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Sunday, February 21
Muscatine Iowa Air Quality Forum
by
paul deaton
on Sun 21 Feb 2010 06:00 PM CST
Muscatine Iowa Air Quality Forum
 by Paul Deaton
"Residents
understood the influence of prevailing wind, geography and the impact
of the many industrial plants in the area... People seemed resigned to the fact that a life with
middle class problems will go on."
Within the plume of emissions from Grain Processing Corporation and thirteen other Muscatine County point source emitters permitted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, a group of us met with more than eighty residents yesterday at the Garfield Elementary School Gymnasium to discuss air quality.
HD-80 Representative Nathan Reichert organized the meeting and sent invitations to area residents. The panel consisted of Representative Reichert, Dr. Maureen McCue and myself from Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility, Patrick O’Shaughnessy from the Department of Environmental and Occupational Health of the University of Iowa, Leland Searles from the Iowa Environmental Council and Jim McGraw of the Iowa Department of Natural Resources Air Quality Bureau. The meeting went from 1:00 PM until 4:30 PM and the audience remained engaged throughout. The corporate media was less engaged, with one local television station covering the meeting. He left after 45 minutes and was apparently not there to cover most of the information presented by the panelists.
My participation was brief, framing the discussion after Representative Reichert made introductions and answering a couple of questions at the end. The residents seemed to understand that the air quality in Muscatine is and has been bad for a number of years. There were no real answers to the question “what can we do about it?”
There were other issues on people’s minds. Residents were concerned that the Garfield Elementary School, where the air quality monitor is situated, would be closed and consolidated by the school board. I was asked whether specific community health problems had been caused by emissions from the GPC plant that locked workers out back in 2008 in a contract dispute. Some residents left during the course of the meeting, and at the end about 35 remained to socialize with the panelists and each other before returning home. Residents understood the influence of prevailing wind, geography and the impact of the many industrial plants in the area. They understood that continuing to live in Muscatine may present health problems because of the air quality. People seemed resigned to the fact that a life with middle class problems will go on.
The area surrounding the school includes industry, railroad tracks servicing industry and small houses with about 1,000 square feet of living space. It is a working class neighborhood that seems to be drifting into poverty, where residents have few options to get out. Representative Reichert encouraged them to organize as a community and hopefully they will. Banding together to deal with poor air quality may be their best hope in a world that easily could forget them after the panelists and the PowerPoint presentations are gone.
~Paul Deaton is a native Iowan living in rural Johnson County. Check
out his blog, Big Grove Garden.
E-mail Paul Deaton
Wednesday, September 23
2009 QC Earth Charter Summit - Local Foods
by
Caroline Vernon
on Wed 23 Sep 2009 01:33 PM CDT
2009 QC Earth Charter Summit
Building a Local Foods Movement
By Caroline Vernon
You’re invited to attend!
The 2009 Quad Cities Earth Charter Summit
“Building a Local Foods Movement”
Saturday, September 26, 2009, 9am-3pm
Augustana College - Wallenberg Hall
Local Food is the theme of the 2009 Earth Charter Summit, focusing on PACG’s Local Foods Initiative - Our goal is to promote and assist in the development of a healthy, sustainable, local food supply for our region, emphasizing sustainable agricultural practices.
The summit will include local and regional speakers and informative workshops focusing on our effort to develop a working partnership between individual citizens and those working within an institutional framework. There are opportunities for everyone on every level to become involved in the Healthy, Local Foods movement. People in communities all across our country, and in the world, are mobilizing around this effort.
Workshops include:
· Community Gardens
· Local Food Coop
· Farm to Cafeteria
· The Economics of a Local Food Supply
· Information for Food Services, Municipalities, & Legislators
· Reducing the Carbon Footprint of our Diet
· The Importance of SEEDS in a local Foods movement
Keynote Speaker:
Kamyar Enshayan
Director, University of Northern Iowa Center of Energy and Environmental Education
Enshayan launched Buy Fresh, Buy Local in Iowa and worked with Iowa communities to start chapters.
Recipient of the 2008 Sustainable Agriculture Achievement Award from Practical farmers of Iowa.
Augustana’s Food Service will be providing a delicious, healthy, local foods lunch!
