This week the focus is on the Center for Energy & Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls with energy educator Pat Higby and the Iowa Energy Center with executive director Kevin Nordmeyer, the architect for the CEEE, Iowa’s first modern sustainable building built in 1992. Higby has served on the boards of the Iowa Renewable Energy Association and Iowa Power Fund. Nordmeyer is founding chair of the United States Green Building Council - Iowa Chapter.

Follow the journey at www.greeniowa.org. Simple as that.

dreamgreen  Iowans making a greener tomorrow... today.

Kickoff show of the 20-part Dream Green Series on solar-powered KRUU-FM, Fairfield, Iowa's grassroots community radio station. Co-hosts Stuart Tanner & James Moore travel the state to explore green initiatives, innovators, educators, cutting edge projects and communities who are leading the way toward a more sustainable, energy efficient future. Follow the journey at greeniowa.org. Funded in part by a community grant from the Iowa Power Fund.

Featured interviews this week include Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, an advocate for green initiatives here and abroad, Lynnae Hentzen, a founder of the Iowa Center on Sustainable Communities, and Monica Stone of the Iowa Office of Energy Independence.

2:05pm: John Collins, associate chair of the Sustainable Living Dept at MUM in Fairfield talks with station manager James Moore about the bills and the issues on the Iowa legislation supporting new nuclear reactors. Collins lays out the pros and cons, coming down clearly on the side of not supporting the measure which is looking likely to pass this year's Iowa legislature.

3pm: Delia Ephron writes about bank nightmares in Greenwich Village for the New York Times. 

3:10pm: As the drumbeats for another Islamic war grow louder, Vali Nasr discusses the Obama administration's big stick diplomacy-vacant Iran nuclear containment strategy on Foreign Affairs. 

3:20pm: Ari Berman, contributing writer for The Nation, talks about his book HERDING DONKEYS, which has just been released in paperback edition. Ari, who has written for the NY Times, Rolling Stone, Editor & Publisher and The Guardian, grew up in Fairfield and hosted Politickin' with Ari in 2007-08 on KRUU-FM. Here's Ari's piece from today's Nation called "How the GOP is resegregating the South."

4pm: Join PLANET ERSTWILD host James Moore and Newsvandal JP Sottile (@newsvandal) for an in-depth discussion on the latest haps in newsville every Friday at 4pm CT on www.KRUUfm.com. For a complete list of referenced articles for today's show, click on "Read more" below.

Join PLANET ERSTWILD host James Moore and Newsvandal JP Sottile (@newsvandal) for an indepth discussion on the latest haps in newsville every Friday at 4pm CT on www.KRUUfm.com.

2pm: An hour of Matt Ahearn's Obvious World music on PLANET ERSTWILD.

3pm: Iowa Poet Laureate Mary Swander talks w/ Irving Toast Poetry Ghost host Rustin Larson. She gives a talk at MUM on Feb 1st.

3:30pm: James interviews filmmaker Karim El Hakim from Park City, Utah about his documentary "1/2 Revolution" currently showing at the Sundance Film Festival.

This week's "Inside the Headlines" topics include a look at America's frack-tured energy future, Dow's record profits (since 2008) combined with worst home sales in history, billionaires at Davos' annual economic summit bemoan growing levels of income inequality, [the economy doesn't suck--it just sucks for you!], the dollar's downward spiral, Romney pays 13.9% on $21 million dollars in income, Newt moons Florida, Obama talks populist, walks another big bank bailout, Apple surpasses Exxon as U.S's most valuable company amid allegations of shoddy & deadly labor practices in China which put profits above human welfare. But why should Americans care if it keeps the cost of these popular shiny new products iMmeninently affordable?

The Jan-Feb 2012 issue of The Iowan: the people. the places. the stories. the life. has a feature story on solar-powered KRUU-FM's Dream Green series. The glossy magazine has been highlighting the best of Iowa for over 50 years.

The article, written by Donna Schill, is titled "The energy of two inquisitive minds fuel on-air conversations in Iowa, about Iowa." [Click on the picture to read the full article.]

This is the second time Fairfield's grassroots volunteer community radio station has appeared in The Iowan. That piece, "Broadcasting on Sunlight," celebrated KRUU as the state's first solar-powered radio broadcaster.

Today James speaks with Campbell Hair, long-time production specialist, about his days working on the road with Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band. Campbell is doing visuals for the Boss Tribute Concert tonight and tomorrow at the Sondheim Center. He'll also be at the KRUU table at intermission and after the show for those who may have questions for him.

At 4pm, PLANET ERSTWILD's regular segment "Inside the Headlines" with Newsvandal JP Sottile airs. For a complete list of articles referenced, click below on "Read more."

The White House has responded to two petitions about legislative approaches to combat online piracy. In their response, Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff stress that the important task of protecting intellectual property online must not threaten an open and innovative internet.

"This will be the day when we shall bring into full realization the dream of American democracy -- a dream yet unfulfilled. A dream of equality of opportunity, of privilege and property widely distributed; a dream of a land where men will not take necessities from the many to give luxuries to the few...."
     --Martin Luther King, Jr. AFL-CIO Convention, 1961

James Moore talks with Patti Miller about her work in the civil rights movement and in the same offices as Martin Luther King in Chicago in the mid-60s.

She gives a talk at the Fairfield Public Library on MLK Day, Jan 16 at 7:30pm, sponsored by the Fairfield Volunteer Center.

Admission is a canned good or toiletries to stock a new food pantry that is being set up at the New Community Christian Church in Fairfield. Patti's website is www.keepinghistoryalive.com. She has a book and a documentary film in the works.

Best-selling author Thomas Frank's new book is "Pity the Billionaire: The Hard-Times Swindle & the Unlikely Comeback of the Right." He'll discuss that and much more with PLANET ERSTWILD host James Moore. Moore interviewed him a few years ago for his book "Wrecking Crew." Other works include "What's the Matter with Kansas?" and "One Market Under God." He is a columnist for Harper's Magazine, founding editor of The Baffler magazine, and a former Op-ed writer for the Wall Street Journal. Here's a link to his latest piece in Salon: "Romney, the True Tea Party Candidate."

In Pity the Billionaire, Frank, the great chronicler of American paradox, [uses] firsthand reporting, a deep knowledge of the American Right, and a wicked sense of humor, [to deliver a] full diagnosis of the cultural malady that has transformed collapse into profit, reconceived the Founding Fathers as heroes from an Ayn Rand novel, and enlisted the powerless in a fan club for the prosperous. [Amazon]

Here's a link to the complete interview.