Author Archives: Ed Fallon

An Immodest Proposal

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Consider the benefit of turning Iowa into one giant field! Nothing between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers — and nothing between the states of Missouri and Minnesota — but corn and beans!

The practical steps to accomplishing this might seem large. But since we’re already well on our way, a little bold thinking reveals a pathway.

First (as our pioneer forefathers and foremothers had to do), we must “clear the land.” Thankfully, this doesn’t require killing or displacing any Indigenous populations. Some native Iowans will have to move, but more on that later. Continue Reading →

Earth Day, 2014: A Mediterranean meal in a Quonset hut

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On April 22, Earth Day, we arrive at the home of Mark Boyko and Karen Abbott near Concho. They graciously offer us a two-day break from wilderness camping. Like many people in eastern Arizona they live off the grid, their home powered entirely by solar and wind energy. We find ample space to pitch our tents, yet due to the howling wind and cold temperatures, Mark and Karen let marchers sleep in their spacious Quonset hut. They also invite us to use their shower.

Lala prepares the best meal of the March: a multi-course, Mediterranean-style dinner featuring ratatouille, baba ganoush, tabouleh, falafel, and hummus. Continue Reading →

Stop spraying mosquitoes

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SKEETERS (2-minute mark). Check with your city and/or county officials to find out if they provide an opt-out to spraying. Better yet, encourage them to pursue other options. To be clear, we SHOULD take action to control mosquito populations when they pose a genuine threat in residential areas. We can do that by removing standing water, putting up bat or purple martin houses, covering exposed skin, and applying eco-friendly bug spray.

URANIUM (25-minute mark). There’s one active uranium mill in the US, and it’s located next to the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe where it poses a major threat to the community’s health, water, land, and heritage sites. I recently learned of the problem from a friend who gave me the November, 2021 issue of High Country News. As is typical with incidents of environmental injustice, public officials have been mostly unresponsive to concerns raised by the Ute people.

MY WINTER IN NOVA SCOTIA (36-minute mark). In my early twenties, I spent a winter in the wilds of Cape Breton Island, Nova Scotia, living alone in a house on the edge of the highlands with no bathroom, running water, or electricity. My lone heat source was a wood stove. A giant sled dog and psychotic horse were my primary companions. Everything about the experience was fantastic — until someone burned down the outhouse. Continue Reading →

Don’t Get Fooled Again

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Y’all know the song, “Won’t Get Fooled Again,” by The Who? Any time Big Oil reps flap their yappers, that song should be playing in our heads.

Big Oil. The industry Rachel Maddow calls “the richest, most destructive industry on Earth.” The industry that, thanks to Exxon Mobile, made Russia the deadly oil-and-gas powerhouse it is today. The industry that lied to us repeatedly about the Dakota Access Pipeline.

Make no mistake: The primary force behind this mad rush to build 60,000 miles of CO2 pipeline is Big Oil (specifically Continental Resources, Valero, Black Rock, Wolf). Consistent with its past track record, Big Oil is lying about CO2 pipelines. Continue Reading →

Walking across the Mojave Desert

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I talk with Tim Takaro, a professor and researcher who spent months sitting in a tree to block construction of an oil pipeline across British Columbia, Canada.

Then at the 20-minute mark, Iowa Senator Brad Zaun (R-Urbandale) joins me to discuss CO2 pipelines, eminent domain, climate change, education, the US Supreme Court nomination circus, and (for the heck of it) Chris Rock vs. Will Smith.

Finally, at the 46-minute mark, Kathy and I address the frightening specter of a grain shortage and increased global hunger, given the continued war in Ukraine. Continue Reading →

Reimagining St. Patrick’s Day

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Instead of glorifying drunkenness, let’s celebrate Ireland’s vast wealth of writers, poets, musicians, and warriors.

Let’s celebrate a people who won independence after 800 years of oppression under the heel of British imperialism.

Let’s celebrate a people who survived despite England’s attempt at genocide (known in sanitized history books as “The Great Famine,” because everything Great Britain did back then had to somehow be associated with greatness). Continue Reading →

Stopping Putin through climate action

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In a March 7 RNS column, McKibben writes, “If you want to stand with the brave people of Ukraine, you need to find a way to stand against oil and gas.

As I and others have been saying for years, a quick shift from oil and gas to renewables (and most importantly, conservation!) can and must happen quickly. The US response to Hitler proves that, when we want to, we can rapidly and radically shift our economy.

As McKibben points out, “In 1941, in Ypsilanti, the world’s largest industrial plant went up in six month’s time, and soon it was churning out a B-24 bomber every hour. A bomber is a complicated machine with more than a million parts; a wind turbine is, by contrast, relatively simple. … Do we think that it’s beyond us to quickly produce the solar panels and the batteries required to end our dependence on fossil fuel?” Continue Reading →

If Iowa Democrats lose in November, blame this

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Why do I think Democrats are headed for another train wreck? Let me take you back to 2006, when I ran for governor. Rural Iowans of all political stripes were fed up with Republicans’ unwillingness to fix the Confined Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO) problem. That issue was a key factor in Democrats winning the governor’s office that year and taking control of the Iowa House and Senate.

With a new party in charge, Iowans expected results. Voters gave Democrats four years to fix the CAFO problem. Democrats failed — miserably, in fact, arguably making the problem worse.

Today, the political landscape in Iowa is much the same. Republicans refuse to help rural Iowans threatened by 2,000 miles (yes, 2,000!) of CO2 pipelines. Once again, they’ve handed Democrats a winning issue.

And what does the leadership of the Iowa Democratic Party do? So far, it has refused to take a stand against this property-rights-trampling, public-health-menacing, faux-climate-solution greenwashing scheme. Continue Reading →