Ronnie Cummins, founder and director of the Organic Consumers Association, will be giving a free public lecture entitled “Climate Catastrophe: How Organic Agriculture and Green Technology Can Help Us Survive the 21st Century” on Wednesday, March 10, 7:30pm at the Fairfield Public Library.

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is a non-profit, U.S. based network of 850,000 consumers, dedicated to safeguarding organic standards and promoting a healthy, just, and sustainable system of agriculture and commerce. The OCA’s primary strategy is to work on national and global campaigns promoting health, justice, and sustainability that integrate public education, marketplace pressure, media work, litigation, and grassroots lobbying.

In his article The Organic Revolution: How We Can Stop Global Warming Cummins writes, “Beyond the gloom and doom of the climate crisis, there lies a powerful and regenerative grassroots solution: organic food, farming, and ranching.”

“Millions of organic farmers, ranchers, conservationists, and backyard gardeners (supported by millions of organic consumers) are demonstrating that we can build a healthy alternative to industrial agriculture and Food Inc. Our growing organic movement is proving that we can not only feed the world with healthy food, but also reverse global warming, by capturing and sequestering billions of tons of climate-destabilizing greenhouse gases in the soil, through plant photosynthesis, composting, cover crops, rotational grazing, wetlands preservation, and reforestation.”

Cummins is the editor of OCA’s website, organicconsumers.org, Organic Bytes newsletters, and Organic View. He also serves on the steering committee of OCA’s Mexico affiliate, Via Organica.

Cummins has been active as a writer and activist since the 1960s, with extensive experience in human rights, anti-war, anti-nuclear, labor, consumer, environmental, and sustainable agriculture campaigns. Over the past decades he has served as director of US and international efforts such as the Pure Food Campaign and the Global Days of Action Against GMOs. From 1992-98 Cummins served as a campaign director for the Foundation on Economic Trends in Washington, D.C. In 1998, Cummins organized the SOS (Save Organic Standards) Campaign, spearheading the largest consumer grassroots backlash against the US Department of Agriculture in recent history. He is also a frequent lecturer, both in the US and abroad.

Cummins’ visit to Fairfield is sponsored by Sustainability Research Institute, the not-for-profit research arm of The Sky Factory, LC.

Here is another great opportunity for local gardeners new and experienced to learn more about growing their own food!  As part of his internship in the Iowa Master Gardener program, MUM Sustainable Living professor Alex Kachan is offering a series of workshops on various aspects of small-scale, organic gardening to the entire community for free.  The only requirement is that you register at least one week in advance because each workshop is limited to 15 participants.  If Alex gets more than 15 requests for a workshop he will schedule a repeat for the overflow members.

I had the great pleasure of both attending one of Alex’s lectures on Vermicomposting (using composting worms to biologically break down organic matter) and working with him at the Ecovillage CSA two summers ago.  He is incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about growing food sustainably from every step in the cycle, so I am sure these workshops will be not only informative but inspiring.

Here is a brief listing of workshop times and topics.  Email Alex at the address below for complete descriptions and to reserve a spot in the ones that interest you.

Sunday, March 14th, 2010: Starting Seeds
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: SL Dept., room 111 & SL greenhouse

Sunday, April 18th, 2010: Making your bed – the art of Double Digging!
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: MUM Community Garden

Sunday, May 30th, 2010: Compost – learning to grow soil!
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: MUM Community Garden

Sunday, June 13th 2010: Compost Tea – pampering your soil & vegetables!
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: SL Dept. room 111

Sunday, June 20th, 2010: Garden Q&A’s
Workshop length: 2:00– 4:00 PM (2 hours)
Location: MUM Community Garden

Sunday, July 11th, 2010: Seed Saving
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: SL Dept. room 111

August 15th, 2010: Vermicomposting
Workshop length: 1:00– 4:00 PM (3 hours)
Location: SL Dept. room 111

Workshops will be filled on a first come, first served basis.  To register, choose the workshops you wish to take and send their titles, dates & your name to Alex at: akachan @ mum.edu

Click here to download a flyer providing more details on the workshops.

