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Project Updates

  1. Trash Cleanup 10/15/21

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Sustainability Month
    Boneyard Creek Management
    Facilitate campus-wide sustainability events

    October is Campus Sustainability Month and there are many events to get involved and make a positive difference toward our campus sustainability efforts. On Friday, October 15, we are hosting our second trash cleanup event. We will meet at the pavilion on Engineering Quad at 3:30 p.m. and disperse from there to pick up trash across campus. Resources will be provided. Stay for as long as you are able, and bring a friend. Everyone is welcome! It will be fun!

    Check out more events during Campus Sustainability Month on the iSEE website: https://sustainability.illinois.edu/outreach/calendar/ 

  2. Digital Sign for Recognition of SSC $375k Contribution

    Associated Project(s): 
    Geothermal at the Campus Instructional Facility (CIF)
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    Part of the $25K fund 1‐304398, “602 SSC‐CIF Geothermal” for the CIF account is recognizing SSC’s $375K contribution to Geothermal in digital signage for a year at CIF.

     

    The final draft of the digital signage is attached below.

     

    Attached Files: 

  3. Ecosystem Marketplace and the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets

    Associated Project(s): 
    Utilize Carbon Credits

    Below is an email from the Ecosystem Marketplace: A Forest Trends Initiative. 

    Dear Friends, 

    Today, we are so pleased to announce our new role as part of the Taskforce on Scaling Voluntary Carbon Markets’ new governance body. Michael Jenkins will serve as a member of the Senior Advisory Council, and our Ecosystem Marketplace initiative will be a Founding Sponsor. We join a diverse expert group; our shared mission is to ensure that markets keep growing with the highest level of quality and integrity possible.

    Voluntary carbon markets’ recent rapid growth means this mission is all the more critical. This announcement comes a week after we published the latest State of the Voluntary Carbon Markets report, showing that markets are accelerating towards $1 billion in transactions in 2021. We celebrated this major milestone with 1,500 attendees from 76 countries in a seminal EM Insights Event together with our partners, supporters, friends, and network. Such significant growth positions the VCM as a serious player in green finance and an important tool for achieving the Paris Agreement's 1.5 C climate ambition.
     
    As a leading and independent provider of transparency on market price and activity, we take seriously our responsibility to serve all market participants. This includes the companies investing in offsets to meet their climate commitments. It also includes stakeholders and communities in carbon credit-producing countries, who may be far from global financial centers but are central to achieving the Paris Agreement.
     
    The Taskforce was initiated by Mark Carney in September 2020 as a private sector-led initiative working to scale effective and efficient voluntary carbon markets. Now, Taskforce Principals Bill Winters and Tim Adams will hand over leadership to the Governance Body Board, and work alongside us on the Senior Advisory Council. Taskforce Principal Annette Nazareth will join the Board.
     
    The new Governance Body officially launches at COP-26 in Glasgow this November. Day One priorities for the Governance Body are to finalize a set of Core Carbon Principles and provide oversight of standard-setting bodies on adherence to those principles. We’ll also set threshold standards for the voluntary markets, provide a coordination function between individual bodies in the markets, and help drive a long-term strategic roadmap for scaling voluntary carbon markets.
     
    Voluntary carbon markets are in a transitional moment. We look forward to working through the new Governance Body to guide the markets to deliver the highest quality and the greatest impact for both planet and people. We also look forward to sharing more with you as we move forward in this important new phase.

    Michael Jenkins, CEO and Founding President
    Stephen Donofrio, Director, Ecosystem Marketplace and Supply Change Initiatives
     
    About Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace
    Ecosystem Marketplace (EM) is an initiative of the Forest Trends Association (FT), a 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1998. Forest Trends works to conserve forests and other ecosystems through the creation and wide adoption of a broad range of environmental finance, markets, and other payment and incentive mechanisms. Forest Trends does so by 1) providing transparent information on ecosystem values, finance, and markets through knowledge acquisition, analysis, and dissemination; 2) convening diverse coalitions, partners, and communities of practice to promote environmental values and advance the development of new markets and payment mechanisms; and 3) demonstrating successful tools, standards, and models of innovative finance for conservation.

    EM believes that transparency is a hallmark of robust markets. Launched in 2005, the EM Global Carbon Hub is the world’s first and only independent international voluntary and compliance carbon offsets tracking, reporting, and knowledge-sharing mechanism. Globally recognized, EM drives market transparency, price discovery, and market participants’ understanding of supply, demand, and credit quality, including through recognition of core carbon and additional attributes including social, environmental, and biodiversity co-benefits that are “beyond carbon.”

    The EM Global Carbon Hub is fueled by a growing global network of hundreds of EM Global Carbon Survey Respondents and is made possible with the diverse mix of support that we receive from Visionary Partners, Strategic Supporters, collaborators, and donors. With an unparalleled database that unifies carbon market data from the over the counter (OTC) and platform/exchange-traded markets, paired with rigorous research, EM is globally recognized as a leading source of decision-useful and trustworthy information on prices, regulation, science, and relevant issues on environmental services markets and climate finance. EM Data, Insights, and News have been used extensively by companies, journalists, investors, practitioners, natural resource agencies, and academics.