Cost to attend the Summit is only $10 /$5 for students—scholarships are available
REGISTER TODAY!—Through our website: qcprogressiveaction.org or Call PACG at 563-676-7580, or REGISTER at the door!
Wednesday, January 28
The Obstructed View ~ Education for Education's Sake
by
Sam Osborne
on Wed 28 Jan 2009 05:00 AM CST
The Obstructed View ~ Education for Education's Sake
 Random thoughts from an idle mind for the beginning of 2009
by Sam Osborne
Is education nothing more than a tool of economics, but without the bailout?
American workers have not lost their jobs to the well educated that work in sweat shops in low-standard-of-living lands. And, the idea that we are going to educate our way out of our current economic mess is pure myth.
We should run our schools as places that enrich the lives of our children and not as factories that turn out standardized parts to fit into business and industry. What will kids do with the gift of a good education? We better not have any idea - if we do, we have entered reductive times in which each generation is going to be no smarter then the dumb assed adults that are running the one that they inherited.
Our economic system is sick. Not because it is not running well, it is sick because it IS a terminal form of cancer that eats up our resources and our people in the production of things that are acquired and soon hauled off to the landfill to make room for more of the same. It is time to move to a rich culture based upon quality of life over the insane production of life consuming and environment polluting things.
It would be nice to see our government put money into education for our children’s sake. Pouring more into the greedy hands of those at the top of the economic pile will only increases the quagmire debt that has already been run up. Trickle-down economics has once again failed to produce what a mass-consumption market runs on, middle and working class consumers.
None of the businesses, which have been operated by the current crop of profiteers, folded because they were over taxed or because the huge pile of private capital dried up. The resources were skimmed off in huge bonuses and paper-profit Ponzi schemes. Yes it went somewhere, maybe into Swiss bank accounts.
The 700 billion dollar bailout (with more to come) is damning testament to the myth that economic elitists should not be heavily taxed because they will invest their great gains in creating good jobs for working Americans.
Class warfare? You bet and where is the nearest enlistment office to sign up - it would be great to serve in an outfit commanded by Michael Moore.
Sam
Osborne, former editorial writer and Opinion Page Editor,
Iowa City Press-Citizen; former college professor and Business Department chair,
Ellsworth Community College; and currently out to pasture drinking too much
coffee. His commentary, The Obstructed View, will appear on these blog pages weekly, more or less.
Friday, January 2
Mindfully Green in 2009 and Beyond
by
Caroline Vernon
on Fri 02 Jan 2009 12:14 PM CST
Happy New Year progressive family!
I wanted to share with you all the details of the upcoming Inaugural Ball here in the Quad Cities at the Davenport River Center on January 20th... but that will have to be the subject of my next post as I am deeply moved to share this excerpt with all of you from Stephanie Kaza's new book, "Mindfully Green: A Personal & Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking." Great "food for thought" to live by in 2009 and beyond!
Peace and Love,
Caroline Vernon
Mindfully Green: A Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking
by Stephanie Kaza
Posted by: DailyOM at www.dailyom.com
With all the attention on living sustainably, the one thing missing from the conversation is how to find a personal connection with green living that will sustain us on our green path. While practical approaches to an eco-responsible lifestyle offer important first steps, it is critical that we ground these actions in broader understanding so that we can effect real change in the world.
In this book, Stephanie Kaza describes what she calls the “green practice path.” She offers a simple, Buddhist-inspired philosophy for taking up environmental action in real, practical, and effective ways. Discover new ways to think more deeply about your impact on the natural world, engage in environmental change, and make green living a personal practice based in compassion and true conviction.
Excerpt:
Chapter One: Reducing Harm
To get our bearings on the path, it is helpful to have some compass points for orientation. The first three chapters of this book consider principles that provide an ethical foundation and a pragmatic direction for the green path. Foremost of these is the commitment to reduce harm wherever possible.We begin by looking at the nature of environmental harm and exploring choices to reduce that harm. Offering kindness becomes a core practice of non-harming, a way to be with the suffering of the natural world, hard as this may seem. To gain a wisdom perspective on harm and suffering, the third chapter takes up the deep view based on interdependence. With ethical principles and systems thinking to guide us, we can have a certain measure of confidence in setting out on the path.
