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Ames, Iowa – On Saturday 6/21, we drove north to Des Moines where the Des Moines river was running high and fast — although flood damage in the city has so far been minimal compared to the terrible destruction seen in Cedar Rapids and other areas of the state. In Des Moines, we caught a fantastic set of music at the Main Gate’s Sunday night jam session before heading further north to Ames, where we toured our first two organic farms: Wholesome Harvest and High Hopes Gardens. 

Wholesome Harvest is a consortium of organic meat producers that use no-confinement practices. After breakfast of fresh eggs and a lunch of grass-fed burgers, we drove further east to High Hopes Gardens — a small, diversified organic farm that provides vegetables, poultry, flowers and gift boxes. High Hopes uses low-impact approaches including rainwater collection, wind power and rotational grazing.

Springfield, Missouri – After touring two of Missouri’s LEED Platinum green buildings, on Friday 6/20 we headed southwest to the city of Springfield, which is located in the rolling hills of the Ozarks. In Springfield, we toured City Utility’s Noble Hill Landfill Renewable Energy Center, which generates over 3 MW of electricity by capturing methane gas from the city’s landfill. Methane is a greenhouse gas many times more potent than CO2 so using it to generate electricity is far better than letting it vent freely. We also looked at City Utility’s biodiesel bus system and their Southwest Power Plant.

After lunch we visited the Discovery Science Center. At the Center, located in a gorgeous LEED Gold building, we met with the Executive Director Emily Fox, learned about the science behind green building, and met with local reporters to discuss our project. Many thanks to everyone who hosted us in Missouri — the “show me” state showed us great hospitality and a bevy of innovative projects.

Missouri is moving swiftly to capture the benefits of green building. That’s our initial take from research on projects in Saint Louis and across the state.

Missouri is home to two of the thirty-odd LEED Platinum projects in the United States and also scores of similar green projects, many certified by the US Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership In Energy and Environmental Design) program.  EcoHeartland is looking forward to touring the Alberici Corporation headquarters in St Louis and a tour of the Lewis and Clark State Office Building from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.