Edible Plant Sale April 25, 2020

Saturday, Robert A Lee Community Center, Iowa City, 9 to 11:30 am

Happy plants: 100% local, 100% organic.

Get a jump on your plant shopping at the Backyard Abundance plant sale fundraiser.
• Vegetables, herbs, berries and pollinator-friendly plants.
• Experts carefully researched each variety.
• Purchases help fund environmental education events.

Sad note: No vermicomposting worms will be available this year.

SAMPLE GARDEN PLANS
Get ideas for your garden using these design examples that show patches of self-supporting edibles: https://www.backyardabundance.org/resources

MEMBERSHIP DISCOUNT AND EARLY ENTRY
Members of Backyard Abundance receive a 10% discount on all purchases and can enter the sale at 8:30 am to get first pick of plants.

Learn about membership: http://www.backyardabundance.org/HowtoHelp/Membership.aspx

EXPERT ADVICE
Got gardening questions? Green thumbs will help you…
• Select plants
• Understand how to establish your plants
• Provide advice on watering, care and harvest

EDIBLE PLANTS
Below are just a few of the edible plants that will be available.

Vegetables
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Chives
• Cucumber
• Eggplant
• French sorrel
• Kale
• Leek
• Melon
• Onion
• Pepper
• Ramps
• Rhubarb
• Spinach
• Squash
• Sweet potato
• Tomato
• Walking onion

Herbs
• Basil
• Lavender
• Lovage
• Mint
• Oregano
• Thyme

Fruits
• Aronia berry
• Blackberry, Thornless
• Currant
• Elderberry
• Gooseberry
• Hardy fig
• Nanking cherry
• Pawpaw tree
• Peach tree
• Persimmon tree
• Plum tree
• Raspberry
• Strawberry

FLOWERS AND NATIVE PLANTS
Native prairie plants will also be available:
• Anise Hyssop
• Bee balm
• Bellflower
• Big bluestem
• Black eyed Susan
• Blue wild indigo
• Butterfly weed
• Cardinal flower
• Coneflower
• Marsh blazing star
• Milkweed
• Rattlesnake master
• Sunflower
• Wild ginger
• Yarrow
• Zinnia

GROWERS AND VENDORS
Local growers and vendors will be on-hand so you can ask questions about their wonderful plants and merchandise.
• The Millet Seed: Vegetables and herbs grown in an urban garden.
• Echollective Farm: Sign up for a CSA share while perusing herbs and veggies.
• Green Share LLC: Heirloom and organic vegetables, herbs and flowers.
• Beautiful Land Products: Native plants and organic potting mix.
• Plantchanters Garden & Yoga: Herbal care and wellness.
• Willow Sprite: Willow garden art made with love.
• Jon Lorence – Big Grove Basketry: Beautiful baskets.

INFORMATION
Thank you to organizations for providing their excellent information.
• Johnson County Master Gardeners of Iowa: Gardening publications.
• Johnson County Recycling and Compost: Information about compost and composting.
• Good Neighbor Iowa: Declare your pesticide-free landscape.

PAYMENT METHODS
We accept cash, checks and all major credit cards.

THANK YOU
Special thanks to…
• The many volunteers who cultivated plants, coordinated the event, and provided brilliant ideas.
• The Iowa City Parks and Recreation Department for their on-going sponsorship and support.

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Howard A. Learner op ed PC 1 Jan 2020

Community bankers know a good deal: Solar energy

Bankers understand finance, money and good investments. So, when community banks step up to install solar energy panels on their buildings, that’s a strong signal that renewable energy is both good for business and good for the environment.

Solar energy is accelerating in the Midwest as the technology keeps improving, the economics get better and environmental quality benefits are valued.

Decorah Bank & Trust added its first solar panel in 2008 and has installed enough building rooftop and parking canopy solar arrays at its Decorah and Cresco banks to power almost 20 entire Iowa households.

Eight of Peoples Bank’s nine locations are likewise equipped with rooftop solar panels that provide 70% to 90% of the bank’s energy. The Clive, Waukee and Adel sites also have electric vehicle charging stations that are free for their customers and staff. That’s a smart marketing tool to attract customers with electric vehicles to come over to these banks to do business.

Peoples Bank has also invested in battery storage for backup reliability at its Clive bank in the event of an outage. As batteries gets more efficient and costs drop, they’re replacing bulky diesel generators.