Reducing Harm
The Dalai Lama often opens his speeches by saying, “Everyone wants to be happy. No one wants to be unhappy.” Stemming from this statement is much of the world’s moral and religious philosophy. Another way to put this is, “Everyone wants to be unharmed. No one wants to be harmed.” All beings, from baby grasshoppers to giant redwood trees and people the world over, would prefer to be safe, to be free from harm, injury, violence, and suffering, to be allowed to live their lives in peace. Nobody really wants to be hurt, abused, or threatened in any way.
The Christian principle of reducing harm is contained in the Golden Rule: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” In 1993 the Parliament of the World’s Religions proclaimed this moral code of reciprocity or mutual respect to be the common basis for a global human ethic. For Hindus, this is expressed as the practice of ahimsa, or non-harming—that is, taking up the path of not causing harm. In Buddhism, monks and laypeople take vows to “save all sentient beings from suffering.” Reducing harm through mutual respect is a central ethical principle in all religious and ethical traditions because it is fundamental to keeping human societies functional and not self-destructive. It is difficult for people and their support systems to thrive if everyone is hurting each other all the time.
This same logic can be extended to human relations with ecological systems. It is difficult for ecosystems to thrive and for people to thrive in them if plants and animals, groundwater, streams, mountains, oceans, and air are constantly under assault. Damaged support systems don’t work as effectively as healthy systems. They are less resilient, less capable, and less functional overall. Human beings trying to live in damaged or ailing ecosystems don’t do well either. They pick up waterborne disease from polluted streams. They struggle with asthma from poor air quality. They are vulnerable to extreme weather events from climate change.
So what does it mean to reduce harm? How can such a principle work when applied in a practical situation? How would one use such a guideline to be a good ecological citizen? As you would imagine, most environmental questions do not have simple answers. We don’t always know when harm is being done, and even when we can see there is harm, we don’t always know what the cause is. And further, there may be many reasons why it is difficult to reduce the harm that is happening. Choosing the ethical path of reducing harm turns out to be a complex and demanding practice. But that should not discourage us. Many wisdom traditions have prepared the way for this practice, and we can work with well-proven methods to help us along the path.
Degrees of Harm
In any given situation, people try to work out a way to get what they need without causing too many repercussions. We are constantly evaluating trade-offs and potential risks to minimize harm to ourselves as well as others with whom we have ongoing relations.We learn to do this in our family settings as we cope with household stress while keeping our safety intact. We maintain polite protocols to be good neighbors even if we disagree on politics. This balancing act reflects our evolutionary development as social animals; there are many good sociobiological reasons for being well-practiced at evaluating the potential for harm. Those who do this well assure both their own well-being and the well-being of their kin. Since this process of discrimination is already well developed, we can use it to help us on the green practice path. In order to reduce environmental harm, we must be able to identify it and then evaluate our own contribution to that harm.
Everyone has to eat, so this is a good place to practice looking for environmental harm and checking our participation in that harm. By “practice,” I mean engaging the questions around harming for a period of time and asking them over and over in different contexts. It is a form of discipline, remembering that this is what you are trying to do, bringing your attention back to the questions with a fresh mind again and again. Practicing with food presents an opportunity for mindfulness because so much of our time is spent in obtaining, preparing, and consuming food. When we stop to consider how much harm is involved in growing or making our food, we can make more informed choices about what we eat and what degrees of harm we will embrace.
Let’s explore several ways of evaluating degrees of harm in food. Looking at the broad picture, we can measure the various environmental impacts generated by the growing and processing the major food groups. Fortunately for us, the Union of Concerned Scientists has already done this research, laying down reliable benchmarks based on scientific analysis. These are outlined in their book The Consumer’s Guide to Effective Environmental Choices.
The authors considered 120 types of environmental impacts and then consolidated this list to six primary concerns: air and water pollution, land use, solid and hazardous waste, and climate change. They then examined U.S. national data for producing all of our food sources—fruits, vegetables, grains, meat. They were able to show which impacts were associated with each type of food production. Their study indicates that meat production is the leading cause of agricultural water pollution. This is because cows and hogs are fattened for slaughter in large feedlots and their manure runs off into the groundwater, polluting nearby streams and lakes. Production of grains and vegetables takes its toll on soil health and habitat biodiversity. So we can use factual data to measure the types and degrees of harming—in the arena of food production and other areas as well.
