The City is accepting applications for the Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant program until Jan. 8.
Grants are available for organizations in Iowa City seeking funding for programs, activities, initiatives, or educational outreach that will help eliminate local inequities.
Organizations can request up to $25,000 for a project and use up to 25% of funding for operational costs.
The City is seeking applications that focus on education, community-building, housing, criminal justice, health, and/or employment.
To apply for the grant, visit the City's FY20 Social Justice and Racial Equity Grant Application page.
Got Veggies? Learn about Community Supported Agriculture at a Zoom Webinar | Jan. 6, 1-2 p.m.
Johnson County and Field to Family are teaming up to provide an information session on subscribing to a season of fresh produce through Community Supported Agriculture.
Speakers will include Ilsa DeWald, local foods coordinator, and Jamie Huntley, health planner, both with Johnson County; and Julia Poska, communications and outreach coordinator for Field to Family.
To sign-up, visit the Webinar Registration page.
The Secret Lives of "Stuff" Online Course for K-12 Educators | Jan. 12-Feb. 16
K-12 educators can enroll in AEA Learning Online's The Secret Lives of "Stuff" course, which will explore classroom-ready activities, videos, and readings on the lifecycles of stuff. The course will also analyze ways educators and their students can conserve resources to live more sustainably.
Licensure renewal for the course is $95 and one hour of graduate credit is available from Drake, Grand View, or Morningside for $190.
To register for the course, go to the AEA log-in page, click on COURSES in the menu bar to see 'Course Search,' and enter 180540 in the search bar.
For more information, contact Susan Salterberg at ssalterberg@gmail.com.
Amy Charles, Iowa City resident
What do you do for climate action?
I've reduced our house's carbon footprint by over 70%. A myriad of small changes have gone into that, which I've written about on my blog, The Energy Bore, but the big ones are installing a solar array, a high-efficiency furnace and a tankless heater. I bought them with the help of the City's GRIP program, which gave me a 20-year, 2.75% loan. Long-term, there's no cost to me or taxpayers, we live better than before, and I avoid putting 250,000 lbs. of CO2 into the sky. It really helps when your government cares about climate change.
What can others do to take climate action?
Embrace your inner nerd! Try going to carbonfootprint.com and finding out how much CO2 you generate in a year. (Tip: One MidAmerican kilowatt-hour produces about .5 kilos of CO2.)
Don't worry if it's a big number. It's just your starting point. You'll see what changes can make the biggest difference in your footprint. You can also see what's most feasible for your household, especially if you rent and/or live with other people.
Essentially use less, then push what's left to renewable sources.
Longer-term, climate action is too complex for each person to make the journey and organize some bespoke green existence. We need to organize and work governmentally on climate problems big and small. I'd like to see us moving to thicker walls in Iowa City's residential building code, for instance. Four-inch exterior walls don't currently allow the insulation we need in the upper Midwest.
Why does climate action matter to you?
Like many GenXers, I grew up with the big blue marble, spaceship Earth, and all the rest of the space-age hippie environmental vibe. It has deep meaning to me.
I got my first heads-up about climate in 1996 when I heard an Antarctic scientist freaking out on NPR about ice melt he'd just observed. You could tell that this was normally a very polite, cautious guy, and he was just terrible at freaking out, so it was deeply alarming. Even the host didn't know how to handle it.
My life was very low-GHG at the time, but it's taken 20 years, new technologies, and a growing public conversation for people like me to see how to answer the alarm that scientist was raising. We're a small generation, so the advent of so many young people who feel this urgency makes all the difference in the world. It offers real hope.
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