My Mom started a green family tradition that is still lively after 12 years. She was weary of all the waste piles of discarded wrapping paper every Christmas morning….so much for our large family and such an expensive waste! She declared a moratorium on paper gift wrap, and began sewing cloth gift bags for the gifts she gave.

A couple years later, my sister gave us each a huge pile of various-sized, Christmas-themed cloth gift bags, enough to “wrap” all our gifts. She’d shopped the after-holiday fabric sales and picked up beautiful fabrics which she sewed into gift bags that would fit a variety of standard gift boxes.

All our gifts within our family arrive wrapped in these cloth gift bags. Some of the bags are years into rotation within our family circle, and my sisters and I have certain favorites we love to find coming back to us. On Christmas morning, instead of a mountain of crumpled wrapping paper, we have a neat stack of folded gift bags with ribbons tucked inside and collapsed gift boxes. No paper – zero.

I’ve taken the cloth gift bag idea one step further and made “all-occasion” gift bags for birthdays, Mother’s Day, etc. We use these within our family, trading them back and forth. If anyone of us ends up with more than the others, we just send a supply along with the next gift sent.

I’m now looking for organic cottons from which to sew more bags. The artist in me loves discovering fun fabrics and beautiful ribbons to make the bags, and I hope to start expanding our circle of friends and family who will adopt the concept.

As an incentive, this year my friends will be receiving a selection of cloth gift bags on their birthday to launch them into our green family custom. I invite anyone to sew your own gift bags. It would be a nice little green cottage industry for anyone with basic sewing skills.  A new stand at the Farmers Market perhaps?

In this age of going green, reducing energy use, recycling and reducing waste, do you wonder if you are doing enough? Pekin, Iowa resident, Dawn Bechtel, who was born, raised and is employed in Fairfield, wanted to do something more so she created a Fairfield Freecyle/Buycycle Facebook Page in September 2009 with the main goal of keeping as many items out of the landfills as possible. Today they have over 500 members listing items they are willing to give away for free (freecycle), items they are wanting to sell (buycycle) or items they are in need of and would like to find used instead of going out and paying for new (recycle).

The Page’s creator, Dawn Bechtel, describes her motivations and intent:

Ever since the day I read Danny Seo’s book Heaven on Earth – 15 minute miracles to change the world, I’ve wanted to implement them all and more. Our environment takes such good care of us and it is important that we show our appreciation and take even better care of our environment.

We don’t have trash or recycling pick up where we live so recycling is a must! Garage sales are a lot of work and not well attended in this area and we have some nice things that we no longer need and don’t want to just toss them in the trash! We’d like to see them find good homes. I’d heard several of my friends from other states talking about FREECYCLE and although I did a few Google searches I was unable to find one in our area. Frustrated, I decided to start one on FACEBOOK and see what happened.

It is my hope that every item posted will soon find a new home. That everyone living in and around Fairfield that has a FACEBOOK account will want to be an active member and those that don’t have a FACEBOOK account will be asking their friends that do, to list or find items for them.

Members have found new homes for toner cartridges, TV’s, microwaves, swing sets and more. Got some exercise equipment collecting dust in the corner? Several members of Fairfield Freecycle/Buycycle are interested.

In addition to posting items, the Fairfield Freecycle/Buycycle also promotes fundraising and recycling efforts currently going on in the community and other resources for recycling like The Bargain Box, My Lucky Day, Agapeland’s Closet and Chickadees. The Fairfield High school (FBLA) is asking for donations to recycle used consumer electronics, ink cartridges, and any unwanted, tangled or broken Metal Jewelry – you can find a complete list of items they are accepting on the site. Members can also find a complete list of the items that can be recycled at Waste management as well as any fees that might be associated with certain items

You know the old saying, “one person’s trash is another person’s treasure”, and that is definitely the case at the Fairfield Freecyle/Buycycle Facebook Page. Check it out and help keep as much out of the landfills as possible.