Another way to evaluate harm is to examine the impacts on individual plants and animals that we choose to consume. Many people are concerned about the treatment of animals in the industrial food system, which causes distress and suffering for the animals. Classic philosophical arguments for vegetarianism point out that animals have awareness and intelligence, that they experience physical and emotional suffering as we do.The infliction of cruelty and suffering—such as clipping hogs’ tails, cutting chicks’ beaks, or branding the hides of cattle—are standard operations in domestic meat production.
Animals experience further anxiety and stress from being crowded in small cages or packed into trucks for long-distance transport. Calves and piglets are often traumatically separated from their mothers before weaning. If you eat meat, you can evaluate which of these types of harming is acceptable to you. If you want to reduce harm to the soil and groundwater as well as to individual animals, you can reduce the amount of meat you eat. The Union of Concerned Scientists strongly recommends cutting back on meat consumption to directly reduce both animal suffering and environmental degradation.
Evaluating harm to plants is more difficult because we don’t understand how plants experience harm. We know that poor soil, lack of water, and over harvesting can leave plants weak and nutrient deficient. But do plants suffer in the same way if their evolutionary integrity is altered through genetic engineering? Does mono-cropping harm plants or soils or both? With the rise of the organic farming movement, green consumers looking to reduce harm choose organic over conventional produce options. They reason that organic plants have been better nourished by the soil and perhaps also more lovingly cared for by the farmer, at least in small-scale operations. Workers on industrial-scale organic farms, however, may not hold such intimate relations with their crops.
Another way to evaluate degree of harm is in terms of the eater, rather than the eaten. Meat-intensive diets have been correlated with high rates of human heart disease and cancers of the digestive tract. Some vegetarians have turned away from meat to protect their health and avoid meat-associated medical risks. Studies now show that hormones used in beef production can affect human reproductive development, causing early puberty and male infertility. The heavy use of antibiotics in conventional meat and dairy operations is a human health concern as well, undercutting the effectiveness of these valuable drugs in treating human infection. Reducing harm to ourselves is a viable and important aspect of reducing environmental impact, reflecting the recognition that we too are part of the environment that is under siege.
We can also consider degrees of harm relative to spiritual well-being. In many world and indigenous religious traditions, abstaining from meat is a common practice in cultural ceremonies or as training in self-discipline. Practicing restraint requires constant vigilance and the tempering of deeply conditioned appetites. Buddhists and Hindus emphasize the merit gained from cumulative acts of compassion in relation to animals. They further believe that a meat-free diet generates a calmer mind, more disposed toward equanimity and patience and therefore less likely to harm others.
In the last few years a new criterion has arisen for evaluating harm: the distance a food has traveled from production to market. The harm, in this case, is to our climate, since long shipping distances contribute significantly to the carbon emissions impact of food products. Farmers’ markets across the nation have been promoting “locavore” campaigns, challenging people to eat 10 or 20 percent of their diet from local foods only. Authors Barbara Kingsolver and Gary Nabhan have taken on the experiment of eating 100 percent locally in their Midwest and desert regions, inspiring others with their stories. In this measure, degree of harm reflects the number of food miles associated with a specific food. We can choose to reduce our diet-related greenhouse gas emissions by eating locally and cutting down on food miles.
Thursday, December 11
Iowa Colleges Attract Young People But Cannot Retain Grads
by
Linda Thieman
on Thu 11 Dec 2008 05:00 AM CST
Iowa Colleges Attract Young People But Cannot Retain Grads
Generation Iowa
 A report last week out of Generation Iowa suggests that Iowa's great brain drain is not a thing of the past.
The state of Iowa is faced with a difficult mismatch of current workforce needs and the jobs the Next Generation of workforce seeks. The research completed in 2008 by the Generation Iowa Commission and Iowa Workforce Development has clarified the needs of the state, identified strengths and challenges and worked to create solutions.
Iowa’s Next Generation strengths
Iowa is a “Top 5” importer of college students and ranks #1 in the Midwest for college student attraction.
