 The Green Iowa AmeriCorps (GIA) team helps residents save money on energy costs and live more sustainably by providing free expert advice and weatherization tools to make homes more energy efficient. There are two ways residents can take advantage of these services: sign up for a free Energy Saver Kit or schedule a free home energy audit.
Energy Saver Kits
Energy Saver Kits come with step-by-step instructions and depending on a home’s needs, may contain LED light bulbs, high-efficiency faucet aerators and showerheads, pipe insulation, rope caulk, and other weatherization tools.
More information and a sign-up form can be found on the GIA Energy Saver Kit website.
Home energy audits
Residents may also sign up for a free home energy audit. The GIA team will visit a residence and conduct a blower-door test to survey the extent of air leakage in the home. After identifying areas of energy waste, the team will directly install weatherization improvements and conduct a post-test to determine the effectiveness of the weatherization services.
COVID-19 safety protocols are followed during home energy audits. More information about this program can be found on the GIA home weatherization website.
 The BookMobile, Iowa City Public Library’s mobile library service, is back! The BookMobile allows any resident with a library card to reduce their waste and minimize travel time by distributing books and media to various sites within the community.
Currently, the BookMobile is able to provide hold pickup services. Residents can receive any book or media in the library collection by placing a hold with the Iowa City Public Library and selecting the BookMobile as the pickup location rather than travel downtown.
Customers are expected to wear a face covering (masks will be available outside of the BookMobile) and maintain a social distance of 6 feet. Browsing materials on the BookMobile cannot be accommodated at this time.
Information on delivery locations, times, and dates can be found on the library’s BookMobile page.
Looking for a good green read to request? Check out these sustainable selections recently acquired by the library.
2020 Sustainable Selections
- "Attainable Sustainable: The Lost Art of Self-Reliant Living," Kris Bordessa
- "The Future We Choose: Surviving the Climate Crisis," Christina Figueres and Tom Rivertt-Carnac
- "The Greenway Imperative: Connecting Communities and Landscapes for a Sustainable Future," Charles A. Flink
- "Live Sustainably Now: A Low-Carbon Vision of the Good Life," Karl Coplan
 Ayman Sharif, founder of Global Food Project and graduate of the Urban and Regional Planning Master of Science program at the University of Iowa
What do you do for climate action?
In 2016, I founded Global Food Project (GFP) of Iowa City─an endeavor to explore the nexus between sustainable, local food production and gardening; reinforce social cohesiveness; improve local food systems, and find income opportunities for frontline community members. Through the program, members receive gardening space, training workshops on sustainable agriculture best practices, and multiple social and cultural activities.
I am a fresh member of the Johnson County Food Policy Council and I am looking forward to working with other members to influence and affect positive changes in support of the community’s climate action and adaptation planning.
As a family, we’re learning to bring climate change to our front discussion at all times by adopting practices and behavior that supports the cause.
As a renting family, we maintain a productive conversation with our climate-oriented landlord Vern Glick, who is always open to ideas and thoughts that contribute to reducing emissions and reducing costs. This includes shifting to efficient lighting, replacing old washing and drying appliances, maintaining insulation, updating windows, etc.
Public transit has been my mode of commute during my study at the University of Iowa and it continues to be whenever I need to get downtown. As a family, we bike most of the time for sport and the kids bike to school. We’ve recently bought a hybrid Honda that reduces the amount of carbon emission we contribute and cuts down our gasoline bill.
Other things we do include recycling, composting yard waste, repurposing and reusing material such as clothing. We are fully into local meat production and we buy meat that is locally produced.
What can others do to take climate action?
Thinking of climate change as an overarching matter, there is a lot that can be done at the individual, local, state, national, and global levels. At a community level, learning that there is a serious climate problem and that this problem affects all of us equally, at least at one future point, is key to any remedies we may think of.
Sincere efforts to communicate the problems and solutions to all stakeholders can reduce time and cost needed to mitigate the effects. Involving people of all walks of life to identify issues, as well as plan and implement climate change plans should be the priority to create a climate-oriented community.
Why does climate action matter to you?
Climate action is an opportunity to mitigate the consequences of anthropogenic emissions, but it is also a wonderful chance to remedy our long-standing social problems.
Social equity and related issues of poverty, health, education, and employment have to be visited and resolved if we are to think of any solution to the emissions reduction question.
Iowa City said it right: climate action is the umbrella to solve social, economic, and environmental issues.
That is why it matters to me.
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