Peoples Bank CEO John Rigler II explained: “Battery storage makes so much more sense. There are no moving parts whatsoever, they don’t wear out, they don’t make any noise. It’s good business practice.

It makes financial sense for us.”

Solar energy is most available on hot, sunny days when peak demand occurs as air conditioners’ load is high and commercial electricity rates spike. More businesses are now looking to install solar energy on their buildings both to avoid high utility rates and to advance environmental values.

Decorah Bank & Trust has designed loan programs that often cover 100% of small-business, residential and farm renewable energy projects.

The grants and tax credits available for Iowans installing solar support loan repayments, making this another example of how doing good can be good business.

“The climate crisis forces you to take some action and seize opportunities,” said Decorah Bank & Trust President and CEO Ben Grimstad. “In the case of the bank, the opportunity is to encourage people to develop renewable energy — and we’ll loan you the money to do it.”

These aren’t the only Iowa community banks helping grow renewable energy, as South Story Bank and Trust in Huxley and Iowa State Bank and Trust in Fairfield can attest.

These community bankers are savvy and sensible. They’re investing in solar energy generation that’s good for their banks’ bottom line, good for the environment and good for the community.

Leave it to bankers to recognize the economic benefits and customer service

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Climate striker Massimo Paciotto-Biggers is the Press-Citizen’s person of the year

Government leaders across the globe are reckoning with the climate crisis, and because of the efforts of a band of teenagers, so are leaders in Iowa City.

Taking a cue from international teenager climate activist Greta Thunberg, the Climate Strikers have held Friday strikes for months. Many of the protesters can’t drive yet, but, together with the help of community allies and parents who can drive them to protests, they have pressured local school administrators and politicians to do more to address our local carbon footprint.

Along the way, they enlisted the help of 16-year-old Thunberg, fresh off her scathing condemnation of world leaders at the United Nations.

The strikes have ranged in attendance, from one to thousands, but the common denominator has been City High student Massimo Paciotto-Biggers, 14.

Inspired by Thunberg, Paciotto-Biggers started the strikes with the help of friends last spring and is the Press-Citizen’s person of the year. Through the year, the teenager has worked with peers and community partners to apply a steady pressure on elected officials

“We kind of realized adults need to step up, and start acting, not talking,” Paciotto-Biggers said. “That still is our biggest demand. We need to start acting.”

The strikes might be expected in Iowa City, which has historically seen massive student walkouts, including walkouts after the mass shooting in Parkland, Florida, and walkouts after the election of President Donald Trump.

Climate activism is also familiar in Paciotto-Biggers’ family. The teen’s dad, Jeff Biggers, is an author and climate activist, who around the time the protests started, penned a column calling for Mayor Jim Throgmorton to bolster the city’s climate goals or resign.

The climate strikes have seen results, though protesters have not gotten everything they asked for.

The strikes started with a handful of students walking out of classes to downtown Iowa City in April of 2019, but soon moved to the hill outside the ICCSD administration building. The group demanded solar panels at every campus and that environmental sustainability lessons are built into the curriculum.

At Iowa City school board meetings, they stressed state and international indicators of climate change: Flooding in Iowa, news of worsening heatwaves, a UN report of unprecedented extinctions and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s reports of carbon dioxide levels reaching an 800,000-year high.

Paciotto-Biggers told board members he was frustrated administrators did not meet with students on the hill, despite media coverage and declarations of climate emergencies across the nation.

“You have three choices tonight: You can do nothing and dismiss us as if we don’t matter, you can do something symbolic that doesn’t really amount to much,” said a nervous Paciotto-Biggers at a May school board meeting, nine weeks into the weekly protests. “Or you can make a climate resolution that really means something, that is something that will last.”

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Lynn Gallagher is honored as a “Salvos Salutes”

Congratulations to our member Lynn Gallagher for being chosen as one of Rod Sullivan’s annual “Salvos Salutes”

From Rod’s Salvos newsletter: “Activists, regardless of the topic about which they are passionate, should follow the lead of Lynn Gallagher of rural Solon. Lynn is a vegan, and staunchly opposes any mistreatment of animals. To Lynn, this includes farming animals for meat and milk. Lynn’s activism is often met with anger and bullying, but she is undeterred. I don’t know any activists who are better prepared and have studied the issues more carefully. Just as importantly, Lynn always follows every rule to a T, and is unfailingly polite.”