The new Hy-Vee store planned for Fairfield will be the company’s second store built in accordance with LEED certification standards, Hy-Vee officials announced today.

This fantastic news is not only exciting for the quality of service the facility will bring consumers; but means that this site, identified as a priority site for storm water runoff capture, will incorporate best practices in sustainable construction.

LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is the nationally accepted benchmark for environmentally sustainable construction. Developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, the LEED certification program provides independent, third-party verification that a building project meets certain standards for lowering operating costs, reducing waste, conserving resources and providing a healthy environment for occupants and visitors.

In October, Hy-Vee opened its first LEED-eligible retail store in Madison, WI and is awaiting word on the status of its LEED certification application, said Jeff Markey, Assistant Vice President, Engineering/Construction for Hy-Vee. Markey said Fairfield will become the company’s second LEED-eligible project when construction on the new store begins this spring.

Hy-Vee previously had announced plans to build a new 64,000-square-foot store (almost double the size of the current store it replaces) at Burlington and South 14th Street, behind the Burger King. Plans for the new store have not been completed, but it is expected to include a pharmacy with drive-up service, a wine & spirits store, a floral shop and a food court with Chinese and Italian departments.

Many conservation groups in town have been eyeing this site with hope and concern. The Jefferson County Soil and Water Conservation District received a watershed development grant to study the Indian Creek watershed, and Pathfinders RC&D coordinated with the Iowa Conservation Corps to do an urban assessment.

After this six month process the new Hy-Vee location was identified as a top priority site to capture and infiltrate storm water runoff because of its position above a tributary of Indian Creek. Ongoing conversations between the Sustainability Coordinator for Hy-Vee, Mike Smith, and the Sustainability Coordinator for the City of Fairfield, Scott Timm, have built a relationship that highlights the City’s commitment to sustainability as well as the strong dedication of Hy-Vee to engage with our community.

Seeking LEED certification means that design of construction will take into account impact on waterways – thus this is a big win for the city and those who are located downstream of our watershed.

Commenting on the Hy-Vee decision to go LEED Certified, Mayor Malloy stated, “We have all contributed to building an environment where these decisions are made because of the commitment our city has made.”

On Thursday, February 11th the Center on Sustainable Communities will bring their entire team to visit Fairfield to scout out the city as a potential site for their summer programming.

The Center on Sustainable Communities had a connection with Fairfield from its inception. Lynnae Hentzen, their Executive Director, moved to Iowa in 2004 and wanted to perform a green upgrade on her “new old home”. She had a difficult time finding anyone who knew what she was talking about – until she came to Fairfield and linked up with Joel Hirschberg at Green Building Supply. She was amazed at the wealth of resources in a town that she considers to be the “greenest spot in Iowa”.

She was a stay at home mom for two years, and began thinking about how she could help create a satellite of green buildings in Des Moines and Iowa. She partnered with Beth Hicks and founded COSC, whose annual budget is now over one million dollars and holds award-winning workshops across the state. The mission of COSC is to “serve as a resource to encourage, promote and educate about sustainable building practices among professionals and homeowners.” They are currently running a free 10-session series in West Union for contractors, subcontractors, planners, architects, appraisers, city officials and other professionals to develop a “comprehensive understanding of green building best practices” – and also to support disaster recovery efforts in Northeast Iowa.

Recently, when the City of Fairfield was awarded an Office of Energy Independence grant to upgrade and retrofit their public buildings – Scott Timm, Sustainability Coordinator for Fairfield, began communicating with Lynnae to see if the City could utilize COSC programming to run educational workshops around those projects or other private projects planned for this summer. Now that it looks very likely that the City will forge this partnership with COSC, we would like to invite businesses and community members who have an interest in COSC to attend the monthly Greendrinks meeting this coming Thursday the 11th at 12pm, upstairs in Revelations.

Lynnae remarked, “We’re just excited to see what role we can play to support the initiatives that are going on down there.” This is a fantastic opportunity to create professional development opportunities for a wide range of Fairfield residents, and we look forward to growing our partnership with COSC!

