What will Iowa's new carbon task force do? And what about the Growing Climate Solutions Act, recently passed by the U.S. Senate? It's high time to clarify what these programs do and why it is not appropriate to call them markets.
A recent Polk County plan would install 200 "edge of field" practices to capture nitrate from underground drainage pipes at the expense of Iowa taxpayers. Effective, yes, but is it fair?
Determining whether water is good, bad, or something in between is not at all straightforward. An accurate water-quality index can be useful. Why doesn't Iowa have one?
We need regulation to clean up Iowa’s water. We have a massive, continental-scale problem here with nutrient pollution — one so large that the average person can barely get their head around it.
It was inevitable that the law was going to catch up to the weedkiller Roundup (Glyphosate) and throw it in the hoosegow. The law of natural selection, that is.
I suppose we all experience certain days when events crystallize our ideas in ways such that the day and the ideas will both go unforgotten. November 14 was one of those days for me.
How much nitrate is Iowa contributing to Iowa rivers and streams, the Mississippi River, and ultimately the Gulf of Mexico? Some perspective: Since 2003, statewide stream nitrate loads have increased 100.4% (i.e., doubled), as measured by the five-year Running Annual Average.
Guest editorial that first appeared in Iowa Ideas Magazine is reposted here. Essay discusses nitrate pollution, altered hydrology, and farm conservation in Iowa.