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Recycle the unrecyclables

We will be collecting 4 groups of items. Bring items to meeting or give to someone who is going or contact 100Granniesiowacity@gmail.com. attn: Charlene L.  Depending on the product we will be earning rewards or going towards planting trees. All will save items from landfill and will be made into other products. Check out the web sites listed for more info.

What you need to save:

  1.  Any brand of  Toothpaste tubes and caps, toothbrushes, toothbrush outer packaging, and floss containers. Any brand. Please note: Electric toothbrushes, battery toothbrushes, and/or their parts are not recyclable through the program. https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/colgate
  2. Specific Snack bags from Sensible Portions® brand and the rest of the Hain snacking family

to recycle this waste stream properly, please make sure all excess product has been removed (i.e. leftover chips). Additionally, if you choose to rinse your product, please note that it must be completely dry prior to shipping. You cannot ship dripping packages. Learn more about Hain Snacks

Hain Snacks offer a variety of better-for-you snacks so that you never have to compromise on great taste. Check out Sensible Portions, TERRA Chips, and Garden of Eatin’ for full product information.

  1. Late July   specific product        Recycle all Late July® Snacks packaging through this program. https://www.terracycle.com/en-US/brigades/latejulysnacks
  1. Any Energy bar wrappers   Energy Bar Wrapper Recycling Program: Clif Bar® and others

In order to recycle this waste stream properly, please make sure all excess product has been removed (i.e. large crumbs). Additionally, if you choose to rinse your product, please note that it must be completely dry prior to shipping. You cannot ship dripping packages.

 

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Earth Fest

Saturday, April 25th from 3:00-6:00 p.m. at the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center in downtown Iowa City. Various Committees may be tabling and need help. More details to come when closer to event.

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Recommended Books

Electrify. An Optimist’s Playbook for Our Clean Energy Future by Saul Griffith. In Electrify, Griffith lays out a detailed blueprint—optimistic but feasible—for fighting climate change while creating millions of new jobs and a healthier environment. Griffith’s plan can be summed up simply: electrify everything. He explains exactly what it would take to transform our infrastructure, update our grid, and adapt our households to make this possible.

Drawdown. The Most Comprehensive Plan Ever Proposed to Reverse Global Warming by Paul Hawken. This book presents the 100 most substantive solutions to reverse global warming, based on meticulous research by leading scientists and policymakers around the world.

Regeneration. Ending the Climate Crisis in One Generation by Paul Hawken. This book is a follow-up to the previous-listed book – Drawdown. It presents a practical approach to climate change that weaves justice, climate, biodiversity, equity, and human dignity into a tapestry of action, policy, and transformation to end the climate crisis.

This Changes Everything. Capitalism vs the Climate by Naomi Klein. “There is still time to avoid catastrophic warming,” Kleine contends, “but not within the rules of capitalism as they are currently constructed. Which is surely the best argument there has ever been for changing those rules.”  A New York Times review is linked here.

The Great Transition. Animal Agriculture Cannot be Sustained on the Planet by Lester Brown. Twenty years ago, with The End of Nature, Bill McKibben offered one of the earliest warnings about global warming. Those warnings went mostly unheeded; now, he insists, we need to acknowledge that we’ve waited too long, and that massive change is not only unavoidable but already under way.

Eaarth: Making a Life on a Tough New Planet by Bill McKibben opens our eyes to the kind of change we’ll need in order to make our civilization endure.

Carbon Dharma: The Occupation of Butterflies by Sailesh Rao. Using the metaphor of metamorphosis, Carbon Dharma calls for our occupation of the Earth as Butterflies, to undo the damage done by the human species in its present Caterpillar stage of existence.

Madlands: A Journey to Change the Mind of a Climate Sceptic by Anna Rose. An idealistic 20-something environmentalist versus a retired right-wing finance minister: this is the story of Anna Rose’s whirlwind journey around the world with climate skeptic Nick Minchin.

Storms of My Grandchildren: The Truth about the Coming Climate Catastrophe and Our Last Chance to Save Humanity by James Hansen – a devastating but all-too-realistic picture of what will happen in the near future, mere years from now, if we follow the course we’re on.

