Are you an eco-warrior with a passion for prose? Each summer, University of Illinois undergraduates are invited to submit their best environmental writing for a chance to be published in Q Magazine and win a cash prize! The Janelle Joseph Prize for Environmental Writing was created in 2020 through the generosity of donor Janelle Joseph. Our inaugural contest winners covered topics ranging from the degradation of the coal industry and life in a “burn zone” to sustainable fashion and the future of lawns. Read more about the 2020 winning entries!

Submit in one of these five categories:

• Feature — In-depth, research-based piece on a topic of your choice (Example: “Burn Zone” by Andy Sima; Volume 3.2, 2020 JJ Environmental Writing Contest Grand Prizewinner) 
• Memoir — Write about an experience that YOU had with nature, and what it meant to you (Example: “Solastalgia” by Maria Maring; Volume 3.2, 2020 JJ Environmental Writing Contest Category Prizewinner) 
• Op-Ed — Your research-backed take on a current environmental “hot topic” (Example: “End to Greenwashing?” by Jennifer Coronel; Volume 3.2, 2020 JJ Environmental Writing Contest Category Prizewinner) 
• Q&A — Interview an environmental researcher or activist
• “@ Illinois” — Submit a piece in any of the above genres spotlighting innovative environmental research, activism, or stewardship at the University of Illinois. 

iSEE's Janelle Joseph Prize for Environmental Writing is open to Illinois undergrads and includes a $1,000 grand prize as well as $500 prizes in five categories: Feature; Memoir; Op-Ed; Q&A; and "At Illinois." Entries can be 1,000 to 2,000 words and must be submitted by Sept. 30, 2021. 

Visit Q Magazine's website for more details.

And, make sure to email submissions or questions to qmagazineillinois@gmail.com!

Students for Environmental Concerns (SECS) is leading a climate strike on Friday to demand action on climate change! Participants will meet at the Alma Mater statue, march around the Quad and down Green Street, then reconvene for speeches at the Alma Mater. The event ties in with a Global Climate Strike organized by the youth-led group Fridays for Future to demand intersectional climate justice.

The strike will take place on Friday, September 29th, 2021 at Noon.

See the iSEE website for more details!

Community Solar

"What is the status of the city of Urbana’s community solar array at the old city landfill known as Solar Star Urbana Landfill LLC affiliated with Nexamp? Will the subscription to the community solar project begin this year?"

The project, which will generate approximately 5.2 MW of clean energy for the Ameren grid, is scheduled to be completed around the middle of next month, said Keith Hevenor, communications manager for Nexamp, a firm that has developed community solar energy projects in Illinois, Maine, New York, Maryland, Georgia and Massachusetts.

"At that point, the final landscaping, which includes a native pollinator seed mix for vegetation, will be applied," said Hevenor. "As soon as final testing and utility interconnection are completed, subscribers will begin seeing the credits on their Ameren bills, likely before the end of the year.

"The Solar Star Urbana Landfill project is part of the Illinois Solar for All program, so participation in the program is reserved for qualified low and moderate income (LMI) residents. In the program, there are no enrollment fees, no credit checks and no cancellation fees. We still have space available for the project and individuals can visit https://ilsfa.nexamp.com/ameren to learn more and see if they qualify."

Below is an email from the Ecosystem Marketplace: A Forest Trends Initiative. 

Dear Friends, 

Today, we are so pleased to announce our new role as part of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets’ new governance body. Michael Jenkins will serve as a member of the Senior Advisory Council, and our Ecosystem Marketplace initiative will be a Founding Sponsor. We join a diverse expert group; our shared mission is to ensure that markets keep growing with the highest level of quality and integrity possible.

Voluntary carbon markets’ recent rapid growth means this mission is all the more critical. This announcement comes a week after we published the latest State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report, showing that markets are accelerating towards $1 billion in transactions in 2021. We celebrated this major milestone with 1,500 attendees from 76 countries in a seminal EM Insights Event together with our partners, supporters, friends, and network. Such significant growth positions the VCM as a serious player in green finance and an important tool for achieving the Paris Agreement's 1.5 C climate ambition.
 
