Susan Guy, RE-AMP member, Executive Director of Iowa Interfaith Power and Light, RE-AMP Steering Committee Member, and Iowa State Table interim convener.

Like other state tables across the region, the Iowa State Table is currently laying the groundwork for developing a shared vision for the state’s climate and energy future—a vision, says Network member Susan Guy, that would move us closer to achieving RE-AMP’s greenhouse gas reduction goals faster than ever before. In her capacity as interim convener for the state table, Susan recently explained how inclusivity is core to the Iowa State Table’s development process, provided a logistics update, and shared her thoughts on the state table’s opportunities and pressing challenges. You can read my full interview with her below.

Jessica Conrad: Can you share where the Iowa State Table is currently at in its development process?

Susan Guy: Back when we were first putting the state table proposal together for the Global Warming Strategic Action Fund, various partners were working on ongoing campaigns. An organic process arose for connecting that campaign work to the state table, a space where we envisioned incorporating new partners.

Nathaniel Baer at Iowa Environmental Council and I became transition conveners for the state table, and since then we’ve been participating in monthly calls for the cohort of state leads from all RE-AMP states, as well as the Iowa-specific calls. We’ve identified our near-term priorities, one of which was to hire a state table coordinator who could start digging into some of the details. Sara Conrad was recently hired, and she’s now housed at the Iowa Policy Project, one of our state table partners. We’ve also set a date for our first in-person meeting on June 10th. We haven’t selected a location yet, but the meeting will be held in the eastern or northeastern part of the state—somewhere central based on the location of our current state table partners. We are also starting to look at a power analysis process to find out what sort of capacity our current state table partner organizations have.

Our next step will be to start a gap analysis to determine what strengths may be missing from the state table and to determine potential partners who already exist in the state and could help fill those gaps. We will also set up a regranting process that would provide some funding for current RE-AMP partners with limited capacity who are interested in participating in state table activities.

Jessica Conrad: How are you feeling about the Iowa State Table’s potential to make a difference for participating member groups?

Susan Guy: When Iowa went through Primetime (RE-AMP’s former regranting process) in the past, we were always focused on campaign work that groups could do as teams, dividing up tasks based on who could do what. Three or four groups might work on one campaign, while a couple other groups focused on another. The really exciting thing about the state table is that I hope it will bring everyone together under a larger umbrella. So when we look at a strategic plan for the Iowa State Table, it will be a larger vision for advancing clean energy in our state in service of RE-AMP’s goals. The exciting thing for me is that all the groups can be included and involved. Whether you’re an organization that has received RE-AMP funding in the past or not, whether you’re a tiny organization with really limited capacity or a larger organization, the state table will be a place for everyone. Plus it’ll be a place for groups or people who aren’t at the table now. Out of this coming together, and out of this larger vision for clean energy in Iowa, we’ll have a better ability to identify the campaigns that will move us toward our RE-AMP goals faster than ever before.

Jessica Conrad: What is the most exciting opportunity you see for the Iowa State Table?

Susan Guy: I still think the Clean Power Plan (CPP) is one of the great opportunities here in Iowa. I know that there has been an abrupt halt to CPP work on a larger scale due to the U.S. Supreme Court stay, but we’re one of the few states with a Republican governor who has not sued the EPA over the CPP. The CPP creates an opportunity in Iowa for advancing wind energy. MidAmerican Energy, one of our state’s investor-owned utilities, recently announced a wind project, which, if it’s approved by the Iowa Utilities Board, would mean over 40% of Iowa’s electric generation would come from wind when it’s complete. That’s amazing. This can serve as a great example for other states.

While there is this movement around wind, the CPP is really a mechanism for advancing all forms of clean energy across the state, and we’re pushing hard on the solar and energy efficiency pieces as well. Solar in Iowa is where wind was 10 years ago. It could really take off.

All of these pieces are connected; it’s hard to think in terms of one opportunity. But the CPP is the policy that’s helping drive clean energy, and we’re moving forward in Iowa despite the stay.

Jessica Conrad: What is the greatest challenge the Iowa State Table faces right now?

Susan Guy: One of the biggest challenges for our state table is that we have far fewer participating organizations than some of the other RE-AMP state tables. And the organizations that are participating are pretty much at capacity in terms of staffing and time. We are effective at working together—some of our groups have a long history of collaborating—but the tricky part will be how to build capacity with small organizations with no staff or very limited staff. How do you effectively target your resources where they need to be targeted?

I’ve heard it said before that some of the work we do is like being a dog at a whistler’s convention. You’re sort of like, Oh! There’s this new funding opportunity. We should go after it, but if we do, then we will have to create a new program and fund staff to run it. This doesn’t necessarily serve us well when we’re trying to develop a clear vision and focus—which is part of the point of having a state table.

So the capacity building piece is really challenging for a lot of our organizations right now. That’s one of the reasons why we wanted to use some of the state table funding to help groups participate. We genuinely want everybody to be at the table.

Jessica Conrad: If a new member group asked why they should participate in your state table, what would you say?

Susan Guy: Right now we’re in the initial stages of building our state table. One of the things I’m conscious of, especially as a faith organization, is avoiding a situation in which any new group walks in, sees that there’s already a plan in place, and gets assigned a slice of it. If we did things that way, we wouldn’t be allowing new groups the opportunity to buy in to the vision. They wouldn’t truly understand what they bring to the process and consequently wouldn’t understand how they can best contribute to the vision.

I want to be clear that we want everyone at the table during these initial stages so that we can co-create a vision for our clean energy future in Iowa, see how it connects to RE-AMP’s goals, and understand what part we each play. For me, it’s all about co-creating a vision and executing it together. That’s what I would say to a new prospective member organization. I would want to get them in at the ground floor and help them recognize themselves as an important part of the process.

Jessica Conrad: What motivates you to do this work?

Susan Guy: I have an interesting history—at least that’s what people say to me (laughing). Prior to my time at Iowa Interfaith Power and Light (Iowa IPL), I was serving as a pastor in a local congregation and doing field organizing work on global poverty. My issue was hunger. When I was serving congregations, we did all kinds of ministries and a lot of charity work, but we were also doing advocacy around policy to alleviate hunger. At the time, I wasn’t paying much attention to the issue of climate change. I knew it was there, and I knew that people were working on it. I also knew about Iowa IPL because the last congregation that I served supported its work.

Around that time I read an article about the connection between climate change and the drought and wildfires that disrupted the Russian wheat harvest. Food prices and conflict rose in the Middle East as consequence. I had this “aha” moment: I realized that if I cared about the issue of hunger, then I needed to care about the issue of climate change. So I started paying more attention and trying to educate myself not only about the impacts of climate change, but about the solutions for reducing carbon emissions and advance clean energy—all the things we work on as a Network.

What drives me now is that I have two sons, and I understand that their generation and the generations that follow theirs will be left to clean up a mess that they didn’t make. I want to be able to look them in the eye and tell them that I was doing everything I possibly could to make a difference on this issue.

Jessica Conrad: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Susan Guy: Iowa IPL has given me a way to do make a difference on climate and energy at the local- and state-levels, but I believe the Network has given me the ability to make an even larger impact. Over the years, I’ve learned so much from so many amazing colleagues across the Network—things I would’ve either had to work really hard to figure out for myself, or never known. By participating in the Network, I’ve become much more educated. I understand much more clearly what we can do, and how we can do it. Hopefully I’ve been able to contribute something back to the Network as well. Overall it’s been a great experience for me.