ICCA October Meeting Minutes
(prepared by Eric Johnson)
People present: Eric Johnson, Linda Quinn, Beth Parker, Ezra Edgerton, Terri Macey, Martha Norbeck, Jaimie McCoy
We watched the monthly call. The speaker was great and we laughed and felt awkward at the advice to white people to interact with People of the Global Majority.
CCL says this year there are 20 engaged Republican meetings for every 1 disengaged Republican meeting, compared with 3:1 in 2014. Also, there are only 11 Members of Congress that are listed as a “1” on the climate action scale from 1-4.
Ezra Edgerton is relatively new to town and he connected with us through John Macatee’s tabling efforts in Iowa City. Welcome Ezra!
Gathering of Local Environmental Groups
Martha Norbeck and Terri Macey updated us on their efforts to invite groups to the meeting on October 23. Martha agreed to lead the meeting, and Linda Quinn agreed to help Martha administer the meeting. Eric agreed to bring food and drink. Martha will present the idea of a plant-rich diet and then invite anyone to introduce any other ideas. Ezra wondered how progress on the proposed plan of “eat a plant-rich diet” would be measured and Martha said the city will share the results of the Consumption Survey with the Climate Action Steering Committee on October 30th that will be used as a baseline. Other groups to look into for collaboration are the Iowa City Vegetarian Group and the Iowa Farm Sanctuary.
Facebook Group
The value of a Facebook group was discussed and no one objected to trying to start one for members to interact with each other outside of meetings. The group is available at https://www.facebook.com/groups/2019806261636923 or search for “Iowa City Climate Advocates”.
Caravan to Ames to ask Tom Vilsack about fee and dividend
No one was interested in traveling to ask a question
Outreach to locally elected officials
Beth said she would ask a question to the 8 mayoral candidates in Cedar Rapids if she gets called on. The League of Women Voters is holding a forum on October 19th at 6pm. [NOTE from Peter: I found the following on the League of Women Voters Calendar: North Liberty Forum October 25, Iowa City Forum October 26, Coralville Forum November 8, go to https://lwvjc.org/calendar/%5D We decided a good question would simply be “What is your plan to address climate change?”
We realized we need to confirm whether the Iowa City City Counselors and Johnson County Supervisors have signed CCL’s endorsement letter.
Jamie McCoy mentioned that he had tried reaching out to the gubernatorial candidate Cathy Glasson who is the president of the local SEIU chapter to see if she’ll sign a letter. If she signs a public letter, we could use it to help pressure Rep Loebsack to take a more active role in climate change.
Radio content possibility
Beth said that a friend of hers has a radio station called KHAS (http://khasbd.com/) which is currently mainly music. KHAS would like to add non-music content and Beth suggested we could record something regularly for this audience. Beth mentioned that KHAS has a faith element as well and Eric said that Interfaith Power and Light may be a good source of content. If anyone has ideas on this matter, please email eric.d.johnson@gmail.com and he’ll connect you with Beth.
Nov 8 Day of Action
We announced the Nov 8 Day of action and noted that if you are subscribed to CCL Community you’ll automatically get an email on November 7th that will give you all the info you need to place the call, including a script to read.
Business Climate Leaders Team (CCL subcommittee)
Jamie McCoy gave an update on the BCLT (which is a CCL nation subcommittee) which wants to get endorsements from 100+ wind-related companies in Iowa. If you are interested in engaging the Iowa wind industry or have a special connection to the wind industry, please contact eric.d.johnson@gmail.com and I’ll connect you with Jamie McCoy.
Jamie McCoy mentioned the existence of a CCL Urgent Action team and wondered how to join it. [NOTE: Peter thinks is actually called the Climate And Security Action Team. To join, go to https://community.citizensclimatelobby.org/groups/special-interest-groups/climate-change-national-security/ and click on the white button that says “Join Group”.]
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Upcoming Events:
Monday October 23: Gathering of Local Environmental Groups,
6:30-8:30 pm, Coralville Public Library, Schwab Auditorium
Thursday November 2: City Climate Action and Adaptation Community Input Meeting #1,
6:00 pm, Iowa City Public Library, meeting room A
November ICCA Meeting: Time and Place To Be Announced
November 12-14: 4th Annual Congressional Education Day,
Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington DC
https://citizensclimatelobby.org/congressional-education-day
Thursday, November 16: Tom Vilsack Lecture, “Agriculture and Climate Change,”
7:00 p.m., Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa
Former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and former Iowa Governor Tom Vilsack will lecture on “agriculture and climate change” at the Iowa State University Memorial Union. For more details, or to invite friends, use this Facebook event page from Iowa Interfaith Power & Light: https://www.facebook.com/events/135861163823575/
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Friday April 6: Iowa City Climate Advocates Annual Music and Food Fundraiser
5:30-7:30 pm, Beadology, 220 E Washington St, Iowa City
Featuring Pennies on the Rail and Sweet Cacophony
June 10-12: Annual International Conference & Lobby Day,
Washington DC, location TBA
IOWA CITY CLIMATE ADVOCATES 