The Zero Waste iCAP team met on 11/6/2023 to discuss the STARS report, potential volunteer programs for zero waste events, and our findings from the hydration station meeting with Mike Stilger (also on 11/6/23).
All,
Was great to catch up with so many old and new friends at AASHE! Thank you for keeping Texas in your hearts and in your top 4 CFP rankings ...
I can’t recall if this group has discussed innovative storm water management. All of our capital projects have very tight site boundaries so our opportunities for on-site management are few and costly. We’re investigating fee-in-lieu and stormwater credit funding models, but I’m wondering if anyone else has an established off-site stormwater management financing program in place ...
Thanks!
Jim
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Jim,
We've done some work on different approaches to managing stormwater. I'll send a separate email to introduce you to one of my colleagues who leads our efforts in this area.
Shane
The following is an email sent by Meredith Moore on Jan 12, 2023 to Elizabeth Murphy, Jennifer Fraterrigo, Morgan White, Daphne Hulse, and Anthony Mancuso:
Hi all,
I want to make sure you all have editable access to the Sustainability Literacy Assessment: https://forms.gle/aUyZjxKT7FF8b8fP7. There is no rush on getting this published (I recommend doing a pre- and post-assessment before spring 2025 to optimize AASHE STARS points).
Thanks,
Meredith
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
Tyler Swanson worked with Meredith Moore during the summer of 2022 as a campus sustainability intern and developed the attached report outlining recommendations to improve UIUC STARS score.
Thanks to a combination of new solar and geothermal energy projects, a reduction in water use, and wide-ranging sustainability research projects, UIUC earned its fifth consecutive STARS Gold Rating, the nation’s most comprehensive sustainability rating system for universities to measure sustainability.
STARS report (2.2) - submitted February 25, 2022 and valid through May 10, 2025:
https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-illinois-urbana-champaign-il/report/2022-02-25/
The Sustainability Sub-Council met on 3-30-22 in preparation of the Sustainability Council meeting. The agenda was as follows:
The meeting minutes and PowerPoint presentation are attached.
The University of Illinois has two submittals that are recognized as finalists for the 2021 Sustainability Awards:
More information can be found at https://www.aashe.org/news/meet-the-2021-sustainability-award-finalists/.
Sol Systems is looking to present at the AASHE’s Global Conference on Sustainability in Higher Education (GCSHE) sometime from October 12-14 through their request for abstracts on Emerging Issues in the field.
Sol Systems is looking to present on our work expanding the impact of renewable energy projects that would certainly focus on things we did for the U of I project, namely the inclusion of pollinator habitats, zero waste construction and the work with students for their Sustainability Minor Capstone projects.
Files associated with AASHE STARS Analysis.
File associated with AASHE STARS report 2020.
Final Project Deliverables for Spring 2020
There were 7 projects completed by the WIE-GFX Abroad Scholars in the Spring 2020 semester of ENG 177
The attached file and following links are reference materials for the Transportation SWATeam, for developing draft objectives for the 2020 iCAP.
Every few years iSEE submits data to the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), in the Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Reporting System (STARS). Our campus is STARS gold, and we would like to aim for platinum. This is a resource as you consider 2020 iCAP objectives.
If you click on a link above and then choose “Credit Info,” you can see the data requirements for that item.
The attached file and following links are reference materials for the Zero Waste SWATeam, for developing draft objectives for the 2020 iCAP.
Every few years iSEE submits data to the Association for Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE), in the Sustainability Tracking and Assessment Reporting System (STARS). Our campus is STARS gold, and we would like to aim for platinum. This is a resource as you consider 2020 iCAP objectives.
You can see from the scores above that some items were not pursued. If you click on a link above and then choose “Credit Info,” you can see the data requirements for that item.
see file
Illinois completed the STARS submission in June 2013. STARS is the most comprehensive sustainability rating system in the country. The rating system is divided into 4 categories: education and research; operations; planning, administration and engagement; and innovation. STARS rates institutions on 5 levels: platinum, gold, silver, bronze and reporter. Illinois has achieved the Gold Level Recognition, and no institution thus far has achieved Platinum.
