Deb S. and Becky R. gave a program for ARC on Monday, Feb 27th for a group of disabled young people. They showed them a short Granny PowerPoint and then talked about what each of them can do to eliminate some wasteful plastic items from their lives. Deb and Becky gave each participant a reusable Granny bag and did a “sorting” activity – what items are trash, recyclable, and compostable.
2023 Barbara Schlachter Memorial Lecture Series is a partnership between 100 Grannies for a Livable Future and the Senior Center. Iowa City ranks as one of the 95 cities worldwide with an A rating. Meet some of the leaders who helped us achieve the only city in Iowa which is a leader in environmental action and transparency. What priorities do you care about and what can you do to support these efforts?
Monday, March 6
Jerald Schnoor, is a Professor in the Departments of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Occupational and Environmental Health, and Co-Director of the Center for Global and Regional Environmental Research (CGRER) at the University of Iowa. Jerry will be discussing the provisions available in the Inflation Reduction Act 2022 as well as Climate Resilience where we are going, what we should expect, and what we can do about it.
Monday, March 13
Jane Wilch, the City of Iowa City’s Recycling Coordinator, will provide a recycling and composting update, common contamination issues (wishful recycling) and programming to come. Where is support needed? Why batteries need to go to drop-off locations. Why Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Refuse.
Monday, March 20
Sarah Gardner, Climate Action Engagement Specialist, will speak the new guidance for local rebates and how to prioritize what to do now vs. later to improve energy efficiency in your home based on what’s coming with IRA incentives such as insulation now, buying a heat pump when your AC goes out. As consumers we can see how this pairs with rebates for ourselves, family members and friends living in their own homes.
Monday, March 27
Stratis Giannakouros and his team the U of I Office of Sustainability and the Environment are partners with faculty, students, and staff through many disciplines throughout the college and across campus. Their mission is to educate, challenge and inspire the greater U of I community to realize solutions exist to end climate change by what can be done on a local level. (2:00-2:50)
Jessica Wiskus lives in rural Lisbon, where she’s worked with her neighbors to oppose the CO2 pipeline since it was proposed in the fall of 2021. In the struggle to stand firm and strong, neighbors against the proposed CO2 pipelines have been reaching across the state in a demonstration of extraordinary trust and support. But after over a year-and-a-half of working together, where do things stand now? What strategies are various stakeholders pursuing as they try to bring the projects to a halt? What do the landowners say that they need right now and what can we do to be most effective in our efforts? (3:00-3:30)
The Green Sanctuary Team of the Unitarian Universalist Society will be showing the documentary Youth V. Gov. on Friday evening, September 16th at 6:00 in the evening, 2355 Oakdale Road, Coralville, IA .
The event is open to the public – there is no charge to attend. Miriam knows Kelsey Juliana from the Great Climate March. The Supreme Court Case is named for her. Juliana v gov
Directed by filmmaker and scientist Christi Cooper, YOUTH v. GOV is the story of America’s youth taking on the world’s most powerful government. In 2015, twenty one young plaintiffs, ages 8 to 19, filed the lawsuit Juliana vs. United States, asserting a willful violation of their constitutional rights in creating our climate crisis. If they’re successful, they’ll not only make history, they’ll change the future. You may view the trailer at https://www.youtube.com/watch?
The Christenson’s letter:
Dear City Councilors:
We have learned that you as a member of the Iowa City Council may be considering expanding opportunities for solar energy for your constituents. We lived in Iowa City for more than 10 years and several times looked into the possibility of installing solar panels at our property in the Longfellow neighborhood. Because of the proximity of neighbor residences and mature trees, solar was never a viable option. We are now in a senior residence in Coralville, but our son and his wife own our previous home. They would welcome the opportunity to join a ‘community solar’ project as would a number of their neighbors with whom we have spoken.
As widely reported on the Internet, the advantages of community solar include
We ask you to please look favorably on this opportunity to move Iowa City to a more sustainable position and to be a model for other Iowa communities.
Thursdays, October 6-27, 1:00-2:00 pm,
Room 302 at the Senior Center (just off the ramp)
This fall the 100 Grannies continue their annual environmental film series. Enlightening documentaries, followed by short group discussions. Films include:
October 6: Plastic Planet (2010)
October 13: Tomorrow (2015)
October 20: Straws (2017)
October 27: Bag It (2010)
The elephant in the room is destroying family farms, rural communities and our democracy | Opinion
The elephant in the room is destroying family farms, rural communities and our democracy
I love farming and have been doing it all my life, but I told my kids not to come back to the farm, because there’s no future in it. That’s the sad truth.
Over the last year on Capitol Hill, there have been multiple hearings and bills and even an executive order to address what is going on out here in rural America, but little to nothing is getting done. For the last three decades, roughly 40 U.S. family cattle operations have gone out of business every day. It’s time to end the talk and campaigning and actually fix the problem.
I’m 66 and a 4th generation cattle and grain farmer from southwest Missouri. Even though it’s sometimes difficult and dangerous work, I’ve always loved raising cattle and crops and making the land better for the next generation — and better for my kids and grandkids to come back to.
But, things have changed, and not for the better. They aren’t changing because of inevitability or technological efficiency. There’s a very large “elephant in the room” that’s making it worse for all of us.
