Climate Ambassador Training Modules
Below you will find links to information about climate science, how to effectively communicate with others about climate change, and resources that can deepen your knowledge about actions contained in the Iowa City Climate Action and Adaptation Plan.
Each week of the training, you will be asked to review the "Required" material for the assigned learning module. This will include short articles to read, videos to watch, recordings to listen to, and/or interactive quizzes and web features. It is designed to be informative but also, hopefully, fun too. You may cover this material at your own pace, reviewing one or two items a day or going through them all at once. It is an important part of your training. This material gives us all a shared base of information to use as a starting point for our weekly conversations.
Each module also contains a list of "Supplemental" material. Although none of this material is required, it is provided so that you can explore the topics that interest you more deeply. Use the supplemental material to personalize your training experience. The links and resources were carefully chosen for being thought-provoking as well as useful, and reflect current conversations happening in the Climate Action community. We are always refining these lists. If you come across material that you think should be included, please feel free to share it with your Climate Ambassador trainer.
Welcome to the Climate Action conversation!
Use these links to jump to any module:
- Module 1: Climate change impacts and equity
- Module 2: Building the climate conversation
- Module 3: Rethinking waste and promoting better use of resources
- Module 4: Plugging in to buildings and energy
- Module 5: Advancing cleaner and healthier forms of transportation
- Module 6: Promoting a sustainable lifestyle for every resident
- Module 7: Building a more resilient community
- Bonus: A little relief when you need it
Module 1: Climate change impacts and equity
Required material
- Watch Iowa and Changing Climate (7 minutes)
- Watch Patricia Espinosa on Cities and Climate Leadership (15 minutes)
- Listen How to Save a Planet: Black Lives Matter and the Climate (47 minutes)
- Interact Climate Explorer Tool (interactive website showing local climate data)
- Read Iowa City Climate Action and Adaptation Plan (pages 6-20)
Supplemental material
- Watch Slaying the Zombies of Climate Science (18 minutes)
- Watch Midwest Climate Summit (3 videos on different topics, 1 hour each)
- Read Iowa Climate Statement 2020: Will COVID-19 Lessons Help Us Survive Climate Change? (1 page)
- Watch What is Environmental Justice? (3 minutes)
- Read Climate Change and Inequality Led to This City’s Demise. What Can We Learn Looking Back? (Blog entry)
- Interact Climate Change Health Impacts Quiz (10 Questions)
- Read Climate Change and Health Equity (6 pages)
- Read Climate in the Heartland Report, Iowa City Section (pages 7-11)
- Watch Toxic Neighbors: Taking Action to Solve the Climate Crisis (8 minutes)
- Watch Dr. Robert Bullard, Environmental Justice (18 minutes)
- Read Jemez Principles for Democratic Organizing (1 page)
- Read Fourth National Climate Assessment (NCA4), Midwest Impacts (webpage, 69 page PDF)
- Read Health Impacts of Climate Change (56 pages, mostly images and bullet points)
- Read COVID, Climate, and Health Connections (web article)
- Read NCA4, Climate Change and Human Health (webpage, 33 page PDF)
- Read Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Reports (webpage)
- Read Iowa Energy Justice Snapshot (11 pages)
Module 2: Building the climate conversation
Required
- Read Communicating on Climate: 13 Steps and Guidelines (8 pages)
- Watch Susan Pacheco's Heal the Planet (3 minutes)
Supplemental
- Interact Global Warming’s Six Americas (webpage)
- Read Connections Between Energy Use and Systemic Racism (web article/infographics)
- Read Climate Change Science Comeback Strategies (web article)
- Listen Humanity’s Temporal Range (23 minutes)
- Listen Two Heartbeats a Minute (1 hour, 8 minutes)
- Listen or Read How to Talk to Kids about Climate Change (23 minutes, or read transcript on some page)
Module 3: Rethinking waste and promoting better use of resources
Required
- Watch Plastic Wars (53 minutes, especially last 15 minutes)
- Read Curbside Recycling At-Home Sort Guide (2 page infographic)
- Read Iowa City Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, “Taking Action: Waste” (pages 43-48)
Supplemental
- Interact Iowa City Reduction and Reuse Page (webpage)
- Interact Iowa City Recycling Page (webpage)
- Watch Waste Characterization Study (6 minutes)
- Listen Iowa City Matters podcast, “Trash Talk” (38 minutes)
- Read Half of All Plastics Were Made in the Last 13 Years (web article)
- Read When Does Recycling Your Plastic Make Sense (web article)
- Read War on Plastic is Distracting from More Urgent Threats (web article)
- Listen National Sword (47 minutes)
- Watch Iowa City How to Use Curbside Collection (3 minutes)
- Watch Iowa City Glass Recycling (2 minutes)
