The Urban Biodiversity Master Plan has neared its completion and will be sent to the iCAP Resilience Team for implementation. The iCAP Resilience Team will continue to work with city officals from Savoy, Champaign, and Urbana to collaborate and establish this comprehensive plan.
The iCAP Resilience Team met on 2/22/24 to kickoff the new semester and discuss further objectives for the 2025 iCAP. Meeting minutes are attached.
The iCAP Resilience Team meet on 12/1 to discuss project updates and analyzed stakeholder engagement performance.
The iCAP Resilience Team Meeting met on November 10th, 2023 to discuss current project statuses, review the 2016 resilience commitment, and further discuss the mission and goals of the team.
Meeting minutes, a supplemental slideshow, and recording is attached.
Meeting recording: https://uofi.box.com/s/7xow5bqoe8zz0xk3qxyctdxi1duvg0mf
Powerpoint: https://uofi.box.com/s/7ysynolap0ykpcaoxboxojaieispjn8a
The iCAP Resilience Team met on October 20th to discuss charge letter priorities and current recommendations. Meeting minutes are attached.
iCAP Resilience Team had their last meeting of the academic year on Tuesday, April 25th, at 1PM. The team edited the Carbon Offset Statement. The team will send this this statement as a recommendation format to the iWG. Afterwards, with the approvals of iSEE, iWG, and F&S, the team will send this statement to Chancellor Office. Attached is the meeting recording.
Resilience iCAP Team had its online April meeting on Friday, April 14th, at 1 PM. The team had two guests: Annie Cebulski and Kejsi Ago. Annie presented the carbon offsets that the university has to purchase and gave some recommendations on how to complete these purchases. Afterward, the team discussed next steps for a potential statement and/or recommendation on this carbon offset purchasing. Meeting minutes are attached.
On 4/9/2023, the Res005 Sustainability Economic Analysis recommendation was transmitted to Dr. Madhu Khanna, Director of iSEE, with the following email. The iWG assessment is attached.
Hello Dr. Khanna,
The Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Working Group (iWG) recently reviewed recommendation Res005 from the Resilience iCAP Team to support student-led Sustainability Economic Analyses for the local community. The iWG discussed this and recommends that iSEE support this recommendation as described. Please see the details included in the attached Resilience iCAP Team recommendation.
The Formal iCAP Procedures includes a section on campus unit responsibilities upon receipt of a recommendation, and we respectfully request your response to this recommendation by May 3, if possible. If you have any questions regarding this recommendation, we are happy to arrange a zoom call.
Sincerely,
Morgan
=====================================
MORGAN B. WHITE and
Dr. JENNIFER FRATERRIGO
Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP)
iCAP Working Group co-chairs
See the RES005 Sustainability Economic Analysis recommendation here.
Resilience iCAP Team had its virtual March meeting on Monday, March 20th, at 2 PM. Stacy Gloss gave updates on the Sustainability Economic Analysis Recommendation, which is approved by the iCAP Working Group (iWG). Afterwards, the team discussed updates on ongoing resilience-related projects.
Meeting minutes are attached.
The Resilience iCAP Team submitted the attached Res005 Sustainability Economic Analysis recommendation to the iWG on 2/20/2023. The recommendation states:
Provide undergraduate research support for reporting on sustainability concepts including cost-benefit analysis, lifecycle costs, and finance considerations for Sustainability-related projects of interest to the local urbanized areas of Urbana, Champaign, and Savoy.
Topic examples include Green Infrastructure or Energy Conservation / Renewable Energy projects that municipalities are interested in undertaking. This research should help identify useful case studies and provide reporting on the economics of “green” capital projects of interest. Information showing that Green Infrastructure projects and/or Renewable Energy projects are fiscally sound, financially viable, and can demonstrate a return on investment have a greater chance for adoption over the easier “status quo” or lowest-bidder projects.
iSEE will provide some oversight and work to identify potential resources to partner with communities to answer sustainability questions with regard to “green” and “sustainable” community investments – where cost-benefit analysis and life cycle analysis reporting would be beneficial. ISEE recommended that Eric Green’s ENVS 492 undergraduate course is an appropriate class to partner with.
This recommendation also seeks assistance from iSEE to help identify future funding for the development, implementation, and outreach of this plan.
Additionally, the Education iCAP Team will assist in identifying online and on-campus degree programs with capstone courses that may align with the project scope. The Resilience iCAP Team leaders will continue to work with community partners to identify areas of prioritized need to be shared with a growing network of faculty and programs who in turn, are interested in providing real-world research-based opportunities to their students.
Through ENVS 492 and potential online and on-campus capstone programs, students will work with communities to conduct research and outreach, and to disseminate applicable reports and findings.
Suggested unit/department to address implementation: ISEE
Resilience iCAP Team had its February meeting virtually on Friday, February 10th, at 1 PM. The team discussed the revised Sustainability Economics Analysis Recommendation, next steps for Coordinated Rainwater Management Plan project, and additional help for Biodiversity Master Plan project.
Meeting minutes are attached.
Resilience iCAP Team had its first virtual meeting of the Spring 2023 semester on Tuesday, January 10th, at 10:30 AM. Cheryl Bicknell is the new Facilities & Services representative of the team. At the meeting, the Biodiversity Master Plan project student intern Gabriel Harper-Hagen gave a brief overview of the biodiversity plan and shared his progress through an extensive update document. Afterward, the team discussed its goals for this semester.
The full recording of the meeting can be found here
Meeting minutes are attached.
