Organic luncheon servings include homemade bread sandwiches, soup and salad as presented by CREPE ESCAPE's Christine Goodale, and GREAT TASTE's Steve Boss Kathy DuBois. S.E.E.D. Center is adjacent to Abundance EcoVillage. Entertainment and brief presentations celebrating solar-powered KRUU-FM's 20-part statewide energy efficiency and sustainability series, funded by the community with a matching grant from the Iowa Power Fund's Office of Energy Independence. Heartfelt thanks to the community not only for making this series happen, but for making KRUU the Midwest's first solar-powered radio station and a vital part of Fairfield's do-it-yourself connect-the-dots inner outreach.

In the final segment, Dream Green series' co-hosts Stuart Tanner and James Moore sum up what they've found in their journey of discovery across the state highlighting success stories, cutting edge communities and best practices in energy efficiency. They'll talk about where Iowa is at, what they've learned, and where they see the state heading, sustainability-wise.

Stuart and James have nearly completed their journey across Iowa, with only two programs left! Make sure to catch the final installments of Dream Green.

Dream Green will continue as an ongoing resource for schools, radio stations, businesses, and beyond here on our website, greeniowa.org.  

This educational tool provides a comprehensive database of new and old technologies Iowans are using to power their lives. 

A Look at MidAmerican Energy Turbine Manufacturers Siemens and Clipper Windpower

This week “Dream Green” co-hosts Stuart Tanner and James Moore are talking about the wind in the ‘sales’ ofsome of Iowa’s key players in the wind industry. Tune in online at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 29 at www.kruufm.com. (Rebroadcast Monday, October 3 at 7 a.m. Archives of series available at www.greeniowa.org.)

Des Moines-based MidAmerican Energy is number one in the nation in ownership of wind-powered electric generation among rate-regulated utilities. Around 20 percent of the company’s electric generation capacity comes from renewable resources. When a new project involving 258 new wind turbines is completed in Iowa, over a quarter of the total capacity will come from wind. The project will add around 600 megawatts to MidAmerican Energy’s generation portfolio, enough to power an additional 190,000 homes.

"There hasn't been a road we've taken across the state on this whole series where we haven't driven past big long wind turbine blades being pulled by trucks," said co-host James Moore. "When you realize MidAmerican, a utility company servicing Iowa and working with Iowan manufacturing, is projecting a 25% ratio of wind in its portfolio by 2012, you get the picture of Iowa's leading role in this area. We have a great discussion with company spokesperson Tina Pothoff."

dreamgreen  Iowans making a greener tomorrow... today.

Thursday, September 29 at 7pm

[Rebro Monday, Oct 3 at 7am]

This week co-hosts Stuart Tanner and James Moore speak with food advocate and educator Rich Pirog, who worked for 20 years at ISU's Leopold Center and this year took a position at Michigan State University, as well as Amana Society president John Peterson and Amana Farms manager John McGrath who give a walking tour of Amana Colonies' renewable methane digester.

Follow the journey across the state at www.greeniowa.org.

dreamgreen  Iowans making a greener tomorrow... today.

Thursday, September 22 at 7pm [Rebro Monday, Sept 26 at 7am]

Join co-hosts Stuart Tanner and James Moore as they shine the Dream Green spotlight on Fairfield, Iowa with a visit to Ecovillage featuring a tour of Amy Greenfield and Troy Van Beek's sustainable home, and interviews with Mayor Ed Malloy, who  was named by MSN.com to a nationwide list of 15 greenest U.S. mayors for the city's efforts on their go green initiative, and sustainability coordinator Scott Timm, who also works for the Iowa State University Extension Office.

Learn what great strides this entrepreneurial haven in the southeast corner of Iowa is making in terms of self-sufficiency and sustainability

Contact: James Moore
Station Manager, KRUU-FM
Phone: 641.233.1617
Email: james@kruufm.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

“Dream Green” Radio Series Gets Schooled
on University of Iowa’s Impressive Sustainability Practices

Interviews Walking Tour to Air
Sept. 15, 7 p.m. on KRUU-FM

dreamgreen  Iowans making a greener tomorrow... today.

