Below is an email exchange between William Villaflor from the Urbana Community Learning Lab and Stacy Gloss:

I am reaching out to invite you to participate in Franklin STEAM Academy's Earth Day/Month celebration. Throughout the month of April, Franklin Middle School, located in Champaign, is looking to organize a full month of events, guest speakers, and engaging learning opportunities to educate and empower their students to grapple with issues surrounding environmental justice, sustainability, and conservation.

Franklin is open to a variety of topics that would inspire students' passion for the earth and the environment; some examples of ideas include: a presentation on local conservation efforts, a hands-on opportunity to work with plants and animals, creating compost bins, environmental career exploration, etc.

If you are interested in this opportunity and determining whether this will be a good fit for your organization, we would be happy to connect you to the best person at Franklin STEAM Academy. Of course, if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to reach out to us.

Warmly,

William Villaflor and the CLL Team

---------------------------

Good morning friends and colleagues,

I have learned of a request for participation in Franklin Middle School's Earth Month activities coming up soon. 

Please contact Will Villaflor....if you are interested and able to participate.

Sincerely,

Stacy Gloss

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Below is an email exhange regarding a spring 2023 SDA Webinar:

Dear Wanjhen,

Thanks for Yu-Feng's arrangement. It seems that all invited speaker have agreed that our first SDA webinar will be hold on 8:30am-10:30am, 4/11 in Taiwan (7:30pm-9:30pm CDT, 4/10 in U.S.). Can you help us in announcing the Webinar to our colleagues in the Future Earth Taipei, and also arrange the on-line virtual meeting affairs(invitation letters, lecture fees, links, softwares, login.....) for our international speakers?

The title for the spring SDA webinar in Future Earth Taipei is "Campus Sustainability Actions as a Living Laboratory"

 Here is our invited speakers and agenda:

0. Introduction: Dr. Ping-Yu Chang, (5min.) Professor, National Central University ,Taiwan; Secretary, SDA in Future Earth Taipei

1. Dr. Yu-Feng Forrrest Lin (15 min.), Director of   Illinois Water Resources Center; Principal Research Hydrogeologist in Illinois State Geological Survey; Clinical Professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

2. Dr. Andrew Stumpf (15 min.), Principal Research Scientist, Prairie Research Institute in Illinois State Geological Survey; Co-founder of Illinois Geothermal Coalition, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

3. Ms. Morgan White (15 min.), F&S Associate Director for Sustainability, Interim Director of Capital Programs. 

4. Mr. Jack Reicherts(15min.), Chair of the Student Board, Illinois Green Fund and Student Sustainibility Committee

5. Dr. Jui-Pin (Rubin) Tsai (15 min.), Assistant Professor, National Taiwan University

6. Q&A time (15 min.).......(I saved 25 min. if we have delayed or further discussion)

Thanks for your great helps. Let us anicipate the webinar then!

Best regards,

Ping-Yu Chang

Secretary, SDA Group in Future Earth Taipei

--------------------------------

Hi Ping-Yu,

I think it might be better to yield my time to Andy, Morgan and Jack for them to talk 20 minutes each.  If you really want me to speak, I can give a quick introduction to on campus as a living lab concept for 3 minutes.

Yu-Feng

-----------------------------

Hi Team,

I would like to initiate our discussion by suggest the workflow of this webinar:

1. Introduction: Ping-Yu (5 min.) – End with our previous and current collaboration as the transition to Yu-Feng
2. Definition of Campus Living Lab: Yu-Feng  (5 min.) – End with UIUC is a perfect testbed as the transition to Morgan
3. UIUC Campus Administration on Sustainability as a Living Lab: Morgan (15-20 min.) – End with the student partnership as the transition to Jack.
4. UIUC Student Actions on Sustainability as a Living Lab: Jack (15-20 min.) – End with geothermal projects as an example for the transition to Andy.
5. Geothermal research development at UIUC: Andy (15-20 min.) – End with current international collaborations with Europe (Powell Center and Groundwater Special Issue), South America (Columbia and Brazil), Japan and Taiwan (as Ping-Yu mentioned in the beginning) as the transition to Jui-Pin.
6. Progress and opportunities in Taiwan, and conclusion: Jui-Pin (15 min.)

