Categories
Sustainability

Clean Energy Future

Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

If a person doesn’t believe an industry can capture the U.S. government, they haven’t been paying attention. The proposed rescission of congressionally approved funding for clean energy projects, combined with the omnibus reconciliation bill endeavor to strip away any government support for wind and solar generated electricity, electric vehicles, and more. The same moneyed players are at work here to retard progress toward a clean energy future: the fossil fuels industry.

Former Vice President Al Gore of the Climate Reality Project shared his thoughts on the regressive Republican policies:

We don’t have any time to waste if we want to solve the climate crisis in time to avert the truly catastrophic impacts that can still be prevented. But dangerous delay – which is the new “climate denial” – is exactly what Congress has done by repealing the clean energy provisions of the IRA: wasting time we don’t have by trying to prop up the fossil fuel industry while the world burns. 

Make no mistake, the clean energy transition will continue in the United States despite these efforts – our direction of travel is clear. 

But by prioritizing the fossil fuel industry over true climate solutions – even forcing taxpayers to add yet more subsidies for large oil and gas companies – our leaders are shirking their responsibility to the American people and ceding leadership in the global economy to China, Europe, and others who are embracing the many benefits of a clean energy future. (Statement by Former Vice President Al Gore on the Budget Bill, The Climate Reality Project, July, 3, 2025).

Gore is right. An obvious truth is that if the United States steps back from what once was robust governmental support for clean energy, there are two consequences. The domestic transition from fossil fuels to solar and wind powered energy will continue. The course is set, despite hobbles the fossil fuel captured Trump administration tries to attach to it. Second, if the United States doesn’t want to lead, China, Europe and others will, putting our country at a competitive disadvantage.

Last Wednesday, Reuters reported, “Solar power was the European Union’s largest source of electricity for the first time in June, overtaking nuclear and wind while coal’s contribution fell to an all-time low, data from energy think tank Ember showed.” The next challenge for Europe’s power system is expansion of battery storage and grid flexibility to reduce reliance on fossil fuels when the sun doesn’t shine and the wind doesn’t blow, according to the article. The U.S. should be leading this energy transformation instead of ceding it to other countries.

The future is ours if we will grasp it. Despite Republican efforts to stop the clean energy transition, progress will continue, only this time with the United State playing catch up.

Categories
Sustainability

Today’s Nuclear Times

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad visits the Natanz nuclear enrichment facility April 8, 2008 Photo Credit: Reuters

I remember watching one of the Soviet Sputnik satellites flying over the back yard of our Iowa home. Besides launching a “space race” between the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, Sputnik heightened tensions between the two countries over potential use of nuclear weapons. Back in the 1960s, we graders practiced school drills for a nuclear attack. This period of competition became known as the Cold War. To this day, the U.S. and Russia own most of the nuclear weapons that exist. The NASA website makes a point:

The Sputnik launch changed everything. As a technical achievement, Sputnik caught the world’s attention and the American public off-guard. Its size was more impressive than (the U.S.) Vanguard’s intended 3.5-pound payload. In addition, the public feared that the Soviets’ ability to launch satellites also translated into the capability to launch ballistic missiles that could carry nuclear weapons from Europe to the U.S. Then the Soviets struck again; on November 3, Sputnik II was launched, carrying a much heavier payload, including a dog named Laika. (NASA website).

Our life of living with nuclear weapons changed dramatically since Sputnik. The public is vulnerable to being caught off guard again because few are paying any attention to nuclear weapons proliferation. Last year, Annie Jacobsen published Nuclear War: A Scenario, which provided an update on where the country stands regarding our nuclear weapons complex. Jacobsen’s work is part of the picture.

Our compliance with the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty, which commits all parties to negotiate in good faith on effective measures relating to the cessation of the nuclear arms race, nuclear disarmament, and general and complete disarmament, is at a stand still. The story of how that happened is less interesting than the diversion from this core compliance issue caused by attention to North Korea and Iran’s development of nuclear technologies. It avoids the basic question of when will the U.S. and Russia comply with Article Six of the treaty?

Daryl G. Kimball, Executive Director of the Arms Control Association, addressed the recent bombing of Iran by Israel and the U.S. He argues, “U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to join Israel’s illegal military attacks against Iranian scientists and safeguarded nuclear sites represents an irresponsible departure from his earlier pursuit of diplomacy. It will increase the risk of a nuclear-armed Iran and erode confidence in the nuclear nonproliferation system.”

The nuclear deal that Trump unilaterally abandoned in 2018, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), imposed limits, prohibitions and intrusive inspection requirements on Iran that were to last for 10 or 15 years, with some being permanent, Kimball wrote. He expressed hope that the negotiating framework can still be salvaged, even if it has been severely damaged by this year’s U.S. military operations in Iran.

