We’re excited to be part of the first annual Iowa City Climate Festival! The Iowa Flood Center, IIHR–Hydroscience & Engineering, and Iowa Watershed Approach are participating in the #IowaCityTakesAction to share our own stories on climate action topics.  Below are four videos we will be sharing on social media on Friday, September 25 for the themed day around “Adaptation”

Why climate action matters?

IIHR Director Gabriele Villarini defended his PhD at the University of Iowa in 2008 during the catastrophic floods-in his advisor’s basement! This firsthand disaster experience further validated his interests and helped shape his research focus on extreme weather and climate change. Listen in to learn on why climate action matters! View Dr. Villarini’s video here.

Witold Krajewski, co-founder and director of the Iowa Flood Center, has made it his mission to serve Iowans with science-based flood information, tools, and services. IFC researchers created the nationally recognized Iowa Flood Information System, an online tool used to communicate real-time flood alerts and forecasts, flood maps, and overall flood risks. View Dr. Krajewski’s video here.

Larry Weber is co-founder of the Iowa Flood Center and served as director of IIHR for 13 years. He now leads the $97M Iowa Watershed Approach project, which aims to reduce flooding in nine select watersheds across the state by working with local communities and volunteer landowners to strategically place flood mitigation practices that work progressively with agriculture to restore the landscape’s natural resiliency to heavy rainfall events. View Dr. Weber’s video here.

IIHR graduate fellow Jessica Ayers is conducting research on how midwestern base flow has changed throughout the region during the last century and the factors that have influenced these changes. In this video, she explains why climate action is important to her. View Jessica’s video here.