Senator Birkholz asked and was granted unanimous consent to make a statement and moved that the statement be printed in the Journal.
The motion prevailed.
Senator Birkholz’s statement is as follows:
You have in front of you today Senate Resolution No. 38 which is a resolution to designate April 20-26 as the third annual Michigan Conservation Week and Electronic Waste (E-waste) Recycling Week. This is Earth Day. Some of us this morning attended Earth Day events at Constitution Hall, where over 1,500 young children from across Michigan have submitted posters for a contest and are going around Constitution Hall meeting with various members of DEQ staff; where there are booths set up so they can learn about the science behind Earth Day and about Michigan’s greatest natural resources. I would encourage any of you who haven’t been there to go and see it.
In combination with that and our designation as Michigan Conservation Week, we would also like to recognize that this is Michigan state parks systems 90th anniversary, and there will be celebrations around the state parks system celebrating this summer. I would encourage you to remember that as you start looking at your summer schedule.
You know, the state of Michigan has been blessed with an abundance of natural resources—plentiful lakes, streams, rivers, bountiful wetlands, sand dunes, and precious forests. These resources provide Michigan residents and visitors a high quality of life. We have 30 million acres of land which provides economic, environmental, and social futures for our lives and those of our dependents. Our 21st century prosperity is inextricably linked to the state and our natural resources. We need to always be cognizant of the fact that our businesses, entrepreneurs, and people across the state know how essential this is to our economy.
Today, as we celebrated the beginning of E-waste Recycling Week, we demonstrated our public-private partnership. With Public Acts 392, 393, 394, and 395 that we adopted last year, we are beginning a system of keeping the electronic waste out of landfills—a perfect solution to a huge problem and a demonstration of a strong public-private partnership working with Hewlett Packard and Dell, Apple, Waste Management, and Goodwill Industries. All of those folks were represented this morning at our press conference. I would like to share with you that since the beginning of their recycling programs, Goodwill has diverted 10 million pounds of electronic waste from landfills while providing jobs for thousands of people.
So today we ask you to join with us in marking this anniversary. We have the Michigan 4-H Conservation Council reporting to the Senate Natural Resources and Environmental Affairs Committee, showing their good work and leadership as they become the leaders of tomorrow.
We ask that you all join with us as you go back to your districts and acknowledge Earth Day, E-waste Recycling Week, and Michigan Conservation Week to the citizens of Michigan. I ask that you support the adoption of the resolution before us.