In the meanwhile, the U.S. government continues to spend hundreds of millions of dollars on our nuclear complex. We don’t hear much about that, except when it’s federal budget time. Ann Suellentrop, vice chair of the PeaceWorks Kansas City board and a member of the Physicians for Social Responsibility Board, noted in the Kansas City Star, “Kansas City’s nuclear bomb parts plant is ramping up significantly.” She provided details:

There is a new federal government plan to increase production of plutonium pits — the trigger that starts the bomb explosion in nuclear weapons — to 80 pits per year in each of the next 50 years. This is in comparison with the current production of fewer than 30 per year. The sites that are supposed to work together on what amounts to a new nuclear arms race include Kansas City’s federal nuclear bomb parts plant, managed by Honeywell Federal Manufacturing & Technologies. That is the Kansas City National Security Campus located in the south part of the city. The recent allocation of taxpayer funds for this National Nuclear Security Administration site reveals a huge jump from the 2025 budget from $1.3 billion to $1.7 billion in 2026. The plant is now doubling in size as it produces electrical and mechanical parts for seven new nuclear weapons programs simultaneously. (Kansas City Star, July 9, 2025).

Despite the efforts of Suellentrop and others, the nuclear weapons spending issue gains little media traction. “We need a mass movement of people to speak up and hold the government accountable,” Suellentrop said. The fact is we need a mass movement to speak up and hold the government accountable in many areas. If such a thing exists, it hasn’t ramped up fast enough.

The irony with the war between Israel and Iran is we appear to be returning to the days of Sputnik. Joe Cirincione recently opined, “we look at the unintended consequences of this 12-day war: the risk of dragging us back to the nuclear anarchy of the 1950s, when many nations — friends and foes — sought nuclear weapons.” The 1950s may be a fond memory for some of us. We definitely don’t want to go back, especially as it pertains to proliferation of nuclear weapons.

Categories
Kitchen Garden

Summer Consumables

Photo by Mateusz Dach on Pexels.com

2025 is turning into an alcohol-free year. I didn’t even purchase my normal case of bottled beer for the summer. Some days, I don’t know who I am.

I drove across the lakes to the North Liberty Community Food Pantry and donated the day’s harvest of yellow squash and cucumbers. It was the third food bank donation this week. I like having an outlet when I grow too much of something. It enables me to pick the best produce for the kitchen yet find a home for all of it. Patrons of the food pantry truly need what donors provide.

On the way home I stopped at the convenience store to gamble $2 on the lottery. I noticed the display of many types of shots of liquor between the two cash registers and asked, 

"Do you sell a lot of these?"
"We do," replied the cashier.
"I imagine you sell a lot on Friday nights," I said. "Actually, mornings are the biggest sales. You'd be surprised how many people need a shot to start their work day."

I went to the orchard where I worked eight seasons and bought Michigan cherries. A family member grows them and they are some of the best I have ever tasted. Expensive? Yes. Worth it? Also yes. It is a summer tradition worth continuing as long as I can afford it. In the sales display with the cherries they had bags of Lodi apples. This signifies the apple harvest has begun its long season continuing into late October.

The first crop of Zestar! apples will soon ripen in my garden. I picked one today and while the sugars are beginning to form, they are not yet ripe. It won’t be long, though, maybe a week or two.

The work of planting is mostly finished. From here, the work changes to weeding, harvesting, cooking, and leveraging other growers for what I don’t produce myself. It is all part of the circle of life when you grow food. I feel a part of something bigger than myself on days like this.

Categories
Living in Society

Pandemic Life Lingers

Pre-dawn light along the state park trail on July 7, 2025.

On June 27, 2020, I predicted, “Eventually I will snap out of this coronavirus funk.” Five years later, I’m no longer sure of that.

We wanted the pandemic to be over. Governor Kim Reynolds said as much when she proclaimed,

“We cannot continue to suspend duly enacted laws and treat COVID-19 as a public health emergency indefinitely. After two years, it’s no longer feasible or necessary. The flu and other infectious illnesses are part of our everyday lives, and coronavirus can be managed similarly,” stated Gov. Reynolds. “State agencies will now manage COVID-19 as part of normal daily business, and reallocate resources that have been solely dedicated to the response effort to serve other important needs for Iowans.” (Governor Kim Reynolds Press Release, Feb. 2, 2022).

Looking back on these five years, the pandemic broke us as a society. The pieces won’t fit back together and dark forces have taken us new, unpredictable directions which were unknowable before the outbreak. We must go on living, yet with a palpable sense of loss. I don’t like it, yet am at a turning point, where I must adapt to this life by living with loss. Not unlike the way people were affected by the Great Depression. I am not ready to stop living.

