2018 Resolutions on the Environment

Preventing and Preparing for the Effects of Climate Change

Whereas, we realize that we cannot exist without healthful food and clean water, or without the life support system that provide favorable growing conditions; 

Whereas there is a broad scientific consensus among climate scientists that human activities are contributing to increases in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions which is escalating atmospheric CO2 concentrations, ocean acidification, polar icecap depletion, and numerous “downstream” effects;

Whereas our reliance on fossil fuels for transportation, and as a source for industrial feedstocks exacerbates this situation;

Whereas a transition to alternative energy sources and alternate, more benign processes is vital;

Whereas farmers and ranchers are “rediscovering” and experimenting with techniques such as no-till, strip till, cover crops, rotational grazing and other “regenerative ag” practices that use agricultural soils as a carbon sequestration bank that may need to be established as a stop-gap measure to capture atmospheric CO2 to help turn back our global thermostat;

Whereas farmers have already experienced dramatic drops in the prices of their goods, and as the changes their crop selection and incomes;

Whereas in 2017, we witnessed 16 weather and climate disaster events across the United States with cumulative costs of $300 billion, a new U.S. annual record; and

Whereas we believe it is important to advocate for climate change action to curtail one of the greatest threats facing communities throughout the world; and

Whereas we believe that climate change should neither be a partisan nor political issue and that policies should be guided by the best available science; 

Whereas children represent a particularly vulnerable group because GHG emitted into the atmosphere will accumulate over the coming decades and will profoundly impact them throughout their lives as well as the lives of future generations; 

Whereas the global impact, urgency and magnitude of the challenge of addressing climate change calls for leadership in all sectors of society, all institutions, and all elected leaders; 

Whereas Iowa’s citizens have a responsibility to minimize their GHG emissions to demonstrate leadership and to support education and actionable, reasonable solutions to mitigate and prevent undesirable climate change;

Therefore let it be resolved that the state of Iowa establish a significant and coordinated government effort to educate citizens on the identification, analysis, and relationships between the combined effects of natural phenomenal and human activity that occur between existing and future environmental conditions (both natural and human-induced).

Therefore let it be resolved that the Iowa Legislature fully fund environmental institutions like the Leopold Center, Lakeside Labs, and other Iowa institutions to provide non-partisan, accurate, and local impact studies of climate change;

Therefore let it be resolved that such education shall include the identification and prioritization of resolute efforts to analyze and prescribe workable, realistic solutions to our predicament to sustain and improve our climate and life support system.

Therefore let it be resolved that the Iowa continues to provide incentives to its citizens so the state continues to be a leader in the development of alternative energy sources such as wind turbines, bio fuel, and solar energy to decrease our dependence on fossil fuels.

Therefore let it be resolved that the Iowa Legislature fully implements the Land and Water Trust Fund with a dedicated funding sources of 3/8 of a cent, as prescribed by the people of Iowa.