The land we call Iowa evolved as a prairie with perennial grasses and flowers storing carbon in deep roots and through photosynthesis provided the oxygen that sustained remarkable biodiversity.

Now the prairie is full of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) raising 25 million hogs, 55 million chickens, and 3 million cattle annually. Much of the corn and soybeans grown in monocultures is used to feed confined livestock and poultry, but the manure from these CAFOs and the excessive fertilizer used to increase crop yield pollutes Iowa’s waterways and in the Gulf of Mexico adds to the expanding dead zone.

Genesis 1:28 attributed to the Creator—"Fill the earth and subdue it"—surely does not justify abusing livestock and poultry, depleting the soil's fertility, and polluting rivers with manure and excess fertilizer.

Mercy for Animals, a farmer-led movement for a better food system, “helping farmers transition from industrial animal agriculture operations to raising crops for human consumption.” (https://thetransfarmationproject.org/)

The Transfarmation Project sponsored by Mercy for Animals is “assisting two sites, one former chicken farm and one former pig farm, where farmers will work hand in hand with Transfarmation to convert their entire barns for mushroom and specialty-crop cultivation.

Hog farmer Tanner Faaborg hopes his family farm’s conversion will help guide other CAFO farmers to switch to regenerative farming. Photo: Annick Sjobakken for The New York Times

Plants can alter their structure in response to changes in their environment: this turning of part or all of the organism is called tropism. The various types of tropisms include gravitropism (reacting to gravity), thigmotropism (reacting to physical contact), phototropism (reacting to light), and heliotropism (growing or changing their shape in response to sunlight specifically). An example of this is a flower opening, closing, and/or orienting itself at different times of the day according to when the sun is out and where it is.

Suzanne Simard, Professor of Forest Ecology at the University of British Columbia, says: “My queries started from a place of solemn concern for the future of our forests but grew into an intense curiosity, one clue leading to another, about how the forest was more than just a collection of trees. In this search for the truth, the trees have shown me their perceptiveness and responsiveness, connections and conversations. What started as a legacy, and then a place of childhood home, solace, and adventure in western Canada, has grown into a fuller understanding of the intelligence of the forest and, further, an exploration of how we can regain our respect for this wisdom and heal our relationship with nature.”

Upcycling is recycling that adds value to the materials being recycled. As a child in Mumbai, India Angad Daryani developed asthma due to the polluted air. After studying engineering, Daryani developed an air purifier that captures carbon pollutants in a way enabling reuse of the carbon to make floor tiles.

The captured carbon is given to Carbon Craft Design, an Indian company that combines the carbon pollutants with stone waste from a quarry and a binding agent such as clay to make the tiles. Carbon and stone waste together are “upcycled” into a useful product at a marketable price. Also, the carbon emissions removed from the air will not leak back into the atmosphere.

A retired University of Iowa water researcher, Chris Jones, explains that there has been enough rain in the first two weeks of May to fill Iowa’s rivers with nitrate runoff. Jones reports: “1.6 million pounds of nitrate-nitrogen are passing the Iowa River gaging station in southeast Iowa, *every day*. That’s the equivalent of 11 rail cars of anhydrous ammonia.”

Why is stream nitrate greater after a drought, which Iowa has experienced? “Because nitrate is accumulated in the soil by 1) lack of normal loss from crop fields to the stream network during dry years, and 2) poor nitrogen uptake by corn when moisture is in short supply.”

Dasia Taylor, a high school junior, has received national recognition for developing a surgical suture additive from beet roots that changes color when an infection is present.

Human skin is naturally acidic, and “when our wounds are infected, our pH increases from five to eight or higher,” Taylor said. “I found that beets also change color at that point. So I put two and two together.”

In the lab, she observed that the beet-dyed sutures change “almost instantaneously” from that light purple to dark purple, almost magenta, when the pH level changes from healthy to infected, Taylor said.

“Composting is a sustainable and environmentally friendly method of managing organic waste. It offers numerous benefits for the environment and communities by converting food scraps, yard trimmings, and other organic materials into nutrient-rich soil amendments. Composting not only reduces waste but also mitigates greenhouse gas emissions and promotes sustainable agriculture.

“PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a class of 15,000 synthetic chemicals used to make products waterproof as well as heat or stain resistant.3 PFAS are used in consumer products and they don't break down in the environment. PFAS have been found in a number of food products and in the blood and urine of humans around the globe.4

“The EPA says PFAS exposure, even in small amounts, is linked to serious health problems over time, including cancer, thyroid disruption and reduced vaccine response.