The 2022 Tree Committee is now formed.

Serving on this committee are the following individuals: Kevin McSweeney (chair), Brent Lewis, Morgan White, Ryan Welch, Jay Hayek, Andrew Lamoreux, Eliana Brown, Sinead Soltis, Julia Marsaglia, and Jack Reicherts. In the 2022 Tree Committee Charge letter, Dr. Ehab Kamara defines the responsibilities and duties for the advisory body.

See the charge letter in the attached files.

Aaron Finder, Assistant Director of the Purchasing and Contracts Management office, sent the following email on 2/9/22:

============

Hi Meredith,

I have met with NERC a couple time to get a better understanding of NERC and its Government Recycling Demand Champions program. Their Director, Lynn Rubinstein, and I discussed membership levels and the Purchasing and Contracts Management Office will join NERC as a “Supporting Member.”

Through our membership with NERC, we will also have the ability to participate in 4 active committees:

1. Plastic & Paper Recycling Markets
2. Bottle Bill Committee (Charge more for plastic at purchase but receive money back if you recycle)
3. Glass Committee
4. Organics – End Markets (Compost)

There will be limitations on how many participants we can invite to committee meetings or NERC conferences, but Lynn did say I could include at least one committee member (i.e. Tim Stark or Zero Waste Coordinator) if we participate in any event.  

After we become members, we will become a  State Recycling Organization Advocate within the Government Recycling Demand Champions program. This means we will commit to helping publicize the program and promote purchasing of products with post-consumer resin to their members and the public. While we are developing our EPP Guide, this seems to be the most appropriate classification.

I’ll let you know once our membership dues have been paid. I’m also sharing a couple documents Lynn provided.

Let me know if you have any more questions.

Thanks,

Aaron M Finder, mba cppb

==========

For future updates, see State Recycling Organization Advocate NERC project page here. 

Dr. Jeff Moore, Director of the Beckman Institute, responded to Morgan White, Associate Director for F&S for Sustainability, with the following email on 1/18/22:

"Thank you, Morgan and Jennifer.  We'll discuss this at our next meeting.  On first glance, it looks like a prudent practice to follow."

See iWG assessment and transmittal of ZW004 Reusable Dining Containers Program here.
See recommendation and submittal of ZW004 Reusable Dining Containers Program here.

For future updates, please refer to the Reusable Containers project

The Zero Waste iCAP Team met on Wednesday, February 9 to discuss the several recommendations in the works, including: Plastic Reduction in vending machines, Composting Commitee, Adopt a Highway/Drain, Food Literacy Project, and Sustainable Receipt options. Meeting minutes are attached.

Ainsley Hanner and Hatoon Bashanfar, co-chairs of the Society of Women Engineers Illinois Diversity Committee, hosted the iSEE TED Talk: Eco-Edition on December 9 from 6 - 7 PM. The discussion focused on diversity and representation in the environmental movement and activism. The presentation of the event is attached. 

TED Talk: Diversity Builds a More Resilient Environmental Movement (Charles Orgon III) 

Sakshi Vaya hosted the iSEE January TED Talk: Eco-Edition around the topic of sustainability and equality in education on Monday, January 24 from 6 - 7 PM. The presentation is attached. 

The TED Talk: Eco-Edition series is designed to unite campus and community members for a passionate, respectful, and thought-provoking dialogue about a certain aspect of sustainability. We hope that everyone is as energized by this talk as we are, and ready to engage in another open conversation! Grab your favorite snack and get comfortable! Topics and hosts vary each month.

TED Talk: The Dream of Educating Afghan Girls Lives On (Shabana Basij-Rasikh) 

At the January 28 Illini Lights Out event, 2,781 light bulbs were shut off which saved $403.45 in energy costs. This also prevented 3.4 metric tons of CO2 from entering the atmosphere, which is as much as the average car would emit from driving 8,544 miles. That's a big impact!

Illini Lights Out is a certified Green Event! Click this link to learn how to green-certify your own event.

The next Illini Lights Out event of the semester is Friday, February 11th at 5:30pm, and you can sign up for that event using this link if you haven't done so already. 

Following the completion of iWG assessment for ZW004 Reusable Dining Containers Program, the recommendation was transmitted to Dr. Jeff Moore, Director of the Beckman Institute. 

