In development - just adding links and imagining what this page might be - beyond a bunch of bookmarks for my own use!
The word democracy comes from the Greek words ‘demos’, meaning people, and ‘Kratos’ meaning power or rule, and translates to “rule by the people.” (Source) But in our modern world corporate interests and money very often speak louder than our voices (Opinion!), and that's what this page is about.
I first saw this quote in an April '24 Iowa Learning Farms Webinar, and I have to agree:
"I used to think the top global environmental problems were biodiversity loss, ecosystem collapse and climate change. I thought that with 30 years of good science we could address these problems. But I was wrong. The top environmental problems are selfishness, greed and apathy, and to deal with these we need a spiritual and cultural transformation, and we scientists don't know how to do that" (Gus Speth)
Also this in a Substack Post by former state Representative Chuck Isenhart:
Where can you start if you want more parks and trails, clean water, clean air, soil health, wildlife? Stop being a wallflower. Pick up your smart phone and connect with those elected officials who might be willing to dance with you now. Don’t wait for threatening legislation to drop and then jump out of your skin.
And this From the Desk Senator Art Staed, March 7, 2025:
Gotta have Trust. It’s clear that Iowans deeply value their natural resources and outdoor recreational spaces, as demonstrated by the overwhelming opposition to the Defund the Natural Resources & Outdoor Recreational Trust Fund bill. After receiving hundreds of emails from concerned citizens, lawmakers took notice, and the pressure led to Republicans ultimately pulling SJR6. This victory highlights the power of civic engagement and public advocacy, proving that when communities come together to protect what matters most, real change can happen. Ensuring the preservation of Iowa’s natural landscapes remains a priority, and continued vigilance will be essential in safeguarding these important resources for future generations. I hope you’ll continue to pressure the legislature now to actually fund the Trust – promised to voters back in 2010.
If we're not happy with the way things are or the direction they're going, we need to speak up!
The Iowa Legislature's Website is pretty easy to navigate, but here are three links that will get you started:
And you'll probably find any information you might be looking for somewhere here:
Izaak Walton League of America (IWLA)
Izaak Walton League, Iowa Division
Paddlers, Pollution and Policy (Lynne Diebel and Dan Haug)
Clean Water Matters, a scientist and angler's perspective (Chris Jones)
Access to Clean Water and Clean Air Should be a Fundamental Right (James Larew)
Other Webinars & Webinar Archives:
Leopold center for Sustainable Agriculture
Still in Development:
Here's why we should be investing in clean water:
These are quotes from the Iowa Environmental Council's September 2024 review of the DNR's Beach Advisories:
In the 15-week monitoring period for 39 public beaches, Iowa DNR issued 15 beach advisories for microcystin and 134 for E. coli.
Beeds Lake had the most advisories for E. coli– 13 of the 15 weeks of the summer monitoring period.
For the second year in a row, Lake Darling had the worst overall beach health with nine E. coli advisories and eight microcystin advisories. From 2010 to 2014, the state spent $12 million to restore. Since it reopened in 2014, the lake has had 70 advisories for E. coli and 34 advisories for microcystin.
In November of last year the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) overruled the DNR and added seven stream segments to the impaired waters list. Each of those segments were found to have Nitrate levels above the federal drinking water standard. Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Iowa City are served by four of those stream segments.
In June of last year the Driftless Water Defenders (DWD) joined 13 other state, regional and national environmental organizations in a petition calling on the EPA to exercise its emergency authority under the Safe Drinking Water Act to address groundwater contamination that presents an imminent and substantial endangerment to the health of residents in northeastern Iowa
In an analysis of public records the Environmental Working Group (EWG) determined that Nitrate contamination of private wells increased between 2002 and 2017, from an average of 3.5 milligrams per liter, (mg/L) to nearly 5.5. Their investigation showed that of almost 55,000 tested wells, more than 12,300 had nitrate averages at or above 5 mg/L and more than 6,600 had averages at or above 10 mg/L.
(The EPA’s legal limit for nitrate in drinking water is 10 mg/L, but many recent studies have found that drinking water with just 5 mg/L is potentially dangerous and associated with increased rates of colon, rectal, bladder and ovarian cancer, as well as birth defects.)
The EWG's investigation also showed that of almost 55,000 wells that were tested for coliform or fecal coliform bacteria, 22,000 (~40%) tested positive at least once, and more than 4,300 tested positive every time they were tested. In each year of their study more than 1,400 wells tested positive at least once for bacteria.
The Iowa DNR recommends (but does not require) that well owners test their wells at least once every year, but that's not happening. The EWG found that almost 63 percent of the wells in their study were tested only once for nitrate in the 16 years of records examined, and only 10 wells were tested for nitrate every year. Well test data for bacteria was found to be very similar: 61 percent of wells tested for coliforms and 62 percent tested for fecal coliforms were only tested once in 16 years. Only 12 wells we)re tested every year for coliforms, and there was only one well that was tested every year for fecal coliforms. Eight counties had tested 10 wells or fewer for nitrate or bacteria. (See https://www.ewg.org/interactive-maps/2019_iowa_wells/)
Residents in Early, IA told to not drink from local water supply (1/27/25)
The Driftless Water Defenders has also filed a federal Clean Water Lawsuit against a meat & poultry processor for polluting Iowa's Yellow River and Hecker Creek. The facility has a "long and well-documented record of water pollution violations and enforcement actions" - actions which one might conclude have been insufficient.
They've also filed a citizen complaint with the DNR to challenge the agency’s "rubber stamp approval" of water use permits, just two months after an Administrative Law Judge ruled in favor of northeast Iowa residents in a case that had challenged the DNR’s approval of a water use permit for Supreme Beef.
Not a fact but an observation: New drainage tiles are going in faster than bioreactors and saturated buffers!
Fertilizer is being applied to fields at more than the recommended rate, not counting manure which can be applied to the same field under multiple manure management plans.
A release of 265,000 gallons of nitrogen-based fertilizer from the New Cooperative facility in Red Oak last year killed 750,000 fish in the East Nishnabotna. There have been no fines or legal actions.
Before the Sierra Club and two other ad hoc groups filed a lawsuit in 2000, Iowa had never prepared an impaired waters list, even though the (1972) federal Clean Water Act required them to.
STILL IN DEVELOPMENT:
Articles of Interest?
https://usrtk.org/factory-farming/wastewater-from-meatpacking-plants/ (3/3/25)
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2025/feb/10/pesticide-lawsuits-cancer-gag-act?
https://iowacapitaldispatch.com/2025/02/07/iowa-updates-its-strategy-to-reduce-nutrient-runoff/
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/dec/26/us-farmers-embracing-wildflowers-prairie-strips-erosion-pollinators
https://www.prrcd.org/how-to-miss-the-point-entirely/
https://www.thegazette.com/environment-nature/nitrate-spiked-in-cedar-rapids-water-this-year/