The University of Iowa Presents:
Energy Expo 2006
September 27, 2006 - 9:00am-6:00pm
Something very special is emerging within the nation’s heartland. One by one, communities are stepping up, taking a stand on conserving energy and protecting the environment. In Iowa’s capital city of Des Moines, with a metro population of a half million, Mayor Franklin Cownie has inspired and energized his community to work together on a plan for conservation and environmental protection. With a mission of becoming a leader and model for the region, the mayor’s task force includes a cross-section of interdisciplinary community members. Farmers, doctors and businesspeople have joined the effort to move forward on a set of ambitious strategies to leave a legacy for future generations. In recent weeks, the City of Des Moines has begun replacing its fleet with hybrid vehicles. They are changing over to energy-efficient lighting, planting trees and taking other steps to promote energy conservation awareness throughout the city. Cownie was one of a handful of mayors from around the U.S. who attended the First Sundance Climate Summit at Sundance, Utah, July 10-12, 2005, to learn more about problems of climate change and to return with solutions he could implement at the most local level of government. He also signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. This summer, Cownie and his supporters helped persuade an international organization to designate Des Moines as the fourth city in the United States to land a Regional Capacity Center that will help measure city-level emissions and test ways to reduce them. The group is ICLEI - Local Governments for Sustainability, http://www.iclei.org/, which helps governments around the world learn about and implement sustainable development at the local level. During late September 2006, Mayor Cownie is one of five US mayors chosen to tour sites and work on the tough environmental issues, such as city emissions, and the impact to our global environment. He will return from Alaska with a current outlook on conditions to share with Expo attendees. Maybe it's because our own Mayor Frank Cownie is a small part of Something Big. Something is stirring in this country, and it's stirring at the grass roots, like at Des Moines City Hall and Plymouth Congregational Church in Des Moines and hundreds of other gathering places. It's stirring in California, where a Republican governor and a Democratic legislature joined to cap emissions of greenhouse gases, putting that state far ahead of the federal government, which acts as if it isn't yet aware of the grass-roots awakening to global warming. It's stirring in seven Northeastern states, which have formed a pact to cut power-plant emissions. |
It's stirring in the nation's cities. Cownie said he is one of nearly 300 mayors nationwide, of all political persuasions, who are taking the initiative in their cities on the environment and energy. Most interesting, it is stirring in the faith community, where people are gathering in houses of worship to watch powerful documentaries such as Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" and the Canadian film "The Great Warming," which includes an Evangelical Christian perspective on the moral duty to care for the Earth. In Iowa, the development of biofuels and wind energy promise huge economic gains. Nationally, the United States risks losing its position as a global economic leader if it becomes a follower, rather than the trailblazer, in perfecting the technologies that will power an emissions-free, post-petroleum world. City of Des Moines, Iowa – Mayor’s Taskforce on Energy Conservation and the Environment Mission Statement: The City of Des Moines will lead the greater metropolitan community by example through energy and environmental practices, policies and ordinances that encourage the use of sustainable energy, and protect and preserve the area’s natural resources for the benefit of future generations. |
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