Celebrate Earth Month!
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The task force is close to finalizing the content of the sustainability ethics course. The attached draft was updated after the recent meeting on 4/1/2020.
Our next steps include: inviting Shantanu Pai with F&S to upcoming meetings to discuss and verify the content, and strategizing how to produce the course itself.
James Carter - programming & operations manager with Ann Arbor Summer Festival (A2SF) - will discuss how they implemented a dramatic waste management transformation, created educational opportunities, and presented community-collaborative art programming. The operational goal? To become a zero waste event with 90% landfill diversion over three years.
April 9, 12–1 PM Elizabeth Meschewski • Illinois Sustainable Technology Center
University of Illinois Extension's Energy & Environmental Stewardship Team presents the "Everyday Environment Webinar Series." Learn about natural resources and how to make small changes in your lifestyle to positively impact your environment. From lawn care and native plants to understanding coyote behavior and more, there is always something new to learn about your everyday environment.
April 9–June 25, 1–2 PM • Every Thursday Erin Garrett • Cooperative Extension Service
Join us for weekly sessions on environmental topics presented by University of Illinois Extension's Energy & Environmental Stewardship Team! These webinars will both provide new information on natural resources and help you learn how to make small changes in your lifestyle to have a positive impact on the environment. From lawn care, native plants, and managing home waste to understanding coyote behavior and atmospheric optics, there is never a shortage of new things to learn about your everyday environment. See flyer for more details.
The schedule of webinars is below and registration is free! Please register for each individual webinar you are interested in attending at their respective registration link.
April 9, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time
Join us and learn why we see a blue sky; why twilight is longer near the poles; and what sun dogs, halos, mirages, and other atmospheric optics are. Presenter: Duane Friend.
April 16, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time
Coyotes have to be one of the most misunderstood species in Illinois. Cunning, social, resilient, opportunistic, faithful, adaptive, shy, successful, hated, inspirational: those words have all been used to describe coyotes. They conjure up mixed feelings of fear, anger, and for some, wild beauty. Coyotes are often blamed for many things they do and do not do. Nonetheless, they might be worthy the title of best survivalist despite the human population. Presenter: Peggy Doty.
April 23, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time
How can you support pollinators in your yard? Learn what types of pollinators you can attract to your yard and discover the right native plants attract butterflies, native bees, moths, and more. Presenter: Erin Garrett.
April 30, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time
Assess the health and prepare for environmentally-friendly lawns. Participants will learn tools and techniques to better assess lawn so as they make an informed natural lawn care plan. Presenters: Abigail Garofalo, Gemini Bhalsod, and Allison Neubauer.
May 7, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time
Learn strategies to understand your lawn, as well as learn tools to create a natural lawn care action plan. Presenters: Abigail Garofalo, Gemini Bhalsod, and Allison Neubauer.
May 14, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time
Have you ever thought about how much trash your household generates? Learn about the management of municipal solid waste in the US, materials that can be recycled or composted, locating recycling and composting facilities near you, and strategies for decreasing household waste. Presenter: Ashley Belle.
May 21, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time
How is water quality in Illinois? The Illinois Nutrient Loss Reduction Strategy guides the state's efforts to improve water quality at home and downstream by reducing nitrogen and phosphorus levels in our lakes, streams, and rivers. The strategy lays out a comprehensive suite of best management practices for reducing nutrient loads from wastewater treatment plants and urban and agricultural runoff. Learn how the strategy has progressed. Presenters: Eliana Brown, Kate Gardiner, Haley Haverback, Jennifer Woodyard.
June 25, 2020 at 1:00 p.m. Central Daylight Time
See various types of clouds, including unique clouds only seen in a few locations and what weather is expected with each variety. Presenter: Duane Friend.
Help us turn off lights and electronics to reduce energy use and fight climate change! ILO Goes Home builds on the monthly student event that has saved energy, emissions, and money on campus. Join the Illinois community and do your part for the Earth wherever you are!
5:30-7 p.m. | Friday, April 17
RailSplitter Wind Farm provided the March 2020 Buyer's Share amounts by hour, totaling 2,524.6 Megawatt hours. See attached file.
The minutes of the Resilience Team meeting held on 04/03/2020 is attached.
Meeting minutes from the Land and Water SWATeam meeting on March 31st, 2020. This meeting focused on finalizing a recommendation for a data repository and generating ideas for future recommendations.
Please see ridership data below:
March:
Total rides: 1034
Total new users: 117
Total bikes out: 100 e bikes
Average rides per day: 43
Total rides to date: 393,521
Total users to date: 20,203
GRITS is updated as of 6-30-2019 and the fund balance as of 6-30-2019 is $4,131,042.
See this article in Lab Manager, the author works with My Green Labs and lightly covers every aspect of what sustainable labs actions are and how they help.
She also used to work for Thermo Fisher Scientific and was in the team that developed cardboard coolers for shipping supplies instead of Styrofoam.
Making Sustainable Labs a Reality How to reduce the environmental impact of research |
Have a great day!
Energy consumption at BIF during the week of March 20-March 26 is attached. We are tracking energy usage while most people are off-campus.
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Please see attached.
Following the CTAC meeting on March 27, 2020, the Committee approved the proposal of adding a one-time $10 bicycle registration fee per bicycle.
VIRTUAL POWER PURCHASE AGREEMENT RULED LEGAL
F&S and the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment hired attorney Paul Durbin to evaluate the legality for the campus to enter into a Virtual Power Purchase Agreement (VPPA) to meet the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) goals for purchasing renewable energy. The analysis concluded that the Board of Trustees has the legal authority to enter into a VPPA, if it is financially reasonable; said agreement would be performed by Prairieland Energy, Inc. (PEI), a subsidiary wholly-owned by the Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois
BEE CAMPUS USA
F&S collaborated with students in the Bee Campus committee to complete the renewal of our Bee Campus USA designation in February; Illinois originally earned recognition in 2018 becoming the first B1G school to do so. This process includes using integrated pest management, installation of native plantings, student living lab projects, and outreach.
SOLAR FARM LANDSCAPE BUFFER
F&S representatives shared detailed designs for the pollinator supportive landscape buffer along the future Solar Farm 2.0 site to the Village of Savoy. Village leaders were pleased with the design plans and thanked us for being responsive to their neighborly request. When completed, this site will serve as a demonstration for pollinator-friendly solar arrays, following the requirements of the Pollinator Friendly Solar Site Act (Illinois Pub. Act 100-1022). Solar Farm 2.0 will produce approximately 20,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) annually, and will generate the equivalent electricity use of more than 2,000 average American homes.
Over the past two years the Ann Arbor Summer Festival has taken dramatic steps toward becoming a zero-waste event, focusing on social impact through community arts engagement. In this webinar, you will hear from James Carter, the festival's program and operations manager and co-founder of the Manhattan-based theater company terraNOVA Collective. Sponsored locally by the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center (ISTC, a Division of the Prairie Research Institute).
Noon-1 p.m. | Thursday, April 9
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