As a leading and independent provider of transparency on market price and activity, we take seriously our responsibility to serve all market participants. This includes the companies investing in offsets to meet their climate commitments. It also includes stakeholders and communities in carbon credit-producing countries, who may be far from global financial centers but are central to achieving the Paris Agreement.
 
The Taskforce was initiated by Mark Carney in September 2020 as a private sector-led initiative working to scale effective and efficient voluntary carbon markets. Now, Taskforce Principals Bill Winters and Tim Adams will hand over leadership to the Governance Body Board, and work alongside us on the Senior Advisory Council. Taskforce Principal Annette Nazareth will join the Board.
 
The new Governance Body officially launches at COP-26 in Glasgow this November. Day One priorities for the Governance Body are to finalize a set of Core Carbon Principles and provide oversight of standard-setting bodies on adherence to those principles. We’ll also set threshold standards for the voluntary markets, provide a coordination function between individual bodies in the markets, and help drive a long-term strategic roadmap for scaling voluntary carbon markets.
 
Voluntary carbon markets are in a transitional moment. We look forward to working through the new Governance Body to guide the markets to deliver the highest quality and the greatest impact for both planet and people. We also look forward to sharing more with you as we move forward in this important new phase.

Michael Jenkins, CEO and Founding President
Stephen Donofrio, Director, Ecosystem Marketplace and Supply Change Initiatives
 
About Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace
Ecosystem Marketplace (EM) is an initiative of the Forest Trends Association (FT), a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1998. Forest Trends works to conserve forests and other ecosystems through the creation and wide adoption of a broad range of environmental finance, markets, and other payment and incentive mechanisms. Forest Trends does so by 1) providing transparent information on ecosystem values, finance, and markets through knowledge acquisition, analysis, and dissemination; 2) convening diverse coalitions, partners, and communities of practice to promote environmental values and advance the development of new markets and payment mechanisms; and 3) demonstrating successful tools, standards, and models of innovative finance for conservation.

EM believes that transparency is a hallmark of robust markets. Launched in 2005, the EM Global Carbon Hub is the world’s first and only independent international voluntary and compliance carbon offsets tracking, reporting, and knowledge-sharing mechanism. Globally recognized, EM drives market transparency, price discovery, and market participants’ understanding of supply, demand, and credit quality, including through recognition of core carbon and additional attributes including social, environmental, and biodiversity co-benefits that are “beyond carbon.”

The EM Global Carbon Hub is fueled by a growing global network of hundreds of EM Global Carbon Survey Respondents and is made possible with the diverse mix of support that we receive from Visionary Partners, Strategic Supporters, collaborators, and donors. With an unparalleled database that unifies carbon market data from the over the counter (OTC) and platform/exchange-traded markets, paired with rigorous research, EM is globally recognized as a leading source of decision-useful and trustworthy information on prices, regulation, science, and relevant issues on environmental services markets and climate finance. EM Data, Insights, and News have been used extensively by companies, journalists, investors, practitioners, natural resource agencies, and academics.

Now in its 16th year, EM will be continually making upgrades and adding new features to the EM Global Carbon Hub to drive radical transparency in the voluntary carbon markets (VCM) to meet growing interests for reliable, timely, and objective data and insights on VCM offsets transactions prices, volumes, and insights. The EM Global Carbon Hub will provide the needed tools and resources to enhance data collection – with this Global Carbon Survey Platform, and new accessibility capabilities – with the EM Data Intelligence & Analytics Dashboard (currently in beta testing), ensuring it will continue to deliver the best, most up-to-date, and robust data and analytics available.

Assistant Director of Student Sustainability, Samuel Yoo reached out to Sarthak Prasad for guidance with iCAP Portal projects. Specifically, Yoo was unable to find existing projects for the following:

- Diversion of Non-Recyclable Plastic using Pyrolysis Process to Produce Fuels for Campus

- Preventing Window-strike Bird Fatalities with Energy Efficient Window Decals 

- Valorized Archived Soils and Long-Term Carbon Budgets

Sarthak replied explaining that new project tabs will be created for the first two projects and the last project fits under the "Monitor Soil Health" project.