The Gift of Water
as seen in the Marquette Monthly June, 2019
By Lanni Lantto
“You could heal yourself at the palm of the lake all winter long.” These words are inscribed on a pendant that I gave to my husband a few years ago before we moved away from Marquette. Last year, when we were contemplating moving back, I heard those words echoing in my head. We have lived in a lot of places, but in each new place we were missing something. A part of us was gone, but then Lake Superior called us back.
Now, as we embark on our adventure of acquiring land, we do so assuming that the groundwater quality is one of the purest in the world. After attending a session called “Clean Water / Wild Places,” sponsored by the Cedar Tree Institute, we’ve learned that because the U.P. is full of natural resources, this also makes it one of the most heavily mined areas on the planet. We don’t have to look far to see the remains of mining: the caving grounds of Negaunee, the waste basins surrounding Empire and Tilden Mines—they’re so large they can be seen from space.
Currently, there is a proposed Back Forty mine, which will be a sulfide mine located only 150 feet from the Menominee River. The Menominee flows into Green Bay on Lake Michigan, where millions of us get our drinking water. The open pit of the Back Forty will be as deep as five Statues of Liberty, and the footprint of the mine will cover 1087 acres. Waste tailings will be left on site using a dam infrastructure that poses a clear potential threat to all nearby water sources. Should we be concerned? A National Wildlife Federation report warns: “The Great Lakes region is not yet adequately positioned to regulate an onslaught of new sulfide mining proposals.”
The world tells us that beneath us we will find riches–gold, silver, copper, lead. But I have been listening to another message: “How blessed is the one who finds wisdom and gains understanding. For its profit is better than the profit of silver, and its gain more than fine gold. Wisdom is more precious than jewels” (Proverbs 3:13).
Biblical wisdom does not derive from corporations or public relation teams. It comes to us through those around us who have acquired stillness, who ask permission from the sacred, and who recognize the holiness of creation.
My Catholic faith has taught me that water is sacred and given to us as a gift from God. When a community in Alaska faced a mining proposal similar to the Back Forty, the local Orthodox Christian Church performed the Rite of the Great Blessing of Water. By dipping a cross into the water three times, the water was consecrated. It had become holy water. Bishop Ben Peterson explained: “In sanctifying the water, we are sanctifying the basic element for life. The land is held in sacred trust from one generation to the next. The choices we make today will affect our children and their children’s children.” At stake was not just this particular community’s ability to live sustainably; at stake was its very survival.
Pope Francis, in his encyclical Laudato Si, wrote: “Our common home is like a sister with whom we share our life and a beautiful mother who opens her arms to embrace us. This sister now cries out to us because of the harm we have inflicted on her by our irresponsible use and abuse of the goods with which God has endowed her. We have come to see ourselves as her lords and masters, entitled to plunder her at will. The violence present in our hearts, wounded by sin, is also reflected in the symptoms of sickness evident in the soil, in the water, in the air and in all forms of life.“
It is up to all of us to educate ourselves further on how we can best keep our own precious freshwater clean and pure. For water is life; it is not without limit, and its degradation or loss are not negotiable. As a Christian, I stand with my cross in hand, in between the holy water and the Leviathan, that which threatens upheaving the waters into chaos. This symbolic act is my call to action, in remembrance of the responsibility God has placed on all His baptized. We are called to be the stewards of Eden; we are called to be the voice for creation and the protector of the mysteries of God.
WATER-SAVING TIPS
Stop eating meat. Nearly half of all the water used in the U.S. goes toward raising animals for food.
Avoid using water softeners in septic systems; softeners can cause greater concentrations of waste in the dispersal field.
Contributor’s note: Lanni Lantto is exploring possibilities for connecting Christians who wish to join together to care for the creation.
Visit jointherivercoalition.org, and/or contact her at lanni.alecia@gmail.com.
“The Gift of Water” columns are offered by the Northern Great Lakes Water Stewards and the Cedar Tree Institute, joined in an interfaith effort to help preserve, protect, and sanctify the waters of the Upper Peninsula.
