Ninth-graders advise city on reducing carbon footprint

CEDAR RAPIDS - The city has a new source for ideas to make Cedar Rapids more environmentally friendly: ninth-graders.

Groups of ninth-grade students from Prairie Point Middle School and 9th Grade Academy presented several plans to help the city lower its carbon emissions to a panel of College Community school district and Cedar Rapids city officials. Members of Friday's panel included school board president Randy Bauer, City Council member Chuck Swore, and Megan Murphy and Steve Hershner from Cedar Rapids Utilities.

The plans were developed during a two-month project assigned by science teacher Ryan Rydstrom to research ways to reduce the city's carbon footprint. Rather than have the students conduct all their research in libraries and on the Internet, Rydstrom told his students to contact city employees to get the information they needed.

Among the finished projects are suggestions to let the grass grow unmown in 30 percent of Jones Park to save gasoline, and to plant trees in the Prairie Hills Development to help absorb carbon emissions.

Malia Godenkauf's group researched replacing the shower water heaters at Bender Pool with a solar-powered system. While there would be an investment cost to replace the current heaters, Godenkauf's group found the city would save money over time, as the solar heating requires no fuel.

“A lot of people don't know that by making that simple switch they can save a lot of money,” Godenkauf said. “It doesn't release any (carbon dioxide) at all.”

Eric Mittauer had to shop around car manufacturer websites for his assignment, which was to find a greener replacement for the city's fleet of Ford Focus and Chevy Cobalt cars. Members of his group set their sights on the Toyota Prius, a hybrid gasoline-electric car.

“We had to see how much gas, on average, the city of Cedar Rapids used, how much they drove and how it compared with the Prius,” Mittauer said.

The Prius costs more than the city's current cars, but Mittauer's group calculated the city could save $600 a year in fuel for each Prius it purchased.

All of the ideas suggested are things the city is considering in its energy management plan, according to Murphy, education and communication coordinator for utilities. She said the information the students provided would help officials make decisions and inform the public about their efforts to make Cedar Rapids more carbon-conscious.

“I was really impressed with their problem-solving skills,” she said.

While there were cash savings as a result of most of the plans the students came up with, both Mittauer and Godenkauf said the real benefit in going green comes from cleaning up the planet.

“I think global warming does exist,” Mittauer said. “I've been to New York and Chicago, and the pollution there is out of control.”