This week we continue our Earth Month series focused on our planet’s climate crisis. Olivia Hicks is my co-host and this is our second of five shows. In our conversations, we are bringing on guests who can give you the facts about where we are with the climate crisis and leave you with hope so that you don’t become overwhelmed and paralyzed, but instead energized to act. At this point, we need everyone engaged and taking action.
We take a closer look at Iowa this week with our guests from the Iowa Environmental Council (IEC). As a mission driven organization, “IEC educates, advocates and builds coalitions to raise awareness, generate action and impact policy to make Iowa a better place to live, work and explore.” In addition to their work within key sectors of the environment, they’ve recently added a layer focused on justice, equity, diversity and inclusion. The impacts of climate change affect certain areas and populations harder than others. It is important to assure that our solutions are equally available to and inclusive of all.
Joining us today are . . .
Dr. Brian Campbell, Executive Director for the Iowa Environmental Council
Raihan Amir Rashidi, Clean Energy Field Organizer for the Iowa Environmental Council
Key Takeaways from our discussion:
- Agriculture is the largest contributor to climate change in Iowa. Other key contributors are buildings, power plants, and transportation.
- We have many opportunities to involve farmers in the solutions going forward.
- De-carbonizing our electricity can play a big part in lowering emissions across the state.
- In 2020, 60% of Iowa’s electricity was generated by wind; the highest % in the country.
- Having federal and state support to get new renewable energy industries off the ground would not only boost renewable energy but also create jobs in Iowa.
- 100% Iowa is a grassroots campaign and capacity-building project of IEC
- Policy can help to assure that we have equity in the solutions.
Our book/article recommendations this week are:
- Brian – Drawdown, Edited by Paul Hawkin
- Raihan – A World of Three Zeros, Muhammad Yunus
- Olivia – Environmentalism’s Racist History, by Jedediah Purdy
- Lynnae – A Sand County Almanac, Aldo Leopold
“Saving our planet, lifting people out of poverty,
Advancing economic growth . . .
These are one and the same fight.
We must connect the dots between climate change,
Water scarcity, energy shortages, global health,
Food security and women’s empowerment.
Solutions to one problem must be solutions for all.”
~ Ban Ki-moon, The eighth Secretary General of the UN
“The only way forward, if we are going to improve
The quality of the environment,
Is to get everybody involved.”
~ Richard Rogers, British architect
Thank you for listening to today’s discussion. Let’s continue the conversation and learn from each other.