The Climate Crisis: An Introductory Guide to Climate Change by David Archer – a concise and accessible overview of what we know about ongoing climate change and its impacts, and what we can do to confront the climate crisis.

Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming by Naomi Oreskes – a well-documented, pulls-no-punches account of how science works and how political motives can hijack the process by which scientific information is disseminated to the public.

EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think, to Create the World We Want by Frances Moore Lappe argues that the biggest challenge to human survival isn’t our fossil fuel dependency, melting glaciers, or other calamities. Rather, it’s our faulty way of thinking about these environmental crises that robs us of power.

Reinventing Fire: Bold Business Solutions for the New Energy Era by Amory Lovins, Marvin Odum and John W. Rowe. How business — motivated by profit, supported by civil society, sped by smart policy — can get the US completely off oil and coal by 2050, and later off natural gas as well.

Plan B 4.0 : Mobilizing to Save Civilization (revised 2009 edition) by Lester Brown explores transitioning to a new energy economy and how this will affect our lives.

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21 Dec 2019 Peter Rolnick PC op ed

21 Dec 2019 Peter Rolnick op ed for Carbon Fee & Dividend

Tools for climate change are within reach

I just got a new toy; it is a climate simulator. You decide how much you want to limit coal use, price carbon, plant trees, whatever, and it tells you how far above pre-industrial values the average global temperature will be in 2100. (We’re already at 1° C.) With everything set on “status quo” the average temperature in 2100 will be 4.1° C above pre-industrial values. Turns out that’s way too high.

The UN International Panel on Climate Change, based on the research of hundreds of climate scientists around the world, says if we go more than 1.5° C above pre-industrial levels we will face irreversible catastrophic changes. How can a few degrees make such a difference?

I remind you this is average temperature. As you know if you’ve visited Florida in July or Minnesota in January, actual temperatures go way above and below the average. If the average goes up, then that high temperature in Florida in July will go up. This is already happening: In 2018 65 people died in a heat wave in Pakistan, and that same summer there was an extreme heat wave all across Europe. The more frequent and more deadly fires we have been seeing on the west coast of the US and Canada are another consequence of that 1.0° C increase we are already experiencing. The IPCC says there will be significantly more deaths from extreme heat, extreme fire events and sea level rise at 2.0° C compared to 1.5° C.

If you want an easy one to remember: At 1.5° C many coral reefs harmed, while at 2.0° C all coral reefs destroyed. (If you don’t care about coral reefs, or California, or Pakistan, how about this: severe reduction in crop yields, more frequent severe floods on the Mississippi and Missouri.) And business as usual, leading to an increase of 4.1° C, would be a disaster beyond comprehension. You get the idea. Now back to the climate simulator.

I need to somehow bring that 4.1° C above pre-industrial values by 2100 down to 1.5° C. Assuming I get to make just one choice, here’s what I found. Reduce all coal use: reduced to 3.5° C; highly subsidize nuclear: 3.8° C; increase car and truck efficiency 5% per year; 3.8° C, aggressively restore/plant forests: 3.7° C; put an increasing price on carbon similar to the Energy Innovation Act, currently in the House of Representatives: 3.0° C.

Lesson number 1: There is no silver bullet. Lesson number 2: Pricing carbon is significantly more effective in reducing emissions than any single targeted approach. I’m not saying we shouldn’t reduce coal use, increase car efficiency or restore forests. What I’m saying is that the first thing we must do is put a price on carbon. Why is that so effective? Well, notice that a price on carbon will, by itself, reduce coal use and increase car efficiency without additional regulation.

Look at it this way. Doing the “right” thing

(putting solar panels on your house, composting kitchen waste, adding insulation, riding the bus) is difficult, either because you can’t afford it or simply because it is a pain in the neck; it feels like trying to swim upstream. But a price on carbon reverses the direction of the stream so that now doing the “right” thing is swimming downstream.

There’s another very important point. Reduce all coal use immediately? Where are you going to get the power to replace those coal plants? Engage in massive reforesting? Where are you going to get the money to pay for all that? But a price on carbon like the Energy Innovation Act, which is revenue-neutral, will cost…nothing! The most effective tool in the tool box is also the lowest hanging fruit.

If what I’m saying makes sense, please write or call Senators Ernst and Grassley and Representatives Loebsack and Finkenhauer and urge them to pass the Energy Innovation Act …soon!

