DYERSVILLE, Iowa -- Climate change and the conversation about solutions to it are being taken up by people of faith in Iowa, especially farmers, who are hit particularly hard by floods, droughts and other climate events.

"All major faith traditions have something to say about caring for the Earth, and all major faith traditions have something to say about caring for those who are most vulnerable in our world," said the Rev. Susan Hendershot Guy, who is ordained within the Disciples of Christ Church and also is executive director of Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, a group that brings together people of all religious backgrounds. "Climate change is an issue that's impacting the Earth and the most vulnerable in our world."

Guy said Iowa farmers have been feeling the effects of climate change the most.

"I've seen farmers who are having crop impacts from seasons of severe flooding and extreme weather events and also seasons of drought," she said. "So we know that the cycle is kind of going up and down and this is having a huge impact on the people who are living in our rural communities in Iowa."

As a group bringing together people of diverse faiths, she said, the goal is to normalize the conversation around climate change. She said it's time to move beyond debates on its existence and instead work on solutions, many of which already have been enacted.

"There are some great things that are happening on farms in terms of energy efficiency, in terms of renewable energy like wind and solar, and they're having a really positive economic impact in rural communities," she said. "They're creating jobs and they're lowering the cost of doing business on a farm."

Guy is part of a panel of speakers featured at tonight's forum on the intersection between faith, climate change and agriculture being held in Nevada, Iowa. The forum also will present agricultural scientists from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, Iowa State University and DuPont.

Information about the forum is online at CFRA.org.


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Connecticut is celebrating its first estuary reserve, which will help identify environmental threats to waterways and natural resources.

Connecticut's first National Estuarine Research Reserve (NERR) designates more than 50,000 acres of Long Island Sound, adjacent marshes and upland areas for research on climate resiliency, water quality and fish and wildlife habitats.

Patrick Comins, executive director of the Connecticut Audubon Society, has been a strong advocate for the reserve and said it can be a catalyst for critical conservation activity.

"The research that sheds light on the strategies within the NERR for things like climate resilience and mitigation will not only benefit the species -- things like bluefish, saltmarsh sparrow, semipalmated sandpiper, within the NERR -- but will also benefit them wherever they occur, the habitat and the species," Comins outlined.

Nearly 50 species listed under the Connecticut Endangered Species Act can be found within the reserve.

Saturday's designation ceremony is invitation-only and will take place at 11 a.m. on the University of Connecticut's Avery Point campus, which will be the research reserve's headquarters. The reserve receives funding from the state and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Roughly $1 million per year will be earmarked for the reserve.

Kevin O'Brien, supervising environmental analyst for the Connecticut Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, said the reserve's educational component for local schools is also key, adding it will help foster environmental stewardship.

"As you're collecting information on changes in water temperature or water quality, opportunities for educational programs to get students to the reserve to work with that data to understand what some of the data might suggest about what the estuary's health is," O'Brien explained.

The research reserve is the country's 30th. Speakers at Saturday's event will include national and state government leaders, representatives from The University of Connecticut and others. After the ceremony, guests will be invited to join a boat tour of a section of the reserve.

A totem pole from Washington state promoting a free-flowing Snake River has nearly completed its 2,500-mile journey around the Northwest.

The Spirit of the Waters Totem Pole Journey started in early May in Bellingham, near the Lummi Indian Reservation where it was carved. Since then, it's traveled through Oregon, Idaho and back to Seattle on Thursday.

Jewell James, head carver of the House of Tears Carvers, said the pole is 16 feet long, weighs 3,000 pounds and sits on two carved, eight-foot-long salmon.

"A killer whale that has a baby whale on its nose to reflect Tahlequah, the whale that lost her calf and carried it around Puget Sound for 17 days and over 1,000 miles trying to get the message to us, the human beings, that we are killing them off," James explained.

James noted the journey is supporting the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes' call to remove four dams on the lower Snake River in southeast Washington, which are impeding salmon migration. The salmon's population drop in the Columbia River Basin in recent decades also has starved Southern Resident orcas in Puget Sound.

Dam supporters said they are integral for barging and irrigation in the region. But James countered there is growing disappointment among tribes and conservation groups with lawmakers' inaction as salmon near extinction.

"They're more prone to protect the interests of corporations than they are the general public," James contended. "And we find that a little frustrating."

The journey has brought together tribal members, conservation groups and the faith community to call for the restoration of the Salmon River. The totem pole is making its final stop in Tacoma today.

This afternoon, members of the public will get to have a say on the management plan for the first new aquatic preserve created in Florida in 32 years.

In 2020, Gov. Ron DeSantis signed legislation to create the Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve, which will protect some 400,000 acres of seagrass spanning more than 700 square miles along Citrus, Hernando, and Pasco counties.

Keith Kolasa, aquatic services and waterways manager with the Hernando County Department of Public Works, said the goal is to be proactive in protecting many sensitive ecosystems.

"Protect and preserve a resource that's in good shape," said Kolasa, "versus trying to restore it similar to what we've seen in Tampa Bay and to the south, where there have been a lot of red tide and algae blooms."

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection will host two remaining public hearings, a virtual one at 6 p.m. today to present the draft Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve Management Plan to the public for their review and feedback, and an in-person meeting next Tuesday in Crystal River.

Details are on floridadep.gov.

The Nature Coast Aquatic Preserve is the second-largest aquatic preserve in Florida. Justin Grubich, science and policy officer with The Pew Charitable Trusts, said the management plan ensures that the way of life can thrive in the area that is heavily dependent on seagrass.

"Not only the biological inhabitants, all the sea turtles and manatees and fish and scallops that we like to catch and view," said Grubich, "but it also helps those coastal communities that depend on those resources for their livelihood."

Grubich said the management plan is a crucial component because it sets the road map for nearly everything that will happen at the preserve, from education to habitat monitoring.

It also identifies the priorities of maintaining those ecosystems and balancing them with public use.

Grubich said another critical component is gathering data management for research and learning about species beyond the areas currently known.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Pew Charitable Trusts.