Good afternoon and Happy Earth Month! Once again, congratulations on completing the Plastic Free Challenge. We are proud of you for taking the steps to become more conscious of your waste and dedicating your time to reflect on and change these habits. 
 

As a group, we decreased our average plastic waste by 37% from week 1 to week 4. Many participants decreased their weekly waste even more; one participant decreased their weekly waste by as much as 110% and several others received fewer than 0 points for an entire week! These accomplishments, among many others, are incredibly impressive!
 

If you submitted a google form with your grid during this past month, please keep an eye on your inbox for a certificate of completion for the Plastic Free Challenge. As mentioned many times throughout the challenge, we hope you consider checking out the Waste Reduction @ Illinois Facebook group to stay connected with fellow participants, start a discussion, hear about the latest sustainability opportunities at U of I and beyond, and share tips for living sustainably going forward.
 

On Wednesday, we used a random name generator to choose two winners of the challenge. As a reminder, you received one entry for every week you participated in the challenge. The winners are Bartek Susol and Jessica Lillegaard. Winners, we will contact you on how to receive your prize! Congratulations to you two and, of course, to all participants! We hope you enjoyed your time during the challenge! We sure did, and we are here to assure you that this will certainly not be the last challenge that iSEE hosts.
 

Again, we offer our congratulations to each of you for completing this challenge. We know it was time-intensive and not always easy, but it was certainly worth it. We hope you continue to make environmentally-conscious choices and apply the many things you have learned over the past month. It is equally as important to share what you have learned with friends, family, and peers. As we discussed at the Ted Talk: Eco-Edition event on Tuesday, being an environmental hero does not have to be changing the world with a single action. You are an environmental hero by reducing your own environmental footprint and helping others do the same. Write to your politicians, store managers, or leaders, encouraging them to prioritize sustainability. Show that there is a demand for these initiatives. Building a culture of sustainability on our campus and in our world starts with you!
 

A great place to start (or continue this great momentum) is attending any of the countless events for Earth Month iSEE and other campus and community entities. Here is the link to the calendar: Earth Month Calendar. We are constantly adding more events, even beyond April. Please submit an item to the calendar if you notice something missing. Coming up this Wednesday, we have a campus trash pickup! Check out the calendar for more info. If you can't join us on campus, consider joining with a few friends or family members (or go on your own) and pick up trash in your own neighborhood and community. It can be a fun, COVID-safe, springtime event.
 

As always, please reach out to us with any questions, comments, or feedback, and stay tuned for more exciting events in the future. We look forward to hearing from you soon.
 

Take care!

Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainability Programs Coordinator
Emily Dickett, iSEE Sustainability Intern

We did it! We completed the Campus Race to Zero Waste! Data for Week 8 (March 21-March 27, 2021) is found below. Thanks for showing up, Illinois!

Trash - 178,740

Food Organics - 12,000

Paper - 34,248

Cardboard - 13,590

Bottles and Cans - 0

Earth Month is here! Can you believe it? I would like to first draw your attention to the iSEE Sustainability Calendar as a reference point for the many virtual and in-person events (maintaining COVID-19 safety and social distancing precautions) held this month and beyond. If you notice a missing event on the calendar, there is a link to submit an event yourself.

Here are a few highlights:

• TED Talk: Eco-Edition series - iSEE’s second TED Talk: Eco-Edition event, will be held from 7 – 8 PM CST, March 30. To complement our recent Plastic Free Challenge, this gathering will focus on plastic waste. Participants will view a prerecorded TED Talk, presented in September 2019 by Andrew Forrest: "A Radical Plan to End Plastic Waste." Afterward, all are invited to participate in a guided discussion and roundtable, hosted by Maddy Liberman (NRES/F&S Intern) and Shantanu Pai (ISTC/F&S). Registration is required; sign up here.
• iSEE Congress – “The Future of Water”, April 6, 14, 20, 23 at noon. Over a series of Zoom webinars, iSEE Congress – Spring 2021 brings together a diverse group of researchers, educators, journalists, and activists to dive deeper into the topic. Our modified “teach-in” will introduce the Illinois campus and community to cutting-edge thinking from highly influential scholars on topics ranging from drought to the global politics of water to pollution, public health, and biodiversity.
• Trash pickup event at Boneyard Creek, sponsored by iSEE and F&S, April 7, 3-5 PM. We will meet at 3 PM behind Engineering Hall and disperse from there (maintaining COVID-19 safety and social distancing precautions). Drop in and stay as long as you are able. Bags and supplies will be provided. More details here.
• Sustainability Rocks on the Main Quad, April 8, 11 AM – 5 PM. Come paint a rock outside the Union with a sustainability/environmental theme (maintaining COVID-19 safety and social distancing precautions). Bring your own rock, or use one of ours! After you finish creating your rock, place it somewhere around campus for others to find! More details here.
• Careers in Sustainability Panel Discussion (virtual), April 9, 12 – PM. Interested in careers in sustainability? Join us to hear a panel discussion from industry professionals and learn how the field is changing and how to pursue a career in sustainability. Registration is required; sign up here.  
• Facilities & Services hosts a Virtual Open House of UIUC Solar Sites on Earth Day, April 22, 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. April 22 on Topia (must use a computer, not a smart phone), Click this link to attend the Open House
• TED Talk: Eco-Edition series – Earth Month, April 29, 7 – 8 PM. In celebration of Earth Month, this month’s topic will focus on environmental activism and action with a discussion hosted by iSEE Communications Intern and Earth, Society, & Environmental Sustainability student, Maria Maring. Registration is required; sign up here.
• UIUC Arbor Day Celebration at CCNet, April 30, at Noon, on Zoom, Click this link at noon on Arbor Day to join the CCNet Zoom call

