Hi Miram, Morgan, and Scott,

We have a draft for the biodiversity plan! I would like to get your initial reactions before we send it out for broader review. Would you have time to take a look in December? If you feel like someone else for the Resilience Committee is more appropriate, we are open to that. I just want an initial signal check to make sure there aren’t any obvious gaps or omissions.

It will go though a copy edit so don’t worry too much about typos.

Many thanks.

Lisa

Morgan,

Here is the pdf of the MOU for the ten year REC’s for Wymer Hall.  Brian Bundren is ready to sign for the Provost.

Joe Villanti

-------------------------

Hi Brian and Ehab,

This MOU is now in your Adobe Sign for approval.  Please let us know if you have any questions.

Thanks,

Morgan

-----------------------

Hi Lesa,

Would you please complete the attached on my behalf?

Thank you,

Brian

----------------------

Hi Morgan, attached is the signed MOU from Brian. Thanks, Lesa

Done:

• Fixed: suggestions page now looks right in mobile view
• SSC project embedding: added category filtering options

Discussion:

• SSC project integration discussion
  • New projects need to be approved and located appropriately in portal hierarchy
  • Codie considers an SSC project worth adding once it has a CFOAP
  • Projects can be updated w/SSC info by SSC students/employees once they exist in portal
  • How to show projects with multiple funding allocations over time? (e.g. $100K in spring 2020, $100K in fall 2020)
    • Is it the same project over time? Sometimes it is, but sometimes the leaders change and the direction changes significantly
    • Discussed dusting off the Project Funding feature we'd deprecated several years ago. It looks promising for showing SSC's funding of projects!
  • Michael and Codie will meet next week to discuss specifics about what SSC needs the iCAP Portal to be able to do in order to use the iCAP Portal for the SSC website's project listing.
• Question about a TODO: "Collections page: Add image upload option". At a previous meeting we had this TODO, but what was the context? Was it to have a thumbnail for each Collection? Or a banner image? Or an image gallery?
• Should we link to "Take Action" project from homepage?
  • Replace map link in Highlights?
  • Need to finish Take Action page content
• Continue discussion of Fancy Page Layout (see the 4 mockups in the October 21, 2022 meeting notes)
• Continue discussion of improving site's aesthetics
• Archiving projects
  • Add "Archived" checkbox?
  • Add "Archived" to Visibility options?
  • Add "Archived" to Project Status options? (probably not - this mixes the status of the project itself with whether we still want it to show up on the site)
  • Remove from nested listings, still publicly available?

TODO:

• Main map:
  • See CSU's campus map (Sustainability section) for inspiration
  • Campus boundary, like ArcGIS Bicycle Map
  • Improve mobile filter?
  • Use heatmap when zoomed out, switch to markers when zoomed in?
• (long term goal) look into importing information from another source, e.g. SSC students without iCAP Portal access can put together info in a structured format for automatic import into iCAP Portal
• Look into Collection embedding again, à la Drawdown Solutions Library Sammy had found ("Filter by sector or area of action" section)
  • SSC project embedding: add category filtering options
• Metric search/display:
  • Theme (via connected Project, i.e. Theme -> Project -> Metric)
  • Most recent updates as of: (list of years) -> can we query Tracking data?
  • (Internal only) Last updated before (list of years) -> can we query Tracking data?
• (Low Priority) Make column headers click-sortable on Projects by Project Status page
• Fancy project layout mockups - keep tweaking #3 to improve contrast
• Discuss metrics
  • Metrics with lots of data
  • Consider how to handle old metrics that no longer track new data. Archive somehow?
  • Fun with math (e.g. combining multiple metrics)
  • Calculated Metrics on Dev site

Ideations:

