Renewal: Day of Prayer

Renewal is having their Day of Prayer event November 9th and you're invited to join! This year the Day of Prayer will be focused around water-related issues. This is a great opportunity for students to come together to discuss and pray on water-related issues in our own community here in Seattle. With water being so prevalent in our area, pollution into our waterways and streams is a continual problem that needs to be addressed.

One third of Washington's waters are too polluted to meet state water quality standards. When water runs off of surfaces such as roofs, pavements and highways it can collect many contaminants (fertilizer, oil, animal waste, soil, and trash) that will go untreated directly into our local waterways. About 60% of contaminants come from these sources. With the help of the community and the Department of Ecology, together we can ensure a higher quality and care for our water.

Professor Thorpe featured in Sojourners magazine

An article by Seattle Pacific University English professor Dr. Doug Thorpe appeared in last month's issue of Sojourners magazine. Dr. Thorpe's article, "Living Waters", reflects on his recent visit to Israel/Palestine with Earth Ministry, a local environmental stewardship organization.

In his article, Dr. Thorpe looks at the importance of water in the region, both as religious symbol and source of political conflict. Dr. Thorpe examines the Christian concept of a "living water" and the implications it has on the region's current situation.

You can read Dr. Thorpe's article here. For more information about Dr. Thorpe's work, see his faculty page on the SPU website.

Bottled H2O: Just Say "No"

Happy Earth Week!  The Seattle Pacific Environmental Network (SPEN) is kicking things off with a day dedicated to ditching plastic, disposable water bottles.  Granted, there are places on this planet where local water sources are scarce and/or polluted and bottled water makes sense.  Just for the record, Seattle is not one of those places.  We get our water from the Cedar River watershed, consisting of 90,500 acres of protected wilderness.  From economic, health, energy, waste stream, and even taste standpoints, tap water beats bottled.