Thursday, September 15 at 7pm

The Dream Green focus this week is on the remarkable sustainability efforts at the University of Iowa in Iowa City. Co-hosts Stuart Tanner James Moore speak with UI's Office of Sustainability director Liz Christiansen, energy director Glen Mowrey, power plant manager Ben Fish, environmental specialist Darice Baxter and take walking tours of UI's energy control center, power plant, energy district, and student gardens.

Follow the journey of discovery across the state at greeniowa.org.

dreamgreen  Iowans making a greener tomorrow... today.

Thursday, September 8th at 7pm on solar-powered KRUU-FM

This week Dream Green spotlights green policy with featured guests David Osterberg, founder and executive director of the Iowa Policy Project, and John Collins, associate chair of MUM's Sustainable Living Department.

Policy has played, and continues to play, a critical role in the growth of the green sector. Learn how Iowa became the first state in the U.S. to pass legislation promoting the use of renewable resources and about other alternatives that have worked elsewhere.

Former Iowa state representative David Osterberg was chairman of the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee as well as the Agriculture Committee. In 1983 he was instrumental in getting the first green legislation passed in the country under then governor Terry Branstad. He ran as the Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in 1998 and worked for one year as a consultant to the Iowa Department of Natural Resources. Osterberg holds an M.S. in water resources management and another in agricultural economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is an associate clinical professor in the Department of Occupational and Environmental Health at the University of Iowa. [Read more below.]

dreamgreen  Iowans making a greener tomorrow... today.

Thursday, September 1st at 7pm [rebroadcast Mon, Sept 5 at 7am on solar-powered KRUU-FM], the Dream Green series interviews microbiologist Elaine Ingham, founder of Soil Foodweb Inc. Recognized around the world as a leader in soil microbiology, Ingham is a key author of the USDA's Soil Biology Primer. In 2011, Ingham was named as The Rodale Institute's chief scientist. She also teaches courses at Maharishi University of Management.

Also featured is Francis Thicke, owner of Radiance Dairy Farm, an 80-cow, grass-fed organic dairy farm located in Fairfield with a number of sustainable components. After earning a PhD in soil biology, Thicke worked at the USDA in Washington, D.C., serving as the National Program Leader for Soil Science for the USDA-Extension Service. He and wife Susan returned to full-time farming in 1992. Thicke ran unsuccessfully for the position of Secretary of Agriculture for Iowa in 2010 as a member of the Democratic Party.

Thursday, August 25 at 7pm

(Rebro Mon, Aug 29 at 7am)

on solar-powered www.KRUUfm.com

Access Energy is a different kind of company. It’s a utilities company that is structured as a co-operative. In the company's own words: ‘Every customer is an owner of the business. Unlike other electric utilities, your co-op exists to make sure your needs are met, not to make a profit. As a member-owner, you share in the margins earned in the form of dividend checks.' Yes, that’s right. The profit the company makes is shared back with the owners of the company--the customers. 

On the 2^nd of August, with a heat index of nearly 120 degrees, James and I went to the annual general meeting. It’s like a party celebration with a few speeches thrown in. We saw the customers of Access queuing up to receive their checks. I’m sure many of us wish our energy provider was a cooperative. But unfortunately, utilities are given the rights to operate exclusively in an area. So what you get depends on where you are.  

Thursday, August 18 at 7pm [Rebro Mon 7am]

Founded in 1836, Davenport is the largest of the Quad Cities. With a population of almost 100,000, it is Iowa's third largest city. In 2007, Davenport, along with neighboring Rock Island, won the City Livability Award in the small-city category from the U.S. Conference of Mayors.