If we concede Governor Reynolds’ point, that the coronavirus pandemic is over, what was lost during that time?

People who were close to me died of COVID-19. Both close geographically, and with a long personal history together. They are permanently gone. Many more contracted the virus and were quite sick with it. Some still wear protective masks in public. I contracted the virus in August 2024 and thought I would die of it. Obviously, the pandemic was not over in 2024. It’s not over yet.

As we sheltered in place for months, then years, the outside world diminished in importance. What mattered more was what we did within the confines of our home, family, and property. What I didn’t understand in the early days of the pandemic was those outside activities would not come back with resilience. Trips off property became controlled and specific. There was no time for extras which were rubbed out by the virus.

For me, the pandemic coincided with leaving paid outside work and retiring. I had claimed Social Security as soon as I reached full retirement age in 2018. Loss of extra income from multiple jobs did not put us in the poor house, yet there were financial constraints on what I could do. I had never been on such a tight budget before. Being close on funds changes a person.

So now there is today. What shall I do with it? That question was there before the pandemic, even if I ignored seriously answering it. With the extras stripped away from life, there seems little else to do but work toward an answer. And so, for as long as I take breath, I shall.

It begins with harvesting cucumbers, squash, fennel, kale, and collards, and donating the excess to the food pantries on Monday and Tuesday. Where life goes from there is a blank page in an open book, waiting for us to write the future.

Categories
Home Life

Summer Rainstorms

Donation to community food pantry on July 7, 2025.

The gutter clogged during a Saturday afternoon rainstorm. I looked at the forecast and rain was expected, on and off, for the next six hours. I decided to get the extension ladder and climb on the roof to clear the blockage so water wouldn’t overflow into the lower level of the house. I waited until the driveway showed signs of drying and went outside. Even though a misty-feeling drizzle hit my face, I persisted. From the time I got the ladder down until I returned it to its rack was less than 15 minutes. At 73 years, I should limit my time on the roof, yet the problem was immediate, the consequences of doing nothing were unacceptable. The situation wants a permanent solution.

I had a fitful night’s sleep the evening of July 4. Community fireworks were scheduled for July 5, so that didn’t keep me awake. News of the administration’s budget reconciliation was likely at the heart of my restlessness. That, with the courts enabling parts of their agenda. It’s as if every good public work I have done since graduating high school is being undone. It’s intentional, so my restlessness is not without reason.

Today there will be a decent harvest for the food pantry. Yellow squash, cucumbers, and leafy green vegetables, for sure. When the sun rises, I’ll take my daily walk on the state park trail and get into the garden. With the rain, the garden is really producing, to the benefit of our household and some who are food insecure.

Rain has consequences, both challenging and positive. A summer rainstorm provides opportunities to improve our lives, if we are open to seeing them.

Yellow squash.
Categories
Environment

Iowa Summer Photos

Hiking west at dawn.

Here are some of the best shots from the first days of summer 2025:

Oak Tree Leaves
Young Oak Tree Leaves
Summer light.
Trail flowers.
Exiting the canopy into the light.
Cloud formation.
Light on cluster of trees.
Sidewalk flowers in Skokie, Ill.
Dill pickles.
Categories
Living in Society

Independence Day 2025

Pre-dawn light on the state park trail on July 2, 2025.

Ours is a small family. The size influences how we celebrate holidays, which is less often as we age. When I was younger, it was very Polish of me to want each holiday to be a special occasion. In the rural Minnesota community where my forebear Maciej Nadolski settled, holiday celebrations were well-organized, especially Easter and Christmas. In some cases, a procession developed on the outlying Polish farms and grew as it visited each of scores of farmsteads enroute to town. It meandered through the countryside, collecting people from their homes, and ended at the church they built when the land was deeded from the railroad. All that pageantry has gotten sanded off in the wood shed of time. Also, there are automobiles now.

Independence Day falls into the category of “day off work.” When I was in the paid workforce, I most often had to work on the holiday. We sometimes watched organized fireworks displays. When I was more active in politics and had the day off, I traveled several miles north to Ely and walked with the Democrats in their city’s Independence Day parade. I haven’t done either of those things in a long time.

The big Independence Day, in 1976, I was on leave from the military and spent the day at Mother’s house. Because I hadn’t known in advance I would return home for the holiday, I had no plans. It didn’t bother me, either. I was doing my duty to serve the country. If folks wanted to celebrate signing the document, that was fine with me.

Next year is the 250th anniversary of signing the Declaration of Independence. The president came to Iowa yesterday to kick off his celebration. I’m not aware of the plans the way I was for the bicentennial. However, it seems like the kind of broad, inclusive planning that took place in 1976 is missing for 2026. Apparently our president will be telling us what to do. No thank you.

