By Kathie Obradovich

Hedge-fund billionaire Tom Steyer says he used to spend time around the dining table with his four children, debating the issues of the century.

"We'd sit there and say, 100 years in the future when you look back, what are going to be the issues where you're going to say, like, wow, you were on the wrong side of that issue. That's pitiful," Steyer said in an interview.

Steyer founded a center dedicated to sustainable energy at Stanford University but decided that wasn't enough. "It didn't seem as if we were being effective politically on this topic. There was no organized political effort to change the way people thought. And so I somehow managed to get all wound up on the topic and felt like I had no choice but to do this," he said.

Steyer in 2013 founded NextGen Climate Action, a political action committee that cut its teeth on the Virginia gubernatorial election. Now, Steyer has pledged $50 million of his own money and set a goal to raise another $50 million to elevate climate issues in the 2014 elections, including the U.S. Senate race in Iowa.

Steyer won't say how much he intends to spend in Iowa, and he doesn't know how much of the remaining $50 million he'll actually raise. Politico reported last week that fundraising had been slow.

Nevertheless, NextGen last week launched a field operation in Iowa, aimed at identifying and turning out voters who are concerned about global climate change. It will have offices around the state and focus particularly on college campuses and voters who don't usually participate in mid-term elections.

Steyer says there's a "gigantic difference" between Republican Joni Ernst and Democrat Bruce Braley on issues related to climate change.

Ernst has said she hasn't seen proof climate change is "entirely man-made," and the government's role in addressing it should be minimal. She wants to get rid of the Environmental Protection Agency to save money and put states in charge of environmental regulation. Braley advocates for action to address climate change. He voted in 2009 for the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which established cap and trade to limit greenhouse gas emissions.

NextGen's effort runs counter to the much larger, $300 million national campaign by Americans for Prosperity, a conservative group backed by Charles and David Koch. The Iowa chapter of AFP announced earlier this month that it is launching a field operation in Iowa in support of candidates like Ernst.

"AFP is really a powerful force in American politics," Steyer said. "They're definitely Goliath and we're definitely David."

I've had reservations about turning the environment into another political wedge issue. Polls show young Americans, across party lines, care more about the environment than do their elders. I'd hate to see that tender sprig of potential change crushed by the rancor, cynicism and inaction of big-money political activism before it can take root.

Steyer disagrees, saying the pathway for social action in this country is our democracy. He dismisses doubts that Congress, which can't even get beyond stopgap measures to pay for roads and bridges, can be spurred to action on climate change. He pointed to the explosion of environmental activism and legislation in the Republican Nixon administration, which followed a seminal Earth Day rally and wake-up calls like the burning of the polluted Cuyahoga River in Ohio in 1969.

"There was a level of pollution and environment degradation that people were really unhappy with and so we did something about it," he said. "We acted on issues that were critical and it turned out the legislation we passed was more effective, cheaper, faster than anyone predicted. So I look at this and say, this is not something we can't figure out. We figured it out in the past."

Ultimately, Steyer says, he expects the solution to climate issues will come through technology and innovation by farmers. But in the meantime, he wants to stand up to those who would like to break down Americans' confidence in their government to solve problems that are already taking a toll.

"There's no real way to hide from the future that I know of," Steyer said.

That's true, and Iowans should be warned that with groups like NextGen and AFP blitzing Iowa, there will be no way to hide from the phone calls and door knockers, either.