• Map brainstorming:
  • What if we had a separate Campus Sustainability Tour expandable section, alongside Collections and Themes? Perhaps with a specific order to the locations and information about each location in the infowindow popup? We might have to hand-craft it rather than using Collections, but it might be worth it if we want an interface more like the CSU sustainability map. This could also work for any other bespoke sections we might want to include in the future.
  • Are there other things we'd like to highlight on the map beyond Themes and Collections? If we can think of them, Michael can try to figure out how to make it happen.
  • Michael is working on trying to make the map queries work asynchronously so each filter doesn't require a new pageload. This would make interactions with the map much snappier.
  • Would we like to provide the ability to view individual projects for each section in the sidebar, à la CSU's map?
  • Are there other categories we would like to include, either in addition to or instead of Collections and Themes? Is that information already in the iCAP Portal? If so, perhaps there's a way we can use it... If not, perhaps a new tagging system specifically for the map might help us achieve it?
  • Sarthak: would like to create a Biking Tour
  • Reed: highlight things students can see/experience
• SSC projects
  • May want to use this Archive of Funded Projects on old SSC site (2019) as a reference for showing SSC project info
  • Discussed using iCAP Portal projects for SSC projects page vs. maintaining own project pages directly on SSC website.
  • One possible challenge - SSC sometimes funds part of a project or provides funding for a period of time (e.g. 1 year) for a longer-term project, so only the project updates for that period of time are relevant, not all updates in perpetuity. How do we handle that?
  • Decided to start with map embed from Student Sustainability Committee Funded Projects collection, then look at adding card-based project embed as well.

Hi All,

The iSEE advisory committee and Sustainability Subcouncil will meet on November 27. I would like to get a first draft of the slides done by Friday, November 17 so Madhu has time to review it before the Thanksgiving holiday.

The Advisory slides on Box: https://uofi.box.com/s/m380tqilie5s4503svndmoot1hbxnftx

I have put update assignments in the notes section of the slides, but will also list them here:

Heidi-slides 6,7 (if there is something exciting), 9,11 (Proposal metrics, new proposals submitted, Sust Trans update) Should we add Kyushu in here?

Luis-slides 13, 14 (Critical Conv and Sloan Workshop)

Eric-slides 15-20 (ELP and Gen Ed. Add a slide about the ESG certificate)

Jen/Miriam-slides 22-30 (Waste reduction efforts/DIA engagement and Carbon Credit accounting)

Subcouncil slides: https://uofi.box.com/s/241ttyx8bfceor6hzvoqp0c577lykpzx

Jen and Miriam—pull the slides about waste reduction and carbon credits over to this talk also. Make a slide on the Green research (there is a placeholder)

Eric-pull the Gen Ed slides over to this talk and replace the previous version.

Thanks,

Elizabeth

-------------------------------

Hi Elizabeth,

I have compiled all the draft subcouncil slides into this version: https://uofi.app.box.com/file/1361429522139

Please let me know if you have any questions or changes.

Best,

Miriam

--------------------------------

Hi all,

Please use the version:

Sustainability SubCouncil Nov 2023_11.17.2023_new.pptx

https://uofi.box.com/s/cbg4t8nr73ib38sr23i7n8k32uo82lwf

Thanks,

Jen

------------------------------

Hi All

Thanks for putting these slides together in a timely manner. I have a few comments and suggestions below

Miriam/Tony

A few formatting edits are needed to improve the look and readability of the slides

1. Remove the top header which says education or campus sustainability on each slide since it is redundant to have it on each slide
2. Instead make the content oriented header which is on the next line the top header and in larger font.
3. Please change font to be at least 20 or more everywhere
4. Add a section break for each change in topic – is this current section header following our latest template? If not would be good to have that.
5. Miriam - Send me the numbers underlying the graphs for carbon credits that you have created
6. Miriam – any idea on how our decision to sell or not would affect our AASHE gold star rating?

All- take a look at the two slides I have added at the end and see if you agree.

