Sierra Club organizes forum on sustainability in Fairfield

FAIRFIELD — The Southeast Iowa Sierra Club is organizing a forum to educate the public about how other towns in the state are tackling environmental problems and how Fairfield could follow their lead.

The event is known as the “Forum for the Future of Fairfield,” which will be from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 10, at the Fairfield Arts & Convention Center. Registration and coffee begin at 9:30 a.m. The forum is free and open to the public.

The Sierra Club wants the forum to serve as an opportunity to address environmental questions such as “Is Fairfield ready to be energy self-sufficient?” or to grow its economy sustainably, to respond to climate change, and other important questions. The club has invited four guest speakers who will touch on how their communities are grappling with these challenges.

The guest speakers are:

· Josh Mandelbaum, senior attorney at the Environmental Law and Policy Center and a Des Moines city council member.

· Gina Bell, sustainability coordinator for the city of Dubuque.

· Jeff Geertz of the Iowa Economic Development Association and West Union Green Streets Initiative.

Merry Rankin, joint sustainability director for the city of Ames and Iowa State University.

Southeast Iowa Sierra Club board Chairwoman Anne Walton said the idea for a forum on sustainability came together earlier this year when the club was working on its strategic conservation and community resilience plan. The club wants to address a wide variety of issues ranging from renewable energy to food security to affordable housing and an adequate workforce.

Walton said the group realized it needed a broad swathe of community partners to achieve these goals.

“We started this resilience coalition with a lot of entities, and we thought we should have a forum to look at the communities around Iowa that have already done this,” Walton said. “What can we model from other towns that already have a sustainability plan and a sustainability coordinator?”

After the four guest speakers address the crowd, there will be a question-and-answer session from noon to 12:30 p.m. The event will be accessible over Zoom. To get the Zoom link, visit the Southeast Iowa Sierra Club’s Facebook page.

The forum is being sponsored by the city of Fairfield, Fairfield Resiliency Project, Southeast Iowa Sierra Club, Humanities Iowa, Iowa Sierra Club, Fairfield Arts & Convention Center, Seven Roses Inn, Sustainable Living Coalition, Fairfield Accounting Services, Fairfield Food Collective and AERON Community Task Force.