Activists are planning town hall meetings across Iowa during December that will focus on the environment. The group Plains Justice calls them environmental caucuses and wants them to act as a springboard to hear people’s concerns about Iowa’s water, land and air.
Organizer Jane Duax of Davenport says these caucuses aren’t just for Democrats or Republicans: "This is very much a bipartisan issue and people of all backgrounds, white, black, Hispanic, Asian, everyone, rural, urban. We really want people of diverse backgrounds to come together around the environmental issues that affect our daily life."
Duax expects a host of topics to be covered. She says, "We’re really hoping to get people together to talk about their concerns about clean water, clean air, conservation, lead contamination, coal plant building and renewable energies." Duax says the goal is to compile Iowans’ concerns from the environmental caucuses in one report that’ll be forwarded to all presidential candidates and to the state legislature. She explains her motivations behind organizing the series of statewide meetings.
"I’ve always cared about the earth and what we’re doing to it." Duax says, "As a Girl Scout, growing up way back when, I was taught to leave the land cleaner than I found it. I’m worried about the future, for the kids growing up and what they’re going to have left to deal with if we don’t start taking care of things now."
The first environmental caucus is scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Waterloo, with more meetings to follow in: Cedar Rapids, Cedar Falls, Davenport, Dubuque, Eldridge, Fairfield, Jesup, Mapleton and Sioux City. For more information, contact Duax at (563) 349-1417 or visit " plainsjustice.org ".