Category: Environment - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

After Action Report - Green Drinks

8/5/2019

Green Drinks - After Action Report
for June & July

Fresh Deli - 421 W. River Drive, Davenport, Iowa

Environmental Forum

Green Drinks!

June

Flood waters had finally receded, so our June Green Drinks went on as scheduled. Karen Neder gave an excellent presentation on Terracycling and provided a wide range of materials that can be recycled from your kitchen, bathroom, office and more. Numerous companies have formed brigades and are recycling materials from their own production, as well as from competing brands. Terracycle Quad Cities is a company that collects and recycles thousands of products. Check out Karen’s Facebook page or go to the Terracycle Quad Cities website directly for a list of products. They range from snack bags to toothpaste tubes to juice pouches. The collection is stored and sorted at Trinity Lutheran Church in Moline and the proceeds go to the Blessings Preschool .

July

Our July Green Drinks had a good sized crowd of nearly 20 people. We chatted informally and got to know each other. We shared our concerns about climate change and local environmental issues. Representative attended from three presidential campaigns: Booker, Buttigieg, and O’Rourke, and they each shared details from their candidates’ environmental platform. Each campaign has been invited to attend, and may be at upcoming events. Check out www.greendrinks.org/IA/QuadCities for more details about our group. We meet at Fresh Deli from 5-7 pm on the last Thursday of each month.

Lori McCollum

What You Can Do Now - Containers for Monarch Butterflies Needed

7/23/2019

Containers for Monarch Butterflies Needed

Partners of Scott County Watershed
Nahant Marsh (map)

Cassie Druhl from Partners in Scott County Watersheds contacted me about collecting containers to rear monarch caterpillars. Plastic containers - 32-oz cottage cheese or yogurt type - are requested. If you have some to share, drop them off at Nahant Marsh's office at 4220 Wapello Avenue in Davenport between 8:30-4:30 or Saturday 9-3.

Lori McCollum

What You Can Do Now - Bees to Share?

7/23/2019

Bees To Share? East Moline/Hampton

Living Lands and Waters

Living Lands and Waters is setting up bees on one of their properties. They are seeking additional bees from anyone willing to share, as they want to increase the diversity of their bee population. If you have bees to share, contact Rachel at Living Lands and Waters at 309-230-0057 or rachel@livinglandsandwaters.org.

Lori McCollum

Environmental Forum Meeting

6/24/2019

Environmental Forum Meeting - Monday, July 1st at 6:30 pm

Cobblestone Place, 1212 W 3rd Street, Davenport, IA (map)

The PACG Environmental Forum will meet on the first Monday of each month. We welcome newcomers to our Forum ~ this week’s topics include:

• The June 27, 2019 PACG Environmental Forum Green Drinks Gathering the last Thursday of every month from 5:00-7:00 pm. Join us for this networking opportunity at Fresh Deli at the Freight House (map).

• Meeting with Iowa and Illinois state legislators and federal representatives. Please bring a question you would like to ask your legislators https://votesmart.org/

• Earth Day 2020!!! Planning - Join us for this planning meeting!

Shirley Johnson

Green Drinks After Action Report

6/17/2019

Green Drinks - After Action Report
The Last Thursdays - March through May

Fresh Deli at the Freight House in Davenport
Environmental Forum

March 28th -
We had an enthusiastic crowd for our first Green Drinks event. Everybody was excited to start this tradition in the QCA.

April 25th -
On a stormy evening, Tara Witherow shared how she turned her lawn into a garden with native plants, which provide food for native insects and birds. Under the Davenport Native Roots Program, when a yard contains more than 80% native plants, it no longer needs to be mowed. Doing so, Tara no long used lawn chemicals, which end up in our water; eliminated emissions from lawn care equipment; brought back biodiversity; provided food for the pollinators; and brought carbon back into the soil. The added benefits are the time and cost savings in lawn care. That sounds like a win-win. You can learn more about what Tara did to her lawn the following Quad City Times article ("Lawns are Wasted Space") or contact Tara on her Facebook page.

May 30th -
Flood water covered the parking lot in front of Fresh Deli, but Green Drinks went on as scheduled. Dawn Temple, Administrator of the Rock Island County Soil and Water Conservation District brought her bin of worms and food wastes, and shared with us her Vermicomposting experience. In the US, we each generate about 277 pounds of food waste a year and only 3% of that is composted. Vermicomposting uses red wiggler worms, available from the bait shop, to compost. These worms eat their own weight in food every day, and produce nutrient-rich compost in about 3 months. This is done in a well-ventilated, covered storage bin that is kept indoors. The system is amazingly clean and odorless. It would be a great activity for the young environmentalist. For more information contact Dawn Temple on her Facebook page.

Susan Leuthauser

Environmental Forum Meeting

5/28/2019

PACG Environmental Forum Meeting -
Monday, June 3rd at 6:30 pm

Cobblestone Place
1212 W 3rd Street, Davenport, IA (map)

The PACG Environmental Forum will meet on the first Monday of each month. We welcome newcomers to our Forum ~ this week’s topics include:

June 27, 2019 PACG Environmental Forum Green Drinks on the last-Thursday-of-the-month (5:00-7:00 p.m.) networking opportunity at Fresh Deli (map) at the Freight House.

Earth Day 2020!!! Planning the 50th anniversary

Meeting with Iowa and Illinois state legislatures and federal representatives. Please bring a question you would like to ask your legislator to our meeting Monday evening.

Voters deserve to know: Which candidates commit to acting on climate change as a "Day One" priority when in office. Whether presidential candidates support the Green New Deal or can offer their own climate plan that also meets the scale of the crisis.

