Letter to the editor: Nine easy steps to update Iowa City’s climate plan

By Sheila Zeithamel, Iowa City

Thanks to the education campaign of the Iowa City student climate strikers, the city council of Iowa City mandated its staff to update its climate action plan to fall in line with the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change — namely, to cut CO2 emissions by 45 percent by 2030 and reach zero emissions by 2050.

Three years ago, after a couple years of community forums and endless meetings, such a “regenerative city” climate plan was already unveiled in Iowa City. So, time to play catch up.

On the heels of July, the hottest month on record, and as disastrous fires rage from the Amazon to the Congo to Indonesia and Alaska, here are nine easy steps to update Iowa City’s climate plan:

1. Call David Ruffcorn in Des Moines

Iowa City is in a building boom, with sadly low efficiency standards. David Ruffcorn oversees energy conservation codes for the Iowa Department of Public Safety, State Building Code Bureau. Earlier this summer, he reminded the Press-Citizen and Iowa City that “the state energy code is a D-. Anything above is fine.” Ruffcorn is the expert on energy efficiency and could help Iowa City bring up its codes for energy efficiency — the low hanging fruit, as the saying goes — in climate action. Call David now for help.

2. Summon President Bruce Harreld to a public meeting with the city council: Stop burning coal, dude.

The University of Iowa coal plant is the town symbol of climate denial. But the plant is not only a university issue, but a community issue, because it pollutes our skies (within a football field of apartments, hotels, student hubs and even daycare centers) with toxic particulates; it dumps coal ash into unlined landfills in Waterloo; it buys coal from devastated mining communities where coal miners still die from black lung disease and people can’t drink their water; and it emits CO2, dude, in an age of climate chaos. UI wants kudos for transitioning the ancient coal plant in 2025, but that’s too late, especially when it needlessly burns coal. Just as important: The UI plant has doubled its natural gas usage, which is equally damaging with methane emissions. A similar college town — Berkeley, California, home of the [flagship campus of the] University of California — just banned the use of natural gas in all new buildings. So, we say: Dear President Harreld, you live in Iowa City, so face the city council and staff and community in a real discussion, and come into the 21st century to shut down that colossal relic. Bottom line: UI must commit to 100 percent renewable energy.

3. Hire tree planters to plant, Like, 400,000 trees.

Studies abound on the role of trees in capturing carbon, and once upon a time, Iowa City was connected to Cedar Rapids with 20 square miles of hardwood forests. Once upon a time, young Iowa City farmers were planting thousands of trees at a time. Ethiopia and India recently planted hundreds of millions of trees in a few days. New York City planted a million; Adelaide, Australia planted 3 million. Iowa City could easily work with Johnson County to set up a fund to pay young people and local residents to plant trees in their yards and on city and county property — how about 400,000 in four years?

4. Hire a farmer-in-residence, commit to 40 percent local food and make Mosquito Flats a food hub

Iowa City must revamp antiquated zoning policies for urban farming, provide financial assistance for local food business and community garden expenses, and require public and private institutions that receive funding from the City of Iowa City to purchase a minimum of 40 percent of their food from local sources.

Hiring a farmer-in-residence would be a good start. Iowa City owns 90 lots in Mosquito Flats, the neighborhood adjacent to the city park. Instead of paying taxpayer money to mow those lawns, unleash local farmers to turn those lots into a local food hub.

5. Zero Waste Ordinance

Building on Iowa City’s excellent recycling and reuse endeavors, the city council should pass a Zero Waste Ordinance like college town Boulder, Colorado, with the goal of generating new materials and compost from 85 percent of its waste by 2025.

6. Transit: Free wheels and walking

While 20 percent of commuters in the university town walk or bike, less than 10 percent opt for mass transit. Our suggestion: Make all buses free, and transition those buses to electric ones over the next couple of years. Iowa City should continue to set walkability and bike-ability benchmarks, like Copenhagen, where 50 percent of all commute trips are made by bicycle and bicycles outnumber residents, 560,000 bicycles to 520,000 inhabitants.

7. Put solar panels on city hall; sponsor climate murals

Five years ago, the City of Iowa City received a zero-down bid to put solar panels on City Hall from a local provider, who has since gone on to win awards of the top business in the Corridor. Solar panels on City Hall would send a message to the rest of the town — and gown — that the city council is committed to 100 percent renewable energy. We need the city to take public acts like this, as part of an education campaign. Just do it. And sponsor a couple of climate action murals, in the process, to raise awareness.

8. Iowa City’s Green New Deal starts now: Incubate green jobs and green business

How do we launch the Green New Deal? We support local green innovators. As the home of the University of Iowa, Iowa City should establish green enterprise zones; provide support and assistance for green job clusters and start-ups; and set benchmarks to significantly expand the number of green jobs in the areas of energy efficiency, green building design and construction, local food and farming, technology and design. First stop: Why not establish an energy efficiency training workshop to retrofit homes, buildings and farms?

9. Get it done: Hire a climate activist

For whatever reasons, the Iowa City staff can’t pull this off on their own, people. Iowa City needs to follow the example of Dubuque and hire a climate action coordinator — preferably someone who gets things done — to make the climate action plan a showcase for our city.

This article was originally published in Little Village issue 273.