DES MOINES, Iowa – In recent years, Iowa has experienced record level flooding, devastating droughts and rising temperatures attributed to climate change.

At the same time, the Trump administration is rolling back standards that protect clean air and water.

Last week Democrats in the U.S. Senate attempted to pass a resolution of disapproval, calling attention to climate change and the reluctance of Republicans, including Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa, to address the issue.

Antonia Herzog, manager of the Climate and Energy Program for Physicians for Social Responsibility, says the Obama-era Clean Power Plan was making a significant difference.

"We have to deploy more clean energy resources,” she stresses. “We have to reduce energy we use. The Clean Power Plan had put us on the right path, and overturning it is sending us completely in the wrong direction."

Using the Congressional Review Act, Senate Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to delay implementation of the Trump administration's revised rule that weakens regulations on power plant emissions.

Ernst voted in favor of overturning the Obama-era rules.

Iowa had the wettest year on record in 2019 and, despite being a small state, has had 43 presidentially declared disasters in the past 30 years.

Dr. Maureen McCue, coordinator of the Iowa Physicians for Social Responsibility, says the state has nearly 20,000 energy efficiency jobs, including wind energy and solar employees.

She says 90% of Iowans believe it's important to promote the state's clean energy sources, which makes it the wrong time to roll back safeguards that protect communities and incentivize investments in clean energy.

"Fisher people can't fish because there's so much algae and recreational uses are being closed down because the beaches have so much algae and we are not protecting our waterways," she points out.

Health impacts attributed to climate change include increased rates of asthma, which in Iowa affects 42,000 children and 220,000 adults.

A new report warns that the window is quickly closing to prevent the most harmful effects of climate change. As global leaders face pressure to act, efforts continue to educate Wisconsin families.

Last week, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said countries have to quickly come together to achieve deep reductions in greenhouse gas emissions to secure a livable planet for all.

Rebecca Borkowski is the executive director of the Wisconsin Association for Environmental Education, which supports teachers and students in learning about these issues.

She said they've sometimes avoided using words like climate change around parents to avoid political tension. But that's changing.

"I think it's at a point," Borkowski said, "where affiliates like ours and the national network are just going to have to take more action and be more direct in our conversations."

As part of their effort to get more climate education in schools, her group is trying to get more adults to become engaged with the issue.

That includes hosting online discussions and prompting elected officials and political candidates to talk about climate change, including those running in Wisconsin's high-profile state Supreme Court race.

A recent survey of teachers from the North American Association for Environmental Education found that 56% of respondents' students have brought up climate change on their own in the classroom.

Megan Giefer chairs the Wisconsin chapter's advocacy committee and said getting kids to pay more attention isn't a concern.

She suggested that it's harder when adults, who have lived through changing seasons their whole lives, might feel that a cold and snowy winter is enough to think there isn't a threat.

"And so, a lot of people will brush it off and say, 'Well, that's the Midwest, that's Wisconsin,'" said Giefer. "But it's really not what we're supposed to be having."

A 2021 statewide report noted that Wisconsin winters are warming more rapidly than summers.

Meanwhile, the national teacher survey says a lack of formal curriculum and an unclear mandate are among the reasons why school districts haven't made climate change education a priority.




get more stories like this via email

Offshore wind development is coming to Texas under the Biden administration's plan to grow America's clean-energy economy, and union members want the jobs to include proper safety and worker protections.

The federal government is seeking comments about which areas near Galveston to consider for the first-ever offshore wind lease sale in the Gulf of Mexico. The project is part of the administration's promise to establish 30 gigawatts of offshore wind by 2030.

Luis Estrada, a plumbers apprentice and a member of Plumbers Union Local 68 in Houston, said stringent labor and equity standards need to be in place before hiring begins.

"We have every capability to make these jobs strong, family-sustaining jobs," Estrada pointed out. "But there's a lot of anti-worker laws here in Texas, and it makes Texas the most dangerous state in America to work."

Estrada was one of several union members who traveled to Washington, D.C., to deliver some 200 messages to the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management about the unique challenges faced by Texas construction workers.

The U.S. Interior Department said projects proposed for Louisiana and Texas have the potential to power more than a million homes with clean energy.

PJ Shipman, an electrical apprentice and a member of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 716, said Texas' "right-to-work" laws should not limit living wage requirements and workers' compensation.

"To be able to set a standard for the clean-energy boom that we really believe is about to happen would be amazing," Shipman contended. "To set the standard in Texas where, to everyone's knowledge, is 'right to work.' "

Because they do not require valuable land space, offshore wind projects have risen in popularity.

Estrada added Texas union members want the emerging industry to succeed, but not at the expense of workers.

"The unions are going to be the only people who can keep up with the demand of these jobs," Estrada asserted. "But we just want the language to be in the leases; that these jobs are going to protect Texas communities and Texas workers."

The Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is accepting comments about the Texas wind proposals through April 25.


get more stories like this via email

As wildfire seasons in Colorado and across the American West become longer, less predictable and increasingly destructive, a new report aims to provide an equitable roadmap for protecting communities, watersheds and wildlife.

Rob Addington, Colorado forest program director for The Nature Conservancy, said engagement with tribal nations, who have been successful stewards of lands for thousands of years, will be critical to address the scale of the challenge.

"Developing tribal partnerships and really looking to tribal knowledge, ecological knowledge that many of the tribes hold from their centuries in many cases of working with the land, working with fire," Addington outlined.

Addington pointed out the roadmap represents a paradigm shift in modern forest and wildfire management. After decades of fire prevention strategies, for example, experts said prescribed burns will be necessary to thin fuel supplies across thousands of acres of dry western lands. The report also called for advanced computer modeling and unmanned drones to improve early detection, help battle fires more effectively, and to reseed and restore scarred forests.

The roadmap, created by The Aspen Institute and The Nature Conservancy, compiled input from more than 250 experts in forest and fire management, federal, state, local, and Tribal Nation authorities, and the private sector, including the forest products and insurance industries.

Addington noted many of the report's recommendations are shovel-ready, due to recent public investments such as the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act and the Inflation Reduction Act.

"But what we need in parallel to complement that funding is this set of policy recommendations," Addington urged. "To really make best use of that funding, and have it hit the ground in the most efficient and effective way that we can."

Addington underscored building successful partnerships will be key for work that needs to happen in metropolitan areas and across tribal, federal, state and privately owned lands. The report also identified some potential roadblocks, and offered policy solutions requiring action from Congress, the executive branch, and partners like states, Tribal Nations, nonprofits, and industry.