www.iowaipl.org 
Iowa Interfaith Power & Light
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE   
Friday, June 7, 2019

Media Contact:
Matt Russell
Email:  director@iowaipl.org

Farmers can provide critical leadership and solutions for climate action

Iowa Interfaith Power & Light (Iowa IPL) is offering all presidential candidates regardless of party affiliation education on how Iowans can provide faith-based solutions to climate change.

At this moment of great global transformation from economies built on the scarcity of fossil fuels to economies built on the abundance of clean renewable energy, we work with Iowans of all faiths to find and implement strategies to embrace the abundance of creation.

A partial solution to the global climate crisis is right in front of us--we just have to have the courage to embrace it. This solution to rising CO2 levels will also help us clean our water and air, save our soils, and stabilize our food system and rural economies. That solution is to pay farmers for environmental services they render in building soil health and sequestering carbon. Doing so will revolutionize both agricultural and environmental policy. Unlike the current configuration, these policies should no longer be in opposition--they should complement each other in strategic ways. Costs will be pennies per meal for the short term. However, it isn't actually a cost; it's an investment –an investment by America in our children and grandchildren's future.

We must start believing in American farmers. We can solve global warming by unleashing the power of American farmers to solve problems. It’s what farmers do on a daily basis. Regardless of what they are producing on their own farms, they are all managing complex systems. Farmers survive because they are masters at solving problems. The question today isn’t “do you believe in climate change?” The question is do you believe in American farmers and their ability to innovate when confronted with major challenges, like helping to solve our climate crisis?

“We’re seeing a dramatic increase in the number of Iowans, motivated by their faith, calling for climate action,” says Matt Russell, executive director of Iowa IPL. “Increasingly farmers are among the Iowans ready and willing to help provide solutions to this global crisis.”

Iowans are uniquely positioned to lead on climate action including renewable energy, energy efficiency, and farming practices that capture carbon and reduce emissions. Iowa IPL is sharing this vision of leadership and action with elected leaders and candidates regardless of political affiliation.

Iowa IPL currently has a project that brings farmers together in church halls and basements. These farmers are sharing how their faith calls them to climate action. They are exploring opportunities to lead on developing both smart public policy and the market forces to reward them for innovating on their farms to provide climate solutions.

In these discussions, farmers point out the current combination of public policy and markets creates a situation where farmers investing in better conservation and environmental stewardship carry a greater burden of risk compared to farmers who are willing to shortchange long term stewardship for short term profit. Despite these current distorted policy and market signals, and contrary to conventional wisdom, we’re proving more and more farmers are ready to help solve this climate crisis.

“As a farmer myself and like our parents and grandparents did before us, we must innovate on our farms to provide what the world demands,” says Russell. “Last century, the population bomb was one of the greatest challenges facing humanity. American farmers led the revolution that helped solve this problem. Our parents and grandparents innovated and partnered with researchers and agri-business to unleash increased productivity that not only delivered enough food, but lowered the cost of that food. The Green Revolution not only prevented a global disaster, it unleashed global growth that dramatically increased the quality and length of human life, touching every corner of the world.”

We’re at a similar, pivotal moment in human history. We are facing a catastrophic crisis; the greatest crisis humans have ever faced. American farmers can again lead the world through this crisis and into a future that is even more abundant than our past. We have a mountain of scientific research, powerful technological tools, and pioneering and innovative farmers across the country already starting to manage their farms to not only produce the goods the world demands, but to provide the environmental services this crisis requires.

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Matt Russell
Executive Director

Iowa Interfaith Power & Light

505 5th Ave. Suite 333

Des Moines, IA 50309

515-689-8219
Director@IowaIPL.org
www.iowaipl.org