The Dream Green series visits with Mayor Bill Gluba at his office and takes walking tours of the new 96,000 square foot LEED-certified police department, the wastewater facility which is saving the city $800,000 to a million dollars a year by trapping its own methane gas, award-winning compost facility and even a nature preserve called Nahant Marsh, one of the last remaining urban wetlands on the Upper Mississippi River.

This week on Thursday, August 11th at 7pm on solar-powered www.KRUUfm.com, the "Dream Green" series visits the Biomass Energy Conversion Facility in Nevada, Iowa to speak with its executive director Norm Olson, PE. He takes co-hosts Stuart Tanner and James Moore on a walking tour of the BECON facility which serves as a bridge for bringing applied technologies from research to the marketplace. Mr. Olson has been a project manager for the Iowa Energy Center since 1992. He developed the concept and led the implementation of the Energy Center’s two research facilities: the Energy Resource Station in Ankeny, Iowa and the BECON Facility in Nevada, Iowa. Mr. Olson also coordinates the Energy Center’s biomass to chemicals and energy portfolio of projects. Prior to joining the Energy Center, Mr. Olson was the energy engineering manager at the University of Iowa. Mr. Olson is a registered professional engineer.

Also on the docket is a walking tour with Iowa State University Extension water resources engineer Matt Helmers, who take Tanner and Moore to a prairie research field outside of Boone, Iowa for a discussion on switch grass, prairie grass, crop rotation, soil erosion and much more. An assistant professor in the ISU Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Helmers ia an Iowa native from Sibley where his family still farms. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. His research focus is on water quality and hydrologic effects of agricultural best management practices, including strategic placement and design of buffer systems and methods to improve water quality in tile drained landscapes. His extension focus is on education of producers and other stakeholders on the impacts of agricultural practices on water quality and methods to minimize these impacts. 

I just spoke with someone who heard our latest program on Lonnie Gamble and the MUM Sustainable Living Center. He said, "I loved the show and what you're doing. It made me want to make my whole house green."

Sweet!

Dream Green is featuring the Sustainable Living department at Maharishi University of Management in our latest Dream Green show.  The leading lights of the department are Lonnie Gamble and David Fischer, both of whom have done so much to promote the creation of a sustainable future.  It's fascinating to hear Lonnie talk about sustainability and renewable energy.  His commitment and depth of knowledge are truly impressive.  But we all know that even if we accept the need and logic of creating a sustainable future it's not necessarily

THURSDAY, AUGUST 4th at 7pm [Rebro Mon Aug 8th at 7am]

This week Stuart and I speak with Prof. Lonnie Gamble about a wide range of sustainability issues and take a walking tour of Maharishi University of Management's new Sustainable Living Center in our hometown of Fairfield, Iowa.

We also speak with Sustainable Living Dept faculty speak with Sustainable Living Dept faculty member Travis Cox and check in with two MUM sustainability students, Minca Borg and Jim Schleppenbach.

I call Prof. Gamble Lonnie Appleseed because he seems to plant seeds of possibility in every mind he touches and everywhere he goes. Join us for a lively discussion of all things green on Thursday, August 4th at 7pm CST on solar-powered www.kruufm.com.

Next up, airing Thursday, July 28th on solar-powered KRUU-FM at 7pm, Stuart and I travel to Ames to check out a solar manufacturing company named PowerFilm, Inc., for a chat with co-founder and CEO  Frank Jeffrey and president and COO Tim Neugent. This innovative company has been going since 1988, employs 100 people, recently hiring 10 new employees. They work closely with partner businesses, provide thin solar film for military applications like solar tents--even solar hats for night time reading!! Their latest venture is developing a flexible computer screen with Hewlett-Packard. We also take a walking tour of their facilities and learn about the intricate, complex manufacturing system involved in producing thin solar film.

