The Mount Vernon-Lisbon chapter of the League of Women Voters held a forum on a range of sustainability programs in the Mount Vernon and Lisbon community.
Marti Hurst, member of the League of Women Voters Mount Vernon-Lisbon chapter explained that this was an effort of education for members of the League to be better informed.
The forum was moderated by Darrow Center.
Tom Wieseler provided explanations on solar power options in Linn and Johnson County, as well as the efforts that the City of Mount Vernon has completed.
Wieseler held 22 sessions about solar power throughout Linn and Johnson counties over a span of five years. During that timeframe, more than 500 homes signed up to have solar panels installed on their homes.
Wieseler, who has the panels on his home as well, noted the longest wait for installing a new solar panel was the connection with Alliant Energy.
When it came to some of the accomplishments of the sustainability in Mount Vernon, Wieseler highlighted: the creation of the sustainability committee; the rain barrel distribution program; Bee City USA designation; solar panels at Lester Buresh Center; Mount Vernon-Lisbon Police Department and Mount Vernon City Hall; electric car charging stations; allowing participation in No Mow May; beginning to look to allow prairie planting in Mount Vernon parks; changes to Republic Waste Management; train noise reduction.
Items the sustainability committee will not be approaching are: street pavers (bricks in the roadway); hybrid vehicles in the city’s fleet (due to a length to obtain those vehicles in a timely manner at this point); bike/scooter rental programs; use of plastic bags by grocery stores; utilizing swales as opposed to curbs and gutters for city streets.
Residential composting and investigating more community solar options (including a possible solar farm) are things that are still being worked on by the sustainability committee.
Joe Horaney with Solid Waste Agency spoke about the importance of recycling. Horaney said as long as recycling is empty, clean and dry (no food residue on it), cardboard, paper, aluminum, plastic 1 and 2 and glass are easily recycled.
Plastics that are above one and two, however, depend on the oil commodity prices if they are recycled.
“If oil prices are high, there can be a market for them to be recycled,” Horaney said.
A question from the audience was about which is better – glass or plastic to recycle.
Horaney said glass recycling gets more easily utilized, as Ripple Glass is willing to drive and pick up glass when it hits a certain weight from the Solid Waste Agency. That glass then gets reused for glass bottles in the future.
The other reason recycling was an important point for Horaney – the landfill near Marion will be closing in 2044.
“Our landfill will most likely be completely full in 2037,” Horaney said. “It’s why we keep harping on reduce, reusing and recycling, as that reduces the amount off space taken in the landfill.”
Horaney said that he knows for some it can take a conscious effort to recycle, where Mount Vernon has curbside recycling available.
“Events like the derecho greatly increased the amount of trash we received in one year and shrunk the lifespan of the landfill as well,” Horaney said.
When the landfill sunsets, Horaney said that there will likely not be a new landfill constructed in Linn County, the county will be looking at a transfer station instead.
Fred Meyer spoke about the importance of making efforts to live in harmony with their environment.
With Iowa experiencing a continued drought, he was advising people to better investigate the plants that might be in their yards or spaces.
“Grass doesn’t have a deep root system,” Meyer said. “Because of that, there’s a lot more erosion of dirt.”
Meyer said that with global warming, the higher rainfall amounts will be seen in spring and fall, but less precipitation will be seen in the summer when plants are most stressed out.
Prairie or other native plants have deeper root systems.
“It’s going to take a different way of thinking to get out off the mess we’ve helped create,” Meyer said.
His best advice is to do whatever makes someone happy in the space they are spending outdoors with the plants they plant to help increase pollinator habitats.
“I’d advise starting small and seeing what works for you,” Meyer said. “You can always expand what you do in your yard in the future.”
Even if it is just a small patch you grow, you’ll see some benefits. He encourages any item you plant different than your normal grass should have something like edging so people looking at it can see aesthetic nature.
Questions were on how best to maintain prairie or similar plants if burning wasn’t an option. Mowing is still an option for those plants, though it would take more human effort for that type of maintenance.
Gretchen Reeh-Robinson spoke about the importance of participating in No Mow May.
She encouraged people to look into Senate File 2392, which would allow immunity for pesticide companies from civil liability for the chemicals use.
Reeh-Robinson said she had participated in No Mow May last year as a way to help pollinators get a stronger footing in the spring. That especially includes the first batch of weeds like dandelions, which are a good first source for pollinators.
She also agreed with Meyer that the importance of a diversity of plants in a yard is a better option, not just the monoculture of traditional grass lawns.
“If you’re participating in No Mow May, it’s counterproductive to mow in the last week of April, as the goal is to let those pollinators be undisturbed as long as possible,” Reeh-Robinson said. “Even when you start mowing lawns, raise the height of the length you’re cutting to allow pollinators opportunities to be safe.”
She reiterated dandelions are one of those early plants that many pollinators will eat in April, May and June, as they’re plentiful and available. Once dandelions go to seed, that is a perfect time to mow lawns for the first time, as many pollinators will have emerged and eaten their first meals.
She encouraged people to be stewards of the land – an advocate for quality water, quality air and quality air. There are more than 5,000 species of bees in the United States.
Her other issue was the use of chemical pesticides and herbicides applied to many yards in Mount Vernon and Lisbon, which impact animals like dogs. She encouraged people to think about those chemicals in many yards.