The predominant system of agriculture I am working in now has been intentionally set up against me and current and future farming generations. Today’s corporate controlled system is bad for farmers, bad for consumers, bad for rural and urban communities and economies, bad for our environment and our climate, and bad for democracy.
We are in this position because the rules (laws, policies and regulations) have been written, and lobbied and paid for by corporate special interests. We are in this position because of corporate-written, bad Farm Bills and bad trade agreements (the main drivers of our farm and food system).
We are here because many of our elected “representatives” don’t really represent us, their constituents or the vast majority of Americans. We’re here because we have a democratic process controlled by that “elephant in the room”–billion dollar multinational corporations.
A food system controlled by us, farmers and consumers, would not be putting multinational corporate profits over people, the environment and our national security.
They are planning and implementing our demise. It’s their business model. Without competition, they can push everyone else out of the market, then they win and take all the wealth (and land).
Some of the results: In 30 years, the U.S. has 25% fewer cattle farmers and Missouri has 27% fewer. In 30 years, nearly 90% of U.S. hog farmers were put out of business. And, the average age of a farmer is nearing 60 years old.
We’re importing billions of pounds of beef from around the world, and consumers are paying record high prices, while cattle farmers struggle. In 2021, the U.S. imported 3.35 billion pounds (with a “b”) of beef and 1.8 million live cattle.
Here are a few glaring results of corporate agriculture’s stranglehold on farmers, consumers, our food system, economies and democratic process: In 2021, JBS’s (a Brazilian corporation and the world’s biggest meatpacker) net revenue was $71 billion and their U.S. beef division reported a net revenue of $27.18 billion; Tyson had a net profit of $3.05 billion, up $1 billion from 2020; Cargill reported its biggest profit in its 156-year history, netting almost $5 billion; the WH Group, the Chinese corporation that owns Smithfield Foods, reported $27.29 billion in revenue, up 6.7%.
The fact is, during these challenging and unprecedented times, the few corporations that control our food system are raking in record profits. Consumers are paying record high prices, inflation is raging, family farmers are struggling to stay in business, and our economies (urban and rural) are becoming more and more impoverished.
What can we do? We need to demand that our elected representatives and our democracy represent us and not corporate special interests.
Within our food system, we need to demand laws that: decentralize control of our food, curb the undue economic and political power of multinational agribusiness corporations that aim to replace independent family farms with industrial factory farms, strengthen and enforce antitrust laws, stop public taxpayer dollars from funding corporate factory farms, restore supply management programs, grain reserves and price floors set at the cost of production, and ban meatpacker ownership of livestock and their use of “captive supplies.”
A food system controlled by us, farmers and consumers, would not be putting multinational corporate profits over people, the environment and our national security. We’d be able to respond and help when things get hard, instead of seeing pandemics and war as opportunities for corporations to get rich.
We can and must do better — for farmers, rural communities, consumers and our country.
A food system controlled by us, farmers and consumers, would not be putting multinational corporate profits over people, the environment and our national security (Photo by Perry Beeman/Iowa Capital Dispatch).
By K Palmer
Oven temperature: 425
9 x 13 greased pan, (I prefer glass)
Crust of your choice (We prefer vegan whole wheat made from scratch)
1 large onion chopped
½ pound sliced cremini (baby bells) mushrooms
4 cups chopped green veggies: 3 cups of cabbage + 1 cup your choice or all cabbage
3 large carrots
3-4 cups red potatoes washed, not peeled, sliced small/medium chunks
1/2 cup frozen peas
¼ cup pimentos (optional) or chop up some red bell pepper
¼ cup oil or Earth Balance
3 cups vegetable broth + ¾ cup nondairy milk (almond or soy)
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt and pepper (to taste and depends on how salty your broth is)
½ tsp sage, marjoram, thyme, and poultry seasoning
Mix seasonings and then Divide the seasonings in half and split
Toss all the Veggies except the onions & mushrooms into the 9×13 greased pan.
Mix in ½ of all the season with the veggies lightly coated with oil. Save the other half of the seasonings for the gravy.
Heat oven to 425 and use the lowest rack to cook the veggies until tender (about 10-12 minutes, stir and then 5-10 more minutes or so)
While the veggies are cooking, heat ¼ cup oil of choice or Earth Balance in a very large fry pan. Sautee the onions and mushrooms with the rest of the herb mix until lightly tender (a few minutes.)
Thoroughly mix the soy milk, broth and flour together and then, while the pan is very hot, add mixture all at once (I know – that is not what your mother taught you….) and continue to stir with onions/mushrooms until it comes to a simmer and thickens. Taste it and add more seasoning to your taste (I usually add about 1 more tsp pepper if you like a peppery flavor).
Pour the gravy over the lightly cooked veggies in the 9×13 and then put your crust on top-
Easy-Peasy! Don’t fret over the crust –flat, circles, whatever.
Bake for 20-30 minutes at 425 on center rack until the crust is brown and it’s all piping -hot! Enjoy!
Serves 4
1 cup raw cashews
2 Tblsp raw pine nuts
1 ½ cups water
4 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp minced garlic
1/16 tsp ground nutmeg
1 ½ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
4 cups cooked fettuccine
3 Tblsp minced parsley
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