Tag Archives: sustainability

CCS Push Back And Climate Change

Posted on December 1, 2021 by Paul Deaton

When we took the land after the 1832 Black Hawk Purchase, it was decimated to make neatly cut rectangles of farmland. People are used to that now. Today Iowa farmland is used mostly as a production landscape for hogs, cattle, … Continue reading →

Posted in Environment | Tagged , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Toward Sustainable Pandemic Recovery

Posted on July 13, 2020 by Paul Deaton

The climate crisis continues in the coronavirus pandemic. The pandemic with its economic downturn threatens years of progress addressing climate change and sustainability. It’s now or never for the environment. Governments are expected to spend trillions of dollars in stimulus … Continue reading →

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What’s Wrong With Our Food System?

Posted on July 24, 2019 by Paul Deaton

There is a strong argument nothing is wrong with our food system. There is a strong argument everything is wrong with our food system. To talk about a “food system” at all presumes a lot that may or may not … Continue reading →

Posted in Local Food | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Nuclear Abolition in Trump World

Posted on January 2, 2019 by Paul Deaton

Elimination of nuclear weapons remains a priority for many of us who followed disarmament progress through the years. Our work hasn’t ended. What should be our priorities in Trump World? To a large extent, society answered that question in the … Continue reading →

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Act On Climate

Posted on November 26, 2018 by Paul Deaton

Every few years, interest in climate change spikes, according to internet search frequency reported by Google Trends. When the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change released their special report on the impacts of global warming of 1.5º C above pre-industrial levels … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate Action, Climate Change, Environment | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

A Difficult And Strange Season Of Weather

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Paul Deaton

By Carmen Black (Editor’s Note: Iowa Farmers deal with an existential reality that is the weather. Regardless of increasingly polarized discussions about climate change, weather affects real people in tangible ways. Carmen recently wrote this piece to members of her … Continue reading →

Posted in Farming, Local Food | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

There Is A Family Dairy Farm Crisis

Posted on April 25, 2018 by Paul Deaton

Things are bad when the coop sends the suicide hotline number with the milk payment. Milk prices are currently about $15 per hundred weight while cost of production at family farms is more than $22 per hundred weight. Like so … Continue reading →

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Grit Alone Won’t Protect Local Food Systems

Posted on October 5, 2017 by Paul Deaton

The marketplace of home vegetable gardens, community supported agriculture, farmers markets, road side vegetable stands, restaurants, retail interests and direct farm sales hasn’t coalesced into a sustainable local food system, and may not. One should never doubt the resilience of … Continue reading →

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Social Security Runs Out! (In 2034)

Posted on July 18, 2017 by Paul Deaton

Last Thursday the board of trustees overseeing Social Security released its 2018 projection. 61 million beneficiaries — retirees, disabled workers, spouses and surviving children — will get an increase in monthly benefits. The forecast increase is 2.2 percent or about … Continue reading →

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Exiting Paris – Not The End Of The World

Posted on June 5, 2017 by Paul Deaton

We survived U.S. failure to ratify the Kyoto Protocol to limit greenhouse gas emissions and will survive if Republicans drag us out of the Paris Agreement after the 2020 general election, as was announced June 1 in Washington, D.C. Make … Continue reading →

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