Let's get down to where and how things really happen! I'm 74 years old, a veteran of two years in Vietnam, and 50% disabled due to Agent Orange and other stuff. I walk ditches and clear dumpsters of cans and bottles for recycling and all that money goes to people who are trying to make a difference, locally or further afield. I grew up here, and I know what it was like, when I don't see a meadowlark on a fence post anywhere something terrible has happened. When you can't swim in lakes, some of which are in State Parks, something terrible has happened. With 700 waterways so polluted you are fool hardy to stick you foot into them or let you dog play in the water, something terrible has happened. With that said, where do I send you a check to give you money to work with! This is what is needed more than anything, and I'm working to promote this activity in a way that is ecological and cleaning up the neighborhood and reducing the need for more space in the landfill for material that has no business there!
Looking at Hardin County AG statistics, the minority is ruling the majority. The majority needs to look through the bull and see the truth. You are spot on.
This is great. As I read this, I’m in Jefferson, Iowa, getting ready to attend the funeral of a dear aunt on whose farm I spent long stretches of my childhood. I can so remember the days of clear streams and nearby lakes we didn’t think twice about swimming in. The pigpens held 15 or so hogs outdoors the cattle grazed in the timber (and not in the CAFO currently down the road).
That letter from your correspondent brought tears to my eyes. And your writing made my blood boil. Bravo to you and all best on your new project.
Keep on keepin' on, Chris! People ARE listening. The feedback from usually laid-back folks at the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar showed that rural Iowans finally are getting stirred up.
The sigh of relief is heard across Hardin County. Retreating to NE Iowa was telegraphed a couple years ago and the saliva drool from local ag groups only added to the pollution to the South Fork and Iowa River. Despair has come over those of us that have written over 100 editorials in the local newspapers. The ignore, deny, delay, good job Jonny campaigns, we care, tactics have won.
Using published data directly from NRCS, IDNR, IDALS, ISU, NRS, NMPs, MMPs, etc., brings truth to the table and farmers know it. It's a direct attack on egos. Truth works. It exposes the "boots on the ground", the real polluters. The truth is met with personal attacks, retrubution, concerted efforts, mis-quoted scholarly articles,, and full-page ads in the same newspapers where our editorials are published.
Take a drive along the Iowa River Green Belt, Keeping a Chris Jones outpost in Hardin County is worth more than you know.
Chris, I wish you and Jess well in this fight. These conditions occurred because of greedy pols and a lack of communication to the citizens of Iowa. You two are making a difference by getting the word out.
Boy you sure are on target about the Iowa Democratic Party! I watched and heard their powerless chairperson speak a few days ago. I heard nothing constructive come from her mouth; just complaints about lack of candidates and, yes, powerlessness. It wasn't always like this: Before powerlessness came complacency. And now they won't speak to the real issues that face rural Iowans. ALL rural Iowans. Power to the people, I guess.
Seeking help from democrats, republicans, ag groups, and government agencies is futile until Iowans know the truth about surface and ground water pollution. Local, small-town newspapers are begging for news as rural folks glean every article written. How do we gather and distribute this body of truth to every nook and cranny across Iowa? Today, the politicians are marching to the loud mouth drummer. Let's change that. Truth returns "Power to the People".
I got inspired by a short video of Charles Dickens a few months ago. While he wrote extensively about the horrors of Victorian England, he really didn't have the answers to fixing its problems. But he eloquently made them very well known. Others then fell in and initiated the beneficial changes that eventually took place. (Full disclosure - I was an English major in college, but I have never been able to get through his books.)
That's why I think your work is so valuable, Chris. You've elevated the attention on water quality in Iowa, revitalizing the issue in a way that people can hear. You say you don't have the answers, but part of the answer is exposing and shouting out the problem first.
I'm also really glad to see the formation of Driftless Water Defenders and your involvement.
Keep on speaking truth to the Corn /CAFO mafia that runs the state! The 97% of us NOT farmers deserve to have drinkable, swimmable water. I don't know why they even have a boat/bath house at Backbone; the ice is barely off the water and the DNR is saying the equivalent of "Don't go in the water, its full of pig shit".