Iowa remains a popular place with a strong Next Generation brand.
Iowa has an active Young Professionals of Iowa organization.
In 2006, Iowa had a net college student “brain gain” of 8,200 young people.
21 percent of Iowans have college degrees, and an estimated 33 percent of the next generation workforce is getting at least a bachelor’s degree.
Iowa’s Next Generation challenges
Iowa had a “brain drain” of 19,500 college-educated people for 1995-2000.
12 percent of currently available jobs in Iowa are for college graduates.
Iowa’s brain drain is 4th worst in the nation since 2000.
Iowa is one of only six states facing a declining rate of the percent of our population with at least a bachelor’s degree.
Iowa has the 9th lowest average wage out of 10 regional states.
Iowa’s wages are 20 percent lower than the national average.
Cost of living adjustments do not make up the wage gap.
Iowa college students rank 17th nationally at a volunteer rate of 32 percent.
See the full report here.
Monday, May 5
Strong American Schools is excited to announce the ED in '08 Blogger Summit.
by
Sam Garchik
on Mon 05 May 2008 10:47 AM CDT
Strong American Schools is excited to announce the ED in '08 Blogger Summit.
By Ed in 08
Conference details are as follows:
May 14th - 15th Palomar Hotel, Washington DC Registration is Free!
The event kicks off at 6:00 p.m. on May 14, with cocktails and hors d'oeuvres at the Hotel Palomar. At 7:00 p.m., we will screen the education documentary film Two Million Minutes (trailer),
which tracks and compares the progress of 2 Indian, Chinese and
American students during their four years of high school. The
screening will be followed by Q&A with the filmmakers. The
conversation will move into high gear on Thursday, with speakers and
panelists including Alexander Russo, Newt Gingrich, and Chris Gabrieli. Space is limited, so be sure to RSVP today!
Register at http://edin08.com/bloggersummit/
Thursday, February 7
Good news, Romney is out, the rest support Education!
by
Sam Garchik
on Thu 07 Feb 2008 07:25 PM CST
Good news, Romney is out, the rest support Education!
By Sam Garchik
Well, it's down to 4 people, and while they still count delegates in California, New Mexico, and yes, Iowa (with more dropouts on each side, the delegates to county conventions, including yours truly, will probably realign), the race goes on. I've got some time, so let's take a look at something all candidates believe in: Eduqasion!
McCain: McCain went to public college (Anapolis) like his dad and grandpa. Why doesn't he prioritize education? Well, it's not a big priority of his, as listed as a link on his first page. But, he support a right to Choice. That's choice as in private schols, charter schools, and who knows what. Even Mike Huckabee's policies make more sense than yours.
Huckabee: He is all about music ed and local standards. Mike Huckabee is an interesting guy. I mean, here's a Baptist Minister who says, "My kids all went to public school. We need more funding for art programs." This is one reason governor's can be better presidents than Senators, and its one reason I think he is a more compelling candidate than I think he wants the country to see.
Obama: He wants to make math and science a national priority. No argument here. It's true. Unless we launch our own satellites, the Communists will take over America. We need to respond to the Soviet Threat!
Wait, that was 60 years ago. Sorry. Obama also wants to fix No Child, end the dropout crisis, expand after-school and summer programs, and improve ELL. What's not to like?
Clinton: She wants to end NCLB, get better teachers, have summer internship programs, after-school programs, and in general run an education program much that of Obama. But in all fairness, his program is more detailed than hers, his proposals to fix NCLB, rather than end it, are more sophisticated than hers.
So, in sum. Everyone likes education, except McCain. He wants you to let your kids go to those schools that don't teach science. Or Math. Which means he DOES want communists to take over. And that's no good for any of us.
Tuesday, October 23
Controversial Rabbi Michael Lerner to Speak at Spiritual Progressives Conference Nov. 3rd in the Quad Cities
by
Caroline Vernon
on Tue 23 Oct 2007 05:23 PM CDT
Controversial
Rabbi Michael Lerner to Speak at Spiritual Progressives Conference Nov. 3rd in the Quad Cities
By James Lee
As
the Election Season closes in on the Quad Cities, people are looking at the
vast challenges facing our country and questioning how
individual citizens can make a difference. According to
national polling, over 70% of Americans feel that our nation is on the "wrong
track". Organizers of the
Spiritual Progressives Conference feel the answers to many
of our concerns and worries are rooted in our values, faith and spirituality.
