Over the summer and fall, iSEE has certified...
See the attached file for the iQ Fall 2021 to read this article in its original form.
Congratulations to the newest recipients of our Green Office, Event and Chapter certifications!
Green Chapter Gold Certification:
Zeta Psi-October 2021
Green Office Gold Certification:
iSEE (Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment)-October 2021
Event Certifications:
American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers General Meetings-Certified September 2021
iSEE Campus Sustainability Trash Cleanup-Certified September 2021
iSEE Campus Sustainability Celebration-Certified September 2021
SECS (Students for Environmental Concerns) Divestment Teach-In-Certified September 2021
iSEE Illini Lights Out-Certified October 2021
Keep up the great work!
SSC received semester report for Spring 2021 for Greener Campus Programs on 10/1/2021. Please see attached.
Congratulations to Kara Hagen and the rest of the Conservation Unit at the Preservation Services Department of Oak Street Library Facility for becoming a Green Office! They are gold certified as of September 4, 2021. They used a watt meter to monitor energy use of their devices and appliances and eliminated use of disposable cups. They notably created a new waste reduction strategy by saving the scraps from their long-fibered papers and bringing those to Fresh Press on campus, where they are used to create hand-made paper. Keep up the great work!
Reduce Energy Use on Campus By Going ‘Green’
The start of the semester is the perfect time to "green" our campus environment! Visit the Certified Greener Campus Programs page to learn about simple steps students, faculty, and staff can take to improve the sustainability of their workspaces, activities, and living environments through the Certified Green Office, Certified Green Events, and Certified Green Chapter programs.
Facilities & Services and iSEE have also developed a Greener Labs Inventory Toolkit to help analyze the energy used by lab equipment and identify opportunities for more sustainable lab practices. Together, all of these programs support the Illinois Climate Action Plan's goal of reducing energy consumption and promoting campus sustainability!
This year, we awarded 38 green certifications on our campus! Congratulations to all! This includes 28 events (including iSEE Congress and the “TED Talk: Eco Edition” series) seven Greek chapters (including gold-level awards for Delta Delta Delta, Pi Beta Phi, Delta Gamma, Kappa Delta, and Zeta Beta Tau), and three offices: International Student & Scholar Services, Department of Communication, and Department of Chemistry Administrative Office. Learn more about all of iSEE’s Certified Greener Campus programs.
Greek Chapter Gold Certifications:
Greek Chapter Silver Certifications:
Greek Chapter Bronze Certifications:
The Spring 2021 iSEE Quarterly Update (iQ) highlighted a diverse array of campus initiatives that made this year's Earth Month one to remember. Ranging from hosted events to sustainable energy, the article discusses the launch of the "TED Talk: Eco Edition" series, Solar Farm 2.0, community trash pickup, and more!
Read the article in the attached files below.
The Spring 2021 iSEE Quarterly Update (iQ) was released with the following message from Madhu Khanna, the Interim Director of iSEE:
Dear Colleagues,
Attached, please find the Spring 2021 “iQ” – the quarterly update from the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).
It has remained a busy time here on our campus, as we bolstered our outstanding Congress and Critical Conversation events with the addition of two experts — activist Catherine Coleman Flowers and nuclear expert Denia Djokić — who are serving as Levenick iSEE virtual resident scholars.
Thanks to the support of experts Eban Goodstein, Tami Craig Schilling, and Harriet Hentges, our new Environmental Leadership Program workshops for undergraduates were a rousing success.
And we were so pleased to have a mix of virtual and in-person Earth Month events to engage students, faculty, and staff from across our campus!
Please take a quick look at those updates and more in this six-page “iQ.” For more regular news, please sign up for our E-newsletter at https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/5031776.
Best wishes for the summer,
Madhu
The SSC approved a scope change for the Green Labs Intern project to allow the funding to be used for the larger Greener Campus program, and to revise the schedule to have an expiration date of June 30, 2023. The project contact is Meredith Moore at iSEE.
The Land and Water iCAP team submitted the following Certified Greener Building Certification recommendation on 4/2/21:
"The Land and Water iCAP Team recommends the creation of a Certified Greener Building Program to add to the portfolio of Greener Campus Programs under iSEE. The existing Greener Campus Programs target nearly every facet of campus life from University employees to student experiences. A Greener Building Certification would provide an opportunity for collaboration between building liaisons and the people and groups that utilize campus buildings. A set of requirements and voluntary actions must be developed to achieve the certification. Based on the success of the existing Certified Greener Campus programs, students, faculty, and staff alike are very likely to take advantage of the certification opportunity and embed these actions as part of building operations. These actions will also promote life-long sustainable habits. A Greener Building Certification would establish a sustainability standard and increase our culture of sustainability on campus."
Congratulations to International Student & Scholar Services (ISSS) for achieving Gold certification in December 2020!
Congratulations to Zeta Beta Tau for achieving gold certification (November 2020) and Triangle Fraternity for achieving silver certification (November 2020)!
Congratulations to the following two events for achieving green certification in December 2020!
ISTC'S Sustainability Seminar Series
ECEC21 (Emerging Contaminants in the Environment Conference)
iSEE hosted our first “Certified Greener Campus Program Workshop” to guide U of I organizations in certifying as “green,” even while unusual conditions add complexity to campus’s daily operations. The online workshop included a program overview, steps to certification, FAQs, and an open discussion about overcoming common barriers to sustainability.
If you were unable to attend Thursday’s workshop, you can still take steps to advocate for sustainable practices in your unit! I invite you to:
Congratulations to the Department of Chemistry Administrative Office (September) and Department of Communications (October) for recently acheiving gold certification! These two offices were featured in the iSEE newsletter and at the October 2020 Campus Sustainability Celebration!
The Fall 2020 iSEE Quarterly Update (iQ) was released with the following message from Madhu Khanna, the Interim Director of iSEE:
Dear Colleagues,
Attached, please find attached the Fall 2020 “iQ” – the quarterly update from the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).
It has been two months since I became interim director of ISEE. It has been exciting to see ISEE bring in multimillion-dollar research grants, launch a new research initiative in regenerative agriculture, and help coalesce sustainable agriculture research on our campus during this period.
Our Certificate in Environmental Writing has engaged students in making insightful contributions to a new issue of Q Magazine. We have also expanded our opportunities for education and scholarly discourse with several online events, including those on nuclear energy and geothermal energy research.
We formally launched the new Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP 2020) on Oct 20, 2020. This ambitious plan is the result of the hard work of campus sustainability folks who worked hand-in-hand with Facilities & Services and incorporated the vision of hundreds of students, faculty, staff, administrators, and community members into a plan for the next five years and beyond — all the way to carbon neutrality no later than 2050!
I am so grateful to Evan Delucia for his efforts over the first seven years as the first director of our Institute. He has left iSEE as a vibrant part of the Illinois community, and I am working with our outstanding ISEE staff to expand upon the work already begun — as evidenced in this six-page update.
Please take a quick look at those updates and more in “iQ.” For more regular news, please sign up for our E-newsletter at https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/5031776.
Wishing you a successful end to the fall semester,
Madhu
