Environment Iowa, 1 Sky, and several other co-sponsors organized the "Rock the Future: Green Jobs Now" concert in Ames on Sept. 27 as part of the 1 Sky National Day of Action on global warming.
“Iowa has a tremendous resource base of wind and solar power and the ingenuity necessary to shift to a new energy economy, which will create good paying jobs while cleaning up our environment,” said Hug. “Iowa must invest in clean 21st century power rather than building two new coal power plants that would pollute our air with soot, our fish with mercury and our planet with carbon.”
“Iowa could supply all of its power through Iowa based renewable and can become an energy exporter in just a few years,” said Anjuli Kronheim of 1 Sky. “Solar power, wind power and other new energy technologies under development here at ISU will create thousands of good paying green jobs in Iowa and will bolster the state’s economy, she said.
Clipper Wind is hiring for green jobs today. Iowa Lakes Community College trains students to maintain wind turbines. Iowa now has six factories manufacturing the components for wind turbines and several additional wind farms are under construction.
“This issue really affects all of us. We are already seeing the impact of climate change and we need to change,” said Pantelis Korovilas, sophomore in political science. “This is the time for ISU students to show we can be leaders on climate change,” he added.
“Demand for graduates from the community college wind turbine program is intense,” said Andrew Hug, Advocate, Environment Iowa.
The 1Sky campaign unites over 125 environmental, faith, labor civil society, campus organizations and businesses in promoting bold federal climate policy to prevent the worst of global warming and to create five million new green jobs.
