P.C. Palm Sunday
More than 300 million palm fronds are harvested each year from Central American rain forests for the U.S. market--many for Palm Sunday, when Christians commemorate Jesus' entry into Jerusalem five days before his Crucifixion. This Sunday, 281 churches in 34 states will mark the occasion with "eco-palms." Cooperatives in Mexico and Guatemala have agreed to harvest sustainably, taking only a few fronds per plant. Churches pay premium prices, helping the workers who collect the fronds. "We must be good to our neighbors," says Pastor Glenn Berg-Moberg of St. Anthony Park Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minn. "Even ones we will never meet."
Most Popular »
- How Cash Keeps Poor People Poor
- E.T. Turns 30: 10 Things You Didn't Know About Our Favorite Extraterrestrial
- 15-Year-Old Creates Test for Pancreatic Cancer
- Nevada Ghosts: Rare Photos From an A-Bomb Test
- Euro Crisis: Why A Greek Exit Could Be Much Worse Than Expected
- Could a Fertility Gene Discovery Lead to New Male Contraception?
- 10 Dangerous Products You Might Have in Your Home
- Obama Stumbles? Why the President's Right to Talk About Bain
- Star Wars Turns 35: How TIME Covered the Film Phenomenon
- Meet Dylan Bundy: The Minor Leaguer Baseball Is Buzzing About
- Researchers Probe the Potential Health Benefits of Palm Oil
- A Visit with Turkey's Controversial Religious Movement
- Feeding the Planet Without Destroying It
- Bubble on the Potomac
- Falcon's Liftoff: How a Private Firm Could Change Space Exploration
- The Fatal Flight of the Superjet 100: Why Did It Slam Into a Mountain?
- Learning That Works
- The Man Who Remade Motherhood
- Bibi's Choice
- Seoul: 10 Things to Do
More News from Our Partners
Top Stories on TIME.com
Quotes of the Day »
RAY KELLY, New York City Police Commissioner, on the arrest of a New Jersey man in one of the nation's most baffling missing-children cases, the disappearance more than three decades ago of 6-year-old Etan Patz.