This year on the holiday I will put the garage door up and hang my American flag above it. Beyond that, I’m not sure what I will do, except go on living. Maybe for old times sake, I’ll get a copy of the Declaration of Independence and read it.

Our child asked for an authentic copy of the Declaration of Independence for their bug-out bag so I gave them mine. It is not really American to need a bug-out bag, yet here we are, after almost 250 years. Hopefully we can mind our own business and no one will come after us. If they do, we must be ready.

Be safe out there this holiday weekend.

Categories
Environment

The Heat Backed Off

Daylilies in front of the house.

The heat and humidity backed off, making Tuesday a pleasant summer day. Ambient temperature got up to the mid eighties, yet a lack of high humidity made everything outdoors tolerable. I spent a good amount of time there.

Like many, I’m not happy the U.S. Senate passed the budget reconciliation bill. It apparantly came down to Alaska’s Senator Lisa Murkowski who, fearing retribution for a no vote, changed her mind and provided the 50th yes vote. That enabled the vice president to break the tie and deliver a win for Republicans. It is now up to the House to concur… or do what they will.

There is a lot to deal with. Senator Adam Schiff pointed this out in the bill:

If it passes, this will be a setback for environmental quality. Many environmental advocates may feel like the U.S. is back to square one. Me? I can’t give up.

For now, we have perfect summer weather. For how long is hard to say.

Categories
Living in Society

Food Pantry Donation

Fennel, Pac Choi, and kale donated to the local food pantry on June 30, 2025.

I like to have more than one thing to do when I drive the two miles to town. The more I multi-task my trips to the City of Solon, the more value I find in it. It began with gambling.

Almost always, I buy a Powerball ticket. The social aspect of walking into a convenience store and saying to the clerk, “I’d like the usual,” resonates from when I lived in Europe. It is a closely knit relationship even if we don’t know each other except for this recurring transaction. It is something positive in what can be a difficult world.

On Mondays I harvest the garden and split the best-looking produce into separate crates for the food pantry. I delay picking greens until Monday so there is usually a good amount for our kitchen and to share. Yesterday it was Pac Choi, a bulb of fennel with the fronds attached, and two kinds of kale. I enjoy putting together a pleasing display and then pack the car and speak with the receiver until the produce is transferred to the food pantry shelves. Today’s weight was five pounds, which doesn’t seem like much. The value of the transaction is the good it does. My sense is food pantry patrons could use more fresh produce.

I had reserved a book at the library early in the morning. I decided since I was in town, why make a trip later to get it. I walked into the library, found our librarian, and told her I decided to just stop by and pick it up myself rather than go through the reserve process. She was kind enough to find the book on the shelf and process me without delay. Now I won’t run out of reading material over the Independence Day holiday… not that that is a possibility in our house. Having relationships with a local library and the people who work there is the stuff of which society is made.

When I was working for an employer these social interactions pretty well stopped. I don’t know why, but there are better possibilities for a well lived life simply by living one. It can be hard, yet we must learn to deal with the concerns in society and go on living. Part of that means going to town on a Monday morning and spend time with my usuals.

Categories
Living in Society

Wild Bergamot

Wild bergamot – June 2025.

We are at the place in summer where every day some new plant stands out along the state park trail. The flowers are particularly familiar. They provide assurance there is a world outside human endeavor that persists and blooms.

It is another hot Sunday afternoon as I write, with the heat index approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. To play it safe, I did outdoors work this morning then headed inside. It never really cooled off overnight and the ambient temperature was in the 80s by 9 a.m. For a change, I got through my digital and physical inboxes and accomplished a few non-garden related tasks.

The news from Washington, D.C. is grim. It looks like the U.S. Senate will pass their version of the reconciliation bill later on Monday. There is no way to describe it other than a theft from the less well off to benefit the wealthiest in their gilded enclaves. The absurd budget cuts being made, combined with running up the national debt, could transform the United States into something unrecognizable.

I am aware nothing is permanent in politics. I am also aware of the 1890s Gilded Age and the comparison with what’s going on today. I don’t see anyone like Theodore Roosevelt coming along with a square deal for all of us. The absence of moral courage among so many is what makes today so grim.

I haven’t given up hope. I continue to do what I can to make the world a better place, beginning with a garden harvest today, some of which will go to the local food pantry. We must be brilliant like the wild bergamot that yesterday made its first appearance of the year on the trail. Reaching for the sky we display our color unabashedly. Belying the many uses to which we can be put once our blooms finish.

It is a hard tonic to swallow that the wealthy are gathering up the produce of our lives. We shall, however, persevere… and return next year.