- Watch At-Home Composting Video from Earth Day (4 minutes)
- Read Backyard Composting Guide (2 page flier)
- Listen Nothing Wasted (multiple podcast episodes to choose from)
Module 4: Plugging into buildings & energy
Required
- Listen City of the Future: Affordable Electrification (first 15 minutes/24 minutes, or read transcript on the same page)
- Watch Energy Efficiency: Our Best Source of Clean Energy (2 minutes)
- Watch LEED Platinum Home in Iowa City (6 minutes)
- Read Iowa City Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, “Taking Action: Buildings,” pages 28-34
Supplemental
- Read Iowa City Greenhouse Gas Inventories
- Read About the Home Energy Score
- Read Indoor Air Quality and Electrification (web article)
- Read Gas Appliances May be Hazardous to Your Health (web article)
- Read U.S. DOE Energy-Efficient Home Design (webpage)
- Interact What makes a LEED home so green? (5 questions)
- Read Is Renewable Gas a Serious Alternative to Electrify Everything? (web article)
- Read/Watch DIY Home Weatherization Tip Sheet (Sheet with links to videos)
- Listen Iowa City Matters podcast, “Housing Rehabilitation”
- Watch Zero Carbon Home: Four Cost Effective Interventions (1 hour, 12 minutes)
Module 5: Advancing cleaner and healthier forms of transportation
Required
- Interact Alternative Fuels Data Center Vehicle Cost Calculator (webpage)
- Watch How Clean Are Electric Cars? (2 minutes)
- Listen Missing the Bus (40 minutes, or read transcript on same page)
- Read Why Celebrate the Bike? (webpage)
- Watch What Makes Walkable Cities? (3 minutes)
- Interact EPA Carbon Footprint Calculator (webpage)
- Read Iowa City Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, “Taking Action: Transportation,” pages 36-48
Supplemental
- Read Complete Streets Fundamentals (website with links)
- Read Complete Streets Mean Equitable Streets (4 pages)
- Watch Great Biking Makes Great Cities (3 minutes)
- Listen Iowa City Matters Cycling in Iowa City (37 minutes)
- Watch Living with an EV (5 minutes)
- Read Electric Vehicles Save Consumers Money (fact sheet)
- Listen Are Electric Cars Really Better for the Planet? (1 hour 12 minutes, or read transcript on same page)
- Interact Why Go Plug In? (webpage with links)
- Interact EPA Green Vehicle Guide (webpage with links)
- Watch Active Transportation Alliance Pop-Up Demonstration Projects (webpage with video links)
- Read A Low Cost Way to Improve Transit: Add Joy (web article)
- Watch Walking and Walkability in the Age of COVID (1 hour 12 minutes)
- Read Physical Activity Can Be Helpful in the Coronavirus Pandemic (webpage)
- Watch Let Someone Else Drive (commercial, 2 minutes)
- Watch What if Everything Ran on Gas? (commercial, 1 minute)
Module 6: Promoting a sustainable lifestyle that works for every resident
Required
- Interact Climate Change Solutions Quiz (8 questions)
- Read Climate Change Action Requires Change In How We Live (web article)
- Listen The Broccoli Backstory: Dr. Ricardo Salvador Explains the System Behind the Supermarket (29 minutes, or read transcript on same page)
- Read Iowa City Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, “Taking Action: Sustainable Lifestyle,” pages 56-60, and “Call to Action,” pages 62-63
Supplemental
- Read/Interact How to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint (webpage with links)
- Interact Climate Choices Mini-Quiz (4 questions)
- Read How You Can Stop Global Warming (webpage with links)
- Read What Can I Realistically Do About Climate Change (webpage with links)
- Read Climate Smart Cooking (31 pages, cookbook)
- Read Fix to Food Climate Problem (web article)
- Read How to Stop Freaking Out and Tackle Climate Change (web article)
- Read Iowa City Climate Action Toolkit (22 pages)
Module 7: Building a more resilient community able to adapt to climate stresses
Required
- Watch Designing Buildings and Communities for Iowa’s Future Climate (6 minutes)
- Listen Unnatural Disasters (42 minutes)
- Watch The Iowa Watershed Approach: A Vision for a More Resilient Landscape (1 minute)
- Interact Sycamore Greenspace Trail (story map)
- Read Climate Disruption is Now Locked In, the Next Moves Will Be Crucial (web article)
- Read Iowa City Climate Action and Adaptation Plan, “Taking Action: Adaptation,” pages 50-54
Supplemental
- Read How To Feed Your Family in a Power Outage (web article)
- Read Flood Factor Environmental Changes (webpage)
- Listen 20 Billion Trees (38 minutes, particularly final 5 minutes)
- Read Five Ways to Future Proof a Building (web article)
- Interact Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (webpage with links)
- Read Mitigation and Adaptation (webpage)
- Read Strategies for Climate Change Adaptation (webpage with links)
- Read What if We Stopped Pretending? (web article)
- Watch The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Us Happier, Healthier, and More Creative (58 minutes)
- Watch Turning Soil into Sponges (3 minutes)
- Listen Nature, Joy, and Human Becoming (51 minutes)
- Read Ecosystem Services (webpage)
- Read Billion Dollar Weather and Climate Disasters (webpage)