Iowa climate action leaders optimistic in face of new records

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – The planet’s temperature was the hottest on record Tuesday, according to multiple tracking agencies.

Multiple Eastern Iowa cities are working to do their part to curb climate change.

Iowa City adopted a Climate Action Plan back in 2018 and set a goal of reducing greenhouse emissions by 45% by the year 2030.

“We’re actually doing pretty well. In 2020, we dipped below the 2030 goals. So 10 years early, we were able to achieve that 45% reduction,” said Sarah Gardner, Climate Action Coordinator for Iowa City.

Emissions did go back up in 2021, but last year they dropped slightly again. The upshot of all this, according to Gardner: “We’re very confident we’ll be able to meet that 2030 goal.”

Cedar Rapids adopted its own plan in 2021 with the goal of being a “carbon-free community” by 2050 and becoming more resilient in the face of climate hazards..

“We have had to deal with so many natural disasters, and building back from those disasters, that resilience has really played a key part,” said Sara Maples, the Sustainability Program Manager for Cedar Rapids. Maples mentioned floods and even the recent dip in air quality due to smoke from Canadian wildfires that hung over Eastern Iowa at the end of June.

”The heat, the air quality challenges, this really actually brings awareness to the issues,” said Maples. “I think that this can be really motivating for people to actually see the impact of it and want to make a change.”

Gardner said there was no going back to the climate we used to have, but she said the future didn’t have to be an unliveable place.

“It helps me, as somebody who works in climate, to know that, even though the stakes are very high, we are making real and meaningful progress,” said Gardner.

You can learn more about the cities’ approaches to climate change here and here.

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