It's equally amazing that the 69 counties that lost population between 2010 and 2020 are just as red as they can be and determined to keep out the hippies and environmentalists, blithely oblivious as their kids get the hell out as fast as they can.
Is the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club, of which I am a member, an ally in the cause of clean water? Or is the new group taking a different tack?
Seeing Iowa beach signs "contact with the water is not recommended" due to either e coli or microcystin (toxins from blue green algae, caused by excessive nutrients overload), is sticking one's head in that same beach's sand. Shhhh, don't tell people why Iowa has awful water, water that will only get worse. Shhhh, it's golf courses, geese or all those city folk making our water bad. Deny, deflect. Those tactics has been used for decades by various industries. (a prime example is the crushing, literally, of electric vehicles by the fossil fuel industry. I recommend "Who Killed the Electric Car" 2006 documentary) Why is agriculture hands off? Whoever is causing the bulk of the water quality problem should be held accountable. If farmers, who are increasingly becoming corporate owned, are over applying excessive nutrients polluting Iowa's water, they are the problem. The water problem will only get worse with carbon capture pipelines sucking up more water from Iowa's aquifers. Ludicrous. Wind and solar do not guzzle gazillion gallons of water those pipelines will require for (seriously, ethanol is environmentally friendly?) the carbon capture process. Those pipelines threaten the water supply to all Iowans. Are people really this dumb, or ill informed, that they refuse to listen to people that know what they're talking about? The state geologist realizes the ramifications of such stupidity. Aquifers are not an infinite water source. The complete lack of critical thinking and apathy in regard to the environment threatens future generations. Is it greed, the usual culprit in horrid decision making? Probably. Our governor has promoted Iowa with this famous movie quote: Build it and they will come. Well, ruin Iowa and they will leave, as most younger Iowans have done. Many older Iowans are leaving to areas that value nature and recreation. When you lose young people, you lose vitality. As an older Iowan who grew up in NE Iowa, I feel as though I'm screaming into the wind or I'm a Who to the Hortons of the world. Iowa needs more Whos and Hortons who will listen.
So Democrats are dumb and dishonest but Republicans are sinister? Don’t give your political allies that much credit. Democrats have rolled over their fellow citizens for money just as often as their opponents. BOTH parties have betrayed Iowa’s rural ecology and residents.
Chris, keep on keeping the fire stoked! Believe... a lot of us out here, Believe you can help lead the charge in untangling this mess. Be it a step at a time, it's gonna happen. Keep up the great work, you ARE making a difference...for all of us!
Thank you for presenting at the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar and writing about it. I grew up just north of Turin, in the Loess Hills, and went to high school in Onawa. (I was at that basketball tournament in 2964 when we won the championship.) My parents were some of the founders of the Prairie Seminar, and our family were farmers there for 150 years and environmentalists as well for 50 years. My brother worked hard to preserve and restore our wetlands on the bottom in the Little Sioux River Valley and native prairie in the Loess Hills, and several of our neighbours also protected their land through Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. When the last of our family moved away, we put our land under the protection of several environmental organizations as Reese Homestead Nature Preserve.
There are ideas being researched, and have been for a couple years. The topics, at The S.E. Iowa Research and Demonstration Farm operated by the S.E. Ia. Ag.Research Assoc. at it's coming June 26 Summer Field Day, will be Bioreators, Edge-of-Field Practices, and the Whole Farm Conservation Best Practices Manual. The day is open and free to the public. The plan is to be installing bioreactor at the Research farm. This farm was purchased by a campaign drive several years ago of donations of many farmers and other businesses. As we can see work IS being done to find ways to stop nitrates from leaving the fields. It is total system of managing nutrients to stopping their loss to our streams. It would make sense for this info to be shared as I'm doing.
Let's get down to where and how things really happen! I'm 74 years old, a veteran of two years in Vietnam, and 50% disabled due to Agent Orange and other stuff. I walk ditches and clear dumpsters of cans and bottles for recycling and all that money goes to people who are trying to make a difference, locally or further afield. I grew up here, and I know what it was like, when I don't see a meadowlark on a fence post anywhere something terrible has happened. When you can't swim in lakes, some of which are in State Parks, something terrible has happened. With 700 waterways so polluted you are fool hardy to stick you foot into them or let you dog play in the water, something terrible has happened. With that said, where do I send you a check to give you money to work with! This is what is needed more than anything, and I'm working to promote this activity in a way that is ecological and cleaning up the neighborhood and reducing the need for more space in the landfill for material that has no business there!
