Ames Rally Attempts to Link Extreme Weather and Climate Change

students and community members will walk from the ISU Power Plant to Squaw Creek at Saturday to participate in 350.org's international climate change day.

Like one of thousand's of events planned around the world for the day, student groups including ActivUs will attempt they said to “connect the dots” between climate change and extreme weather events, that can only be relieved by reducing dependence on fossil fuels such as coal.

ISU ActivUs, The Lorax Troop, Ames Planeteers, Ames Green Drinks, the Take Down King campaign, and other local supporters of 350.org will meet at the ISU Power Plant at noon and hold up a dot and then walk to Brookside Park and take a path to Squaw Creek where they will erect a flood pole, to demonstrate how they believe climate change is affecting people right here in Ames. They will mark the pole to show the height of the creek during the floods of 2010, said Rivka Fidel, a graduate student and ActivUS vice president.

ActivUS the student group that also participates in Beyond Coal has the power plant in the past and also held a rally outside of Beardshear Hall and presented a petition to encourage President Steven Leath to look into coal alternatives. The power plant currently uses about 90 percent coal as a fuel source.

Fidel said the student group would like to see more power generated either with natural gas or biomass pellets. The easiest retrofit would be to switch to natural gas, Fidel said, but building a pipeline would be quite expensive.

The University told the Iowa State Daily that it wants to use less coal and burn natural gas with three of its oldest boilers and use the other two for coal and biomass to meet new regulations set by the clean air act.

Fidel said fossil fuel emissions are contributing to climate change, which has caused extreme weather events such as severe flooding and drought in other areas. Learn more by checking out the calendar item .