Perhaps there should be a standard developed for solar on buildings with monitoring and connectivity requirements. trouble shooting issues could go to a service contract to handle or there could be a work order for the F&S electricians. We should certainly train the campus electricians on everything that needs to happen for maintaining solar systems, or get a standing service contract.
Todd from the ironworkers shop has begun rolling out the bins as planned / verified. We still need to go through the rest of campus to get him more locations to complete. As Shantanu Pai is still in Chicago, Sydney who is the newest zero waste intern at F&S can facilitate the documentation and communication with the trades.
Interest in this project began in October 2017, at the AASHE Student Summit. Several residents of the Sustainability Living-Learning Community attended a workshop at this summit about the Bee Campus USA movement. These students were inspired by the progress of other universities and decided to start this project on our own campus. From that point on, the Sustainability LLC, Facilities & Services, Red Bison Ecological Restoration (RSO), and the Pollinatarium have collaborated to ensure the success of this project. The application process in this project must be done annually to maintain the Bee Campus USA certification.
Bee Campus USA is a nation-wide movement to support pollinators on university campuses. A university that is Bee Campus USA-certified proves that they are progressing in awareness, native plant landscapes, and safe pest management. The Bee Campus committee developed an official web page in spring 2018 and worked with Facilitites & Services to develop a University Habitat Plan. In addition, with funding from the SSC, we will be installing pollinator signage on campus in fall 2018.
Jennifer Neef, Director of the Career Center, responded to Meredith Moore and agreed to collaborate to incorporate sustainability into the Career Fairs, per the message below on 6/30/20.
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Hello Meredith,
Thanks for a great conversation.
The Career Center supports the iCAP Education goal of helping student finding meaningful employment related to sustainability. Our mission is to provide students with impactful services and resources that empower them to pursue career opportunities aligned with their interests, skills, values, and talents. I look forward to working with you and members of the task force in the coming year.
Jennifer M. Neef
Director
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See transmittal of Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair.
See SWATeam recommendation and submittal of Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair.
For future updates on this effort, see Sustainability at Career Fairs.
A 24" by 36" blank sign was installed at the corner of Florida Avenue and Orchard Street, by the Florida-Orchard prairie, near Orchard Downs and the Presidents’ House. The information planned to be featured in the sign will originate from the new Bee Campus brochure. This text will highlight the Bee Campus student organization, information about pollinators, as well as university and campus initiatives to be more pollinator-friendly. Thanks to funding by SSC, the signage will be ready for public display by the end of 2021!
See the attached files to view the installation of the blank sign!
All, Getting steadily busier! Sold some bikes, helped some people. A anecdotal metric for busyness: last week was the first time I had to repeatedly and firmly ask someone to leave after we’d closed up for the evening.
Got the bike trailer fixed up so parts runs are easier. Had a planning meeting for LTN and BTWD last week. Looking forward to those events in the fall. Last week was a hot one, so I was especially appreciative of the A/C in the new bike center.
Former student worker Eric brought in a trash bag stuffed full of old clothes to use for rags. We’ve been short on rags since the pandemic hit so this was much needed and much appreciated.
Still short staffed but patrons have been very understanding and in a way that functions like pulling off the training wheels of learning bike repair. Silver linings!
The numbers:
Visitors: 14
Sales: $677.50
Bikes: 3 for $490
Memberships: 2 for $60
Misc: $56
Thanks!
Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center
As a part of the terms of the funding agreement for Meadow at Orchard Downs Low Mow Zones, the Student Sustainability Committee released a semesterly report with key information about the project on June 14, 2021. The report can be viewed below.
Please see attached the ridership information for May 2021.
Instead of assigning traditional and compartmentalized roles in a hierarchical structure, the new SSLC leadership decided to all share the title of “Co-President.” The Co-Presidents of the SSLC for the 2021-22 school year are Maiah Caise, Owen Jennings, Maria Maring, and Jack Reicherts.
The Co-Presidents met weekly during the last one to two months of the Spring 2021 semester, mostly to get acquainted with one another and establish the basic foundation of the revamped SSLC. Some of the highlights of those meetings include:
The SSLC now boasts three social media accounts: Facebook @sslcuiuc; Twitter @uiuc_sslc; and Instagram @uiuc_sslc.
There are two main ambitions that the SSLC hopes to pursue, in addition to the responsibilities that the Council has historically tended to: a campus-wide Sustainability Summit and some form of iCAP accountability promotion. Both of these initiatives are very early in the works. The Sustainability Summit will hypothetically take place during Sustainability Month (October) 2021, and it will be in collaboration with many on- and off-campus entities, most notably the SSC. iCAP accountability will likely take the form of a social media campaign, likely in heavy collaboration with SECs.
The Energy iCAP Team made the following recommendation on 6/8/21. The Energy007 Comprehensive Energy Plan recommendation is attached as well as supplemental information.
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We recommend that F&S initiate the development of an energy planning document in FY21.
F&S submitted the Spring 2021 Semesterly Report to the SSC for the Solar Farm 2.0 Landscape Buffer project!
Read the report in the attached files below.
The Energy iCAP Team made the following recommendation on 6/8/21. The Energy006 Integrate iCAP Goals into Research/Learning Labs recommendation is attached along with a report prepared by Energy student, Brinn McDowell, and the data used in her report.
We recommend forming a committee to oversee integration of iCAP objectives into research/learning labs and to actively engage researchers to adopt sustainable lab policies. The committee should consist of a diverse range of stakeholders associated with sustainability and/or research on campus, such as F&S, iSEE, DRS, OVCR, OSHA, and Energy/Engagement iCAP Sustainability Working Team representatives. Outcomes from the committee should include, but is not limited to, a toolkit for sustainable and safe lab policies, training modules for those policies, a green purchasing guide, and inventory of equipment/spaces. The training modules should be part of onboarding and a required component of the lab safety training modules.
Photos were taken by Alice Berkson from January 2021 - May 2021 of the Florida-Orchard prairie on campus. These photos are taken each month at the same locations and are of a high enough resolution such that small sections can be enlarged to identify plants and other features. Each month, there are 4 photos taken from the view of NW diagonally looking SE, NE diagonally looking SW, or vice versa. Additional shots from other perspectives are taken as well!
Ryan Welch, Morgan White, and Shantanu Pai visited the Red Oak Rain Garden to review location placement for the new outdoor trash and recycling bin. The bin will be placed along the north-south sidewalk parallel to Dorner Drive, near the crosswalk.
Following the completion of iWG assessment for Res001 Champaign County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan, the recommendation was transmitted to the Office of the Chancellor via Mike DeLorenzo on June 8, 2021.
See SWATeam recommendation Res001 Champaign County Multi-Jurisdictional Hazard Mitigation Plan.
See attached iWG assessment.
F&S provided the attached files to Kerry Shanebrook, the Grounds Superintendent at Taylor University, in regards to pollinator plants under solar arrays.
Representatives of the Engagement SWATeam (Ann Witmer, Alexa Smith, Sammy Yoo) met with iWG representatives (Morgan White, Meredith Moore, Ximing Cai) for a tactical discussion on the team's strategy. Specific topics discussed include:
Meeting minutes are also attached.
Please watch the meeting recording here: Combined Bike to Work Day and Light the Night meeting on June 8, 2021.
Also, attached are the meeting notes for Light the Night, agenda for this meeting, and a draft of the sponsorship/fundraising letter from Champaign County Bikes.
This is a list of projects that need students to work on. It will be updated periodically by sustainability staff members, the last update was 6/8/21:
