Packing dirt around glaciers to slow climate change?

Dear Friends, Bold Iowa’s effort to bird-dog presidential candidates on climate change is going well. What’s missing is more people doing it. SIGN UP TO BIRD-DOG PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES ON CLIMATE CHANGE! We’re at 54 volunteers, which is a great start. But we’ll need at least 250 climate patriots across Iowa to maximize this tremendous opportunity to shape the national debate. And “shaping the national debate” isn’t an overstatement. Not even close. In just three weeks, we’ve already seen results from this effort: — Our questioning Continue reading →

John Hickenlooper in Iowa: The case for a moderate problem-solver

The Denver Post Excerpt: For Ed Fallon, the founder of an environmental advocacy group who attended Hickenlooper’s event in West Des Moines, the former governor’s policies on the environment and drilling are likely a nonstarter. Climate change, he said, is not an issue but a “crisis.” Fallon spoke with Hickenlooper and found his answers on fracking unsatisfactory, but acknowledged the former governor said he’d be willing to take a closer look at Iowa’s particular policies around drilling, land and mineral rights. “It’s going to be a tough Continue reading →

Are Democrats also climate deniers?

Dear Friends, “The Democrats Are Climate Deniers.” That’s the jarring headline of an article this week in Jacobin that Jon Neiderbach brought to my attention. The sub-heading reads, “If the Democrats really believed the science on climate change, they’d be offering far more radical proposals. We have to make them.” Sad but true. It’s one thing for a politician to say, “I support the Green New Deal (GND).” But when pushed for specifics, most aren’t on board with GND’s “transition to 100% renewable energy within Continue reading →

Be a Climate Bird Dog!

WANTED: Climate patriots to bird-dog presidential candidates. We’re assembling a squad of supporters to persistently “bird-dog” presidential candidates about Bold Iowa’s agenda. Voters have a right to know if candidates will: — Support the Green New Deal and transition to a renewable-energy economy by 2030; — Oppose the expansion of oil pipelines, fracking, and other destructive fossil-fuel projects; — Stand with Indigenous communities to defend their sovereignty, land, and water; and — Stop the abuse of eminent domain for private fossil-fuel companies. SIGN UP TO Continue reading →

Former Iowa lawmaker to discuss climate march memoir

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Tuesday, January 15, 2019, 12:00 p.m. Contact Kathy Byrnes at (515) 491-8468 or [email protected] Ed Fallon at (515) 238-6404 or [email protected] (Visit www.boldiowa.com/marcher-walker-pilgrim) Former Iowa lawmaker to speak about memoir from 3,100-mile march Local musician, Andy Juhl, to perform with former Rep. Ed Fallon before book reading LE MARS, IOWA — At 6:00 p.m. at Lally’s Eastside Restaurant, former Iowa lawmaker and 2006 candidate for governor Ed Fallon will perform with local musician, Andy Juhl, prior to Fallon speaking about his book from Continue reading →

DAPL lion underestimates Iowa Lambs

For those who feel Big Oil always gets its way, think again. In a battle of Lamb vs. Lion (read on and you’ll see what I mean), the little guy and gal just accomplished something impressive. When the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) was still under discussion, most Iowa landowners I met as I walked the pipeline route were against it. In the end, many signed voluntary easements — not because they wanted to but because they felt they had no choice. Dick and Judy Lamb, Continue reading →

A snowless hike in December

Dear Friends, If you work the land, it’s impossible not to notice that our climate is changing dramatically. Here’s a photo taken today (January 3) of the cold frame Kathy and I planted in mid-October. Normally, the seeds sprout a little bit, then the young plants hunker down until early March. The way they’re growing this year, we’ll be eating fresh greens later this month. That’s wonderful on one level — and deeply disturbing on another. Farming is one way I connect with the land. Another Continue reading →

IUB holds DAPL accountable on insurance policy

Dear Friends, Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) opponents have had our share of criticism for how the Iowa Utilities Board (IUB) has often handled matters. Most important, we feel strongly that the IUB never should have issued DAPL a permit in the first place — and we remain cautiously optimistic that the Iowa Supreme Court will concur when it issues its decision on the landowner/Sierra Club lawsuit. But to give credit where credit is due, today’s order from the IUB (see full text below) is commendable. Continue reading →

Beer and Baseball (by Ed Fallon)

Before I tell you this crazy dream I had last night about beer and baseball, I’ve got three requests: 1. Bold Iowa operates on an impressively tight budget. Our funding comes mostly from the grassroots, i.e., you! Please donate to help us  close out the year in the black. 2. Purchase my memoir, Marcher, Walker, Pilgrim (click here). All proceeds go to Climate March. Columnist Rekha Basu writes, “Fallon’s account … won’t be some scientific analysis of why we have alternating droughts and floods, and occasional July winters and Continue reading →

Reflections on roadkill, life’s meaning illuminate Ed Fallon’s walk against climate change

Reflections on roadkill, life’s meaning illuminate Ed Fallon’s walk against climate change by Rekha Basu, The Des Moines Register, December 14, 2018 Ed Fallon woke up one fall morning in 2014 in pain, on a hard, cold piece of ground outdoors. Lying under a tree stand along a highway west of Washington, D.C., he imagined that the cacophony from nearby traffic was chiding him for being a failure. The activist, former state representative from Des Moines and online talk show host of the Fallon Forum wondered if he Continue reading →