God allows us to experience the low points of life in order to teach us lessons we could not learn in any other way. The way we learn those lessons is not to deny the feelings but to find the meanings underlying them.

When God gave you to me he never said that you were mine, that I could keep you always--only borrowed for a time. Now, He's called you home, I'm sad and I shed tears. Yet, I'm glad He loaned you to me and we had these many years.

What this nomination does is raise awareness about the issue. Obviously there's a lot of local attention and some statewide attention. This brings it to more of a national level and even an international level when we're talking about the potential impacts on Lake Superior.

Last year the Earth Keepers broke all records for the Great Lakes states by collecting over 45 tons of household hazardous waste in one day. This year we hope to break that record with our electronic waste collection.

I've worked in the environmental field for over 20 years and I've never seen a more effective public involvement campaign than the Earth Keepers.

Courage is the power to let go of the familiar.