A Pulitzer Prize-winning writer’s new book examines the damage humans have done to the land and waters of rural Iowa. But despite the damage, Art Cullen believes it’s not too late to reverse course.
Cullen is co-owner and editor of the “Storm Lake Times” in northwest Iowa. He earned a Pulitzer Prize in 2017 for a series of editorials about agricultural surface water pollution in the state.
He continues to write about environmental destruction with his new collection of essays, “Dear Marty, We Crapped In Our Nest: Notes from the Edge of the World.”
The book is published by Ice Cube Press.
Cullen told TSPR we need to take stock of how we’re depleting our natural resources. He said we’re drinking aquifers dry, and allowing soil to erode down the Mississippi River.
“What used to be feet deep of black soil is now inches deep,” he said.
He said that soil and the agri-chemicals in it are ending up in the Gulf of Mexico, which he says could be renamed the Gulf of Nitrates.
But Cullen believes all is not lost. He said rural communities and agriculture can be prosperous by changing their approach to the landscape from one of domination to one of living within what the land will allow.
“That’s what the native people did before the Europeans showed up with their idea of manifest destiny,” Cullen said.
“We need to learn from the native people that lived sustainably and lived very abundant lives. We need to learn from how they approached the landscape. They considered themselves to be in community with the land.”
He said people know how to save soil, do minimum tillage, and plant cover crops. It’s just a matter of will, and he believes the will is there as people realize what they’re losing.
Cullen is currently working on a series of short web videos. He said the documentaries are about the issues facing rural Iowa: water quality, cancer, agriculture, and rural consolidation.
“They all point to each other. Water is implicated in cancer, which is implicated in agriculture, which is implicated in consolidation. It’s all interrelated, all these issues,” Cullen said.
He said those issues are causing a drain on rural America.
The video project brought him to Keokuk recently. He said the town is an example of what happens after 50 years of rural consolidation. He said about 40% of the buildings on the city’s Main Street are vacant.
“It’s amazing to me how the people of Keokuk are determined to make their community successful, despite getting no help from Des Moines. They get flown over and ignored,” he said.
Cullen said that lack of help from the state makes it difficult for communities such as Keokuk, Fort Madison, and Burlington to recover from setbacks such as plant closures. He said CNH’s recent announcement that it will close its plant in Burlington is “a huge loss to the region.”
He believes the solution to the problems plaguing these rural communities is local direction and local ownership. He said towns have been hurt when locally owned manufacturers were replaced by multi-national conglomerates that have no investment in the local community.
“The result has been a reversal in fortunes up and down the Mississippi River that can be corrected if people invest in these places and act like they care about them,” he said.
Cullen’s hometown, Storm Lake, has two Tyson meatpacking plants, so he’s well-acquainted with the issue.
He also believes communities could benefit by attracting immigrants, especially young people who are starting families.
“No matter what the slanders against them are – that they’re criminals and drug runners and everything else – they’re putting food on your table,” Cullen said.
In the mid-1970s, Iowa’s Republican Governor Rob Ray welcomed refugees from southeast Asia. Cullen thinks Iowa now suffers from a hostile attitude toward immigrants. He blames that attitude on politicians including Gov. Kim Reynolds and former congressman Steve King.
Cullen would like to see candidates address issues such as water quality and cancer rates as they campaign in the coming year. But he’s worried some will be timid about upsetting what he calls “the agri-chemical apple cart.”
“Everybody’s on that money train, and they’re all afraid of the Farm Bureau,” he said.
Cullen hopes candidates are willing to address some hard truths because he said hard truths are what’s needed right now.
He thinks rural Iowans are beginning to recognize that corporations have poisoned the water in some places, and in other cases have abandoned them.
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