Today, as Christian churches celebrate Palm Sunday, many are using fair trade palms:
About 640,000 palm fronds, ordered through the University of Minnesota’s eco-palms program, will be distributed this Sunday in some 2,500 congregations.
That’s a jump from 360,000 eco-palms that were shipped to U.S. congregations last year and from just 5,000 palms in 2005.
“We believe that God created the Earth, and it’s our job to preserve it the best we can,” said Laura Hudson, the administrator at Columbus’ Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, which ordered about 300 fronds, as reported by The Associated Press.
The eco-palms program was developed by the North American Commission for Environmental Cooperation (NACEC) and the University of Minnesota Center for Integrated Natural Resources and Agricultural Management (CINRAM).
Read it all here.