Raising awareness for effective action

July 25, 2018 by Ed Fallon
343 comments
Dear Friends, I’m a big believer in pacing oneself. We’ve got to take time to smell the roses even in the midst of intense struggle. Yet sometimes — often, in all honesty — the demands of fighting for justice require some pretty exhausting days. The First Nation – Farmer Climate Unity March will be a string of such days. But the importance of this march — raising awareness about the historic lawsuit that could stop the flow of oil through the Dakota Access Pipeline — Continue reading →

Investigating the Doon tar sands oil spill

July 19, 2018 by Ed Fallon
380 comments
Dear Friends, Christine Nobiss, David Thoreson, and I traveled to northwest Iowa this week to investigate the June 22 tar sands oil spill near Doon (check out our livestream). We spoke with Iowa DNR and Lyon County officials, a landowner, an engineer working at the site, a reporter with the N’West Iowa REVIEW, and KSFY TV (check out KSFY’s story here). We learned a lot! — Lyon County officials did an excellent job as first responders during the hours and days immediately following the spill. Continue reading →

Meet the Marchers

July 10, 2018 by Ed Fallon
13 comments
Dear Friends, Just like planet Earth, preparations for the First Nation – Farmer Climate Unity March are heating up. This past weekend, Sarah Spain and Chap Myers scouted the route between Des Moines and Fort Dodge. We’re now closing in on locating the seven campsites we’ll need for the September 1 – 8 march. Also, Sarah and her brother, Sean, are working on improvements to our “Mobile Bathroom” unit — a trailer that hauls both environmentally friendly commodes and solar showers. Besides the trailer’s functional Continue reading →

Save the date to march with us

June 6, 2018 by Shari Hrdina
2 comments
Dear Friends, Often when there’s a crisis, people respond by traveling great distances on foot. Marches often transform the participants, and have changed my life, too. (Stay tuned for the upcoming release of my first book, Marcher, Walker, Pilgrim.) Most important, marches change history. Consider: The Women’s Suffrage March Gandhi’s Salt March The 1965 March for Voting Rights The 1986 Great Peace March, which mobilized support for a nuclear test ban and citizen diplomacy between Americans and Russians From September 1 – 8, fifty people Continue reading →

Wells Fargo under fire

May 1, 2018 by Shari Hrdina
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Dear Friends, Actions have consequences. That’s a lesson each of us learned as kids — hopefully. Now it’s Wells Fargo’s turn to learn about consequences for a string of transgressions that make anything most of us did as kids look, well, like child’s play. – Wells Fargo continues to finance the Dakota Access Pipeline and other Energy Transfer Partner fossil fuel projects. – Wells Fargo also finances private prisons, the NRA, and other industries coming under intense public scrutiny. – Wells Fargo has been “accused Continue reading →

Stop Eminent Domain Abuse Roadshow

April 12, 2018 by Ed Fallon
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(Ed Fallon’s Weekly Blog) Every time someone says to me, “Too bad we weren’t able to stop the Dakota Access Pipeline,” I say, “Not so fast!” This week, federal judge James Boasberg ruled that the Army Corps of Engineers’ authorization of the pipeline near the Standing Rock Sioux reservation “did not adequately consider the impacts of an oil spill on fishing rights, hunting rights, or environmental justice.” (Check out the story here.) This is significant. The federal court is expected to rule soon whether oil will continue to Continue reading →

Industry’s New Colonial Outpost: Rural Iowa

April 6, 2018 by Ed Fallon
399 comments
Ed Fallon’s Weekly Blog: Two things before I explain why Iowa is becoming a colonial outpost: First, I’m sad to say that the pro-DAPL bill (SF 2235) passed this week despite hundreds of Iowans contacting their lawmakers. Visit the Fallon Forum and Bold Iowa websites for news coverage and to learn how your senator and representative voted. The silver lining is that Bold Iowa’s coalition of environmentalists, landowners, farmers and Native allies worked with labor unions on a common cause. Let’s build on that! Second, Continue reading →

Laying the ground for another pipeline?

March 21, 2018 by Ed Fallon
38 comments
Dear Friends, It’s impossible to say for sure, but I’ll bet anyone a dozen cage-free eggs that another oil pipeline through Iowa is under consideration. The mere threat of another round of condemnation for a new pipeline underscores why it’s so important to call, write or visit your state representative and senator again and immediately! Remind them to vote “NO” on SF 2235 / HF 2394! If this legislation passes, crude oil pipelines will be classified as “critical infrastructure.” That could make it a whole lot easier Continue reading →

“Sabotage” bill a Trojan Horse for eminent domain abuse

February 8, 2018 by Ed Fallon
One comment
[By Ed Fallon] About twenty years ago, growth-management advocates across the US were shocked when the Tennessee General Assembly enacted one of the nation’s strongest anti-urban sprawl bills. At the time, I was working on similar legislation in Iowa, so I traveled to Nashville to learn more. Sitting in the office of a state lawmaker who helped champion the bill, I asked, “How did you make this happen?” “Mah friend,” drawled the lawmaker as he drew on his cigarette, “if you want to accomplish something Continue reading →

Iowa Pipeline Fighters Head to Super Bowl to Pressure US Bank to Divest

February 1, 2018 by Ed Fallon
36 comments
Dear Friends, Go Tom Brady! Yeah, I just had to get that out of the way. Across the country, people are turning up the heat on politicians and corporations intent on destroying our water, land, and planet for satiate their lust for power and money. US Bank is one of them, and it’ll be in the spotlight on Super Sunday when the Pats and Eagles tangle at US Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The day before the Super Bowl — let’s call it Super Saturday — Continue reading →