Beyond Earth Day: It's Time for Iowa to Face the Music
Cityview – Des Moines
By Carolyn Szczepanski
When the first Earth Day erupted,
rivers were burning and citizens were suffocating in a country infected
with oppressive pollution. On April 22, 1970, a massive protest
descended on the nation's capitol, with 20 million Americans around the
country demanding the government do something to turn back the tide of
rampant environmental destruction. A grassroots uprising years in the
making, the inaugural Earth Day was heralded as a pivotal advance for
the fledgling environmental movement and a key factor in motivating
apathetic politicians to finally enact fundamental environmental
protections, including the Clean Air and Clean Water acts.
But,
like a fiery teen whose convictions have been compromised by middle
age, Earth Day has gone soft. Now, the impassioned protests have been
replaced by sugar-coated, tie dye carnivals sponsored by the latest
company seeking to boost sales by green washing its corporate image.
The urgent fervor has dissolved into G-rated gatherings, marked, not by
collective demands for action, but hollow slogans and absentminded
petition signing. Like Valentine's Day, the previously political event
has been corrupted by consumerism and cliches, and, just as cupid has
become a bearer of empty sentiment, in many ways Earth Day undermines
the urgency of serious environmental problems by making everyone feel
they're saving the environment if they simply recycle their pop
bottles.
So,
in the face of the shiny-happy holiday, consider this your reality
check. In an effort to rescue a moment of reflection from the 35th
anniversary of the memorable protest, we set out to determine just how
complicit Iowans are in the global assault on Mother Earth, asking the
academics, activists and agency officials leading their respective
fields “where do we stand?” And, although the issues are complex,
it is abundantly clear that the state of Iowa could stand to take far
better care of its often-abused or entirely neglected natural resources.
Even
in the areas in which Iowa is clearly excelling – recycling and
renewable energy, for instance – it's generally no thanks to the
state's policymakers. While other states, even in the
agriculture-saturated Midwest, are making strides in reigning in
environmental threats, Iowa lets animal producers run hog wild,
condones regulators that blatantly flaunt federal clean water rules,
robs environmental funding sources with impunity and apathetically
allows the very concept of natural habitat to teeter on the brink of
extinction. So, by all means, strike up the jam band. But, when it
comes to the decline of Iowa's natural resources, it's time to face the
music.
(click here to read the entire article)
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Blog For Iowa 
You are absolutely right, many have gone soft in the belly. But here & there you will find pockets of activists. Like our IECAN (Independent Environmental Conservation & Activism Network) group who spent over a year going to meetings with the NuclearRegulatoryCommission & the owners of the Cordova, IL nuclear plants I & II as the plants were going thru the relicensing phase. Their current licenses do not start to expire until 2011, so they start the relicensing process when they think no one will notice.
Well we noticed & held our own public meetings but never had more than 30 people in an area of over 120,000 inhabitants show up. People just don't care until their lights go out or until there is a disaster at the plant. They are both aging plants over 30 years old with cracks & an onsite storage system suceptable to invasion or natural disaster.
We continue to work on alternative energy education and CONSERVATION, CONSERVATION, CONSERVATION …We are all gluttons, so for our safety and to be better prepared for the real looming energy crisis, folks need to cut back NOW.
To check out varing opinions on many global environmental concerns, read the book “Global Resources: Opposing Viewpoints” by Greenhaven Press 2003…And please, get active! Don't just read. DO.
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