2011 Annual Dinner Address

Gene Takle is an ISU professor of agricultural meteorology in the Department of Agronomy. He is director of the Climate Science Program within the Bioeconomy Institute at Iowa State. His research areas include regional climate modeling and assessing impacts of climate change. He also leads a research team that is measuring mean wind, turbulence, and surface fluxes in a wind farm for validating high-resolution numerical models of wind farms that are co-located with agricultural crops. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the National Center for Atmospheric Research.

Dr. Takle discussed global climate change, extreme weather and its relationship to climate change and our weather's "new normal."

Dr. Takle's public presentations are available  on the Iowa State University website.

2010 Annual Dinner

See photos from the 2010 Annual Dinner held in Des Moines.

 DONATE TO THE IOWA CHAPTER

The Iowa Chapter of Sierra Club now accepts PayPal so you can help financially support Iowa Sierra Club's objectives for clean air, clean water and a cleaner environment.

You can also make a tax deductible donation to the Iowa Chapter.

2011 Annual Dinner

Congratulations to Jane Clark who was presented with Sierra Club's 2011 Special Service Award.  Donna Buell, the only Iowan ever elected to the national Board of Directors, presented the award at the Annual Dinner held October 1 in Coralville.

The Special Service Award honors a Sierra Club member, committee or group for strong and consistent commitment to conservation or the Club over an extended period of time.

Jane’s connections with activists from across the state and the nation facilitate her work to protect the natural environment, to participate in efforts to protect water quality, to advocate for rivers and streams and to work toward protection and preservation of our wildlife and our natural resources. She has served twice as Iowa Chapter Chair, as Chapter Conservation Co-chair and for the past 10 years as Chair of the Central Iowa Sierra Group. She develops these many connections as a result of her activism with Sierrans as well as with other related organizations. She currently serves on the Iowa Environmental Council’s Board of Directors and on the Iowa Audubon Board of Directors. Beginning in 2006, she represented Sierra Club on the Iowa’s Water and Land Legacy Coalition, advocating for the Natural Resources Trust Fund, the amendment to the Iowa Constitution that passed in 2010.

Chapter Awards Presented

Thomas Rosburg, PhD, received the Environmental Educator Award.  Dr. Rosburg has been an outstanding teacher in Drake University’s Biology Department since 1996 reaching scores of students through his courses in Field Ornithology,

Ecology, Iowa Natural History, Limnology, Identification of Wetland Plants and even  Ecology and Ecosystem Ecology among others.  Along with his teaching duties, he was named Director of Environmental Science and Policy at Drake in 2004.

With seemingly endless energy, Dr. Rosburg shares his summers with students at the Iowa Lakeside Laboratory field station on West Okoboji Lake teaching Plant Ecology, Natural History Photography, and Ecology.

Since 1987, Dr. Rosburg has educated thousands of people through his photographic exhibitions, natural history photography workshops, and published photographs. His exhibitions have ranged the state, from De Soto Bend National Wildlife Refuge near Missouri Valley to McFarland Conservation Center near Ames to Hartman Reserve Nature Center near Cedar Falls. Dr. Rosburg’s photos have been published in magazines such as “Sierra” magazine, “Iowa’s Natural Heritage” magazine, and “Iowan” magazine, and in books including Iowa Breeding Bird Atlas, The Science of Agriculture: A Biological Approach, Heartland of a Continent and Fragile Giants. The Iowa Department of Natural Resources commissioned a project in 2001, entitled “Images of Iowa: Photographs of a state’s natural resources.”

In addition, Raki Giannakouros of Dubuque and Jason Schatz of Madison, WI, received the Grassroots Activist award.  Raki and Jason developed a feasibiity plan as a part of greendubuque.org.  The plan showed how Dubuque could reduce greenhouse gases by 50 percent by 2030 and convinced Dubuque's City Council by a 7-0 vote to adopt this goal.  Neither Raki nor Jason were able to attend the dinner to receive the award.

Zach Carter of Iowa City received the Activist Award.  Zach has led the charge in the Beyond Coal Campaign at all three Board of Regents universities and has organized a chapter of the Sierra Student Coalition at the University of Iowa. Many students have been participating in these efforts but Zach stands out as their leader and as has distinguished himself through his efforts.  Zach was unable to accept his award in person because he was conducting a tour of coal mines in southern Illinois.

Congratulations to all of this year's award winners.

See a list of past award winners.

Last updated 12.13.2011

Photo Gallery

More than 30 Sierra Club members and supporters attended the 2011 Annual Dinner in Coralville.  All subjects are identified from left to right.

Jo Hudson, Charlie Winterwood and Dr. Gene Takle chat before the dinner.

 

Mike Carberry and Debbie Neustadt enjoy the social hour.

Executive Committee members Pam Mackey-Taylor, Wally Taylor and Jerry Neff chat during the social hour.

 

          

      Rob Hogg        Dianne Dillon-Ridgley           Tom Carsner

 

Louise Murray, Ed Heffon and Barb Schlachter await their meals.