Mohamed Attalla, the Executive Director of Facilities and Services, has officially signed the charge letter outlining goals for the 2021 Tree Campus Advisory Committee. These goals, along with the expectations of the committee can be found in the attached pdf.
Microsoft's 2020 carbon recap offers an example progress report for climate commitments. In this article, the company highlights its biggest commitment to focus on the climate crisis by pledging to become carbon negative by 2030. Focusing on this initiative in-depth, Microsoft speaks about its plan to reduce the company's carbon emissions, remove carbon from the environment, and advancing transparency and accountability as a global company.
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:
Check out the 2021 iSEE New Years Resolution Sustainability Guide, full of actions to consider and resources to help! Stay mindful of the environment when setting goals in 2021.
The following resources were shared at the January 20, 2021 brainstorming meeting. Meeting notes are attached below.
Champaign-Urbana Urbanized Area Map
Environmental Justice Screening and Mapping Tool
Champaign County Climate Resilience Task Force
Champaign County Regional Environmental Framework
Salud America Health Equity Report Card
Resources for Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Justice
Champaign County Board Environment and Land Use Committee
Box Folder - for ongoing updates
iSEE is offering funding to integrate elements of sustainability into an existing course ($1,000 award) or develop a new course with a sustainability focus ($2,000 award) through the 2021 Levenick iSEE Teaching Sustainability Fellowship. Applications are due January 31.
Please see the attached news story, published by the Daily Illini, regarding the challenges and goals surrounding 2020’s Climate Action Plan. The link is also available below.
Link to "2050 looms near as iCAP team stress energy sustainability"
Below is the recording link for the 1-20-21 meeting. Meeting minutes to follow.
***Correction from recording*** Example scenario - if in the first year, College of Engineering spends $100 million on utilities and in year 5, they do work to reduce consumption by $1 million, will they get that $1 million of savings in perpetuity or for a limited time? They would get $100 million in allocation, but their utility costs would only be $99 million and they would keep the difference and be able to spend it on other budget items.
Please see the attached for the January newsletter regarding the SmartWay program.
All, Not a whole lot to report: The Bike Center Fix It pump is operational and I’ll be meeting this week about marketing to get the word out. I got an email not 12 hours after visiting the new Flagg Hall covered bike parking asking if it was operational, funnily enough. Parking tagged the bike that was locked up out front of the Bike Center. It was probably a donation but doing our due diligence on that.
This week student staff will start and we’ll work through some more bike builds.
The numbers:
Visitors: 6
Sales: $59
Memberships: 1 for $30
Misc: $29
Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Manager
Faculty and instructors have until month's end to apply for iSEE's 2021 Course Development Cohort program, increasing sustainability course offerings across campus. The 2021 Levenick Teaching Sustainability Fellows will integrate sustainability components into an existing course ($1,000) or develop a new course with a sustainability focus ($2,000). 100- and 200-level courses especially encouraged.
Tony Mancuso • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)
The SSC Semesterly Report for Fall 2020 for Dump and Run is attached below.
The semesterly report, submitted on 1/22/2021, for Dump and Run is attached below.
This report gives a brief description of why the May 2020 Dump and Run was cancelled, and why the May 2021 Dump and Run may also be cancelled.
The Energy iCAP Team had their first meeting of the Spring semester on January 21st, 2021. The meeting focused on obtaining supporting materials for a recommendation to start the Comprehensive Energy Plan, which will serve as an university-wide guide on energy conservation. A recommendation to model buildings for energy code compliance will likely be ready next month. Future discussions are planned with F&S representatives. A subcommittee of Energy team members will brainstorm concrete actions on energy efficiency in labs and residence halls. The agenda and meeting minutes are attached.
Please see attached the SSC semesterly report for "Bicycle Registration and RFID Tracking Program" project from fall 2020.
Morgan White and Marc Alexander spoke and the Dump and Run event will need to be deferred again due to covid-19.
Minutes from the December 9th Land and Water SWATeam meeting:
In this meeting, possible recommendation ideas were discussed.
Please see the attached to file to find the University's 2020 Tree Care Plan.
The University’s plan included progress made over the last year to make our campus more tree friendly, along with outlining the landscape standards we have on campus. Highlights of projects related to trees are also included. The committee submitted this document at the end of the year to Tree Campus USA as to fulfill one of many commitments to be a recognized Tree Campus.
Please see attached December 2020 progress report for the Red Oak Rain Garden.
