On January 18, Sutapa Banerjee presented the preliminary results for the Walkability Audit project. Please see attached the presentation file and to watch the meeting recording, go to https://uofi.box.com/s/z1da14pu38fvpga0yrfzo38xtnvqtyel.

Co-presidents Owen Jennings, Maiah Caise, Jack Reicherts, and Maria Maring are excited to embark upon their second semester as SSLC leadership together. The primary goals of the semester include: 

• Bolster collaboration between environmental RSOs on UIUC campus. The SSLC hopes to work with Student Affairs to incentivize participation with the SSLC, using the University of California Berkely’s Student Environmental Resource Center (SERC) as a template. Weekly board meetings and monthly full meetings will continue per usual.

• Bolster collaboration between other Illinois schools like University of Illinois Chicago, University of Illinois Springfield, and Illinois State University. Both SECS and ISG may play significant roles in this relationship-building. The SSLC has already been in contact with Illinois State.

• Host Earth Month events. The SSLC already began communication with the Illini Union Green Team last semester to begin planning events like Green Quad Day and a movie night on the Quad. Organizations like SECS, Red Bison, and iSEE that have been historically active in Earth Month events will be essential in these processes. 

• Write SSLC bylaws. The Council has not previously had bylaws, and they are absolutely essential to moving forward in an organized and successful fashion. 

• Continue to monitor the fight for divestment from fossil fuels. This iCAP Objective has caused copious political strife between students and administrators. Because divestment continues to be a hot topic, the SSLC will continue to listen to student concerns. 

The SSLC underwent many changes under the new leadership of co-presidents Owen Jennings, Maiah Caise, Jack Reicherts, and Maria Maring. The board experimented with the mission and niche of the SSLC, ultimately establishing that the organization shall act as a medium of communication between student groups and the administration. The organization will also be the primary host of the annual Student Sustainability Summit in October, touting – among other interdisciplinary events – Green Quad Day, Sustainable Student Research Symposium, and Tuesday Talks at Bevier Cafe. 

This Summit was the Council’s most noteworthy accomplishment this semester. The SSLC collaborated with: Red Bison, Outdoor Adventure Club, the Department of Agriculture and Biological Engineering, the Sustainable Student Farm, the Pilot Processing Plant, Grand Prairie Friends, the F&S Solar House, Stop Line 3 CU, Students for Environmental Concerns, Prairie Rivers Network, and the Student Sustainability Committee. This myriad of events had varying levels of attendance. The SSLC leadership learned two primary lessons from the inaugural Student Sustainability Summit: first, quality over quantity in terms of events; and second, planning well ahead of time is absolutely essential in order to adequately advertise each event. If you attended or co-hosted any Summit event, and you would like to let the SSLC board know your feedback, please fill out this form. The current SSLC leadership looks forward to how future leadership will expand upon the Summit. 

Another noteworthy accomplishment of the SSLC this semester was action following the publication of the Campus Admin Manual’s Expressive Activity Policy draft. Students were largely emotional about the policy’s stringent punishment for demonstrations on campus, so the SSLC – in conjunction with SECs and the SSC – wrote a letter to Chancellor Jones demanding that the policy more closely align with the student body’s needs. As of January 2022, the SSLC has received no reply from the Office of the Chancellor.  

Co-presidents Maria Maring and Owen Jennings spoke at the Campus Sustainability Celebration and Sustainability Council meeting, respectively, on the topic of divestment. Though SSLC leadership was merely prompted to give basic updates at these meetings, they utilized the face-to-face opportunity with campus administrators to voice student concerns about completing iCAP Objective 9.1: Fully divest from fossil fuel companies by FY25. 

In a first, the SSLC and general members participated in the Homecoming Parade. Roughly a dozen students marched with divestment-related signs. The SSLC hopes to expand Homecoming attendance next year. 

The SSLC revived its dormant Facebook account (@sslcuiuc) and newly established an Instagram account (@uiuc_sslc). On the latter, the SSLC made 40 posts and gained 227 followers. The Facebook account has 93 followers; engagement on this platform is much less. The SSLC also made a linktree and a Google calendar to which other RSOs can sync. That way, all events from all different orgs are all conveniently on one calendar. This joint calendar is still undergoing troubleshooting, and it is not yet available for public viewing. 

Amidst these new endeavors, the SSLC held full membership meetings roughly once a month, as did the previous leadership. One recurring issue was lack of attendance and engagement. Leadership held many conversations with both general members and staff advisors about how to increase the efficacy of the Council, but no good solution was found. The SSLC will continue to hold these monthly meetings and brainstorm about how to increase engagement throughout the upcoming spring semester. 

The SSLC board met weekly. If you have any questions or feedback, please contact the Council at sslc-chair@mx-illinois.edu. 

SSC received semesterly report for Fall 2021 for Diversion of Non-Recycable Plastics Using Pyrolysis Process Fuels for Campus on 12/29/21. Please see attached. 

The Engagement iCAP Team met on Wednesday, January 12 to discuss and assign the four major recommendations to be drafted before the team's next meeting, including: updating the iCAP Portal, creating a departmental committee for sustainability, creating a social media marketing campaign, and integrating sustainability into the Career Center. Meeting minutes are attached.

Get your semester off to a green start by learning how to live more sustainably and support Illinois Climate Action Plan goals for carbon neutrality and climate resilience! Visit the iSEE website to watch a video with helpful tips tailored to your role as a faculty or staff member. Afterward, take a brief survey to weigh in on campus climate action priorities - and possibly win a prize!

Julie Wurth • Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment

Kick off the New Year with our Campus Sustainability Training!

Pranjali Shah, first year Master in Urban Planning student, presented a data-driven approach to determine the best location for a new bicycle shelter for the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. She developed a model based on bike rack capacity, bike theft data, and bicycle census count data. This model can be used by any university or campus.

See attached her presentation here. Also, view the meeting recording here: https://uofi.box.com/s/g15pzg7a6a4znuc9pm8lkskk1obcrvfi.

It's always a good idea to turn off lights if you're the last one out of a room or building, but the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) is asking people to make a concerted effort to help campus reduce its environmental footprint on six Fridays this spring: Jan. 28, Feb. 11, Feb. 25, Mar. 25, Apr. 8, and Apr. 29. Last year, iSEE volunteers turned off more than 167,000 light bulbs on campus, which saved the equivalent of 212.3 tons of carbon dioxide. Learn more at https://sustainability.illinois.edu/events/illini-lights-out-spring-2022...

Arden Youn, Wei-Ting Yang, Alaa Eldemerdash, Jasmine Jacome, and Gil Perez, Gies College of Business graduate students, spent the semester reviewing the Good2Go Reusable Dining Container program. The PowerPoint is attached and the link to the recording of the final presentation is found below. 

View the recording here.