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  2. Weekly Update: Closed for Juneteenth, Donations

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, Short week with the observed Juneteenth holiday on Friday. We’ve steadily been receiving donations but most of them are doomed for the scrap pile. But at least we’ll get some decent parts off them.

    Got a few bikes in the queue that should make the sales floor by end of week.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 22
    Sales: $568.19
    Bikes (refurb): 2 for $215
    Memberships: 7 for $210

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  3. Ammonia Sampling Research

    Associated Project(s): 
    iSEE Campus as a Living Lab (CALL) Projects

    On Oct 20, 2021 Christopher Tessum reached out to Morgan White to discuss two projects he and a collaborator were working on.

    The follow is a segment of that email:

    A collaborator and I are thinking about submitting two proposals to the ISEE campus as a living laboratory program, and when I discussed them with Jeremy Guest he mentioned that it could be good to reach out to you first to see if one or both of them would be something that F&S would be okay with being implemented.

     

    The first project is to develop a new method to estimate traffic related air pollution exposure using deep learning based on traffic camera footage. We would plan to collect video footage and air pollution data with equipment in a compact vehicle parked along the busier roads around campus. There would be someone in the vehicle monitoring the equipment at all times.

     

    The other project would involve using passive samplers to collect ammonia air pollution measurements. These passive samplers have no sound, no light, no smell (please see the attached picture), and need to be placed on things like utility poles, fences, signs, trees, etc. We already have permission to place them at the research farm and animal science facility, and would like to find about 10-15 locations throughout the rest of campus.

     

    If you would be willing to share your thoughts about whether there would be any issues from the perspective of F&S for either of these projects, we would greatly appreciate it. If you would like to meet to discuss further that would be great too. Thank you for your consideration!

     

    Morgan replied to Christopher, providing a few suggestions of people to inform of their research plans. 

    On March 14, 2022  Mei Tessum sent Morgan White and update on their projects. Mei explained that the researchers did not receive funding from ISEE but obtained other funds to proceed with their research. The researchers attached an ammonia sample to a light pole outside of the CEE building. She also stated that more samplers would need to be put around campus and asked Morgan for further advice. Mei attached a photo of this sampler which is attached to this thread.

    Morgan replied to Mei stating that they would need to contact the Architectural Review Committees (ARC) for permission to make temporary or permanent installations.

    On June 21, 2022 Bradley Klein responded to Mei Tessum, stating that the ARC had reviewed their request and had the following comments and questions:

    We want to approve specific locations. 

    It is not acceptable on the Main Quad. 

    How long will these be installed? 

    Remove when complete. 

    Mount higher up to avoid tampering.

    Mei replied to Bradley and the ARC's questions with the following:

    1. We would like to put those samplers at following locations: outside of the CEE building, ABE building, Illinois water survey building, Oak Street Library building, National Petascale Computing Facility building, Printing Services South Building, Spurlock Museum building, and UIUC Surplus building.
    1. We will NOT set any samplers on Main Quad.
    1. Samplers will be set up for a year, so by the end of June 2023 all the samplers will be completely removed. 
    1. Because we are measuring the air pollutant at the breathing zone level, we will have to set the samplers about 5.5-6ft above ground. We will put our contact information on each sampler shalter. 

    All the samplers have no noise, no odor, no light, and will be maintained biweekly.

     

     

    Attached Files: 

  9. Save Soil Movement - June 2022

    Associated Project(s): 
    Land and Water iCAP Team
    Monitor Soil Health

    Ayush Gupta shared the following message: there are walkathons happening across 60 cities for the Save Soil movement in the States in June. Check it out here and consider participating if you happen to find yourself in one of the cities.

    https://www.consciousplanet.org/walkathon?mkt_tok=MTcyLUVFVS0xOTAAAAGE8zVRsrjyXQ5nVug3pTNsAodzSzhsF8biyXjk-RPUhF6kySegwdhhlpGrm9QbEscE5WZjkujeo47tWtq2Z-UVScbjilsNh1qbL1noUOZ3Y2COy_s

  10. Water bottle reduction at the Union

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste

    Per J.B. Bailey, the Assistant Director for Programming, the Union includes marketing on all events that the Union has water filling stations near where the event is occurring and encouraging students to bring their own bottles to fill up there. The goal is that this will allow us to reduce the amount of disposable cups we provide at our events where drinks are provided. The board has also discussed not providing plastic water bottles as give-a-ways moving forward. 