=============

Hello Dr. Moore,

The Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP) Working Group (iWG) recently reviewed recommendation ZW004 from the Zero Waste iCAP Team (formerly known as a SWATeam) to implement the use of reusable dining containers. The iWG discussed this and recommends that Beckman Institute implement the option for reusable containers, as was done at Bevier Hall and University Dining.  Please see the details included in the attached iWG assessment and Zero-Waste iCAP Team recommendation.  

There are several advocates for reusable containers on campus, and a group of them met with the Zero Waste iCAP Team last July.  The notes are available online at https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project-update/zero-waste-icap-team-reusables-dining-meeting-notes-726 and may provide you with some initial insight into this recommendation.  University Housing’s Dining Services is an excellent resource to assist, and the iWG and Zero Waste iCAP Teams are available, as well. 

The Formal iCAP Procedures includes a section on campus unit responsibilities upon receipt of a recommendation, and we respectfully request your initial response to this recommendation by February 4, if possible.  If you have any questions regarding this recommendation, we are happy to arrange a zoom call. 

Sincerely,

Morgan

=========

See iWG assessment of ZW004 Reusable Dining Containers Program attached.

See iCAP Team Recommendation ZW004 Reusable Dining Containers Program here. 

All, With the snowstorm last week, we were closed on Wednesday but were able to reopen on Friday. Visitor numbers took a hit with a foot of snow and whiteout conditions (no surprise there). This week I’ll get some bikes from Urbana (snow derailed that plan last week). We’re down to the dregs of steel-rimmed 3 speed schwinns—bikes I’m not exactly comfortable selling in the dead of winter considering their compromised braking/stopping. Our donations of late have all been Walmart-level, unfortunately. We’ve got about 8 bikes on the sales floor as of now.

The numbers:

Visitors: 16
Sales: $180
Memberships: 3 for $90
Tire/tubes: 4 for $30

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator

SSC received semesterly report for Fall 2021 for CornCrete project on 02/01/2022. Please see attached. 

SSC received semesterly report for Fall 2021 for Illini EV Concept project on 01/31/22. Please see attached. 

SSC received semesterly report for Fall 2021 for Geothermal Exchange for greenhouses at UIUC Energy Farm on 01/29/22. Please see attached. 

SSC received semesterly report for Fall 2021 for Geothermal Exchange for greenhouses at UIUC Energy Farm on 01/29/22. Please see attached. 

The Engagement Team met on Friday, February 4 to discuss the three main recommendations underway: the iCAP Portal website, the Sustainability Champions committee, and the Social Media Marketing sustainability campaign. Meeting minutes are attached.

Meredith Moore and Stacy Gloss are working with ABE469 - Capstone students in the spring 2022 semester.

Students will obtain (be provided) green house gas emission data for this consulting project such as: .

• Urbana GHG Air  Emissions
• U of I GHG  Emissions
• U of I GHG Air-Travel Emissions
• **maybe** Champaign Emissions

For purposes of this project, the U of I client is aiming to eliminate emissions for air travel by FY30.  This project is aimed to offset emissions by 30,000 tons per year by FY 30, related to iCAP objective 3.5. 

The client should research the Illinois Climate Action Plan carbon reduction goals related to unavoidable air-travel.  The client would like for the consultants to analyze technologies appropriate for campus and our surrounding community; and make recommendations based on this analysis. 

Technologies that may reduce carbon, or offset carbon on the local scale are listed below.  

• -solar pv
• -green roof + roof top solar
• -solar water heating
• -geothermal heating
• -prairie restoration
• -tree planting
• -waste to energy from campus farms
• -compost to energy
• -water-saving measures (on the heating side reducing fossil fuel use)
• -cold-climate air-source heat pumps for residential homes
• -replacement of gas/diesel vehicle with electric vehicles for campus fleet
• -deep energy retrofits – air sealing & insulation
• -small wind turbines

The consulting team should evaluate the scope and project size for technology adoption. Including the anticipated GHGs avoided or offset with project adoption.  What is the cost of installation, including labor costs?  Provide data about cost effectiveness, with breakdown on cost of project per pound or tonne of GHG emissions saved. The projects should be ranked with most cost effective to least effective.  Your research, analysis, and recommendations will be presented by the client to the iSEE Resilience Team and other campus stakeholders to inform a local carbon offset program.