Please feel free to share your ideas on the workflow, time, contents, and anything else.

Yu-Feng F. Lin

Greetings, Colleagues,

I hope the start of 2023 is going well. I’m reaching out today to send you iSEE Quarterly update for Winter 2022 from the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.

For more up-to-date news from iSEE, please sign up for our E-newsletter at https://illinois.edu/fb/sec/5031776.

IN RESEARCH

• iSEE received a $1M gift from a class-action lawsuit settlement; it is being used for  iSEE-funded $300k low-carbon transportation solutions research.
• A new cover crop project called iCOVER received a $5M grant from USDA and was featured in The News-Gazette.
• From the Agroecosystem Sustainability Center and SMARTFARM project: 
  
  • ASC team members co-authored paper led by Stanford on cover crops’ effect on yields; also, papers on soil carbon budgets and increased adoption of cover crops
  • ASC was featured in a video for American Geophysical Union meeting, and team members also were part of an Illinois Farm Bureau video.

• From the Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative: 
  
  • The Riggs Brewery “Field to Beer” video was immensely popular, receiving more than 11,000 interactions on Twitter.
  • IRAI was also featured in Illinois Farmer Today.

• From the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation:
  
  • CABBI authored a multi-institutional study that explored the first known use of CRISPR/Cas9 editing of miscanthus. Another team published a paper on 3-D phenotyping tools for miscanthus.
  • Articles have featured new Sustainability Theme Leader Wendy Yang, new Feedstock Production partner and PI Ernst Cebert of Alabama A&M, and new Conversion PI Heng Ji.
  • Six CABBI researchers (including Lisa Ainsworth, Kaiyu Guan, and Don Ort) were named to Clarivate’s highly cited list; and CABBI researchers have earned two EMSL awards for continued studies of sorghum stems.

• From the I-FARM “Farm of the Future” project:
  
  • View a new overview video.
  • Check out the FAQ article.
  • The project has received FarmWeekNow and WAND-TV coverage — and was featured on the Big Ten Network during Illini basketball games!
  • Robotics in the field media coverage in The News-Gazette.

• From the Energy-Enhancing FEWS project:
  
  • Team members are part of new $2.5M USDA grant to convert biowaste to pavement.

• Members of the Illinois Geothermal Coalition have successfully demonstrated efficient use of an abandoned oil well in the Illinois Basin as a geothermal “battery.”
• An iSEE biobased chemicals and inks project was featured for its work on printable electronics.
• Former iSEE Associate Director Gillen D’Arcy Wood recently published a new website on ocean data from 19th century voyage.

 IN EDUCATION & OUTREACH

• Registration is open for iSEE Congress 2023 — “Addressing Crises of a Planetary Scale: Lessons from Pandemics and Climate Change.”
• The Fall 2023 Critical Conversation is expected to bring together stakeholders to discuss climate-smart commodities.
• iSEE’s Environmental Leadership Program for Spring 2023 is already more than past the midway point; check out our student blog for some perspective on the immersive learning experience.
• Read a Certificate in Environmental Writing (CEW) success story in former Q author and CEW recipient Zack Fishman.

IN CAMPUS SUSTAINABILITY

• Our Grind2Energy video explored how dining hall food waste produces energy and fertilizer; its release spurred coverage by The News-Gazette and WCIA-TV.
• iSEE’s new, more comprehensive Student Action webpage offers listings for iSEE jobs, volunteering, and student organizations to join.
• Illini Lights Out fall semester featured RECORD totals: more than 640 volunteers turned off 20,303 bulbs, saving the campus as much as 35,000 kWH, $3,090, and nearly 25 tons of GHG. Spring dates: Jan. 27 (130+ volunteers, 5,043 bulbs, 8,700 kWH, $760, 6.2 tons of GHG), Feb. 10 and 24, March 24, and April 21.
• At the November Zero Waste basketball game (see video) more than 280 pounds of beverage containers and other recyclables were diverted from the landfill. The next Zero Waste basketball game March 2 seeks 100 volunteers. iSEE partnering with F&S, Housing, Athletics, and Union for a #don’twasteWednesdays twitter campaign all spring. FALL PLAN: a ZW football tailgate.
• A new Waste Transfer Station video shows the great work by Facilities & Services — but also the need for all campus community members to pre-sort their recyclables to prevent them from becoming landfill waste.
• Greener Campus certifications in the new year: One new office (Visit Champaign County!), one new chapter (Sigma Lambda Gamma sorority), and nine new events (including Illini Lights Out) certified in January.
• Read our article about the sustainable features of Campus Recreation and our feature about the new beekeeping club on campus.

