern Mi
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Earth Keeper Update - 2007 Earth Keeper Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep Across Northern Michigan on Earth Day Eve Saturday, April 21, 2007Clean Sweep Founder Rev. Jon Magnuson: Seeds of HopeCLOUDS OF DESPAIR, SEEDS OF HOPE There is plenty of disturbing news about the environment.It makes some among us angry.A far more common response is to slip into states of passivity, cynicism, and despair.Here is the good news.Healthy religious communities, when they're at their best, counter such tendencies by brokering solidarity, compassion, but most importantly hope.Weekly prayers and liturgies are quietly filled with such efforts.As a Buddhist told me, we are, consciously or unconsciously in various religious practices, all: pointing to the moon. One peculiar teaching from the oldest spiritual traditions of the world is that hope, like most truth, is, more often than not, hidden.This insight is echoed in the Jewish understanding of Israel, a weak, nomadic tribe of Middle Easterners being selected as: A Chosen People.It appears in the story of the Buddha finding enlightenment under a tree, in the record of Jesus being born in manger because there was no room in the inn.Not long ago, in a small, simple shed next to a green house in a northern Michigan I stumbled upon such a sign of hope for the future.Part of an inter-agency conservation consortium, the building is a modest, nondescript structure.I discovered it's also a "holy ground" where native species of plant seeds are stored, part of an emerging movement in the field of botany called: restoration ecology.In a nutshell (pun intended), this is a place where small groups of volunteers gather daily to care for and nurture a revival of native plant species.The lawn aesthetic popular in the 1950s is doomed, my botanist student friend told me.It is become clear, he said, that heavy fertilizing and watering needed to keep things green is giving way to a more natural, reverent way to live with the earth.There are federal requirements now that certain government offices must make use of plants, native to that peculiar area, for all landscaping purposes. That morning we walked through a green house surrounded by small spring shoots of columbine, black-eyed Susan, vervain, and sweet grass.He showed me, later in a nearby shed, dozens of seed varieties collected by volunteers over previous summers.My guide informed me these collections, packaged in brown paper bags tagged with modest hand-written notes, were worth tens of thousands of dollars.Species of some of these seeds could lie dormant, he said, for hundreds of years, then, under right conditions, suddenly spring into life.I felt that morning we both literally walked into a living prayer.Another hidden truth, more difficult to face, is that our neighborhoods, steams and waterways are being poisoned by discarded medicines.On April 21, an Upper Peninsula-wide clean sweep of outdated and unused pharmaceuticals is being coordinated in fifteen counties of Northern Michigan.The Superior Watershed Partnership, the USEPA, the Cedar Tree Institute and 140 faith communities representing nine different religious communities are providing leadership.The reason for choosing church parking lots as collection sites is a simple one.It is in such communities, like the modest green house, where hope is most often born.Where life, at its most tender moments, is nurtured, healed, restored.On the morning of Earth Day, April 21, 2007, we would be honored, regardless of religious affiliation, to have you join us.The 2007 Earth Keeper Pharmaceutical Clean Sweep Across Northern Michigan on Saturday, April 21, 2007.When: 9 a.m. to noon. Saturday April 21 (Earth Day eve)Items to be accepted: Unused and outdated prescriptions and medicationsLocation: Across the Upper Peninsula at a church parking lot near you.Collection sites will be announced in April.This effort is being sponsored by leaders of the Roman Catholic, Lutheran, United Methodist, Buddhist, Baha'i, Jewish, Unitarian Universalist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal communities of northern Michigan in cooperation with the Superior Watershed Partnership and the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community.For more information call the Superior Watershed Partnership at 906-228-6095.Earth Keeper related website addresses are:The Cedar Tree Institute:http://www.cedartreeinstitute.com/The Superior Watershed Partnership:http://www.superiorwatersheds.orgThe Lake Superior Interfaith Communication Network:http://www.lakesuperiorinterfaith.com/
