State park trail entry point.

Journey Home

Tales from the pilgrimage.

climate crisis

  • Environmental Round Up – It’s Getting Hotter

    I’ve written about the environment on Blog for Iowa since my first post on Feb. 25, 2009. Never in the time since then has there been more happening regarding degradation of our environment. As Scott Duncan’s graphic above indicates, it is getting a lot hotter on most parts of Earth. Methane and carbon dioxide emissions… Read more

  • Crops in Northwest Iowa Suffer Due to Drought

    Photo credit: Josie Taylor | July 6, 2022. Ten years ago I posted about the impact of the 2012 drought on Iowa agriculture. Read the post here, yet the crux of the article was climate change was absent from public discussion of the drought. Nothing has changed since then. Drought conditions continue to affect Iowa… Read more

  • Earth Day Has Been a Bust

    In retrospect, Earth Day has been a bust. It turned into an annual reminder among privileged Americans to do something about environmental degradation. It became a do-nothing tradition that had little material impact on the environment. It would have been better to pursue social justice, elimination of poverty, or equal protection under the law, right… Read more

  • Garden Cycles

    “Extreme (weather) events are becoming more numerous in every season, so Iowans should anticipate more floods, droughts and heat waves,” Iowa State Climatologist Justin Glisan recently said. Farmers and gardeners recognize this. What I didn’t realize is a third of the major natural disasters hitting Iowa since 1980 have occurred in the last five years.… Read more

  • It is Spring

    On walkabout, garlic poked through the mulch. It is spring. I assembled the portable greenhouse yesterday afternoon. The extra space and light will make a difference, another step toward planting the garden. A big batch of vegetable soup simmered on the stove most of the day. We ate it for dinner and filled five quart… Read more

  • Late Winter

    Snow fell and a day later it began melting. The ground is partly snow-covered in today’s predawn darkness. With a forecast high of 30 degrees, there will be more melting in sunny areas. Eleven days remain in winter. With President Biden’s March 8 announcement, “We’re banning all imports of Russian oil and gas and energy,”… Read more

  • Sleepless Night

    Around midnight I woke with my mind racing. There was a high-pressure fire hose full of news on Monday. It is continuing into Tuesday. With Ukraine being eight time zones ahead, there were a lot of reports coming in via Twitter when I looked at the mobile device in bed. Much of the information was… Read more

  • Grassley on Climate Change

    This response to my message to U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley has been sitting in a file folder waiting for me to write a response. Upon review, I don’t really have a response as the letter speaks for itself. Shorter Grassley: wind, ethanol and biodiesel are what I have been and am willing to work on… Read more

  • Double Dipping on Carbon-Capture

    Governor Kim Reynolds mentioned carbon-capture in her condition of the state address during a segment on renewable energy. I am introducing new legislation that will improve access to E15 and B20 and upgrade Iowa’s fuel infrastructure to offer higher blends. And I’m proposing that we invest in carbon-capture solutions to sustain and build on our… Read more

  • Waiting for Scions

    Inconsistent winter weather disrupted fruit tree plans. On Wednesday snow melt began flowing in the gutters and downspout. It felt safe enough to make a trip through melting snow pack to the composter near the garden. A slushy mix returned to the end of the driveway. Weather has been weird. It takes several days of… Read more