This is a Moms Clean Air Force exclusive interview with Iowa Senator Rob Hogg:
What is unique about protecting Iowa’s resources?
Iowa has a high percentage of the richest farm land in the world. At the same time, the vast majority of our original prairies, forests, and wetlands have been lost. Climate change threatens Iowa’s agriculture and our natural heritage.
As a parent, are you worried about the effects of climate change on your children and the children of Iowa?
As a parent, I am concerned about the effects of climate change, not only today but also in the future. Climate change is contributing to more flooding, drought, extreme storms, ecological disruptions, wildfires, sea level rise, and ocean acidification, which in turn endanger food production, our economy, our health, and global peace and stability. Sometimes we read about projected climate change in 2050, or 2080, or 2100. That seems like a long time in the future, but it is well within the lifetimes of children we know today.
Why is a bipartisan effort so important and how can these efforts be achieved in our politically polarizing culture?
We need bipartisan support for climate solutions, because we need to take and sustain climate action for decades. The good news is, climate solutions work for jobs, businesses, farmers, and consumers. Let’s unite to take the climate action we so urgently need and build a safe, healthy, peaceful, prosperous, and sustainable future for all Americans.
How is Iowa preparing to meet the carbon emissions goals of the EPA’s proposed Clean Power Plan and how does this benefit Iowans?
Iowans are confident we can meet and exceed the EPA’s Clean Power Plan standards by continuing our efforts to grow wind, solar, biogas, and other renewable energy sources, and by continuing to invest in green buildings and other energy efficiency and conservation measures. Iowa already gets roughly 30% of our electricity from wind power, and we expect to increase that number to 40% before 2020. Iowa’s Republican Governor, Terry Branstad, devoted a significant part of his Condition of the State speech this week to expanding Iowa’s already robust renewable energy industries to build “a greener Iowa future.”
Is there anything you’d like to share that is important for Moms Clean Air Force members to know?
We need more Americans to get more informed, more involved, do more, and speak up more with elected officials and candidates at all levels and from both parties. Although advocacy does not always produce immediate results, we need to send a clear message that climate change is a danger to our future and that we have solutions that work. Keep speaking up.
Rob Hogg is a state senator from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, serving his third term in the Iowa Senate after two terms in the Iowa House. As a state senator, he has been a leader for clean, renewable energy, clean water, natural resources, and flood protection infrastructure. In 2009 and 2010, he chaired the Senate Rebuild Iowa Committee which directed recovery legislation from the Flood of 2008, the most expensive disaster in Iowa’s history. In 2013, he published his book, America’s Climate Century: What Climate Change Means For America in the 21st Century and What Americans Can Do About It.
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