Molly Wade / UNI Staff of the Center for Energy and Environmental Education at the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls.

Belief in the power of grassroots change guides the University of Northern Iowa’s Center for Energy and Environmental Education (CEEE).

The center connects eastern Iowans with eco-centric knowledge and resources while living its own advice, modeling energy efficiency and sustainability in its own facility. Located on the south side of the UNI campus alongside restored prairie land, the center’s soaring low-e windows and limestone walls join with sustainable building materials and energy-conscious construction to create a sound foundation for its outreach programs.

"We want to provide services that help communities do better energy planning, better environmental planning, better food planning," says Kamyar Enshayan, CEEE director. The center focuses on local issues, practical solutions and a flexible response. A prime example of its educational outreach are the workshops the CEEE began planning immediately following the 2008 floods. Daylong seminars, held in mid-November in Iowa City and Cedar Falls, connected local government officials with experts who could guide them through future long-term flood planning while in the midst of rebuilding and reassessing priorities.

"We brought together a lot of people (from all over the country) who had demonstrated it was possible to do flood plain management in ways that would reduce communities’ risk and vulnerability," says Enshayan. "A hundred and some people attended. These are county board of supervisors, mayors, their staff, city planners and others."

Since 1994 when the center was founded by a federal appropriation, it has focused its efforts on giving Iowans the knowledge, tools and inspiration they need to make their communities more environmentally sustainable. The center provides curriculum for teachers to use in their classrooms, and it also educates and trains community members about various energy and environmental topics through partnerships with non-profit organizations and utilities. The CEEE works as a facilitator connecting groups and individuals to eco-friendly goods and services, such as "green" builders and architects, energy efficiency experts, local food growers and area businesses that focus on sustainable practices.

One highly visible and successful CEEE program has been the "Buy Fresh, Buy Local" community sustainable agriculture campaign that connects local farms and processors with institutional food buyers and individual consumers. Its goal is to create a local, regional food system that benefits farmers, consumers and businesses. In 2009, Enshayan says the CEEE is planning to extend this idea to public schools through the Farm to School Project, where they’ll work with the food-service staff of three public schools to offer students fresh, healthy, seasonal food as much as possible -- and then showcase the results to other Iowa schools.

"We started something last year that was very successful. We called it Practical Backyards," Ehshayan says. The goal was to inspire community members to participate and involve their children in sustainable practices in their own backyards, such as growing food, growing fruit trees, composting, using a clothesline or even keeping chickens. "We hold backyard seminars. Last year, we had a Practical Backyard Tour, where we had five backyards and a window of time where people could … see what other people were doing," says Enshayan.

"We’re trying to develop a lot more programs," he explains. One such program will engage the CEEE with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources and AmeriCorps volunteers to rebuild destroyed structures in flood-impacted communities using energy-efficient practices.

Another project set to begin in 2009 will focus on helping farms meet a greater portion of their energy needs using resources available on their own farms. For example, they might learn how to generate energy from wind, solar power or wood. The CEEE will organize a statewide group of practitioners who will come together to learn from each other on an ongoing basis, then reach out to encourage more farms to try these practices.

"We believe in demonstrating local confidence in our own backyards. As a center, we’re very committed to Iowa . . . and demonstrating that energy conservation and environmental responsibility are possible, we can do them. We’re committed to making things happen in Iowa," Enshayan says.

For more information about CEEE, visit www.uni.edu/ceee.

Michelle Tibodeaux Sillman of Cedar Rapids is a freelance writer and mother of three.