Sixty-two percent of voters believe that the federal government should do more to address climate change. (Jennifer Marlon et al., "Yale Climate Opinion Maps 2018," Yale Program on Climate Change Communication.)

Join us for this planning meeting!

Shirley Johnson

Earth Day 2019 Was a Success!

5/2/2019

2019 Earth Day Celebration - After Action Report

St. Ambrose University Rogalski Center and Freight House Farmers Market

The PACG Environmental Forum began the 2019 Earth Day celebration by screening the National Geographic film Paris to Pittsburgh on April 17th from 5 pm. to 7 p.m. at Rogalski Center, St. Ambrose University. This event was held jointly with the SAU Green Life Environmental Club. A panel discussion on Climate Change and actions needed to address this urgent issue followed the film. Approximately 120 students and members of the general public filled one of the Rogalski ballrooms, it was standing room only for the late comers.

The second Earth Day celebration was held on Saturday, April 20th, from 9 am to 1 pm at the Freight House in Davenport. The Environmental Forum teamed up with the Freight House Farmers Market and Living Lands & Water to host this event. Twenty speakers gave 10 minute “mini-TED” talks on various environmental topics. There were over twenty display and activity tables hosted by environmental organizations, a museum, and vendors. Many learned how to repurpose a T-shirt into a tote bag and Farmers Market kicked off their 2019 Bag Reduction Program.

There was live music, children’s activities, door prizes, and networking everywhere during the event. The river and weather cooperated - about 2,000 visitors enjoyed a beautiful sunny morning along the riverfront and learned about the urgency of protecting the environment. Visit our FB page for more pictures of the event.

Planning for the 2020 Earth Day events has already started. 2020 will mark the 50th Anniversary of Earth Day! If you have any suggestions, please contact the Environmental Forum and/or join us at one of our meetings on the first Monday of each month.

Susan Leuthauser

Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

4/22/2019

Candidate Questions - Environmental Issues

Let’s get organized before the next presidential candidates come to town! It’s hard to know what questions to ask, but here is a list that we have created. If you have additional questions you think should be asked, please contact our Office Manager, Amber Bordolo and we will add to this list.

If you attend a candidate’s event, print off this list (see the download link below) and have it handy in case you have an opportunity to ask questions. Listen carefully to the answers on the topics below. Take notes if you can, and report back to us in the Blog Comments below.

These are also good questions that should be addressed to your State legislatures when they hold legislative sessions or campaign for re-election.

1. Will you support the only current proposal that addresses the climate crisis, the Green New Deal?

2. Are you aware that the EPA had the lowest number of environmental fines in 2018 in decades? What will you do about the EPA’s substandard implementation of their own regulations?

3. Do you support protecting National Parks from drilling and exploration/extractive industries?

4. What is your plan to address this administration’s rollbacks on environmental protections on clean air and water, pollution and the use of clean energy?

5. What is your plan for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing our use of renewable energy?

6. What is your position on our country’s commitment to the Paris Climate Accord, and would you continue our planned withdrawal from that commitment?

7. Currently, corporate interests are prioritized over public health risks. What specifically will you do to change that?

8. What is your plan to invest in renewable energy and what is your timeline for doing so?

9. Are you in favor of carbon and other user taxes to address business’s negative environmental impacts?

10. Are you in favor of enforcing stricter federal regulations on companies who are out of compliance with environmental (EPA) regulations, regardless of their containment area?

11. Would you extend the current rebates on solar which are set to gradually fade starting in 2020?

Our Environmental Forum suggests the following questions for our Illinois and Iowa State legislators:

1. What are your specific plans to reduce our state’s carbon footprint, and what are your target dates and measurement tools?

2. Would you support implementing the current laws and standards of the EPA for each industry/company operating in the State?

3. Is there a state target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and, if so, what are the timelines?

4. Currently, corporate interests are prioritized over public health risks. What specifically will you do to change that?

5. What is your plan to invest in renewable energy, and what is your timeline?

6. Are you in favor of carbon and other user taxes to address business’s negative environmental impacts?

7. Are you in favor of enforcing stricter federal regulations for companies who are out of compliance with environmental (EPA) regulations, regardless of their containment area?

questions_for_candidates_-_environmental.docx
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Celebrate Earth Day in Davenport

4/15/2019

Earth Day Celebration - Saturday, April 20th at 9:00 am

Freight House
421 W River DR, Davenport, IA (map)

Environmental Forum

Join us in celebrating Earth Day on Saturday, April 20th from 9-1. There will be mini TED talks throughout the day, live music, 20 demonstration tables, and a full activity tent for kids with reptiles from Nahant Marsh and birds from the raptor center. And there will be door prizes! Food will be available at the adjacent restaurants. The interior portions of the Farmer's Market are up and running. The flood has not defeated us, but it does remind us that Climate Change is real.

Lori McCollum

Paris to Pittsburgh Film on Climate Change

4/15/2019

Paris to Pittsburgh Film - Wednesday, April 17th at 7:00 pm

Rogalski Center
St. Ambrose University
W High ST, Davenport, IA
(the parking lot is at Lombard ST and Ripley ST) (map)

Environmental Forum

Join us in viewing Paris to Pittsburgh, a free screening of the film produced by Bloomberg Philanthropies and RadicalMedia in 2018. We are co-sponsoring this event with the Green Life Environmental Club of St. Ambrose University to kick off the Earth Day weekend. There will be a panel presentation after the screening to discuss climate change and ways you can personally address this issue.