Sixth annual BeeBlitz

Join us (virtually) on Saturday, June 27, 2020 for the sixth annual BeeBlitz!

Nature lovers and concerned citizens in Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, and Ohio are invited to get outside and snap pictures of honey & bumble bees for BeeBlitz. Then, upload your findings to BeeSpotter, the citizen science project run in collaboration between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign's Department of Entomology and the Office for Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education.

This event is a perfect candidate for social distancing, as you can go out on your own or in small groups; there's no need to gather in large crowds to go bee spotting!

What is BeeBlitz?

The name BeeBlitz is derived from a BioBlitz, an activity in which all of the biodiversity in a specific area is examined, to provide a snapshot in time of the flora and fauna present. During the BeeBlitz, we seek to know what species of honey & bumble bees are seen, and where they are, on this specific day.

We encourage veteran and aspiring bee spotters alike to venture out on a nature walk and participate in the blitz.

What can YOU do?

All you have to do is go outside on June 27, take a few bee photos, and upload them to BeeSpotter. You don't need to upload them immediately; just be sure to select the correct date when uploading. They will automatically be counted as part of the BeeBlitz collection!

Learn how to get started with BeeSpotter!

We also encourage parks, schools, museums, and zoos to publicize the virtual BeeBlitz in their local communities. Helpful resources for publicity include the BeeBlitz flier and the list of Suggested BeeBlitz Gear.

You can help us spread the word about the BeeBlitz by distributing these BeeBlitz announcement fliers to anyone you think might be interested!

Download the general BeeBlitz announcement flier (for Illinois, Missouri, Indiana, Ohio)

The construction on the path began in summer 2020 and was completed by the time students returned to campus. The old bike paths, along with hedges, overgrown evergreens, and decorative urns were removed from the area. A new 6 foot wide path was constructed and plans have been made to restore the landscape as needed. The Armory Avenue bike path is now open to use!

This project tied in with the renovation of the entire Armory Ave bike path that connects the bike lane on Armory Ave to the bike lane on Goodwin Ave. This bike path goes through the Gregory Hall, Foellinger Auditorium, Smith Hall, IGB, and Bevier Hall.

Please see attached the final report for this project.

See the previous update for this project.

Good afternoon,

My name is Meredith Moore and I am the Sustainability Programs Coordinator at the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) on campus. We are very excited to share the first draft of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) 2020! The iCAP is our University’s comprehensive strategic plan for achieving carbon neutrality by 2050. This attached document consists of eight key themes (Energy, Transportation, Land & Water, Zero Waste, Education, Engagement, Resilience, and Implementation/Funding), each of which contain actionable objectives to guide our sustainability plans for the next five years and beyond. It includes content and graphs without the design and images which will be incorporated later this summer. We would appreciate your feedback on the iCAP content at this form and invite you to share this information and link with any students, faculty, staff, or community members. We are interested to hear what you like about this document, suggestions for improvement, and any additional comments you would like to share with us.

Your review and feedback of the iCAP is a critical step in the drafting process! We have hosted in-person and virtual public forums to achieve this, and we are now accepting feedback on the draft itself. You can also find the PDF iCAP draft, as well as our feedback form, on our website here, or by using go.illinois.edu/iCAP2020. Please submit all feedback by Friday, June 26. You do not need to read the entire document to provide feedback; if you have a particular interest area, feel free to comment specifically on that topic. Thank you for your time and effort, and we look forward to reviewing your feedback! Please reach out to me if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Meredith

--
Meredith Moore
Sustainability Programs Coordinator

Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE)

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

1101 W. Peabody, Urbana, Suite 338 (NSRC)

217.333.0119 | mkm0078@illinois.edu

sustainability.illinois.edu

Please consider the environment before printing out an email.

The Edu005 Sustainable Scholars Program recommendation was returned to the Education SWATeam on 6/9/2020. 

Morgan White writes, "Thank you for submitting the attached Edu005: Sustainability Scholars Program recommendation to the iCAP Working Group! The iWG agrees that, conceptually, this is a good proposal, and we are appreciative of the time and effort of the team to develop this recommendation. A few questions arose out of the iWG meeting on April 27, and we would like them addressed in order to fully evaluate this recommendation.

• How does the proposed Sustainability Scholars Program compare to the existing James Scholar Program?
• What are the requirements to participate in the program? Who would qualify?
• Who do you suggest would implement and oversee the program?

Providing additional information to supplement this recommendation will help clarify details necessary for future discussions for implementation. Thank you for your effort!"

See the submittal of the Edu005 Sustainable Scholars Program. The original recommendation is attached. 

Following the completion of the iWG assessment for Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program, the recommendation was transmitted to Evan DeLucia, Director of iSEE, on June 9, 2020.

See iWG assessment Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program attached. 
See SWATeam recommendation Edu001 Environmental Leadership Program. 

Following the completion of the iWG assessment for ZW001 Student Sustainability Ambassador Program, the recommendation was transmitted to Evan DeLucia, Director of iSEE, on June 9, 2020.

See the iWG assessment ZW001 Student Sustainability Ambassador Program attached. 
See the SWATeam recommendation ZW001 Student Sustainability Ambassador Program.

Following the completion of the iWG assessment for Energy002 Building Envelope, the recommendation was transmitted to Mohamed Attalla, Executive Director of Facilities and Services, on June 3, 2020.

See iWG assessment Energy002 Building Envelope attached. 
See SWATeam recommendation Energy002 Building Envelope

Following the completion of iWG assessment for Trans013 UI Ride Survey, the recommendation was transmitted to Mohamed Attalla, Executive Director of Facilities and Services, on June 3, 2020.

See the iWG assessment Trans013 UI Ride Survey attached. 
See the SWATeam recommendation Trans013 UI Ride Survey.

Following the completion of iWG assessment for Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair, the recommendation was transmitted to Jennifer Neef, Director of the Career Center on June 3, 2020. 

See iWG assessment of Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair attached. 

See SWATeam recommendation Edu003 Sustainability Career Fair.

The construction drawings for civil and electrical design for the solar farm 2.0 project are being reviewed by F&S, both design review and utilities and energy services, and should be completed in the next two weeks.

RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the May 2020 Buyer's Share amounts by hour, totaling 1892.7 Megawatt hours. See attached file.

Shelby Keye became the first person to register their bicycle on University's new national bike registration system through Project 529!

The bicycle registration page on the Bike at Illinois (bike.illinois.edu) to reflect the new changes. The new system will be available to the public from July 20, 2020. This page now contains information about the importance of registration, new bicycle registration system, how to register, and the 529 Shield (registration tag) pick up locations. Due to the pandemic, all the Shield pick-up locations were closed.

Learn more and how to Register Your Bicycle here.

Learn about the Benefits of registering your bicycle here.

Please read the 2019 MTD Ridership Study Final Report prepared by Dr. Bumsoo Lee and his team.