Quad
Cities Progressive Action for the Common Good (PACG) in conjunction with Churches
United of the Quad Cities, Democracy for America–Quad Cities,
Davenport Unitarian Church,
Edwards Congregational-UCC, First Congregational-UCC, Network for Spiritual
Progressives, and a host of other supporters are
sponsoring a Spiritual Progressives Conference on November 3, 2007. The theme of the conference is: Living our Faith:
Integrating Values and Politics in the Heartland.
PURPOSE OF THE CONFERENCE
The purpose of this conference is to promote the voice of progressive
people into the national conversation on issues of values, faith and spirituality.
The conference is
designed to dig beneath the surface of controversial national issues &
public policy debates to get to the core of how we decide what makes our
society a healthy place to live.
It is our hope that the conference will help the public better
understand how to more effectively integrate progressive values with political
action that can create positive change in our nation.
Conference organizers assert that progressives have
been the social innovators who have initiated changes in our society that have
given us more freedom, liberty, and equality. Progressives believe in
continually improving our society in order to assist as many people as possible
to achieve a better life for themselves, their families and the community as a
whole. During this time of national
drift when confusion seems widespread over what America represents and truly
believes, progressive people must amplify their voices in the public conversation
on what we value as a nation.
We reject the tactic of using religion and spiritual traditions
to be a divisive force in our nation; pitting one group of Americans against
another group. We believe that ethics and morality cannot be claimed
as the property of a single religion or political group, but must be understood
in the context of furthering the well being of all humanity, present and
future. The conference will cover three main
areas:
1) Promoting a conversation on Progressive Values, Faith & and Spirituality
2) Organizing Progressives for political action
3) Creating healthy personal & inner lives for progressive people
The key-note speaker,
Rabbi Michael Lerner, will examine the question of how our values are translated
into political action. Rabbi Lerner is an internationally
renowned social theorist, theologian, editor of Tikkun magazine, and author of The Left Hand of God: Taking Back Our
Country from the Religious Right. He has a PhD from the University of California,
Berkeley and is
the founder of the Network for Spiritual Progressives.
Faith, values, and spirituality play an important role in responding to the many challenges we
face in our country today. The primary focus of
this conference will be to explore how our values, faith, and
spirituality can direct political action and transform our nation and our world. In so doing, this conference will be
addressing the most serious issues facing our
communities such as affordable, quality health care, the war, and global warming
to name a few.
Conference
workshops include topics such as "Challenging
the Misuse of God and Religion by the Religious Right", "Global Consciousness
and Ecological Sanity", "Our Common Values" and "Grounding Justice Work in
Spiritual Practice".
To learn more about other workshops which will be presented at this conference,
click here. To download the flyer to print (double-sided to conserve paper) go to our home page: www.qcprogressiveaction.org.
The Conference commences at 9:30am with a spiritual reflection on the state of
our world. Rabbi Michael Lerner will
speak at 10:15am. Workshops will continue throughout the day.
At 2:30pm Rabbi Lerner will be part of a panel discussion with local leaders on
the state of values and spirituality in our nation. Lunch will be served and
the conference will come to a close at 3:30pm.
This
event is open to the public; seating is limited. To Register, contact PACG at 563-676-7580 or go to our website for more information: www.qcprogressiveaction.org.
Event times and places
Interfaith
Service
The
conference begins with an Interfaith Service led by Rabbi Lerner on Friday evening,
November 2nd, 7pm at the Unitarian
Church, 3707 Eastern Avenue, Davenport, Iowa.
Spiritual
Progressives Conference
On
Saturday morning, November 3rd, the Spiritual Progressive Conference
will be held at the First Congregational Church-UCC, 2201 Seventh Avenue, Moline, IL 61265. Registration
starts at 9:30AM. Book Signing with Rabbi Lerner
Saturday evening, November 3rd, 5:30pm at Borders Bookstore, 4000 E 53rd St in Davenport.
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