We invite you to participate in any of the above opportunities (or celebrate in your own way!) to get “Caught Green-Handed!” this Earth Month! Get featured . . . Click here to let us know how you’re celebrating the Earth. Please reach out if you have any questions. Be sure to sign up for the iSEE newsletter to stay up-to-date on more sustainability opportunities. Have a great Earth Month (and don’t forget to continue the momentum beyond April)!

Check it out: 

• Earth Month Video
• Trash Pickup Follow-Up
• TedTalk: Eco-Edition promo on 4/30

The Environmental Justice Plan working group met on 4-1-21 to brainstorm the next steps of the process. The next steps for the group are to review and provide feedback on the "public input form" draft (attached). This will then be circulated around various organizations within the campus and community to ensure that the appropriate questions are asked, in the right way, and involving the right people. The group will continue to review the resilience and environmental justice indicators to refine which indices we should focus on.

The meeting recording is found here. 

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the March 2021 Buyer's Share amounts by hour, totaling 3,089.4 Megawatt hours. See attached file.

The first Sustainability Sub-Council meeting occurred on 3-18-21 and discussed the iCAP process and procedures, Solar Farm 3.0, Energy Performance Contracts, and Land Management Practices. The meeting minutes and presentation are attached. 

Join us for a TED Talk: Eco-Edition! To complement iSEE's March 2021 Plastic Free Challenge, this month's gathering will focus on plastic waste.

Together, participants will view a prerecorded TED Talk, presented in September 2019 by Andrew Forrest: "A Radical Plan to End Plastic Waste." Afterward, all are invited to participate in a guided discussion and roundtable.

Our co-hosts are Maddy Liberman, Illinois senior in Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences and student member of the Zero Waste Sustainability Working Advisory Team, and Shantanu Pai, Assistant Sustainability Researcher at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center and Interim Zero Waste Coordinator at Illinois Facilities and Services.

Our first meeting united campus and community members for a passionate, respectful, and thought-provoking dialogue about the inseparability of racial justice and climate justice. We hope that everyone is as energized by this talk as we are, and ready to engage in another open conversation!

Sign up to learn, discuss, and connect with peers in a casual, social setting. Grab your favorite snack and get comfortable! Topics and hosts vary each month.

SSC is now accepting applications for Student-Led Projects Under $10,000 for the first spring funding cycle. The deadline for this first funding cycle is March 31, 2021. Apply now!

Student Sustainability Committee • Student Success and Engagement

Student Sustainability Committee: Student-Led Projects Under $10,000

The Engagement iCAP team made the following recommendation on 3/29/21. The Engagement001: General Education Board Sustainability Sub-group recommendation is attached. 

The Engagement Team proposes that a working sub-group be formed within the General Education Board of the University to address and support the implementation of a sustainability general education requirement proposed by the Illinois Student Government.

Check out the new SSC website: https://studentengagement.illinois.edu/student-sustainability/.

The Telecommuting & Commuter Program intern met with supervisor Sarthak Prasad on Monday, March 29th, 2021 to discuss updates on the program and goals for the upcoming week. Over the past week, they have researched different current telecommuting programs at the 14 other Big 10 universities and created a spreadsheet to document their findings. In the coming week, Sarthak will reach out to the HR department to gain more information on how faculty feel about working remotely at the University of Illinois. In addition, they will create a questionnaire for the Illinois HR department and a questionnaire for when they begin interviewing other universities about their respective telecommuting programs. They hope to collaborate with the transportation SWATeam to get feedback on their proposed questions. 

Meeting minutes are attached!

