The 2022 Barbara Schlachter Memorial Lecture Series is a partnership between 100 Grannies for a Livable Future and The Center. We invite you to meet the many dedicated people who work every day to address environmental activities within our community and state and how you can take an active part. Each is passionate dedicating their education, experience and skills to help the planet for today and future generations.
March 7
Briana Hoffman is a software engineer and Rotarian who started the philanthropy and sustainability club at her work on how to reduce our impact on the environment both by reducing our plastic footprint and our impact on climate change. She recently worked with her Rotary Club and the Domestic Violence Intervention Program to raise enough money to put 128 solar panels on DVIP’s emergency shelter.
In this presentation we will look at the problem of plastic and some easy plastic free swaps you can make in your own life to reduce your plastic usage. And we’ll talk about how you can have a bigger impact on plastic reduction beyond your own reduced use of plastic.
March 14
Emma Schmit and Chris Jones Emma is a Senior Organizer with Food & Water Watch who has been working with communities across Iowa to fight for bold policy solutions to the most pressing food, water, and climate issues since 2018. She has been involved in organizing a number of crucial campaigns, including enacting a statewide factory farm moratorium, placing Iowa’s Raccoon River on the 2021 U.S. Most Endangered Rivers list and stopping the expansion of hazardous carbon pipelines. Emma lives in rural Calhoun County. Chris Jones is Research Engineer with IIHR- Hydroscience and Engineering at the University of Iowa, studying contaminant hydrology in agricultural landscapes of the U.S. cornbelt. He has a Ph.D. in chemistry from Montana State University and previously worked at Des Moines Water Works and the Iowa Soybean Association.
March 21
Stratis Giannakouros and his team the U of I Office of Sustainability and the Environment are named as PC People to Watch in 2022. Their office partners with faculty, students, and staff through many disciplines throughout the college and across campus. Their mission is to educate, challenge and inspire the greater U of I community to realize solutions exist to end climate change by what can be done on a local level.
March 28
Iowa City ranks as one of 95 cities with an A rating worldwide and the only one in Iowa as a leader on environmental action and transparency. What priorities do you care about and what can you do!
Jane Wilch, the City’s Recycling Coordinator, for a discussion on recycling programs in Iowa City. Learn what can be recycled, where materials go after they are picked up, and which projects are on the horizon for waste reduction and recycling in our community.
Sarah Gardner, Climate Action Engagement Specialist, will speak about electric vehicles – why they are growing in popularity, how they are an important tool in fighting climate change, and some of the surprising ways their batteries can have a second life.