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Developing a Community Climate Action Plan and Greenhouse Gas Inventory
According to the Iowa Flood Center’s (IFC) Update 2020 report, Iowa’s wettest two-year period on record wasn’t decades upon decades ago. It was last year and the year prior.
From January 2018 through December 2019, communities across the Midwest experienced unprecedented flooding. IFC was created during the recovery and aftermath of the record-setting 2008 flood. The flood devastated downtown Cedar Rapids and communities throughout Eastern Iowa. Data from the National Weather Service’s Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service website show an increased frequency and severity of flood events in Cedar Rapids over time. As described in the Iowa Policy Project’s 2019 report on Climate Change and Flooding, an understanding of past and future climate events is based in the fundamental physics that define Earth’s atmosphere. Since the mid-1800s, scientists have studied the robust connections between natural and human-induced climate change. The prevailing knowledge has been since proven by thousands of scientists worldwide, with the aid of today’s powerful computing. We now know that the composition of earth’s atmosphere determines how much of the sun’s energy is stored as heat and how much escapes back into space. Small changes in this balance can dramatically shift global temperature, cloud formation, and precipitation. In 2015, the City of Cedar Rapids’ Comprehensive Plan, EnvisionCR, charted a new roadmap for the community’s future.
City Council calls for the preparation of a Community-wide Climate Action Plan
Under the strategic plan, City Council called for the preparation of a Community-wide Climate Action Plan (CCAP), meant to address greenhouse gas emissions from land use, transportation, street lights, water consumption, waste generation, and building energy. In January, the iGreenCR Action Plan formally launched the CCAP planning process. Then in February, Cedar Rapids City Council passed a resolution further recognizing the urgency for community climate action. Consequently, City staff will develop a community-wide greenhouse gas inventory to inform development of the CCAP. Efforts to mitigate greenhouse gases will include carbon, methane, black carbon, and coal reduction as well as an increased use of renewable resources.
Solar panels power a water booster station on Glass Road.
In Midwestern states, as heavy rain events, river flooding, and major heat events increase, communities can choose to build resilience to these events and work to reduce greenhouse gases which contribute, or they can bear the economic and societal costs associated with inaction.
For Cedar Rapids, our strategy is a proactive one of studying the sources of greenhouse gases in our community, increasing use of green energy, lining our streets with trees, and building infrastructure that increases resource-efficient mobility options. These are hallmarks of great communities — and the outcomes also deliver benefits to those most vulnerable to climate hazards.
One of the primary climate hazards anticipated to affect Cedar Rapids is increased flooding. Building the Cedar River Flood Control System is a major initiative meant to adapt our city for a future where major flood events are increasingly common. Other work includes prioritizing stormwater management and green infrastructure, which may not only reduce water quantity challenges, but also improve the quality of water heading downstream. In these ways, the CCAP considers not just ways we can mitigate climate change, but also identifies work we can do to adapt and prepare for projected future conditions. Climate change is expected to continually introduce more extreme weather and seasonal anomalies to Iowans and to residents in Cedar Rapids.
Identifying and Responding to Human Needs
Longer stretches of unusually hot days will become increasingly dangerous to people without access to air conditioning, or who are unable to commute by car. Responding to a flood emergency will be more difficult for those without emergency funds, those who do not understand the language in which emergency information is distributed, and the elderly. Because people with existing burdens or vulnerabilities are likely to be impacted the most by climate change, the CCAP planning process will prioritize historically underrepresented residents in the development process and through the plan’s outcomes. The goal is to identify and respond to the human needs of our community, including access to clean water, clean air, healthy food, green space, nature, green jobs, and training programs.
A focus on equity is important for creating solutions that do not further exacerbate technology or prosperity gaps,” explained Eric Holthaus, City Sustainability Coordinator. “While you can imagine solar energy and electric vehicles are important components in mitigating climate change, an equity lens recognizes that these cannot be the only solutions. With an equity lens, we broaden the focus to include actions that can benefit all of our residents, including improved home energy efficiency, transit and mobility infrastructure, weatherization, and so on.”
The planning process will entail a year of public engagement to determine climate adaptation and mitigation strategies for the entire community. The plan will further bolster Cedar Rapids’ reputation as an environmental leader in the Midwest. Follow the planning process at www.iGreenCR.com.
