For the third year in a row, Baha'is in northern Michigan collect hazardous waste on Earth Day, Saturday, April 21.

Along with members of more than 120 interfaith organizations in Michigan's Earth Keeper Clean Sweep program, Baha'is in Marquette rounded up pharmaceuticals that otherwise would get flushed down a toilet or poured down a drain -- and wind up in drinking water.

Last year, as part of the Earth Keeper program, the Marquette Baha'is collected electronic waste. The year before that they rounded up household poisons and vehicle batteries.

"In our small efforts at unity and service to the community in Marquette, we can affect the whole earth," says Rodney Clarken, a member of the Marquette Baha'i community. Mr. Clarken is interim associate dean of teacher education and the director of the School of Education at Northern Michigan University.

Protecting the environment is an important aspect of being a Baha'i, says Mr. Clarken, who points out that Baha'u'llah, the prophet-founder of the Faith, stressed the importance of the "essential relationship between man and the environment."

Not only does taking care of the environment benefit others, Mr. Clarken says, but "different people and faiths" working together provides "a much-needed antidote to the social and spiritual pollution that we suffer from in our world today. Baha'u'llah says, "So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth."