Tag: Sustainability

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Environment Sustainability

Issues Come Home to Roost

Democratic Committee Volunteers Meeting in North Liberty, Iowa

In September I asserted we should be working to stop nuclear weapons and protect the environment. A year into Trump’s first term it’s clear I understated this need.

The Trump administration rolled out it’s nuclear posture review and oh brother. Obama was bad enough with the $1 trillion modernization plan he negotiated with Arizona Senator Jon Kyl to get the New START Treaty ratified. Our new president is off the charts mad regarding the nuclear complex, or as Rolling Stone‘s Matt Taibbi described him, “insane and ignorant.” There’s a lot to do to resist.

On the environment, it’s as if the Trump administration handed the keys to the front door to the wolves who have been howling and trying to get inside where we live. Ryan Zinke at Interior has reduced the size of some national monuments to make way for exploitation of oil and gas deposits; Scott Pruitt at the Environmental Protection Agency seeks to roll back regulations that protect us to loosen the regulatory chains he claims bind business; Rick Perry at Energy seeks to change the paradigm of growing renewable energy resources to one of increasing stockpiles of coal, oil and uranium. The plan was preconceived and executed with dizzying speed.

What to do to resist?

The focus has to be on electing Democrats in the 2018 midterm elections. Reason doesn’t matter to the Trumpkins. They understand political power. All efforts for the next eight months should be toward re-taking the U.S. Senate and/or House of Representatives, and to make inroads in the state of Iowa by electing a Democratic Governor and re-taking the house or senate or both.

It’s really that focused, that simple. Will a Democratic government get us what we want? The Obama administration nationally and the Culver-Judge administration in Iowa stand as examples it won’t. Regaining political power will re-establish our dominance and hold the wolves at bay, and that may be the best we can hope for this year.

It would be something positive in a government currently overrun with pirates seeking to loot the treasury and pillage the commons. As a society we can do better than this. We must pick our battles carefully and from today’s vantage point there is a lot to bring us together to stem the tide against reason. Nuclear abolition and protecting the environment are both worth our efforts. There are broader currents to bring us together during this election cycle.

Categories
Kitchen Garden Writing

Jambalaya Reprise

Vegetarian Jambalaya

In a throwback to my work at a major logistics company I made a batch of vegetarian jambalaya for this week’s lunches.

The dish was born in Thomas County, Georgia as I was sequestered in a hotel for four months implementing a logistics project at a clay mining and processing plant. I had access to what was then called the TV Food Network and Emeril Lagasse. I made the techniques I learned my own.

Here’s a recreation of today’s recipe:

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons high smoke point oil
4 tablespoons butter
4 six-inch vegetarian sausage links sliced 1/4 inch on the bias
1/2 pound frozen sliced okra
2 cups diced onions
1 cup diced bell pepper
1 cup diced celery
4 cloves garlic minced
1 15 oz can red beans drained and washed
1 cup long grain brown rice
1 pint diced tomatoes
1 quart prepared vegetable broth
Salt, red pepper flakes, curry powder, prepared hot sauce to taste

In a Dutch oven, brown the sausage in cooking oil. Remove and set aside.
Melt the butter in the same pan and heat the red pepper flakes until aromatic.
Add the onions, celery and bell pepper. Saute until soft.
Add the garlic and stir together. Cook for five minutes over medium heat.
Season with salt, pepper, curry powder and hot sauce.
Add the pint of diced tomatoes and rice and stir together.
Add the quart of broth and bring to a boil.
Add the okra, beans and cooked sausage and mix everything together.
Cover and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to medium low so the liquid bubbles gently through.
When the rice absorbs the moisture, stir and serve with fresh, sliced green onions on top.
Makes six generous servings.

Categories
Living in Society

Politics Saturday

Lake Macbride

Across the lakes in North Liberty, the first meeting of the county party’s arrangements committee will convene today at 10 a.m. Having served on platform, and with limited interest in credentials, rules and nominations, it’s the only one for me if I want to engage in local politics.

Caucuses are over with a bit of afterglow. According to our data management/membership chair John Deeth, Johnson County turned out 973 caucus-goers, tripling the previous record for an off-year caucus.

We are now in the primary phase of the 2018 midterm election campaign and it’s time for candidates to start their first canvass if they haven’t. Today, few primary voters even know who the heck some of these people are. It will be best if one of the Iowa gubernatorial candidates wins the primary with 35 percent of the vote. If no candidate wins that primary and it goes to convention, expect more division among Iowa Democrats. The key for personal survival is to pace ourselves if we want to be useful.

It is early to make primary picks as the filing period has neither opened nor closed.  At the same time, it’s hard to imagine anyone else jumping into the governor’s race. After two conversations, including an in-person one last night, I’ll be supporting John Norris for governor.

I found him near the sign-in table at a house party in Coralville and asked my question. There is a bill in both chambers of the legislature to deregulate public utilities. As former chair of the Iowa Utilities Board, I expected Norris to have some insight. He wasn’t familiar with the bill but said that deregulation would hobble Iowa’s renewable energy program. He obviously enjoyed talking about the subject and gave me a new perspective. We covered MidAmerican Energy, Bill Fehrman, vertical integration of Iowa wind farms, merchant sales of electricity and its relationship to public utilities, the nuclear plant in Palo, the impossible idea of building new nuclear power plants, and his work with energy policy and climate change in the Obama administration. There’s not much daylight between us here.

That was generally true about Norris’ policy discussion in a 17 minute speech for about 50 attendees. I felt déjà vu as I had been in that room before with another candidate and campaign. Norris laid out the issues the way I would, in similar language, emphasizing what I also felt was important. This was particularly true with the discussion about mental health services for children, and reversing the damage done by the 87th Iowa General Assembly to collective bargaining, women’s reproductive rights, and voter rights. With so many of my political friends already supporting John Norris, adding my name to the volunteer list became easy.

I haven’t gotten too deep into other statewide Democratic primaries. I expect to support Deirdre DeJear for secretary of state and the rest are undecided. In the three-way primary for Senate 37 I’m supporting Zach Wahls. Jodi Clemens has not drawn a primary opponent in House 73 and she’ll get my support after the primary.

I haven’t been paying enough attention to even know who-all is planning to run for county supervisor, although it’s already more people than the two seats up this cycle. Incumbents Mike Carberry and Janelle Rettig are both expected to run for re-election with Carberry already announced. Pat Heiden is making her second attempt at a supervisor primary win. Based on scuttlebutt that’s always circulating among township trustees, someone else could throw their hat in the ring. We’ll see how that race develops.

The other part of being useful in politics is knowing where one stands on the wicked problem of flipping the statehouse. Saturdays like today help iron out where things stand. Politics Saturdays are essential to personal balance and moving the ball forward.

Caucus attendees are activating to do something in November for a better politics. I’m with them and plan to help get the rest of the electorate activated as well.

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Living in Society Work Life

Taking Stock

Box of Work

We’re prepping for our annual inventory at the home, farm and auto supply store.

That means counting and labeling everything in the warehouse, and getting every possible item to the sales floor where hired staff can count it and customers can find it to buy it.

Inventory occupies a big space in the life of a retail outlet.

So it is with everything at home while getting ready for full retirement in 36 days.

We benefited from building a new home in 1993 by having to do very few major repairs. We changed the roof once, repaired the garage door, and that’s it. We’ve cycled through major appliances — refrigerator, dishwasher, washer and dryer — but have had very little work on the structure itself. A lot of little things require attention now.

In a flurry of emails this week I confirmed four part-time, seasonal jobs this year. One is writing for Blog for Iowa this summer, and the others are farm-related. Combine home repairs, these four jobs, my community organizing work, and political work during the midterm election cycle and there will be plenty to keep me busy in 2018.

Last night I ran into my former state representative Ro Foege at the warehouse club. I automatically shook his hand then apologized for spreading germs from my recent illness.

“I just came from the capitol,” he said. “I was exposed to a lot worse up there.”

I have a different view of political engagement this year. Mainly I want to be a helper of younger people who are engaging in politics. That means volunteering where I can, encouraging people, and contributing in ways people ask.

The metaphor of WYSIWYG, taken from the advent of computer graphical user interface, is an apt model for what I’m doing. The operative function of building an electorate presumes nothing and is rooted in a belief the 2018 general election electorate is not pre-made. It is being formed as we proceed through time and events toward election day. We have to pay attention to what is happening in real time and modify our activities to create a successful process.

It began with this week’s off-year caucus and engages voters with our many primary candidates for statewide and local offices. I see four remaining milestones for building the electorate: the June 5 primary, summer parade season, the fall campaign beginning on Labor Day, and the final week before the election. If we work early and smart, we should know where we stand as election day approaches. We should not freak out, just do the work.

Tonight after a shift at the home, farm and auto supply store I plan to meet Iowa gubernatorial candidate John Norris at a house party in Coralville. He may be the one for whom I’ll vote in the primary. More importantly, I want to see who is turning out for Norris and ask one or two questions if there is an opportunity. It’s not about my single vote, but about understanding the process. It’s not about me or him but who we are as Democrats in a state Donald Trump won by more than nine points. It’s about taking stock of our lives and effecting change in our government.

As some caucus-goers said Monday night, “we have to do something in November.”

Categories
Kitchen Garden

Gratin Dauphinois

Gratin Dauphinois

Saturday I decided to make a gratin.

We have storage potatoes although it will soon be time to plant them in the garden.

I’d been thinking about gratin for a week.

Scouring cookbooks for a recipe, the dish appears to have fallen from grace from modern, comprehensive guidebooks in my collection. I settled on the simplicity of Julia Child’s Gratin Dauphinois from Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

I modified the recipe to use ingredients on hand — white sharp cheddar for Swiss, skim milk for whole — and otherwise followed her direction diligently. If you don’t know Child’s masterwork I encourage you to discover it today. My results from using her recipes have been timeless and always delicious.

What may be funny is I gave no thought to what to serve with the gratin. If I lived by myself, I would have eaten the gratin and called it a meal. The grace of being married 35 years is it encourages one to be a better person. We settled on a vegetarian chik patty and steamed broccoli as accompaniment. For beverage I drank cool, filtered water as my cold tapers off.

Saturday afternoons are my time in the kitchen. I miss the old routine of listening to Garrison Keillor’s A Prairie Home Companion while preparing dinner. I tune to the classical radio station but it isn’t the same. The scent of rubbed garlic from the baking dish arouses memories of past meals — especially those I prepared with our daughter when she lived in Colorado. Fond memories in a life that’s changing more each day.

I’ll get by. The gratin helps.

Categories
Home Life Work Life

Sleeping In, Waking Up, What Next?

Brian Bedford, left, as Lady Bracknell and Charlotte Parry as Cecily Cardew in “The Importance of Being Earnest,” a 2010 production at the American Airlines Theater. (Photo Credit: New York Times)

It’s 48 days until full retirement and I can’t wait to let loose from the lowly paid work that has sustained us for over two years.

Completely ceasing work is not now, nor will it ever be in the cards. Work is what keeps us bound to our common humanity. To stop is to give up on life.

I’m not giving up on anything except the job at the home, farm and auto supply store.

After two weeks duration, a viral infection is in decline. The best sign of it was sleeping through the night, waking up, then going back to sleep for another hour. Well rested, I ask what’s next?

A better question: will it be more of the same, or something new?

Our brains become wired to want more of the same, so there will be some of that: cooking, gardening, farm work, reading, and home improvements. The challenge will be to do new things, write from a new perspective, and work toward gaining a better understanding of society. To get started, I plan to take it easy for a week or so. After that I don’t know.

That’s a lie. I do know I’ll be picking a major writing project and celebrating spring by planting our garden. There’s a long to-do list around the house and yard. Before I get caught up in more of the same, I must take a moment and breathe spring’s sweet air.

It won’t be long.

Categories
Living in Society Social Commentary

Influenza, Viruses and Sickness in the Land

Vegetarian Soup Stock

On Monday I went to the Urgent Care clinic for a persistent cold.

After a thorough examination, and many questions about the trajectory of symptoms, doctor leaned against the counter in the small examination room and pronounced, “it’s viral.” It could persist for another two weeks, she said.

I’ve run the course of Benzonate she prescribed for the cough. It is getting better. She wrote a second prescription for Amoxicillin and said hold it to see how things progressed. Later this morning, I’ll get it filled. I’m on the mend, but not well.

At least 43 Iowans died from influenza and viruses this season. Because of the delay in autopsy results, the actual number is likely higher.

At the home, farm and auto supply store employees have symptoms similar to mine. The store manager distributed a couple dozen aerosol cans of Lysol so we would keep everything sprayed down and hopefully disinfected. I don’t know if I gave the virus to others, or they gave it to me, but the whole workforce is coping. We are a sick land this January.

Today is the first time I’ve been able to concentrate on anything, and there is a backlog of post ideas and work delayed. Yet, I’m still here, sustaining our lives in a turbulent world.

Categories
Living in Society

Through a Glass Darkly

Sutliff Bridge at Night

For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. ~ 1 Corinthians 13:12 (King James)

The story of Paul of Tarsus, his conversion and writings are essential to my world view. Paul stands equally with René Descartes in forming a view that isolation from what exists, then taking measured actions to engage, is what we humans can do to get along in society.

When I was a grader I discovered if you write people, they may write back. With that in mind, I wrote my State Representative at the beginning of the second half of the 87th Iowa General Assembly.

Bobby,

Good luck with the 2018 session.

As I have in the past, I’ll let you know my priorities as bills advance in the legislature.

Republicans have an opportunity to turn around the tax situation in the state. I believe the only chance for success is to review the entire income and expense process in a holistic manner and effect changes that balance the budget on both the revenue and expense sides. State law requires a balanced budget. Taking continuous budget cuts because the revenue side is out of whack is not sustainable.

The context of the new federal tax law is important, but the state should not presume tax cuts are needed. It means making administration more efficient, funding compliance efforts for existing laws, and reviewing every decision made regarding taxation since Governor Branstad was elected in 2010. Insufficient attention has been paid to whether his solutions worked or not, and Medicaid privatization stands out as something that clearly isn’t working for parties involved. Republicans have teed up a big opportunity this session. What kind of legislators will you be?

My hope is you will encourage members of your caucus to avoid partisan solutions and use your votes to make a difference for everyone in the district.

A group of farmer friends would like to attend an early listening post, so please keep me informed when and where they will be held. I favor the ones in Bennett, Lowden, Wilton and Durant since there is a better cross section of the district in attendance. We’d go anywhere in the district to hear you speak. :)

Thanks for your work in the legislature.

Regards, Paul

Categories
Home Life Kitchen Garden

Sixty Nine Days

Saturday Dinner

It’s sixty nine days until what I hope is my last day of work at the home, farm and auto supply store… and “full retirement.”

The paradigm upon which we based our life in Big Grove shifted. We settled here to be close to work, raise our daughter, and live happily ever after.

Our home is older (as are we), our daughter left Iowa after college, leaving us with the happily ever after. The latter has me stuck.

During bitter cold days, I spend most of my time in the living room, the kitchen, the bedroom, or at my writing table. This weekend I left the house once to get the mail. The tendency is to drift toward the last day of work, delaying everything until then. That’s not really an option with the community work I’ve undertaken and plans made. One foot in front of the other, onward I must go.

The ambient temperature warmed 46 degrees since yesterday morning. If I were a bear, I’d sense winter hibernation is almost over. Instead, this human is in between recovering from a week of physical labor and endeavoring to get busy with one of many projects. Today it’s not going as well as I’d like on either front.

I worked on a local version of dal, cooking the first recipe today. Using 1-1/4 cups lentils, three cups of vegetable broth, turmeric, cumin, hot red pepper, fresh garlic and vegetable oil, the first batch came out edible but not delicious. The idea is to replace the pre-cooked version I’ve been buying at the warehouse club with home made. The recipe creation process will take a while because each batch must be eaten: a person can only eat so much dal per week. After six or seven iterations, if I’m lucky, the finished dish might get to the delicious stage.

Last night I made dinner of corn-rice casserole, steamed peas and a mixture of roasted butternut squash and sweet potatoes. Saturdays have been my night to cook so Jacque has a meal ready when she gets off work. When Garrison Keillor was on A Prairie Home Companion, that provided background noise. Now the radio stays mostly off, or tuned to the classical music station. Another shift in the predictability of our lives.

All this is not to say I seek a rocking chair in which to sit until life departs this frame. Not at all. However, the combination of cold weather, bones, feet and back aching from physical work, and a restlessness about living happily ever after has me stymied.

Just as the cold snap is over, and there’s hope the recipe will eventually turn out well, I’ll get going. Sixty nine days out retirement seems unseen below the horizon. Much remains to be done and I feel myself waking and wondering what will be next.

I’d be good with happily ever after, but not ready to believe it’s possible.

Categories
Living in Society Writing

Five Easy Things to Improve Our Politics

Corner of Main at Market, Solon, Iowa

In a hopeful year, the U.S. Congress is back to work, on Jan. 8 the state legislature convenes the second half of the 87th Iowa General Assembly, and grassroots politics begins another cycle with the Feb. 5 annual Iowa caucuses.

Politics affects us all.

In a time when there is no time for us to get anything done, here are five easy things to improve our politics.

If you are free Feb. 5, attend your political party caucus, which begin at 7 p.m. Republicans and Democrats agree when to hold precinct caucuses and these meetings represent a chance to see what having an R or D next to your voter registration means.

Subscribe to elected officials’ newsletters. All of our federal and state representatives have a newsletter. If you don’t know who represents you, in the Solon area it’s currently U.S. Senators Chuck Grassley and Joni Ernst, U.S. Representative Dave Loebsack, State Senator Bob Dvorsky and State Representative Bobby Kaufmann.

Take time to learn about the gubernatorial candidates and vote in the June primary. Both major political parties have a primary election for governor.

Worry less about process and more about values. So many voters get tied in a knot about what governing bodies should and shouldn’t do before enacting laws or ordinances. The better question is what do our representatives stand for? Their values are clear in votes they have made.

Be civil when talking about politics with friends and neighbors. If you can’t, then change the topic to the weather. Most important is taking time to listen, followed by thinking before opening your mouth. It’s possible to hear people out with whom we disagree without discussions escalating into an argument.

Use these five ideas and I believe you will agree a better politics is possible.

~ Published in the Jan. 11, 2018 edition of the Solon Economist