Steve the address for Driftless Water Defenders is
Driftless Water Defenders
504 E Bloomington Street
Iowa City, IA 52245
Checks in the mail tomorrow! Not a huge amount, but beats the crap outta "thoughts and prayers"!
Looking at Hardin County AG statistics, the minority is ruling the majority. The majority needs to look through the bull and see the truth. You are spot on.
This is great. As I read this, I’m in Jefferson, Iowa, getting ready to attend the funeral of a dear aunt on whose farm I spent long stretches of my childhood. I can so remember the days of clear streams and nearby lakes we didn’t think twice about swimming in. The pigpens held 15 or so hogs outdoors the cattle grazed in the timber (and not in the CAFO currently down the road).
That letter from your correspondent brought tears to my eyes. And your writing made my blood boil. Bravo to you and all best on your new project.
Thanks Wini and keep up the great work on your column!
Keep on keepin' on, Chris! People ARE listening. The feedback from usually laid-back folks at the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar showed that rural Iowans finally are getting stirred up.
Thanks Larry!
The sigh of relief is heard across Hardin County. Retreating to NE Iowa was telegraphed a couple years ago and the saliva drool from local ag groups only added to the pollution to the South Fork and Iowa River. Despair has come over those of us that have written over 100 editorials in the local newspapers. The ignore, deny, delay, good job Jonny campaigns, we care, tactics have won.
Using published data directly from NRCS, IDNR, IDALS, ISU, NRS, NMPs, MMPs, etc., brings truth to the table and farmers know it. It's a direct attack on egos. Truth works. It exposes the "boots on the ground", the real polluters. The truth is met with personal attacks, retrubution, concerted efforts, mis-quoted scholarly articles,, and full-page ads in the same newspapers where our editorials are published.
Take a drive along the Iowa River Green Belt, Keeping a Chris Jones outpost in Hardin County is worth more than you know.
All of this, Chris.
Thanks Jess, you know what it is to fight
Chris, you are a great writer! Happy to know you.
Thanks Mike! Hope things are well with you and Judy.
Mike:
Love to you and Judy!
Cindy Paschen
Chris, I wish you and Jess well in this fight. These conditions occurred because of greedy pols and a lack of communication to the citizens of Iowa. You two are making a difference by getting the word out.
Great, this is how we can change. You're encouraging real coalitions to form. Afterall, it's not an "accident" our state's water is the way it is.
Boy you sure are on target about the Iowa Democratic Party! I watched and heard their powerless chairperson speak a few days ago. I heard nothing constructive come from her mouth; just complaints about lack of candidates and, yes, powerlessness. It wasn't always like this: Before powerlessness came complacency. And now they won't speak to the real issues that face rural Iowans. ALL rural Iowans. Power to the people, I guess.
Seeking help from democrats, republicans, ag groups, and government agencies is futile until Iowans know the truth about surface and ground water pollution. Local, small-town newspapers are begging for news as rural folks glean every article written. How do we gather and distribute this body of truth to every nook and cranny across Iowa? Today, the politicians are marching to the loud mouth drummer. Let's change that. Truth returns "Power to the People".
I got inspired by a short video of Charles Dickens a few months ago. While he wrote extensively about the horrors of Victorian England, he really didn't have the answers to fixing its problems. But he eloquently made them very well known. Others then fell in and initiated the beneficial changes that eventually took place. (Full disclosure - I was an English major in college, but I have never been able to get through his books.)
That's why I think your work is so valuable, Chris. You've elevated the attention on water quality in Iowa, revitalizing the issue in a way that people can hear. You say you don't have the answers, but part of the answer is exposing and shouting out the problem first.
I'm also really glad to see the formation of Driftless Water Defenders and your involvement.
Keep doing what you're doing. So needed!
