Grannies help Girl Scouts recycle t-shirts into reusable bags

Posted on November 10, 2023 by Marcia Ward

Maggie H, Becky R, and Deb S of 100Grannies led Girl Scout troop 3729 from Grant Wood through an activity to recycle t-shirts into sustainable bags on November 7, 2023.  The girls were immensely proud of their stylish creations.

       

   

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Fall film series draws applause from attendees

Posted on October 16, 2023 by Marcia Ward

The 100Grannies Fall Film Series is underway with showings at the Iowa City Senior Center on Thursdays from 3:00 – 5:00. The series of four films is described here.  The audience has been excited about the films and expressed appreciation for the handouts available and educational information shared at the showings.

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Grannies advocate for electrifying everything in UI homecoming parade

Posted on October 13, 2023 by Marcia Ward

Grannies participated again this year in the University of Iowa Homecoming Parade on October 6, 2023. Their message was to electrify everything to reduce fossil fuel use and climate change.

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100Grannies Team in top 10% in Project Drawdown EcoChallenge

Posted on October 1, 2023 by Marcia Ward

Project Drawdown partnered with EcoChallenge for a month-long event and friendly competition during October. Team members earned points by taking a range of climate actions. Drawdown EcoChallenge is a fun and social way to connect the dots between climate solutions and climate actions to help reverse climate change. 

 

The 100Grannies Team consisted of 23 participants. They selected climate actions to engage in during the month.  Some actions could be done once, some were daily activities for the month. All actions follow the Project Drawdown framework of activities that can help reduce climate change.  Yay for the 100Grannies Team who consistently scored in the top 10% of the 381 international teams participating!

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100Grannies Fall 2023 Film Series

Posted on August 23, 2023 by Marcia Ward

100Grannies announces the 2023 selection for their annual Fall Film Series.  The films will be shown at the Iowa City Senior Center on Thursdays in October from  3:00 – 5:00

2040,  October 5th
Concerned about his young daughter’s future, filmmaker Damon Gameau travels the world in search of new approaches and solutions to climate change. He meets with innovators and changemakers in many fields to draw on their expertise. “2040” points a practical, achievable path toward solutions, but its most important contribution is a sense that change is possible. Roger Ebert

A Plastic Ocean (2020), October 12th                                                                This film documents the global effects of plastic pollution and highlights workable technologies and innovative solutions that everyone – from governments to individuals – can do, to create a cleaner and greener ocean.

Oceans: The Mystery of the Missing Planet, October 19th
99% of the plastic that should be floating in the oceans is missing.  Even accounting for the plastic that washes up on beaches or is trapped in arctic ice, millions of tons has simply disappeared. As most plastic never deteriorates, it simply breaks down into smaller and smaller particles that are invisible to the human eye, what happens to this missing ocean plastic is a mystery. In this investigation, scientists embark in search of the micro-plastics. Small, mostly invisible, toxic, they are home to a new ecosystem: the plastisphere. But where are they? Ingested by organisms? Buried under the ocean floor? Degraded by bacteria? And what is the impact of them entering the food chain?

Living the Change: Inspiring Stories for a Sustainable Future, October 26th
A feature-length documentary that explores solutions to the crises we face today through the inspiring stories of people living in a more sustainable way.

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100Grannies to co-sponsor showing of “Kiss the Ground” documentary film on Sept 19

Posted on August 8, 2023 by Marcia Ward

The new documentary film Kiss the Ground will be shown on Tuesday, Sept. 19, at 7 p.m., in the Iowa City Public Library meeting room A. The sponsors of the film are 100 Grannies, Backyard Abundance, Bur Oak Land Trust, Iowa City Public Library, Johnson County Master Gardeners, League of Woman Voters, and Project GREEN.

“Kiss the Ground is an inspiring and groundbreaking film narrated by and featuring Woody Harrelson. The film reveals the first viable solution to our climate crisis – by regenerating the world’s soils, we can completely and rapidly stabilize the earth’s climate, restore lost ecosystems and create abundant food supplies. Using compelling graphics and visuals, along with striking NASA and NOAA footage, the film artfully illustrates how, by drawing down atmospheric carbon, the soil is the missing piece of the climate puzzle. The movie is positioned to catalyze a movement to accomplish the impossible – to solve humanity’s greatest challenge, to balance the climate and secure our species’ future.”

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100Grannies has written 4 children’s books

Posted on August 5, 2023 by Marcia Ward

100Grannies’ motto, as printed on their green shirts, is Educate, Advocate, and Agitate. We have quite a few former teachers in our membership, so we decided to write children’s books as an educational endeavor.

Our first book was “Granny Green’s Thankful Book”. This book focuses on things that Granny and her granddaughter, Sophie, are thankful for and how to take care of the earth and nature so we will continue to have those things in our lives. This book is aimed at younger school aged children.

Our next book was “Granny Green’s T-shirt Bag”. This book was about recycling. Granny showed Sophie and her friends how to make a t-shirt bag out of an old t-shirt.

The third book, “Granny Green’s Friendly Yard”, talks about why we shouldn’t use pesticides on our yards or gardens.

The latest book is “Granny Green and Friends Visit a Family Farm”. This book is for children in 4th grade and up. Granny and friends learn about a better way to raise animals on a farm.

All four books are available for sale at Prairie Lights bookstore in Iowa City.

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July tabling events included JC Fair and RAGBRAI

Posted on August 2, 2023 by Marcia Ward

Grannies were busy with more tabling opportunities in July 2023.  The Johnson County Fair gave us extra space to showcase multiple trifolds including on reducing single-use plastics, the advantages of recycled paper based toilet papers, and how personal dietary choices affect the climate (left photo below).  The Register’s Annual Great Ride Across Iowa (RAGBRAI) overnight stop in Coralville tabling focused on responsible agriculture and stopping the CO2 pipeline (right photo below).

   

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Grannies participate in community summer parades

Posted on July 25, 2023 by Marcia Ward

Along with numerous tabling events, Grannies have also been active joining community parades this summer to educate about climate change and the CO2 pipeline.  These included the July 22 Beef Days parade in Solon and the 4th of July parade in Coralville .

 

 

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Iowa CCI is coordinating a Clean Water Book Club

Posted on July 16, 2023 by Marcia Ward

Iowa Citizens for Community Improvement (CCI) is coordinating their first-time ever Clean Water Book Club and Pat Bowen of 100Grannies is offering to host a local discussion.

The book club will be discussing Water by Jennifer Wilson in August and The Swine Republic by Chris Jones in September.

The first book is a fiction book written by an award-winning Des Moines-based writer Jennifer Wilson.  The book is “an incredible introduction to Iowa’s water quality issues — packaged in a ‘sexy thriller’ that is hard to put down”.

Join a discussion group by using this link. At the link you have the option to sign up for a discussion group, order a copy of the book, or read the book by yourself and join a group call at the end of August.

The September book is The Swine Republic by Chris Jones. Dr. Jones “takes a long hard look at the science, politics, culture, and economics of Iowa agriculture and the state’s degraded waters and connects the dots”. Grannies who attended the May meeting were treated to a presentation by the author and many grannies have already begun reading the book.

Pat Bowen of 100Grannies has offered to host a book club discussion of Water in August and The Swine Republic in September.  She can be contacted at legislative100grannies@gmail.com

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