Environment
Historical category no longer used.
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Most of Armistice Day was at home. The forecast had been rain, however, a clear fall day unfolded and I planted garlic. Pushing cloves into the ground with my thumb and index finger, I made two rows and covered them with mulch retrieved from the desiccated tomato patch. It doesn’t seem like much, it’s my… Read more
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Water is life. We take its quality for granted if the source is a public water system. Consumers rely on drinking water standards developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and enforced by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Where we live municipalities do a good job of compliance with drinking water standards. There are… Read more
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Last week was stressful as Hurricane Irma passed through central Florida over our daughter’s home. They boarded the windows, sandbagged the doors and laid in water and shelf stable food for when the electricity went out. “The whole house has been playing Settlers of Catan, which we never get to play enough,” she texted. “Next… Read more
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Friends and family in the path of Hurricane Irma are well-informed of its danger and preparing for the worst this weekend. Walt Disney World, where our daughter works, closes tonight at 9 p.m. until sometime Monday, presumably Irma’s schedule as well. She is working today then hunkering down with supplies of water and shelf-stable food… Read more
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Rain tapped the bedroom window this morning on the fringe of Hurricane Harvey. It was a reminder of our connection to the oceans. They are absorbing heat from the atmosphere on a planet experiencing some of its warmest days in living memory. A warmer atmosphere holds more moisture and the result is intense storms like… Read more
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A recent article at Nuclear News reminds us the world is on the cusp of an energy revolution. “The cost of renewables like solar and cell batteries for electric vehicles are making the carbon-based economy obsolete, with the turning point only a few years away,” author Christina MacPherson wrote. The age of centralized, command-and-control, extraction-resource-based… Read more
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You may have seen David Wallace-Wells’ New York Magazine article titled, “The Uninhabitable Earth.” It’s a scary article with frightful truths circulating on social media. Half truths according to Michael E. Mann, director of Earth System Science Center at Penn State. Mann wrote onFacebook: Since this New York Magazine article (“The Uninhabitable Earth”) is getting… Read more
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We survived U.S. failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions and will survive if Republicans drag us out of the Paris Agreement after the 2020 general election, as was announced June 1 in Washington, D.C. Make no mistake: it is a disappointment that Republicans plan to exit the agreement. Outside the… Read more
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The green up arrived as summer approaches and society wakes up in the season. Trees leafed out and pasture grasses presented something new and hopeful. Yesterday we drove south of Iowa City on Highway One. Despite a landscape ravaged by 19th century settlement and 20th century expansion, pleasant scenery appeared in every ditch and around… Read more
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While in Europe, Pope Francis and the G7 leaders bent President Trump’s ears about climate change. The Pope presented a copy of Laudato Sí: On Care For Our Common Home, his encyclical on consumerism, irresponsible development, environmental degradation and global warming to the U.S. president. He told Pope Francis he would read it. Reports indicate… Read more
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