The author Cornelia “Connie” Mutel assembled a cast of premier Iowa scientists and environmental activists to write essays for “Tending Iowa’s Land: Pathways to a Sustainable Future” (University of Iowa Press, 2022). On February 11, a lineup of these authors will introduce our state’s current environmental problems and lead a discussion on viable solutions. This book proposes plausible efforts that could benefit agriculture as they create a healthier natural world. Connie edited the book’s essays, which trace Iowa’s transformation from native prairies into today’s vast agricultural fields. While this conversion has provided abundant food, fiber, and fuel, it has also created the environmental problems that today challenge our everyday lives: polluted waters, increasing floods, degradation of rich prairie topsoils, compromised natural systems, and, now, climate change.

Connie is the author of over a dozen additional books, including A Sugar Creek Chronicle: Observing Climate Change from a Midwestern Woodland (Iowa, 2016) and The Emerald Horizon: The History of Nature in Iowa (Iowa, 2008). Before retiring, Connie was a senior science writer at IIHR – Hydroscience & Engineering at the University of Iowa College of Engineering. Tending Iowa’s Land received the 2023 Midwest Book Award for Nature.

Geoff Mouming, of Impact7G Sustainable Environmental Solutions, will present “Trees: An Environmental Investment” on March 10. Geoff is an admitted and unapologetic treehugger. Tree selection isn’t an art form but it does take purposeful planning to select the right tree for your specific landscape. Trees are a true asset and one of the best investments a homeowner can make to increase the value of a property. Planting trees should be a priority to offset climate change and to benefit the environment.

As the project manager for restoration services for Impact7G Natural Cultural Resources Division, Geoff is well known in the Johnson County area. For thirty-plus years, he worked in commercial landscape management for a lawn-and-landscape maintenance firm, overseeing prairie and pollinator installation. He also established and provided maintenance for corporate and institutional properties and worked with area service clubs and municipalities in multiple Earth Day/Arbor Day treeplanting projects. Geoff is an International Society of Arboriculture Certified Arborist, vice president of the board of directors of Iowa Valley Resource Conservation and Development, and the past president of the Rotary Club of Coralville/North Corridor.