Thank you Josiah! You have some practical thoughts in this letter many of which would enhance Iowa land and waters, and which have been suffering for years! Who knows, maybe Gov Reynolds might steal some of these great ideas!
Thanks. I hope she steal them all, but fat chance!
What I didn't include is that critics tend to seek perfect solutions and thus forego the ability to obtain incremental results. I read several columnists here, not those to whom I subscribe, but great writers.......who seem to think taking farmers to task at every turn will succeed in changing their behaviors. Name-calling will instead likely drive them to further extremes.
I am not defending the greedy or opportunistic farmers/CEO's or those who just don't give a damn, believe me. Rather, I am advocating that we get practical steps done now and encourage the progressive farming interests. It has taken more than 85 years to get our soil even semi-protected. It is going to take 185 years to clean up the water if we don't find compromises. I am not one to believe that more lawsuits will solve this. Nor will marches and rallies. And I certainly don't hold much hope that our Republican legislature will do anything but fund farmers and maybe ISU research.
We need to start where we are, not wait and hope that our government will ever force farmers to solve this. Waiting for some revolution is a pipe dream.
Great suggestions! How about throwing in support for LGBTQ protections and womens' reproductive rights for Guv Reynolds to ponder. Oh... that's right... we know how far those suggestions would go. Right into her trash bin.
Yes we could go on— maybe support public school teachers, encourage the actual use of libraries, etc, etc. I live in hope but am under no illusions about our present Senators or Gov. I’m also convinced that the Democratic Party has forgotten a bunch of basics, like reaching the third of us who are non-party.
Good suggestions, Josiah! Reminds me of the conservation ethic of Otha Wearin, whom I wrote about and whose prairie I toured decades ago. I'll bet you're related . . .
Third cousin or so but next door neighbor. We are so fortunate to live across from the prairie. When will we get a leader who understands what decent Iowans actually want?
Thank you Josiah! You have some practical thoughts in this letter many of which would enhance Iowa land and waters, and which have been suffering for years! Who knows, maybe Gov Reynolds might steal some of these great ideas!
Beth Bishop
Clive, Iowa
Beth,
Thanks. I hope she steal them all, but fat chance!
What I didn't include is that critics tend to seek perfect solutions and thus forego the ability to obtain incremental results. I read several columnists here, not those to whom I subscribe, but great writers.......who seem to think taking farmers to task at every turn will succeed in changing their behaviors. Name-calling will instead likely drive them to further extremes.
I am not defending the greedy or opportunistic farmers/CEO's or those who just don't give a damn, believe me. Rather, I am advocating that we get practical steps done now and encourage the progressive farming interests. It has taken more than 85 years to get our soil even semi-protected. It is going to take 185 years to clean up the water if we don't find compromises. I am not one to believe that more lawsuits will solve this. Nor will marches and rallies. And I certainly don't hold much hope that our Republican legislature will do anything but fund farmers and maybe ISU research.
We need to start where we are, not wait and hope that our government will ever force farmers to solve this. Waiting for some revolution is a pipe dream.
Great suggestions! How about throwing in support for LGBTQ protections and womens' reproductive rights for Guv Reynolds to ponder. Oh... that's right... we know how far those suggestions would go. Right into her trash bin.
Yes we could go on— maybe support public school teachers, encourage the actual use of libraries, etc, etc. I live in hope but am under no illusions about our present Senators or Gov. I’m also convinced that the Democratic Party has forgotten a bunch of basics, like reaching the third of us who are non-party.
Good suggestions, Josiah! Reminds me of the conservation ethic of Otha Wearin, whom I wrote about and whose prairie I toured decades ago. I'll bet you're related . . .
Third cousin or so but next door neighbor. We are so fortunate to live across from the prairie. When will we get a leader who understands what decent Iowans actually want?
Thank you, Josiah, for your thoughtful comments!
There is a young would-be Governor out there somewhere who gets this stuff….somewhere in our fair State!
I certainly hope so!