Mid-Missouri Peaceworks 5K walk champions climate change action
COLUMBIA — Mid-Missouri Peaceworks took on the heat Sunday, hosting a rally and 5K walk to promote action on climate change.
Peaceworks Director Mark Haim called this a pressing issue that needs to be addressed across all levels of government.
“We need climate action now much more than we ever have,” Haim said. “We should have been doing this decades ago, but the best time to work with is the time you got, which is right now, and we need to get moving.”
He said President Donald Trump’s policies are slowing down the transition to renewable energy sources such as solar energy.
“The policies of the Trump administration are a prescription for climate catastrophe,” Haim said.
He is also calling on the Columbia City Council to take action and update building codes to promote sustainable resources.
“We’re years behind on that front. Right now, we’re still working with 2018 standards,” he said. “That’s not right it’s 2026. We need to wake up, we need to take action.”
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The Columbia City Council on Monday night will decide whether to repeal the city’s current standards and adopt the 2024 Edition of the International Energy Conservation Code instead.
Organizers invited Democrat and Republican candidates to the event and called climate change a bipartisan issue.
“We encourage citizens to ascertain where they stand and to use this as a yardstick in deciding who to support,” Haim said.
State Rep. Adrian Plank, D-Columbia, who represents Missouri’s 47th House District, spoke at the rally urging residents to vote for candidates who value climate change efforts.
A spokesperson for Bekki Brewer, the Democratic challenger in Missouri’s 44th House District, also spoke at the event in favor of climate action.
Many different advocacy groups also attended the event, such as the Mid-Missouri Group of the Sierra Club, Renew Missouri, the League of Women Voters Columbia-Boone County, and the Columbia Earth Day Coalition.