Attached are the meeting minutes from the Transportation SWATeam meeting on 30 March 2020. 

The Agenda is as follows:

Recommendations Review

• (M. Hubbard) Support CMP by increasing pedestrian safety by reevaluating current pedestrian routes and conducting traffic studies.
• (S. Prasad) Zip-cars continuity: continue to serve at popular locations and set up a system to maintain Zip-car presence (two options are to set up a fund to pay for Zip-car parking spaces or ask Parking not to charge the department). 
• (J. Cidell) UI Ride Survey
• (J. Cidell) Teleconferencing assessment
• (Y. Ouyang) Faculty/Staff Vanpool Survey

April Agenda

• iCAP 2020 Transportation Chapter Review

You can start this weekend by participating in two virtual events. On Friday we're debuting "Illini Lights Out Goes Home" to encourage people to shut off their own lights at home to save energy. And we ask you to join the national Earth Hour celebration on Saturday by going dark for one hour from 8:30-9:30 p.m. Learn more about both events below.

In accordance with campus safety guidelines, iSEE had to suspend all in-person events this semester, including the Spring 2020 Illini Lights Out series and activities related to Earth Month in April. A March 26 symposium on polar exploration, print culture and climate change, co-sponsored by iSEE and the Rare Book and Manuscript Library, is among hundreds of campus events also postponed.

But we are transitioning some of our Earth Month activities to an online format, and in the meantime our calendar has other ways for you to celebrate sustainability from the comforts of home!

We will keep the Illinois Sustainability Calendar as up-to-date as possible, so please check back regularly there and in our upcoming newsletters for details! In the meantime, we want to extend thanks for your patience during these challenging times. We will continue to promote sustainability and the environment wherever we can!

Check It Out: iSEE Sustainability Events Going Virtual!

Attached are the meeting minutes from the Zero Waste SWATeam meeting on 27 March 2020.

The agenda is as follows:

March Formal Recommendations

• America To Go Catering Sustainability Criteria
• Aluminum Vending Machine Replacement
• Student Sustainability Ambassadors

April Agenda

Recommendations for next round of submissions?

• Any pertinent topics?
• Staff/faculty Ethics training update?

The Energy SWATeam met on 3/27/2020 for a final discussion on the four recommendation they plan to turn in on 4/3/2020. Attached are the meeting minutes.

Please see attached.

F&S completed the renewal of our recognition as a Green Power Partner through the US Environmental Protection Agency. Green Power Partners of our scale now have to use renewable power for seven percent of their annual consumption, an increase from the previous requirement of three percent. Fortunately, the FY19 green power supply for FY19 was 7.28%.  See attached file.

Overview submitted: The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is proud of its sustainability initiatives, as documented in the Illinois Climate Action Plan. The first project was a 32.76 kilowatt (kW) solar photovoltaic (PV) array on the Business Instructional Facility in 2009. The 14.7 kW PV array, ground mounted at the Building Research Council, is a research platform for the Information Trust Institute. The most significant on-campus renewable energy generation project to date went into operation in December 2015, with the completion of the 5.87 megawatt (MW) Solar Farm, producing approximately 7,200 MWh/year. In December 2015 another solar array was installed on the new Wassaja Residence Hall roof with a capacity of 33 kW. In September 2016, campus signed a ten-year Wind Power Purchase Agreement for 25 million kWh/year. Most recently, the Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) Building had 970 rooftop panels installed. Since production began in April 2019, 11% of all power supplied to the ECE Building has been from the rooftop panels, not including the panels that are used for student-oriented research. The University will soon be home to Solar Farm 2.0, which is projected to produce 20,000 MWh/year, nearly tripling on-site production.

Energy consumption is less this week (Friday, March 20 - Thursday March 26) than last (Thursday, March 12 - Wednesday, March 18). We will continue to monitor energy consumption at BIF as most students and employees are not on campus due to COVID-19 concerns. 

I-Pollinate is a citizen science research initiative, through the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, designed to collect state-wide pollinator data. I-Pollinate enlists citizen scientists to participate in three research projects and collect data on monarch egg and caterpillar abundance, pollinator visitation to ornamental flowers, and state bee demographics. If you are interested in participating and want more information, visit the website site at https://ipollinate.illinois.edu/.

All, This is a digest for the week of 3/9 - 3/13. Last week we were closed for spring break and now we’re closed for the pandemic. I’ll be back to reporting when we reopen.

The numbers:

Visitors: 38

Sales: $162

Memberships: 2 for $60

Thanks!

- jake

Hello Tree Campus USA Committee,

Thanks to those of us who were able to join the web-call this morning.  Here are brief notes about our discussion and next steps:

• I shared that the Arbor Day Foundation has removed the requirement for a proclamation and celebration this year.  We discussed options and decided to still do something online for Arbor Day.
  • Andrew is going to talk with Mike Brunk about the process he had gone through for the proclamation, and let us know if he thinks we should proceed this time with trying to get a proclamation signed by the mayors and chancellor.
  • I am going to take the lead on identifying something that we can do online this spring.  Please send me any suggestions you have. Here are some we discussed this morning:
    • Jay suggested an infographic
    • Meredith suggested a connection to the Earth Month Bingo event that iSEE is hosting
    • I suggested sharing information about how to plant a tree
    • Kevin suggested including information about how to trim trees for private property
    • The Arbor Day Foundation sent the note below after our call, and they intend to provide some resources for ideas
• Kevin and Ryan shared that their staff are not at work now, with the exception of a few employees watching the trees for safety purposes.

Our next group meeting is April 27 at 9am, but we will be in touch during the next few weeks to finalize plans for April 24th.

Thank you,
Morgan

Message from the Arbor Day Foundation: http://adestra.arborday.org/q/120OBVMvRZTmL6qMkonn/wv

Due to concerns about volunteer safety, the stay-at-home order for Illinois, and anticipated continuation of the COVID-19 social distancing, we are officially cancelling the Dump and Run collection from University Housing this spring.  

I am very sorry that this is the case, and I hope that all of you are safe and staying calm during this crisis.

We intend to still hold our next group meeting on April 14 at 1pm, via telephone.  We will discuss options at that time for providing some of the benefits from the fall sale to our future incoming students.  We will also include an update from Shantanu about the preparatory work that can occur this spring and summer.

Please let me know if you have any suggestions or concerns which we should also address during our next group meeting.

Thank you and best wishes,
Morgan
 

On Saturday, March 28, between 8:30 and 9:30 p.m. CDT, individuals, businesses, and organizations from around the world will switch off their lights for just one hour to conserve energy and show support for the planet. This excellent social distancing activity can be done in your own home while joining the global movement launched in 2007 by the World Wildlife Fund. To participate in our campus-wide effort of solidarity for the earth, RSVP to ILLINOIS Earth Hour on Facebook or learn more at https://www.earthhour.org.