    Now in its 16th year, EM will be continually making upgrades and adding new features to the EM Global Carbon Hub to drive radical transparency in the voluntary carbon markets (VCM) to meet growing interests for reliable, timely, and objective data and insights on VCM offsets transactions prices, volumes, and insights. The EM Global Carbon Hub will provide the needed tools and resources to enhance data collection – with this Global Carbon Survey Platform, and new accessibility capabilities – with the EM Data Intelligence & Analytics Dashboard (currently in beta testing), ensuring it will continue to deliver the best, most up-to-date, and robust data and analytics available.

     

  4. General Meeting 9/20

    Associated Project(s): 
    Student Sustainability Leadership Council (SSLC)
    Campus Sustainability Month

    For September's General Meeting, we had everyone introduce themselves and what organization they were from. We also discussed plans for Student Sustainability Summit and how they can become involved. Promoted our development of a general Google calendar that contains general meeting times for all RSOs in the SSLC, as well as any events they are hosting. Lastly, we went through updates on all projects that RSOs are working on.

    Attached Files: 

  6. Weekly Update: Bike to Work Day; Light the Night; Grand Re-opening

    Associated Project(s): 
    Campus Bike Center
    Light the Night
    C-U Bike to Work Day

    All, Heck of a week we just had. Tuesday was Bike To Work Day and Light The Night; both events went well. CBC as a LTN location was not as popular as the other two spots but we are still only in our second year of offering this location; the other two spots have been there for over 10 years and have a lot more passers-by. I do appreciate the convenience of not having to go anywhere for the event, though!

    BTWD was a decent turn out. We had around 30 people stop by to pick up their shirts. iSEE shot some footage for a promo video. I also talked with a few profs/pro staff folks who said this was their first bike commute, which was great. Hopefully they’ll stick with it! It also reminded me I need to brush up on my beginning commuter tips…

    Our Grand Opening event was a success. We got to show off our space to quite a few people who’d never been by before and a handful of regulars that were duly impressed with the upgrade from our old space.

    This week I’ve got a new student worker starting, so that will be a welcomed addition to the team. I’ll also pick up some bikes from TBP for rebuild as we’re flush out of decent Shop Builds. Demand has waned a bit or word is spreading that we’re out of bikes so fewer folks are coming by—either way, we’ll get a few more fixed up this week.

    The numbers:

    Visitors: TBD
    Sales: $513.50
    Bikes (refurb): 1 for $180
    Memberships: 5 for $150
    Tire/tubes: 6 for $19.50

    Thanks!

    Jacob Benjamin
    Campus Bike Center Coordinator

  8. Walkability Audit: Week 5 meeting

    Associated Project(s): 
    Walkability Study

    On Tuesday September 17, 2021, Sutapa and Sarthak met to discuss the progress of the Survey Questionnaire of the Walkability Audit. Several walkability toolkits were identified as potential references for creating a consolidated survey questionnaire. First draft of the new questionnaire was discussed and corrections were identified.

    The survey questions as well as the Training manual will be finalized by Sept end.

  9. Request for New Project Tabs

    Associated Project(s): 
    Diversion of Non-Recyclable Plastic using Pyrolysis Process to Produce Fuels for Campus
    Preventing window-strike bird fatalities with energy efficient window decals
    Monitor Soil Health

    Assistant Director of Student Sustainability, Samuel Yoo reached out to Sarthak Prasad for guidance with iCAP Portal projects. Specifically, Yoo was unable to find existing projects for the following:

    - Diversion of Non-Recyclable Plastic using Pyrolysis Process to Produce Fuels for Campus

    - Preventing Window-strike Bird Fatalities with Energy Efficient Window Decals 

    - Valorized Archived Soils and Long-Term Carbon Budgets

    Sarthak replied explaining that new project tabs will be created for the first two projects and the last project fits under the "Monitor Soil Health" project.

     

  10. Compost Tumbler at Newmark Civil Engineering Building

    Associated Project(s): 
    Food Waste Reduction

    Roman Makhnenko explains that there are available funds from a SSC sponsored project that can be used to to buy a compost tumbler for the Newmark Civil Engineering Building. Additionally, Roman wants to discuss with Meredith where the tumbler should be emptied once it gets full. 

  11. Green Office Gold Certification

    Associated Project(s): 
    Certified Green Office Program (CGOP)
    Certified Greener Campus Programs

    Congratulations to Kara Hagen and the rest of the Conservation Unit at the Preservation Services Department of Oak Street Library Facility for becoming a Green Office! They are gold certified as of September 4, 2021. They used a watt meter to monitor energy use of their devices and appliances and eliminated use of disposable cups. They notably created a new waste reduction strategy by saving the scraps from their long-fibered papers and bringing those to Fresh Press on campus, where they are used to create hand-made paper. Keep up the great work!

