Iowa City Climate Advocates Meeting Minutes, July 8 2017
(Minutes prepared by Terri Macey)
People present: Jamie McCoy, Maria McCoy, Terri Donofrio, Charlotte Fairlie, Richard
Bushby, Chris Bergan, Del Holland, Linda Quinn, Terri Macey, Bill Panther, Eric Johnson,
Barbara Eckstein, Jim Throgmorton, John Macatee, Kai Hedstrom, Peter Rolnick
• Jamie McCoy reported on his progress finding endorsements for the CCL mission of
establishing a fee and dividend program for the U.S.
• Ryan Simpson of the Iowa City Chamber of Commerce said he would probably sign a
statement advocating action on climate change.
• John Balmer, CEO of Plumber Supply Company and an active Republican, was quite
supportive of a fee and dividend program.
• Jamie was advised to contact the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA)
Bishop for Joni Ernst’s Lutheran congregation, who was believed to be willing to
participate in a forum with Senator Ernst and is a proponent of climate action, and he
has agreed to meet with her (see note about CCL Conference below).
• There was discussion about contacting the Nurses Union and the head of the
University Athletic Department for endorsements.
• If anyone has additional suggestions for Jamie, please contact him
(mccoyfam@mchsi.com)
• The Yale Climate Connections has developed 90 second spots on climate change that are
available for free to radio stations. We discussed which radio stations to contact. If
anyone listens to local radio (other than NPR) please think about contacting the station
and asking them to air these spots. Jim Throgmorton suggested KXIC as a local radio
station to contact. Information about this program can be found at
https://www.yaleclimateconnections.org/about-our-radio-program/
• Attendees reported on the CCL conference. Six people from our chapter attended and
members of our group met with all six of our elected officials or their legislative
assistants.
• Jamie met with Blum’s aid who said Blum (a Republican) would be willing to join
the Congressional Climate Solutions Caucus if he were invited. Discussion followed
about how to proceed, as Dave Loebsack (IC Democratic congressman) has said he is
willing to join if he had a Republican partner (Loebsack is already on the waiting list
to join the Caucus). It was decided to contact Loebsack’s office, inform him of
Blum’s interest, and ask him how he wishes to proceed, and also to have Sean Turner
(our only member who is a constituent of Blum) similarly contact Blum’s office. Peter
will attend to both things this coming week.
• Joni Ernst is willing to meet with community leaders on climate change. This is the
opportunity to contact her Bishop and have him be part of that meeting. Steve
Shivvers in Des Moines is organizing this.
• Barbara and Maria met with Steve King’s aid who seemed interested in a fee and
dividend program. They also met with Grassley’s aid and with Grassley, both of
whom expressed more interest in Carbon Fee and Dividend than previously. Grassley
said Carbon Fee and Dividend was okay with him, and is open to a bipartisan Senate
group on climate change.
• The Iowa City Council has made up to $5,000 available for groups interested in
collaborating on climate action. The goal is to sponsor events, activities, or programs to
inspire, energize and motivate people to take action on climate change. Collaboration is
key, and it was noted that we do not want to collaborate with other climate groups. One
suggestion was to host a job fair with local unions. Another was to collaborate through
the arts and perhaps host a film series. John MacAttee and Terri Macey are willing to
provide the administrative support for this and welcome ideas. Contact them at
jrmacatee@gmail.com or tjm1895@gmail.com.
• John MacAttee would like to develop a working group on letter writing. His idea is to get
people together on a regular basis to write letters. The challenge of meeting with
newspaper editorial boards was discussed.
• The next lobbying days in Washington will be November 13 and 14. Peter recommended
that people make plans now if they wish to attend to allow time for transportation and
financial logistics to be arranged.
• Terri Macey is hosting a film get together at her home on Friday, July 21 at 7 p.m. We
will see a documentary on mining silica sand for fracking purposes in Iowa, Minnesota
and Wisconsin. The film is titled “The Price of Sand”. Terri’s address is 1366 Oxford
Place, Iowa City. The nearest cross streets are Muscatine and Scott. Peter will send an
email invitation. We agreed to try to have social events every couple of months.
• Jim Throgmorton, as Mayor of Iowa City, has signed the Mayor’s Global Compact. This
compact has been signed by representatives of about 10% of the world’s population. He
also has signed the Climate Mayors’ Letter. We appreciate Jim’s advocacy and leadership
on this issue.
• Our funds are down to about $80. We will collect donations at the joint potluck on
August 16 at Hickory Hill Park. There was no additional information about the
Gofundme campaign that Brandon was setting up.
• The CCL program included a presentation by Andrew Jones, head of Climate Interactive,
a research group that provides data about climate change scenarios to world organizations
and the press.
• According to the research, fee and dividend is the most powerful way to reduce
carbon emissions. It decreases emissions and increases alternative energy
development.
• Jones listed 10 reasons why there is reason to be optimistic about managing the
effects of climate change. These included an upwelling of support at the local level in
the face of Trump’s resistance to the reality of climate change; global emissions have
leveled off for the past three years; 7 out of 10 of the world’s largest economies have
put a price on carbon; the existence of the bipartisan Climate Solutions Caucus and
others. Marshall Sanders, the CCL founder, discussed the origins of CCL and, in
particular, how they settled on Carbon Fee and Dividend as the best solution to the
problem.
• The meeting adjourned at 1:05
IOWA CITY CLIMATE ADVOCATES 