Theologian Thomas Berry writes that humans must go beyond simply appreciating the earth if they want to save it. The mission of the faithful, the "great work" according to Berry, is to reconcile the rift between Western science and religion and to devise a new understanding of what it means to be human on this planet.

That mission is the idea behind Earth Keepers, a three-year old environmental interfaith coalition in Michigan's rural Upper Peninsula. Earth Keepers formed when nine religious leaders representing 130,000 believers -- Episcopal, Evangelical Lutheran, Presbyterian, Roman Catholic, United Methodist, Unitarian Universalist, Baha'i, Reform Jewish and Zen Buddhist -- agreed to be part of a spiritual shield with others working to protect the earth, air and water in the Great Lakes basin.

"Part of the religious sensibility is to reclaim the interconnectedness of life. We are doing our work by engaging in our environment," said the Rev. Jon Magnuson, Earth Keepers co-founder, director of the Cedar Tree Institute in Marquette and a Lutheran campus pastor at Northern Michigan University. "It's the way our symbols of faith -- the power of the symbols of our faith -- can be reintegrated and engaged around values of harmony, balance, compassion and justice."

Earth Keepers is one of most remarkable partnerships around, according to Bishop Jim Kelsey, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan from 1999 to 2007, and a covenant signer.

"We all share a common concern and sense of vocation around care for creation that cuts across every faith tradition and perspective there is," Kelsey said. "We have a responsibility to care for our surroundings, not only for our own self-preservation, but especially because we are co-inhabitants with the rest of the network of living beings who are also of God's creation."

About 130 congregations have become actively involved in Earth Keepers, teaming with Native American tribes, agencies and environmental groups like The Nature Conservancy and the Lake Superior Binational Forum (a citizen advisory body for the U.S. and Canadian governments) and Lindquist's and Magnuson's organizations. Thousands of Episcopalians have joined the effort.

Annual enterprise
Earth Keeper's flagship project, the annual Earth Day Clean Sweep collection, gives people in 15 counties and 50 towns peninsula-wide a means to recycle. The response has been "staggering," said Kelsey.

Organizers of the first Clean Sweep in 2005 hoped to collect a ton of common household poisons, such as pesticides, antifreeze, and drain cleaners. They got 46 tons -- more in three hours than the peninsula's three county landfill hazardous-waste collection sites gather in two years -- and a special commendation from Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm.

Organizers in 2006 planned for 100 tons of "e-waste," such as old computers, printers, cell phones and televisions. On a cold, rainy morning, an estimated 10,000 people dropped off 320 tons in 27 church parking lots. The e-waste was taken to an Environmental Protection Agency-approved recycling facility in downstate Livonia.

In April, Clean Sweep 2007 collected more than one ton of outdated prescription medication, a major concern of environmentalists. Groundwater samples increasingly show that medicines are leaching from landfills into drinking water.

Kelsey asked all Episcopalians in northern Michigan to drop their old or unwanted pharmaceuticals at a collection center near their home.

"When their effective dates have expired, they can actually create a hazard, particularly for the young as well as the elderly who may have difficulty keeping track of various bottles and boxes, which tend to accumulate in our medicine cabinets," said Kelsey.

The partnership between environmentalists and people of faith has drawn the attention of the EPA, which provided grants for two Clean Sweep events and included Earth Keepers on its EPA Significant Activities Report webpage.

"It had never crossed my mind previously to use the faith-based community to help promote environmental stewardship and protection. Now, I think it is one of the best ways to accomplish these goals," said Elizabeth LaPlante, EPA regional team manager for Lake Superior. "The number of folks that were involved, the sheer volume of the waste collected and the diversity of the religious communities who were involved was also impressive."

Earth Keepers has garnered other recognition for its commitment to improving the environment within the Great Lakes basin, receiving three awards in as many months in late 2006, including being named one of the "15 Best Groups Doing the Hardest Work in America" by World magazine.

"The Watershed Partnership has never coordinated a more successful pollution prevention than the Earth Keepers -- in part due to the sheer numbers of people that turn out, that care about these projects," said Earth Keeper Co-founder Carl Lindquist, director of the Superior Watershed Partnership in Marquette. "Compared to traditional 'public education/involvement' efforts at the state and federal level, it's one of the most effective I've ever seen to help protect the Great Lakes."