Area agency won't find better champion
The mission of the Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas is to be an advocate for the seniors of Northwest Arkansas. The recently terminated executive director of the Fayetteville Senior Center was more than an advocate for her seniors. It was her ministry in life!
She was hired in November 2013 at a time when the Fayetteville Senior Center was in terrible disarray. At that time she had recently lost both her mother and grandmother. Over the next four years she poured her heart and life into her seniors. They were not just seniors to her, but were her extended family. She had a special bond with each one of them.
The Area Agency on Aging may find a new executive director but they will not find one with more heart and love for the seniors as Cayla Wilson! The seniors center will continue but the seniors lost more than an advocate; they lost their champion!
John Ervin
Fayetteville
Meat company shouldn't dismiss pollution report
As a resident of Northwest Arkansas, I genuinely appreciate the many ways Tyson Foods contributes to our community. I see the impact of their generosity almost daily, and because I know so many people who work there, I know that they are, as we colloquially say, good people.
I grew up on a farm in rural Iowa. I used to spread manure, and I've watched over the years as farmers themselves move toward best practices that reduce pollution and erosion, and reduce the amount of nitrates going into our waterways. I also know, having lived both on the farm, and now near some of the largest corporations in the world, that big companies can make significant positive ecological changes in our natural world precisely because they have the market leverage to do so. And so it is incumbent upon them to pursue such solutions vigorously, and transparently.
So it comes as a surprise to me that Tyson Foods would immediately dismiss the recent rational and forward-thinking Mighty Earth report (http://www.mightyearth.org/heartlanddestruction). Tyson's official response to the Mighty Earth report, published here in this paper, was simply a bald assertion, "The group is making misleading claims about our company," without any companion documentation that would disprove the content of Mighty Earth's report in any substantive way. The difference between the cursory paragraph from Tyson, and the lengthy footnoted study from Mighty Earth, speaks loudly.
Tyson can do better than this. Mighty Earth's asks are clear and beneficial, and are actions other meat producers are already encouraging and more and more farmers are already pursuing. It makes sense for Tyson, one of the largest consumers of feed, to incentivize such earth-friendly production.
Because America's largest meat companies are driving industrial agricultural practices that pollute water and make an outsize contribution to climate change, they need to take primary responsibility for the strategies that provide a corrective. They can raise all meat using pollution-free feed (feed grown using practices that prevent erosion, protect, maintain, and restore natural buffers to absorb runoff, and use proper fertilizer application practices), diversify beyond corn and soy to include rotationally raised small grains, implement more responsible manure management, enact a moratorium on native ecosystem losses, and provide transparent reporting on progress towards cleaner meat.
I am glad Tyson is my neighbor up the road. I hope Tyson will take greater and more transparent ownership of its responsibility to lead the way towards cleaner meat, cleaner water and a cleaner earth.
Rev. Clint Schnekloth
Fayetteville
Commentary on 12/09/2017