All, Much like the weather, we were up and down this past week. Sold a bike to a gentleman who’s planning to ride a portion of the Katy Trail in Missouri with his young daughter. I’ll take it as a good sign for future generations that I’m seeing young kids in here repeatedly.
This week we’ve got a couple extra curriculars with our Fix-a-Flat class on Wednesday night and our first Friday Ride. I’ll meet with my staff to iron out the details for those two events.
I’ll also be attending TBPs monthly meeting tonight.
The numbers:

Visitors: 20
Sales: $691

Bikes (refurb): 3 for $500
Membership: 1 for $30
U-locks: 3 for $63 (yay safety!)

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Manager, Campus Bike Center

Good afternoon, Congratulations on completing the Plastic Free Challenge! You should be incredibly proud of yourself for your dedication to waste reduction this past month. We hope this challenge revealed some of your personal waste habits and prompted you to think about actions you can incorporate into your lives (and encourage others to incorporate!) to decrease your personal environmental footprint. Please don’t forget to share what you have learned this past month with friends, family, and peers. Keep up the momentum!

If you have not already, be sure to submit your Week 4 Google Form by Monday, March 29. Please submit a photo or short video of a sustainability action or tip that you are proud of from this past month or would like to share with others. As mentioned last week, we will reach out to you one last time on Thursday with some exciting announcements: the raffle winners and statistics on how we did as a group reducing our plastic waste over the past month. 

Although grid and point-tracking are no longer required actions, we hope you continue to be conscious of your plastic use this week and beyond. We are very impressed with everyone’s insightfulness and reflection during this challenge - don’t stop now!

We hope you continue to keep in touch with us and reach out with any questions or comments; we always love talking about sustainability and would be thrilled to discuss with you further! Earth Month is right around the corner - please check out the continuously-updated sustainability calendar of events (both virtual and in-person opportunities). To close out the March Plastic Free Challenge, we hope you join us this Tuesday, March 30 from 7-8 pm for our second Ted Talk: Eco-Edition event, hosted by senior Maddy Liberman and F&S/ISTC staff member, Shantanu Pai. This month, the focus will be on plastics. Together we will watch a pre-recorded Ted Talk followed by a casual discussion and roundtable. Sign up here to register for this online event.

Be sure to sign the "Use the Bin" pledge to commit to sustainable action and personally pledge that you ensure your recyclable items always make it into the appropriate receptacle. Thank you for a great month, and congratulations once again! Have a wonderful week and talk to you on Thursday.

Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainable Programs Coordinator
Emily Dickett, iSEE Sustainability Intern

https://www.solsystems.com/groundwork-for-solar-sustainability/

The waste data for Week 7 (March 14 - March 20, 2021) is as follows: 

Bottles/Cans: 0
Paper: 9,989
Cardboard: 10,570
Food Organics: 15,000
Trash: 169,780

Attached are the meeting minutes from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 3/26. The agenda is as follows:

• ZW002 NERC Recommendation (+comments)
• ZW003 GreenerOffice Delivery Program
• ZW004 Reusable Dining Options (+comments)
• Roundtable Discussion (if necessary)

Good afternoon! We are feeling bittersweet that this is our last week of the first Plastic Free Challenge. We are so grateful and impressed by each and every one of you for your participation and focus throughout this month’s challenge. There are 139 of you registered for the challenge; together, we make up a beautiful community of individuals on our way to living a life with less plastic! 

Our final tip of the challenge is a guide on how to live sustainably beyond the challenge. In a few days, you will no longer have to tally your plastic items or receive emails every week to hold you accountable, reminding you to keep up the hard work. The attached guide contains tips for moving forward. We encourage you to reflect on your own. Did you discover something interesting or helpful? Did you try something new? As always, we’d love to hear and we also hope you share this knowledge with friends, family, and the Waste Reduction @ Illinois Facebook group if you choose!

One next step outlined in the attached guide is Plastic Free July -- a global movement uniting against plastic use. Plastic Free July is observed by millions of people across the world and it is similar to this challenge as you will receive resources and play a part in a broader community of sustainable individuals. If you enjoyed this challenge, we highly encourage you to check out Plastic Free July!

As this month-long challenge is coming to an end, we are sure you are all wondering what comes next. We will check in again on Sunday reminding everyone to submit their Week 4 Google Form and grid. In the meantime, try estimating your plastic footprint. Did it change since the beginning of the challenge? After the grids are all submitted, we will raffle off two sustainability packs using a random name generator. Your name will be entered one time for each week you participated in the challenge and submitted a grid. Next Thursday, we will reveal the winners and also include statistics on how we did as a group throughout the challenge. 

Don’t worry, this won’t be the last time you hear from us. April - Earth Month - is right around the corner and there is a lot to look forward to. We will talk to you again on Sunday - finish strong and have a great rest of the week! 

Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainable Programs Coordinator

Emily Dickett, iSEE Sustainability Intern