America should cut greenhouse-gas emissions by 80 percent by 2050, increase
fuel economy of its cars and decrease electricity use, former U.S. Sen. John
Edwards said in Des Moines this morning.
“The way America uses energy
today will be changed and changed dramatically, and in the process we’re going
to deal in a really serious way with the issue of climate change,” he said.
http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/NEWS/70320010/1001&lead=1
You can also download Edwards' energy policy from this site.
--------------
Trout restocking rescheduled
JULI PROBASCO SOWERS
REGISTER STAFF WRITER
The planned March 23 trout stocking at Banner Lakes at Summerset State
Park
between Des Moines and Indianola has been rescheduled to March 29 due
to
poor ice conditions.
http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/NEWS/70320007/1001
-----------
Editorial:
Protect New Orleans by preserving wetlands
varUsername = "[log in to unmask]";document.write("REGISTER EDITORIAL BOARD");
REGISTER
EDITORIAL BOARD
March 20, 2007
"Hurricane on the Bayou" is playing at the Science Center of Iowa's Blank
IMAX Dome Theater. Yes, it has all the thrills people expect in an IMAX. Viewers
get to fly over land and ocean without leaving their theater seats.
But
this film is more than just a firsthand look at the destruction of Hurricane
Katrina. It delivers an education on the importance of preserving this country's
wetlands.
http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/OPINION03/703200365/1035/archive
-------------------
As water grows scarce, nuclear power can help
By CAROLYN D. HEISING
IOWA VIEW
March 20, 2007
Because nuclear power produces large amounts of energy without emitting
global-warming gases, it is drawing increasing attention. But it also can play a
key role in dealing with another environmental problem that we can't afford to
ignore: water shortages.
Few things are more important than fresh water.
And until a few years ago, few things seemed more basic. In the Midwest, we've
had an abundant supply of water for so long, we've taken it for granted.
http://dmregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070320/OPINION01/703200362/1035/archive
-------------------
LTEs:
Keep zoo out of Fort Des Moines park
March 20, 2007
Why are people even talking
about letting the Blank Park Zoo destroy such an accessible, beautiful park as
Fort Des Moines Park ("D.M. Zoo Lobs New Idea: Swap Land for Park Site," March
9)? Now it wants to trade 62 acres east of S.E. 5th Street for the heart of the
park and connect it to what's left by a tunnel. That lake is the jewel in the
park, and it would be gone.
Why not take the Blank Park Golf Course? You
can't drop a line in the water on a golf course. You can't row a canoe on a golf
course.
Families can't enjoy a picnic, and people in wheelchairs can't
drive the roads and enjoy nature on a golf course.
Either leave the zoo
as it is, expand to the golf course, relocate the zoo director, Terry Rich, or
let the zoo leave. I can't stand blackmailers, and I smell money in the air.
Let's not fix what ain't broke.
- Oscar D. "Bud" Overton,
Des
Moines.
----------
Farm runoff dirties Iowa
streams
During a recent drive through central Iowa, it became
clear once again, through the murky Iowa streams, that Iowa's supposed
"land-steward" farmers are not protecting Iowa's fragile water
resources.
In almost every mile of the countryside, there is bare, open
ground that was tilled last fall. The result is that with the heavy snow runoff
we've had, the streams and rivers are running black with topsoil sediment.
Iowa's farmers should be penalized for tillage and for not adopting
common-sense, modern no-till methods. They are failing at protecting a valuable
resource for all Iowans.
The effects of the farmers who refuse to adopt
modern farming techniques extend far beyond the edge of their farms, although
they do not seem to comprehend it.
- Ron Dunek,
Ankeny.
-------
A friend of mine from Florida and I stood at the edge of the pool of clear
water bubbling from the ground at Twin Springs outside Decorah. He said he used
to love to fly-fish in these cold-water streams in Northeast Iowa until one day
when he found my favorite stream ruined by feedlot runoff. Citizen complaints
could not stop the fouling of his favorite trout stream. He left Iowa in
disgust.
A beautiful little valley cradled a clear-water steam that fed
the North Raccoon below Perry back in April of 2005. A year later the stream was
putrid, and it remained that way all summer. One Iowa stream after another is
losing its life-giving ability to pollution.
Many retirees and baby
boomers are old enough to have fished, waded and paddled in clear water in Iowa
in their youth. One letter writer said recently in the Register that retirees
will leave the state if something is not done about the pollution of our waters.
Where will they go? I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica to savor some
natural areas. I was disappointed to find ATV trails being carved out of the
cloud forests of Monte Verde.
I read the other day that 90 percent of
Madagascar has been logged. The Florida Everglades are out of balance and
released pet pythons are breeding like rabbits. Wounds are being inflicted upon
the Earth everywhere.
I hope the retirees don't leave Iowa. I hope they
stay and fight for the nature that is left in this state. I hope they will
counter the pressure currently being applied to our legislators to wipe out the
Iowa Environmental Protection Commission; that they will stay and demand some
reasonable water-quality standards; that they will support efforts of the Iowa
Department of Natural Resources to protect our wildlife.
It is better to
stand and fight than to wander off in search of pristine areas in far-off
places. Commercialization is now global.
- Mike Delaney,
Des
Moines.