The Resilience iCAP Team submitted the attached recommendation Res004 Student Support for Coordinated Rainwater Management Plan to the iWG on 12/2/22. The recommendation states:
Provide internship funding support for developing a coordinated rainwater management plan, focusing on the local urbanized areas of Urbana, Champaign, Savoy, and campus communities. This plan should contribute to the green infrastructure on campus as student interns research and use campus resources as a model for the stormwater management systems for the cities. Lisa Merrifield at U of I Extension will recruit, work with, and advise the student intern for this project. Ideal candidates will be in a master’s degree program and have an interest in community green infrastructure and stormwater management planning.
The Resilience iCAP Team had its final online meeting of this semester on Monday, November 28th, from 11:00 - 12:00 PM. The team discussed two recommendations: Coordinated Rainwater Management Plan Recommendation and Sustainability Economic Analysis Recommendation. The team plans to revise and send the Coordinated Rainwater Management Plan Recommendation to the iWG by this Friday, December 2nd. Also, the team chair, Stay Gloss, will present the Sustainability Economic Analysis Recommendation at the iSEE Management Meeting and ask for any potential iSEE funding. Meeting minutes are attached.
The Resilience iCAP Team had its November meeting on Wednesday, November 9th, from 11 - 12 PM. The team had presentations from three community representatives about the resilience issues at their cities (Savoy, Champaign, and Urbana). After the brief presentations, the team discussed possible solutions and how the university can help to solve the resilience issues presented. Meeting minutes and presentation slides are attached.
The 2022 Campus Sustainability Celebration was a huge success! Thank you to all who participated! The PowerPoint presentation is attached, and the agenda for the event was as follows:
The Resilience iCAP Team had its second monthly online meeting on Monday, October 10th from 11:00 - 12:00 PM. The team worked on the Campus Sustainability Celebration slides, got updates on Urban Biodiversity Master Plan, talked about sustainability and resilience challenges at Urbana and Savoy areas, and shared announcements on upcoming sustainability events! Meeting minutes are attached.
Biodiversity Plan intern Gabriel Harper-Hagen is looking for students and student groups to help him develop two iNaturalist surveys for the project. Here is the detailed explanation from Gabe:
The survey will act as a pilot for future surveying around campus and the broader community. We will have two surveys: one focused on animals and one focused on plants. This is because of the different methods of surveying each. The surveys will benefit from as many students that would be interested in this for either one (Or both). The survey will attempt to efficiently gather data about the diversity of plant and animal species found on campus to create a baseline for what is present and to help identify gaps on the campus where diversity may be lacking. If successful, I hope to expand the model to other parts of the community including the park districts to have larger community based BioBlitz seasonally to keep track of the diversity in the area and measure success of the biodiversity plan.
As far as students can help, we need enough people to survey the area efficiently in a reasonable amount of time. The student groups and individual students would be helping in an initial survey that focuses only on the campus. My thought is that a date will be set for each of the two surveys where the participants can join to go over brief instructions on identifying plants with iNaturalist, adding them to the project, and explaining the purpose of surveying. iNaturalist allows for specific project data to be collected within a region which is then peer reviewed. Ideally, there will be some experts (students or professors if appropriate) that join for each survey to help with logistics and identification. I hope this will not only be a useful database for our campus to utilize, but also a fun learning experience.
All iCAP students and environmental student groups are encouraged to participate. If interested, please email Gabe (harperh2@illinois.edu) and Resilience iCAP Team clerk Asli Topuzlu (aslit2@illinois.edu).
The Resilience iCAP Team had its first online meeting of the year on Friday, September 9th from 2:00 - 3:00 PM. The team reviewed the Resilience Charge Letter, talked about ground rules of the team, reviewed seven Resilience iCAP objectives, and shared updates on each objective. Meeting minutes and ground rules documents are attached.
The following email was sent to the iCAP Teams:
Hello iCAP Teams,
Thank you again for serving on these important campus sustainability committees, and for your commitment to helping the university achieve the objectives in the Illinois Climate Action Plan. As promised in the charge letters you received, we are attaching the Key Priorities Document here. The attached document includes a section for each iCAP Team, with two parts in each section: Priority areas and in progress iCAP Portal projects.
In order to help our campus move from STARS Gold to STARS Platinum, we have identified priority areas where our university can potentially improve. iSEE’s summer intern Tyler evaluated the latest UIUC STARS report and identified example case studies from STARS Platinum schools. Tyler’s report is online at “Report on Improving UIUC STARS Score.” The priority areas also include topics for potential recommendations that have been brought up in previous discussions with the campus sustainability teams. One example of this is the current efforts to reduce plastic waste on campus.
Many prior iCAP team members have expressed a desire for guidance on appropriate topics for recommendations, so we are providing this guidance to assist your team with focus areas for development of recommendations. We encourage you to investigate these ideas with gusto; reach out to people at other schools to learn more about the ideas and contact people on our campus who would have a stake in the project (“stakeholders”) to understand how it could fit into our campus. You should also review the recommendation template to see the information that needs to be completed when you submit a recommendation to the iCAP Working Group.
The iCAP Portal has over 900 projects and contains information about our campus sustainability efforts, going back as far as 2003. The information is primarily entered by members of the iCAP Teams, the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC), and a few volunteers. We are requesting your assistance to get updates on some of the projects that are listed as “In Progress.” For each of the projects listed in the attached file, please answer the following questions:
We are very excited about this coming year, and we want to support you in any way necessary. Please reach out to any of us at any time.
Thank you,
Morgan, Jen, and Meredith
