Drake students take the streets by storm for the Clean Water Fight

 “I want clean water because I think it’s a little ridiculous that it’s even a question,” said John Noble.

John is a 19-year old with a passion for social justice and clean water. He goes to Drake University and has been involved with Iowa CCI since August 2013.John, or as we like to call him at CCI, super student John, and fellow clean water fighter Jade, also a Drake student, stirred students  into action and collected 300 out of 3,647 Clean Water Fight comments.

 In case you have missed out on the #cleanwaterfight until now:

• We are in the midst of an incredible opportunity to win a stronger Clean Water Act rule that could force factory farm polluters to play by a stronger set of environmental standards or get shut down.

• Iowa Governor Branstad’s DNR spent months at the table with corporate ag insiders to produce a weak, business-as-usual rule. They only gave the public 28 days to provide comments. We set a goal of 2,000 comments and knocked it out of the park with those 3,647 collected.

• The fight isn’t over – rumor is the Governor Branstad’s Environmental Protection Committee wants to fast-track the decision. But, we won’t let them shut us out or shut us down.

Clean water is a human right, a necessity for life. Yet, factory farms are getting away with polluting our waterways with toxic manure. It’s time people come before profits in Iowa.

“This sort of issue, like a lot of CCI issues, is not relegated to a certain group of people, it’s not relegated to a specific community…water is something that affects everyone,” said John.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aVtXLFmWCek&feature=youtu.be

And so, John and Jade took to the streets and brought in hundreds of cards. They tabled outside of the Drake dining hall, found other high traffic areas, brought the issue up in any conversation they could to inform folks of the situation, and had these folks take action for a clean water Iowa.

“These conversations are so important to have because they are not always happening. There is a very specific reason that these conversations are not happening and there’s specific people and entities who don’t want these conversations to be happening,” said John.

We’re in a fight against corporate ag, big money, and an Environmental Protection Committee with 5 out of 8 commissioners with personal and financial interest in factory farms. We won’t let them shut us out or shut us down. People across Iowa are concerned about this, and we all need to be talking about it. Better yet? Let’s all do something about it. Stay tuned for the next steps in the Clean Water Fight!

A big shout out to John and Jade and the dozens of other members who helped us collect 3,647 comments, nearly double our original goal! We couldn’t have done it without you.