Fifth Earth Day Vigil to Take Place at Conclusion of Hope for Creation Conference April 22
News Brief by Cassy Benefield
The Faith Leaders and Leaders of Conscience of Eastern Washington (FLLC) will host their fifth Earth Day vigil on April 22 from 4:30 to 5:30 p.m.
This vigil will be the concluding event of the Hope for Creation Conference: Care for the Water held at St. John’s Cathedral the same day. In tandem with the conference’s theme, the vigil will call attention to “The Healing of Earth’s Waters.”
The goal of these vigils is to listen to people directly affected by ecological devastation and connect with others who are actively working to heal the Earth, according to the vigil flyer.
“We always have people directly affected by lead and heavy metal poisoning speak to us,” said the Rev. Gen Heywood, FLLC member and pastor of Veradale United Church of Christ. “This year we have a person from Kellogg speaking of her direct experience.”
The vigil will also symbolically add the voices of the elements or groups affected by local pollution. They will include people speaking the voices of the river, the salmon, the Nimiipuu and the waters near the controversial GTN Xpress Pipeline, which Earth Ministry, one of the vigil’s co-sponsors, has done advocacy against.
“I hope that these vigils are a way to model showing up for each other,” Heywood said. “We share ways to save the Salomon or free the Snake River. Others work on getting lead health prioritized. Still others lobby to end the GTN Xpress or the uncovered coal cars. “
The vigil will also discuss the facts and the solutions to the Bunker Hill Superfund site, a mining and metallurgical complex in Smelterville, Idaho, that has contaminated the area.