We also meet with Bob Haug, director of the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities, at their LEED-certified headquarters near Ankeny. IAMU represents more than 550 municipal electric, gas, water and telecommunication utilities statewide, and maintains a marketing relationship with more than 185 associate member businesses. Organized in 1947, the Iowa Association of Municipal Utilities today is the largest organization of its kind in the country.

Dubuque is Iowa's oldest city. But it is one of the state's brightest examples of what's possible when city planning is inspired by active citizen and business participation, and guided by visionary leadership. The day we were there, the local newspaper headlines read: "City on its way to reducing greenhouse gases by 50%." Later that day, we learned that Dubuque was receiving the Governor's 2011 Environmental Excellence Award. Learn what Dubuque is doing right with its balanced and inclusive approach from Mayor Roy Buol and sustainability coordinator Cori Burbach. Thu Jul 21 at 7pm CST; Rebro Mon Jul 25 at 7am www.kruufm.com www.greeniowa.org

The Dream Green team went on a quest to the oldest city in Iowa to learn why this river town has gained a reputation not only for its years, but its wisdom. The Natural Resources Defense Council named Dubuque a 2010 Smarter City for Energy because of the local government's initiative and follow-through in creating sustainable city projects.

This episode of Dream Green will air in two weeks. It will feature a tour of Dubuque's manicured downtown and of its historic millwork district in the midst of green transformation, guided by Mayor Roy Buol and sustainability coordinator for the city, Cori Burbach.

Co-host Stuart Tanner comments: 

If listeners want to find out who’s at the leading edge of creating a sustainable city, Dubuque has made its case and it’s pretty impressive. In the 1980’s Dubuque’s unemployment rate was higher than 20 percent, so the success they have had is not only about being nice to the planet but creating economic prosperity as well….

And that’s why they have other interested parties knocking on their door to learn from their expertise, which they are willingly, sagely, and wisely sharing with others. It’s very impressive, and really puts Dubuque on the map not only in the state but in the whole country.

Fred Kirschenmann is a deep thinker when it comes to making agriculture sustainable.   He's had an organic farm since the 1960s and been involved with green issues in theory and practice for five decades.  We ask him the tough questions on how to make agriculture sustainable.   Fred argues that large-scale farming that relies on very few crops with little genetic diversity and large scale industrial economics is no longer viable.  There are challenges coming - a less stable climate - the increasing cost of fuel - the shortage of fertilizer and the ageing of the current generation of farmers.  We need a greater diversity of crops and to inspire a new generation of farmers who want to grow food for their local communities.  Greater diversity of crops is better for the soil and more robust in a less stable climate.  Fred's greatest hopes lie in changing from annual crops to perennial ones.  It is quite amazing how much this will benefit the soil, water retention and the fundamental economics.  Fred explains to us some of the more recent research that is helping to create perennial food crops that will greatly assist in this transformation to a more sustainable model.

Iowa’s agricultural empire is teetering on a shaky structure, according to Fred Kirschenmann, farmer and distinguished fellow for Iowa Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture in Ames.

A national and international leader in sustainable agriculture and owner of a 2,600-acre organic farm, Kirschenmann’s insights cannot be taken lightly.

On Thursday, July 14 at 7 p.m., the Dream Green series will air interviews with some of Iowa’s “greenest” agricultural advocates. Tune in online at www.kruufm.com as show hosts Stuart Tanner and James Moore talk sustainability with Fred Kirschenmann, former Director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, and take a walking tour of the Hort Farm with Malcolm Robertson, Leopold Center staff. 

“If we want to be sustainable and energy efficient in Iowa then clearly what happens in the agricultural sector is crucial,” says “Dream Green” co-host Stuart Tanner. “The Leopold Center for sustainable agriculture is the place to go to find out what is happening and what needs to be done. In this week’s broadcast, Fred Kirschenmann addresses the toughest questions on the issue of sustainability and agriculture. He has thought deeply about these issues for decades and has a practical knowledge based on running a 2,600-acre organic farm himself.”