Responsible and accountable

He closed his speech with an earnest plea that if everyone would just do their part, on their own property, then we could realize real improvement in the air and water quality in Iowa. And that's when it clicked for me: He was utterly sincere in his beliefs, and there was no way to actually achieve his vision.

I was being honored at a ceremony to award environmental excellence hosted by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, featuring Governor Branstad and DNR Director Chuck Gipp. It was exciting to be in a room with so many concerned parties. However at Gipp's closing remarks, my enthusiasm deflated.

The event revealed the leaders' belief that personal initiative will solve our environmental crisis. Personal responsibility is a noble and fundamental American attribute, but if there is no accountability, then there is no responsibility; it's just an empty phrase. We've seen evidence of this throughout our history.

As Director of the U.S. Food Administration, Herbert Hoover was able to convince Americans to save food for the Great War. When the Great Depression threatened to throw the country into ruin, Hoover's belief in individual initiative failed. Later, the real threat to America in World War II necessitated mandated rationing. National survival could not leave the decision up to individuals. Accordingly, responsibility was paired successfully with accountability.

Ballyhooed Federal Reserve Chairmen Allen Greenspan served Republican and Democrat presidents over 18 years. Such was Greenspan's devotion to personal initiative that he believed even policing fraud was unnecessary because individual bankers would sort out the winners and losers. That lack of simple accountability helped give us the housing bubble and subsequent market crash of 2008.

Finally, it's been more than 40 years since the Clean Water Act was enacted and Iowa still is not in compliance. Municipalities and industry have made enormous strides. Yet what I heard from Branstad and Gipp was a belief that accountability is not necessary for landowners. While Iowa fields pollute the water with nitrogen, the state awarded more than $300 million in tax credits to build new factories to increase the fertilizer supply. When a bipartisan Iowa Legislature fully funded the state's Resource Enhancement and Protection program, the Governor saw fit to cut over $10 million from water quality measures, claiming it was too expensive. Iowa's Nutrient Strategy to reduce agricultural pollution is totally voluntary.

Environmental quality is a crisis that requires real accountability. Imagine the devastation to our economy when our soil becomes so degraded that no amount of chemical application can make it productive. Regardless if you live in a town or city, have a commodity-based job or work in high-tech, it would be a catastrophe.

' John Hanson, Ed.D., teaches Social Studies at Linn-Mar High School. He earned a Governor's Award in Environmental Excellence in July. Comments: johnlhanson@hotmail.com