Hope and despair in an Iowa summer

Fall is upon us. Like school children everywhere, it is time to write about my summer.

I read. I read a fiction book about love in the 1800s. I read about plastics in our land and air. I read about water in Iowa. I read a growing amount of letters to the editor in our newspapers concerning farmers, lakes and fires. I found the web site to monitor beaches for public health to determine if it is safe for us to swim. I did not find anything about our governor meeting the farmers against the CO2 pipeline.

I saw hope and despair. A few more yards with dandelions blooming. A few more unmown ditches with ground cover and milkweed. A few more fields that were not corn or soybeans. Only three monarch butterflies in my backyard.

I tasted. I went to farmers markets. I tasted the flavors of fresh sweet corn, beans and butternut squash. I picked tomatoes from my backyard and dreamed of the great chili I will make this fall with these fresh tomatoes, local mushrooms and pasture raised meat. I made and savored my eggless egg salad and fresh spinach local tofu lasagna.

I smelled the air after a rainfall. I smelled the smoke from the Canadian fires. I learned to find what the AQI (air quality index) is to determine what I was going to do that day. I smelled the air from hog and cattle confinements and manure spreading.

I laughed and shared. I visited friends in their homes, at parks, and gatherings. Friends who served treated water or bottled water as their well water is so bad they only use it for washing clothes and bodies. Friends at parks where you can swim, catch fish, and eat them. Friends at other parks where you can't because of E.coli, algae blooms and nitrogen levels.

I listened to talk of friends' health, their families and vacations. Cancer is big. Families growing. Vacations big with problems flying, problems in national parks, and the heat down south.

I listened to local, state and federal politicians describe their plans (or lack thereof) to address problems of Iowa. Speeches with fear of change and others with hope for change.

I felt the love of Iowans in the hospital and all over Iowa. Friendly faces telling me how to enjoy Iowa and be safe at the same time.

I stayed in Iowa this summer. My summer was spent reading, tasting, smelling, seeing, visiting friends and family, catching up on their lives, and enjoying the people of Iowa. This summer was the same and yet so different from my summers of even five years ago on all my senses. Why? What can be done to protect our soil, water and the people of Iowa? Is this not important?

Charlene Lange lives in Iowa City.