Peter Rolnick is a member of Iowa City Climate Advocates, a retired physicist and a local musician.

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University of Iowa signs utilities agreement, climate strikers want more 10 Dec 2019

University of Iowa signs utilities agreement, climate strikers want more  10 Dec 2019

by Shannon Moudy

The University of Iowa enters a 50-year partnership with Engie and Meridiam to operate their utilities. Engie says it will work to end coal burning at the university by 2025 or sooner.

The Board of Regents, State of Iowa is approving a one-billion dollar public-private partnership between the University of Iowa utility system and ENGIE North America and Meridiam.

Under the agreement, ENGIE and Meridiam will pay $1.165 billion to the University of Iowa for a 50-year operating agreement for its utility system. Most of the upfront payment will be put into an endowment. This endowment is projected to make $15 million a year which the university says will help with “predictable, sustainable funding necessary for the UI to carry out its strategic plan.”

That plan includes “economic development and engagement, diversity, equity, inclusion. The things that make the university of Iowa successful,” according to UI VP of finance and operations Rod Lehnertz.

The university will still own the utility system and all operations will return to the university after the 50-year deal. There will be no university staff positions cut under the agreement, says a Board of Regents press release.

“They will operate it, we’ll pay them a service fee,” says Lehnertz.

Lehnertz says the Board of Regents and even Governor Kim Reynolds have applauded the move.

In that release, Board of Regents President Dr. Michael Richards says the agreement is an excellent step forward for the University of Iowa.

We must continue to be creative in leveraging our assets to find ways to provide the funding that Iowa’s public universities need to be their best.

The university will pay ENGIE and Meridiam a $35 million annual fee in the first five years of the deal, with the fee increasing by 1.5 percent annually after five years. The UI says it will use $166 million of the lump sum to pay off existing utility bonds and consulting fees.

The University of Iowa has come under major scrutiny from climate activists, who say the university’s sustainability goals are outdated and take issue with the burning of coal at the university’s power plant.

In October, the student-led IC Climate Strikers held a large rally, featuring Swedish activist Greta Thunberg. The crowd called on UI President Herrald to join a Town-Gown Climate Accord and move up plans to end coal burning.

“We recognize that there is a climate emergency,” Lehnertz says, reiterating what UI President Bruce Herrald said earlier this week.

“We’re glad they’ve finally acknowledged there is a climate crisis and they’re going to take steps to try to mitigate their effect,” IC Climate Striker and University of Iowa student Maddie Patterson says.

The sophomore says the climate strikers feel like months of protests and pressure against the university is finally paying off.

The Board of Regents says ENGIE and Meridiam will adopt the UI’s existing goal of operating coal-free by 2025 or sooner and continue campus-wide sustainability efforts. Lehnertz says their new partners have taken a look at their resources and people and believe that deadline can be moved to 2023.

Engie says it will also explore new sources of sustainable energy, including renewable energy, microgrids, energy storage, and other innovative technologies.

The IC Climate Strikers reacted to Tuesday’s news on Twitter, saying more still needs to be done.

“I think our big concern now is going to be if the University of Iowa is going to work with the climate strikers and the city of Iowa City,” Patterson says.

She adds the strikes aren’t over.

“Until we can get the university to agree to that town-gown accord,” she says.

And it’s not just the university itself. Patterson says she’s the only UI student striker and she wants to see her peers effort the next big change in their school’s sustainability plans.

“If we don’t pressure them as a student body, there’s no way they’re going to keep moving forward,” she says.

The university provided a timeline of how this agreement was reached, stating they requested feedback from faculty, staff, and students before putting out requests for qualifications. They say the selection was made after a “rigorous 10-month competitive bidding process.”

They also list several information sessions held in March, May, and September.

The university has an information session planned for December 12 on the west side of campus. That session will take place from 2 to 2:30 pm in the Urmila Sahai Conference Room (room 2117) in the Medical Education Research Facility.

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Living Soil

  • 17 Jan 2020, Living Soil, documentary, will be shown at Prairie Hill Cohousing on  at 6:00 pm in the Common House.  The address is 140 Prairie Hill Lane. This film is showcasing innovative farmers who enrich their soils to enhance life on earth. The event is free and is part of the Prairie Hill’s mission to share the importance of living sustainably.
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