NISSWA — America’s first Earth Day was on April 22, 1970, and it led to the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act.

Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa celebrated Earth Day on Sunday, April 14, as a reminder that we are connected to and dependent on all of nature — God’s creation.

To recognize Earth Day at LCC, displays were creatively arranged in the narthex to give information on plastic waste, recycling dos and don’ts, and several of the church’s young people engaged people in conversation and handed out informational flyers.

Earth Day honors its founder, the late U.S. senator from Wisconsin, Gaylord Nelson, who said, “The ultimate test of man’s conscience may be his willingness to sacrifice something today for future generations whose words of thanks will not be heard.”  

Drey Loge, CEO and president of Waste Partners, Inc. in Pine River, put together a large display of typical plastic waste, designating plastics that can’t be recycled with a frowning face sticker, and those that can be with a smiley face sticker.

Holding up examples of unrecyclable plastics were sisters Birdie Morsch and Rula Morsch, granddaughters of LCC members Rod and Lori Schneller. Birdie and Rula live in Nisswa, attend Lowell School in Brainerd, and were eager to share their love of nature by helping at the display table.

They like to help pick up trash that others dump, and they like to recycle and reuse things.

For example, discarded tires were collected to make a play area at their home, and their new backyard chicken flock receives a lot of the leftover food scraps that would otherwise go to the landfill. Their family also composts kitchen and yard waste to use on their gardens.

Another display was a large poster made by fifth-grader Lola Chase that shows the many single-use plastics that are responsible for so much waste: 100 million plastic utensils are used every day and take 1,000 years to decompose, leaching dangerous chemicals as they break down into smaller and micro particles.

Lola lives in Breezy Point and goes to school in Pequot Lakes. When asked about why she cared about plastic waste, she said: “It makes me so sad not to try to help all the turtles and birds that are dying because of plastic in the oceans. It should stop!”

She and her mom, Tess, directed people to look at the poster as they handed out flyers with recycling tips and information on what plastics are doing to the world.

Outside the church, Rory Stumvoll, owner of Stumvoll Excavating in Nisswa, parked a large dump truck, and a large sign was placed alongside it with the message: “The amount of plastic this truck could hold enters our oceans every 60 seconds.”

The shock of seeing a large dump truck parked in front of the church’s entrance on a Sunday morning drew a lot of attention and made for good conversation.

More displays and posters made by several LCC Creation Care Team members were displayed, accompanied by artistic arrangements of potted growing plants and trees.

LCC members were amazed at what they were seeing and learning, and were especially moved by the presence of young people and their passionate concern for the well-being of the planet.

Laura Raedeke is the Creation Care Team chair at Lutheran Church of the Cross in Nisswa.