Ideas and Educational Resources
Learn how you can improve your sustainability footprint in your backyard or neighborhood. You can find tips and educational links beneath each Green Homes categories below.
Jump to a category:
Healthy Food | Green Yard | Small Footprint | Sustainable Materials | Clean Transportation | Informed Resident
Healthy Food
- Grow vegetables and fruit in your yard, in containers, or at a community garden
Vegetable calendar for Iowa | Planting fruit in Iowa - Participate in a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) program
CSAs near Cedar Rapids - Buy or borrow second-hand garden tools
Matthew 25 Tool Library | Habitat for Humanity Restore - Use double-up food bucks (double your produce with SNAP EBT).
Double Up Food Bucks - Raise urban chickens or become a beekeeper
Beekeeping Classes | Urban Chickens Classes
Green Yard
- Plant a durable tree
Cedar Rapids Approved Street Tree List - Eliminate pesticides in your yard for human and pollinator health
Good Neighbor Iowa Public Health Initiative - Plant flowers native to the area to support bees, butterflies, and birds
Pollinator plants (list 1, list 2) | Certified Wildlife Habitat - Install a rain garden to absorb rainwater and runoff
Stormwater BMP Cost-Share Program - Improve soil health with compost or aeration
Free compost at Cedar Rapids-Linn County Solid Waste Agency
Small Footprint
- Conserve energy and water (examples include using LED light bulbs, using low-flow water fixtures, adjusting indoor heating and cooling settings when you leave the house, and using Energy Star items
Efficient LED light bulbs | WaterWise Rebates - Put plastic on windows in the winter time
Video tutorial - Get an energy audit and receive free LEDs from Green Iowa AmeriCorps
Cedar Rapids Green Iowa AmeriCorps - Participate in the Low Income Heat and Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP)
LIHEAP - Install solar panels on your roof or in your yard
Alliant Energy solar info
Sustainable Materials
- Recycle and compost correctly with CURBY and YARDY (if available)
CURBY (recycling) info | YARDY (composting) info - Safely dispose of hazardous materials
Cedar Rapids-Linn County Solid Waste Agency - Reduce exposure to neurotoxins at home
Plastic exposure caution | Healthy Babies, Bright Futures - Shop at second-hand stores
Second-hand in Cedar Rapids - Repair your own clothing
Mending | Hemming - Use a reusable water bottle (Cedar Rapids tap water is safe to drink!)
Water Quality Report
Clean Transportation
- Ride your bike
Bike lanes in Cedar Rapids - Pick up litter on your walk
Take the City Manager's 1-Bag Challenge - Ride the bus (Free for students at CRCSD, Kirkwood, and Coe!)
CR Transit | 380 express - Download the VeoRide App to use electric scooters and bikes
Bike & Scooter Share Program | VeoRide App - Get an Electric Vehicle
Alliant Energy EV charging info
Informed Residents
- Attend a neighborhood association meeting (or start one!)
Neighborhood Association maps - Download Mobile CR and use My CR to connect with the City
Mobile CR | My CR - Get a library card, and explore books and resource in-person or online
Cedar Rapids Public Library - Prepare for extreme weather
Neighborhood P.A.C.T. - Learn about community resources available in Linn County
Linn County Community Resource Sheets - Continue your education and career development
Kirkwood Continuing Education | CR Library Opportunity Center | Urban Dreams | MICRO loan program - Read CR’s Community Climate Action Plan, which helps reduce pollution, build resilience and improve access
Community Climate Action Plan