  12. Meeting with Lisa Jackson re: new student swag

    Associated Project(s): 
    Achieve Zero Waste
    Sustainability in New Student Orientation
    Campuswide Zero Waste events

    Meredith Moore and Jennifer Fraterrigo met with Dr. Lisa Jackson, Director of New Student Programs within Student Affairs to discuss new student swag. The goal is to promote sustainability and reduce plastic waste. The meeting notes are attached. 

    Attached Files: 

  14. SSC Extension Request for Dump and Run

    Associated Project(s): 
    Dump and Run

    An extension request was submitted for Dump and Run, an SSC-funded project. This request addressed a change in the project's scope, including ending a partnership with the University YMCA, potential rebranding, and new initiatives for UIUC-led collection programs.

    See the scope change in the attached files.

    Attached Files: 

  15. Environmental Justice in the Local Communities - Meeting with Bob Flider

    Associated Project(s): 
    Environmental Justice Plan
    Resilience iCAP Team

    Stacy Gloss, Morgan White, and Meredith Moore met with Bob Flider on 6-2-22 to discuss next steps in working with the community to develop an Environmental Justice plan (Resilience and Equity plan). The meeting notes are attached. 

    Attached Files: 

  16. iWG Meeting Minutes 5-23-22

    Associated Project(s): 
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Clean Energy Plan
    Zero Waste iCAP Team

    The iWG met on 5-23-22 and discussed the following agenda. The meeting minutes are attached.

    1. Revisit ZW008
    2. ABE469 – student group worked on developing a scope for the Clean Energy Plan - https://uofi.box.com/s/p8rov2a176ow0nbwy5n3dh3b1ym2u36m
    3. Continue discussion on what to include in the scope of Comprehensive Energy Planning Document
    4. Thanks for all of your hard work this year!
    Attached Files: 

  17. TED Talk: Eco-Edition - Celebrating Pride Month and Juneteenth

    Associated Project(s): 
    TED Talk: Eco Edition Series

    We have a lot to celebrate this month, including Pride Month and Juneteenth! In the spirit of celebrating achievements, we also acknowledge challenges we continue to face and we may find ourselves discouraged and overwhelmed. I hope you can join us on Zoom this Wednesday, 6/15 from 7-8 PM for the June TED Talk: Eco-Edition event which will focus on overcoming barriers. After watching a pre-recorded TED Talk, we will discuss in the context of sustainability action how we can persist beyond the challenges to empower a climate-conscious society. The conversation will be led by April Wendling, iSEE Communications Specialist and UIUC graduate student in Journalism.

    We hope you are able to come and participate in the conversation this week! Register here: https://illinois.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAqd-mopj8vH9PF58pfJIfICscc_DL4EEVw. As a reminder, all are welcome and feel free to spread the event to anyone who may be interested. Let me know if you have any questions. Have a great week!

  18. Weekly Update: Donations, Closed on Friday for Juneteenth

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center

    All, We’re still working our way through our donations windfall. Open hours have been steadily busy, but it’ll be interesting to see how the extreme heat of the next couple weeks impacts visit numbers.

    We are selling bikes about as fast as we can build them, especially since we’ve been too busy to build much during shop hours.

    This week we will only be open Monday/Wednesday and closed Friday for Juneteenth (observed).

    The numbers:

    Visitors: 31
    Sales: $915.30
    Memberships: 2 for $60
    Bikes: 3 for $595
    Tires/tubes: 7 for $60

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  19. Request to Use Learning Materials in Land & Water Theme

    Associated Project(s): 
    Water Conservation
    Sustainability iCAP Portal

    Below is sustainability intern, Alec McKay's permission request to use Jonathan Tomkin's lecture materials for the Land & Water theme. Professor Tomkin gave permission for his materials to be published on the theme page.

    Hi Jonathan!

    My name is Alec McKay, the guy who messed up scheduling the ENSU 310 final last semester, and I’m an intern working for Morgan White, the Associate Director for Sustainability. We’re working on updating the primary projects on the iCAP Portal. Here is an example of what the primary project page for the Land & Water theme looks like: https://icap.sustainability.illinois.edu/project/responsible-stewardship-campus-land-and-water

    Our target audience is incoming freshmen and current students who are interested in sustainability at UIUC but have little to no knowledge about it. One of the things we want a primary project page to do is provide some motivation and background information for the theme. In the context of Land & Water, we’d like to answer the question, “Why conserve water?”

    I think some of the videos from your Introduction to Sustainability Coursera course would be great for this! May I have your permission to put some of the videos from your course on the iCAP Portal? I don’t know how the copyright and intellectual property laws work, so is there any specific way you would want or need to be credited?

    If you want more information regarding what we’re changing on the iCAP portal, feel free to let me know!

    Thanks!

    Alec

     

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