Thanks for reading, and best wishes for the remainder of the spring semester!

Best,

Madhu Khanna

Madhu Khanna

Pronouns: she, her

Alvin H. Baum Family Chair & Director, Institute for Sustainability, Energy and Environment

ACES Distinguished Professor in Environmental Economics

Co-Director, Center for Economics of Sustainability

University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

1301, W. Gregory Drive, Urbana, IL 61801

We have attached our meeting agenda from the SSLC general member meeting that took place on 2/6/23.

SSLC’s Fall 2022 Recap

SSLC made many steps towards creating a sustainable campus and collaborating with environmental groups in Fall 2022, including:

• Coordinated events and initiatives for Campus Sustainability Month to raise environmental awareness.

• Formed new partnerships with community organizations to increase impact.

• Improved meeting attendance, with more students actively participating.

• Planning a program of sustainability events from October to April to maintain engagement and momentum throughout the entire academic year.

• Had productive discussions with iSEE to align efforts with university sustainability initiatives and address student concerns to campus administration.

Below is an email from Jack Reicherts regarding SSLC Executive Board Applications.

Ahoy mateys!

I hope this message finds ye well after our SSLC meeting on Monday. I wanted to take a moment to thank all those who were able to attend and make the meeting a success. We had a jolly good time discussing some important and exciting updates for the SSLC.

For those who missed the meeting, we discussed the upcoming Sustainability Career Panel on February 15th from 5:30 - 7:30 pm at the Campus Instructional Facility in Room 2035. We also talked about an opportunity to view a screening of the documentary "The Magic Stump" on 2/19, put on by Grand Prairie Friends and several other community groups  (We will arrange carpool (shippool?) next week, RSVP here: https://www.grandprairiefriends.org/events/the-magic-stump-bird-documentary-screening-conservation-reception). Additionally, we discussed a letter writing event on March 9th in collaboration with the Citizens Utility Board.

We also went over the process for applying to be a co-president of the SSLC, which includes a short application and an interview. Here's a short blurb if you want to promote this opportunity to your members, which I encourage you to do!

"Apply to be considered as a Co-President of the Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC) and make a difference on campus! The SSLC is a student-led organization that brings together the leaders of campus sustainability and environmentalist student groups to collaborate and drive positive change. Exec board responsibilities include overseeing sustainability programming, planning meetings with member organizations, and serving as a liaison between the student body and the campus administration. The time commitment is estimated at 2-3 hours per week on average.

To apply, fill out this form (https://forms.gle/uGhFA3SYpHFTF4Nt5).  We collect your basic information, a short statement of purpose, and an endorsement from the leader of your respective sustainability organization. After submitting your application before the February 25th deadline, you will be contacted for a short interview. Any questions, comments, or concerns may be directed to sslc-chair@mx.uillinois.edu"

Lastly, we talked about our plans for Earth Month, including Green Quad Day on 4/21, a Tuesday Talk by Citizens Utility Board on April 25th with free meals for the first five attendees, and the Sustainability "Greenies" (Awaiting official approval on this name lol).

I also want to give a hearty shout out to all of our member organizations for providing us with some great updates. And remember, anyone is encouraged to use our listserv and Discord to promote any upcoming opportunities from their groups.

Thank ye again for yer attendance and contributions to the meeting. I look forward to seeing ye at our next gathering. Hit me up if you have questions, comments, concerns, or a treasure map.

Fair winds,
Jack Reicherts, Pirate Co-Captain of the SSLC.

Arrrr! 

Attached is a document regarding scope changes for the Dorner Drive Retention Pond Transformation.