Keep on speaking truth to the Corn /CAFO mafia that runs the state! The 97% of us NOT farmers deserve to have drinkable, swimmable water. I don't know why they even have a boat/bath house at Backbone; the ice is barely off the water and the DNR is saying the equivalent of "Don't go in the water, its full of pig shit".
It's equally amazing that the 69 counties that lost population between 2010 and 2020 are just as red as they can be and determined to keep out the hippies and environmentalists, blithely oblivious as their kids get the hell out as fast as they can.
Is the Iowa chapter of the Sierra Club, of which I am a member, an ally in the cause of clean water? Or is the new group taking a different tack?
Seeing Iowa beach signs "contact with the water is not recommended" due to either e coli or microcystin (toxins from blue green algae, caused by excessive nutrients overload), is sticking one's head in that same beach's sand. Shhhh, don't tell people why Iowa has awful water, water that will only get worse. Shhhh, it's golf courses, geese or all those city folk making our water bad. Deny, deflect. Those tactics has been used for decades by various industries. (a prime example is the crushing, literally, of electric vehicles by the fossil fuel industry. I recommend "Who Killed the Electric Car" 2006 documentary) Why is agriculture hands off? Whoever is causing the bulk of the water quality problem should be held accountable. If farmers, who are increasingly becoming corporate owned, are over applying excessive nutrients polluting Iowa's water, they are the problem. The water problem will only get worse with carbon capture pipelines sucking up more water from Iowa's aquifers. Ludicrous. Wind and solar do not guzzle gazillion gallons of water those pipelines will require for (seriously, ethanol is environmentally friendly?) the carbon capture process. Those pipelines threaten the water supply to all Iowans. Are people really this dumb, or ill informed, that they refuse to listen to people that know what they're talking about? The state geologist realizes the ramifications of such stupidity. Aquifers are not an infinite water source. The complete lack of critical thinking and apathy in regard to the environment threatens future generations. Is it greed, the usual culprit in horrid decision making? Probably. Our governor has promoted Iowa with this famous movie quote: Build it and they will come. Well, ruin Iowa and they will leave, as most younger Iowans have done. Many older Iowans are leaving to areas that value nature and recreation. When you lose young people, you lose vitality. As an older Iowan who grew up in NE Iowa, I feel as though I'm screaming into the wind or I'm a Who to the Hortons of the world. Iowa needs more Whos and Hortons who will listen.
So Democrats are dumb and dishonest but Republicans are sinister? Don’t give your political allies that much credit. Democrats have rolled over their fellow citizens for money just as often as their opponents. BOTH parties have betrayed Iowa’s rural ecology and residents.
Chris, keep on keeping the fire stoked! Believe... a lot of us out here, Believe you can help lead the charge in untangling this mess. Be it a step at a time, it's gonna happen. Keep up the great work, you ARE making a difference...for all of us!
Thank you for presenting at the Loess Hills Prairie Seminar and writing about it. I grew up just north of Turin, in the Loess Hills, and went to high school in Onawa. (I was at that basketball tournament in 2964 when we won the championship.) My parents were some of the founders of the Prairie Seminar, and our family were farmers there for 150 years and environmentalists as well for 50 years. My brother worked hard to preserve and restore our wetlands on the bottom in the Little Sioux River Valley and native prairie in the Loess Hills, and several of our neighbours also protected their land through Iowa Natural Heritage Foundation. When the last of our family moved away, we put our land under the protection of several environmental organizations as Reese Homestead Nature Preserve.
Oops, typo. 1964 not 2964!
There are ideas being researched, and have been for a couple years. The topics, at The S.E. Iowa Research and Demonstration Farm operated by the S.E. Ia. Ag.Research Assoc. at it's coming June 26 Summer Field Day, will be Bioreators, Edge-of-Field Practices, and the Whole Farm Conservation Best Practices Manual. The day is open and free to the public. The plan is to be installing bioreactor at the Research farm. This farm was purchased by a campaign drive several years ago of donations of many farmers and other businesses. As we can see work IS being done to find ways to stop nitrates from leaving the fields. It is total system of managing nutrients to stopping their loss to our streams. It would make sense for this info to be shared as I'm doing.