Blog for Iowa has published an informative, four part interview, conducted by Jay Mattson, on Francis Thicke’s candidacy for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture.

I’ve known Francis Thicke and his wife, Susan, for over 30 years, and I can testify that he is the real deal. Francis is running for Agriculture Secretary because he has a sincere impulse to engage in public service for the sake of improving Iowa. Interviewing Francis gave me a chance to experience his brilliant grasp of complex, pressing issues. Francis has the best mix of qualifications, knowledge and experience that I could hope for in a progressive Democrat seeking to be Iowa’s Agriculture Secretary. I’ve come away from this interview convinced that he’s a viable candidate who has the integrity, humility and wisdom this state needs. — Jay Mattson

Part One: Meet Francis Thicke – Progressive Democrat for Iowa Agriculture Secretary

Part Two: Iowa Ag Secretary Candidate Francis Thicke Talks to BFIA about CAFOs, GMOs, and Local Control

Part Three: Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Candidate Francis Thicke Exclusive BFIA Interview

Part Four: Interview With Iowa Ag Secretary Candidate Francis Thicke

From the interview:

The Iowa Secretary of Agriculture is very often invited to speak at agricultural conferences held in Iowa. I see that as a major role of the Iowa Secretary of Agriculture: to articulate a vision for the future of Iowa agriculture, and to provide leadership to help move Iowa agriculture towards that vision. — Francis Thicke

. . . a law that was recently passed in Illinois that sets goals for more of the food eaten in Illinois to be produced in Illinois. They are starting with state-owned institutions, like hospitals and universities. One goal of the new Illinois law is to have 20% of the food purchased by state-owned institutions be grown in Illinois by 2020. That is an interesting model of how to increase local food production, which translates into economic development. We could do something similar in Iowa. — Francis Thicke

I grew up on a farm in a family of nine children. The farm was mostly dairy when I was young but we also had hogs, chickens and other animals — including sheep and ducks, at times. Over time our family’s farm became more specialized in dairy production, so I learned dairy first-hand from the family. — Francis Thicke

It’s an exciting interview series about a candidate with some practical and visionary ideas for how to improve Iowa’s agriculture and economic future. I encourage my fellow Iowans to read it and comment on Thicke’s ideas or provide any other feedback for the candidates in next year’s election for Iowa Secretary of Agriculture.

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In the biggest step forward towards fulfilling Fairfield’s Go-Green Strategic Plan; the City Council voted unanimously last week to support matching funding for a $485,000 project to improve the energy efficiency of city owned buildings, including City Hall, Public Works, the Library, the Recreational Center, Waterworks, Fire Department and Wastewater.

“We’re excited,” reports Mayor Ed Malloy. “This project puts our Sustainability Plan in action and sets the city in a position to lead by example. The grant funds will save our budget nearly $90,000 year in energy costs by improving energy efficiency and reducing energy waste.”

Councilperson Martha Norbeck lead the project by working with Alliant Energy to perform energy audits for the city buildings.  You can read the details of the energy audits here.  Note, the Law Center is excluded from the project since it is a County facility.

A breakdown of the costs:

• $485,000 – Total estimated cost of making improvements to facilities.
• $200,000 – Approximate contribution from City of Fairfield towards project costs.
• $118,000 – Estimated rebates for improvements according to Alliant Energy.
• $162000 – Federal Stimulus funding approved by The Iowa Office of Energy Independence.

A breakdown of the savings:

• $387,000 – Approximate annual energy costs of Electric and Natural Gas for facilities receiving improvements as part of the program.
• $179,623 – Annual energy costs for the biggest spender, Waterworks.
• $64,288 – Annual energy costs for Rec Center.
• $85,300 – Projected annual savings in energy costs after improvements are completed.
• 22% – Reduction in total annual energy costs for all facilities after improvements are completed.
• 43% – Biggest single reduction in annual energy costs, the Rec Center.
• 7 – Number of years to payback project costs based on projected savings.