Iowa City Department of Climate Action hosts pop-up park celebrating recent climate achievements

On the corner of Washington Street and Van Buren Street, a lemonade stand and several yard games were set up in parking spaces as a part of Iowa City’s sixth annual climate festival. The Iowa City Department of Climate Action and Outreach utilized the parking spots in an alternative way to promote climate change initiatives.

On Friday afternoon, Iowa City hosted an event in which the city turned three parking spaces into a pop-up park to kick off the climate festival, as well as celebrate National Parking Day and the completion of several climate initiatives they have completed.

Initiatives such as the renewal of Iowa City’s fare-free transit service, which Sarah Gardner, the climate action coordinator of Iowa City, said is thought to have contributed to the reduction of vehicle miles traveled in the city by 1.8 million miles.

At the event, some attendees sat in red chairs and became acquainted with new faces. Children ran around, drinking lemonade and playing cornhole on boards that showed different species of wood. 

For others, such as Lisa Schroer and Sam Brodersen, the event was a quick break from the typical workday. 

“We’re also planners. I feel like Parking Day, it’s just a silly holiday every year, so I thought it was really cool that the city put this up,” Schroer said.

For the pair, the pop-up park and Parking Day are fairly relevant to the work they do for the city. 

“It’s just an interesting reuse of underutilized street parking spaces, which it’s really cool to see things intended for one thing being used for another,” Brodersen said. “Also, the protection of the environment is really sort of a core tenet of planning, so while we’re not directly involved, it’s very relevant.”

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For people like Gardner, climate events such as the pop-up park are more than just fun. She said she believes these events can draw more attention to climate initiatives, especially in the city.

“I think a lot of people this year have been feeling a little overwhelmed by some changes in priorities at different levels around climate initiatives, particularly at the federal level, and some messaging that says working on reducing greenhouse gases doesn’t matter or it’s not effective,” Gardner said. “This year, it’s really important to show Iowa City is making real and meaningful progress on reducing our climate greenhouse gases. We’ve actually cut them almost in half since 2010.”

In the Iowa City Climate Action Matters 2024 annual update, greenhouse gas emission totals were shown to decrease from 1,400,000 in 2010 to almost 800,000 in 2023. 

However, it’s not just about educating citizens about climate initiatives. Gardner believes that working on the climate and making some of these changes actually improves the quality of life for those living in the city and in the world in general. 

“Like everybody else, I have to live on this planet. I think a livable future is important, but I also think climate action efforts aren’t just beneficial for reducing greenhouse gases. They really make cities more pleasant places to live,” Gardner said. “It’s amazing to have free transit service. It’s amazing to have vibrant urban parks. These things help with climate goals, but they also just contribute hugely to our quality of life.”

This wasn’t the only event of the Climate Festival; on Sept. 22, there will be a solar art show at the Iowa City municipal airport, the following day, they are collaborating with the environmental coalition at Iowa to have a reading from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. down by the river, and on Sept. 24 there will be a resilience club hang out.