  12. First Weekly Check-In for Resilience Work

    Associated Project(s): 
    Build Resilience with Our Local Community
    Resilience iCAP Team

    9/17/2021, 2:15 PM

    Attendees: Morgan White, Meredith Moore, Stacy Gloss

    Summary:

    Stacy, Meredith and Morgan met for the first time together since Stacy was appointed and started work on 9/16/2021. The purpose of the meeting is to provide the information and resources needed for Stacy to start working on resilience activities in the scope work. We reviewed Stacy’s job description regarding activities for the next 6 months and related deliverables. See attached job description.

    Agreements:  

    • Stacy will take the meeting notes from each of these Resilience Work Check-In meetings and put them on the portal for project tracking.
    • Stacy will provide updates at the Resilience iCAP team meetings.
    • We set up a recurring meeting time for Thursdays from  2 pm – 3 pm.

    To-Do’s:

    Stacy will re-read the objective in iCAP 2020 PDF about all resilience objectives. Review the resilience theme, scan the project list, and look at project history for specific objectives.

    8.1 Check in when needed w/ Lisa Merrifield

    8.2 Start with campus contacts. Email Betsy Liggett,  Brent Lewis, & Morgan White and set up a call with Betsy. Betsy is liaison to community green infrastructure.  The objectives are to find out who it is to talk to in Champaign-Urbana-Savoy for off-campus infrastructure locations. Eventually, ask resilience team what information should be included on the iCAP portal map. Note: There’s an Oct 20 conference about the Champaign County storm water partnership.  With this objective, we will ultimately work towards planning a coordinated rainwater mgmt. plan, and what it might look like.

    8.3. Review documentation that Kimmy provided as a report on the portal. 

    8.4.  Request a call with Ximing to explain the concept behind 8.4 and report back. Further steps may be taken to include whole iSEE management team in a conversation.

    8.5.  Review 8.5 Discuss at meeting 2 weeks from now.

    8.6.  Morgan will connect Stacy with Sarthak Prasad. Review Vision zero website soon and request a meeting with Sarthak.

    8.7.  Review 8.7 Discuss at meeting 2 weeks from now.  Review Current State of the Market, and review files in the box folder that students created about local off sets.

    Attached Files: 

  13. Illini Lights Out 9/17/21!

    Associated Project(s): 
    Illini Lights Out

    Students ~ join us for Illini Lights Out on Friday, 9/17/21 at 5:30 PM at the Foreign Languages Building! We will meet in the lobby where you will receive instructions before going out to shut off the lights. Let's reduce our campus's energy and environmental footprint together! Come by yourself or bring a friend or group, and don't forget to wear a mask! 

    Registration is not necessary, but encouraged!

    Check out the iSEE website for more information! 

     

  14. Sustainable Land Management Committee Meeting 9-17-21

    Associated Project(s): 
    Sustainable Land Management Committee

    The committee convened for the first time on 9-17-21 to discuss priorities and next steps to accomplish the committee charges:

    1. Develop plan for evaluating/inventorying existing sustainable land management practices on the South Farms on non-research land, and for increasing the sustainability of SF land mgt. practices.
    2. Update Agronomy Handbook with relevant, sustainable BMPs
    3. Work with interested tenants on University-owned land to showcase the recommended sustainable land management practices in the updated Agronomy Handbook.

    The presentation is attached. 

    Attached Files: 

  16. iCAP Team and iCAP Working Group Kickoff

    Associated Project(s): 
    Topical iCAP Teams
    iCAP 2020: Illinois Climate Action Plan
    iCAP Working Group (iWG)
    Zero Waste iCAP Team
    Resilience iCAP Team
    Engagement iCAP Team
    Energy iCAP Team
    Land and Water iCAP Team
    Transportation iCAP Team
    Education iCAP Team

    We had a great iCAP Team and iCAP Working Group Kickoff on 9/16/21! During the event, we heard from iSEE Interim Director, Dr. Madhu Khanna, went through the team rosters, iCAP Procedures, iCAP 2020 and progress made thus far, and lastly summarized other resources that sustainability advocates should be aware of. 

    The iCAP Teams and iCAP Working Group are instrumental in helping campus advance and achieve our sustainability goals and we look forward to a great year!

    The presentation is attached and the recording is found here. 

    Attached Files: 

  18. SSC Semesterly Report: Identifying the Campus Benefits of a Large-Scale Prairie Experiment

    Associated Project(s): 
    Benefits of a Large-Scale Prairie Experiment
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    SSC received a semesterly report for Spring 2021 for the Benefits of a Large-Scale Prairie Experiment project on 9/9/2021. Please see attached. 

    Attached Files: 

  19. SSC Semesterly Report: Foreign Languages Building Garden Renovation

    Associated Project(s): 
    Green Roof on Literatures, Cultures and Linguistics Building (formerly called Foreign Language Building)
    Student Sustainability Committee (SSC)

    SSC received a semesterly report for Spring 2021 for FLB Garden Renovation on 9/11/2021. Please see attached.  

    Attached Files: 

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