New Book Examines Environmental Issues Through Conversations with Iowans from Diverse Backgrounds and Experiences

DES MOINES, IA – This summer, the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC) released Sacrifice State: Iowa Voices on Environment and Justice, a collaborative book project with Drake University’s Drake Community Press (DCP). The book launch took place at IEC’s Green Soiree event, a fundraiser at Mainframe Studios featuring Fort Dodge artist Madai Taylor.

IEC and Drake University faculty and students partnered to examine evolving environmental issues through the lens of diverse Iowans. Dr. Carol Spaulding-Kruse, author and director of the DCP, guided conversations around complex social and environmental problems alongside multiple cohorts of student-led interviews. The project created a space for dialogue between diverse Iowans and advancing the conversation around Iowa's evolving environment. This work culminated into Sacrifice State’s thematically chaptered interview excerpts.

Artwork from Madai Taylor, a professional mixed-medium artist, is displayed at the beginning of each chapter. Taylor's collection, When the Earth Cries, explores the fundamental, enigmatic themes of human rights, connection, and personal growth. The pieces showcased in this book use soil samples from Iowa, Wisconsin, Tennessee, and Arizona to draw connections to interviewees' experiences, their ancestral roots, and their impacts on the natural environment.

“Interlaced throughout the book, Madai Taylor’s earth paintings and poetry unearth the latent sediments of material witness to past and present abuses of nature and peoples,” said Mira Engler, Ph.D. Emerita Professor in Landscape Architecture & Urban Design at Iowa State University. “Animated with vibrant hues, furry scratches, and vigilant textures, his ensembles of smudged soil layers and found debris render scarred the earthly surface, akin to wounded human skin, and add a poignant, haunting visual voice to the myriad textual voices composing the book.”

Sacrifice State speaks to the current and amplifying issues of environmental conditions in Iowa, while highlighting the unique beliefs and experiences of those who were interviewed. Despite the conflicting opinions and beliefs in this book, we hope this book leaves an impression of unity, as the underlying environmental conditions affect us all. We acknowledge that this book cannot possibly grasp the true diversity of this state, but we believe it still captures the array of challenges, tensions, triumphs, and dreams of those interviewed.

“This remarkable book brings together the voices of hundreds of respected Iowans who share their deep love for this state, their sorrow, and their anger at the tragic - and unnecessary - loss of our once-rich natural inheritance,” said Linda Appelgate, IEC Founding Executive Director. “Their words speak for our ravaged landscape in ways we cannot ignore: our loss of habitat, topsoil, forest, prairie, clean rivers and streams, abundant wildlife, and the quality of life that once was. Yet, still, it offers a ray of hope that with determination, tenacity, and reason, we can begin to restore some of what we've lost and protect what remains of this precious, beautiful land.”

Resources:

Link to video with IEC Executive Director Sarah Green and DCP Director Carol Spaulding-Kruse: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sY-6YnsTFLY

Link to the Storymap about Sacrifice State: 

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/9a43abdb017c4887b73da9a947064db5

Link to order Sacrifice State: 

https://iaenvironment.salsalabs.org/sacrificestatedonations

Contact: 

If you would like to receive a review copy or coordinate an interview with IEC or DCP, please contact Bethany Kohoutek via email at kohoutek@iaenvironment.org.