We have three choices for our recommendation on carbon credits –

stop sales completely

or follow the Ball state example and say that we will stop sales after we reach carbon neutrality, sell our credits in the meantime and not claim any environmental benefit from these reductions in the meantime,

or only sell to entities that are willing to retire these credits and not claim it to achieve their own carbon reduction goals.

Thoughts? We can keep it open for now and solicit ideas from the council.

If I could have these back by Wednesday then I can go over again and have a final version ready for Elizabeth to send to the Council by Saturday. 

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Madhu

------------------------

Hi Madhu,

Regarding the last slide: Second Nature confirmed at the end of October that we have 10,264 remaining unsold carbon credits. These credits are vintage year 2018, and we haven’t verified any credits beyond 2018. I’m not sure if we can estimate total potential credits if we achieve carbon neutrality as I’ve been told the calculation used is quite complicated, but I’ve reached out to Second Nature to ask if there is any guidance to come up with a rough estimate. Another consideration is how we plan to reach carbon neutrality, and the feasibility of achieving carbon neutrality through emissions reductions alone. It looks like most schools plan to achieve carbon neutrality by buying some offsets.

Please see my responses to your other questions below in blue:

1. Miriam - Send me the numbers underlying the graphs for carbon credits that you have created

The graphs were generated on SIMAP. The attached spreadsheet includes the underlying data. I’ve also included a screen grab below that lays out the numbers clearly.

1. Miriam – any idea on how our decision to sell or not would affect our AASHE gold star rating?

Institutions can earn up to 8 possible points for Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the AASHE scoring system. UIUC received 3.15 out of 8 possible points in this category. Carbon credits sold or transferred are accounted for in our total score, so selling carbon credits could reduce the points we earn here. I looked at the report for Ball State, and found they achieved a Gold rating in 2023. Their score for Greenhouse Gas Emissions is also higher than ours at 4.5/8.0. This suggests there are ways to maintain a high score in this area while selling carbon credits.
Our most recent AASHE score is 73.25, and the range for Gold is 65-85, so I do not expect that selling carbon credits would have a strong enough impact on our score to alter our overall Gold rating.

Thanks and please let me know if you have any other questions!

Best,

Miriam

-------------------------------

Hi Morgan,

The data from the carbon emissions charts in the subcouncil slides is attached here.

-Miriam

Hey Elizabeth,

Here are the terms used to search for courses that populate the attached lists:

sustain, enviro, ecolog, conserv, restor, climate, resilien, green, water, land, energy, solar, wind, geothermal, natur, pollut, waste, transport, wild, food, biodiversity, povert, agri, inclusiv, equit, equal, sanita, renew, hydro, recyc, greenhouse gas, global warming, ocean, fish, forest, justice, governance, peace, rights, stewardship, soil, river, reus, preserv, ozone, marine, lake, invasive, indigenous, intersectional, eutrophication, ecosystem, desertification, brownfield, aquifer, aquaculture, Anthropocene, permaculture, habitat, acidification, endangered, emissions

Cheers,

Eric Green

------------------------------

Good morning,

I wanted to follow up our discussion of “sustainability classes” with the list that Eric maintains. The fall and spring lists are attached and the search terms he uses are listed below. Please reach out to Eric if you notice any classes that are missing from this list.

A subset of these classes make up the list of classes for the Sustainability, Energy, and Environment Fellows Program minor. Those can be found here: http://catalog.illinois.edu/undergraduate/provost/minors/sustainability-energy-environment/#degreerequirementstext

Finally, the Certificate in Environmental Sustainability program that Jeff Trapp mentioned is described here: https://earth.illinois.edu/online-programs/certificate-environmental-sustainability It is a graduate-level certificate.

-Elizabeth

Hi Advisory Board Members,

I am attaching a copy of the draft iSEE Strategic Plan for your reference. Madhu will be discussing parts of it during the meeting and asking for your feedback.

Thanks,

Elizabeth

Dear Friend of the Reimagine our Future sustainability competition,

Thank you for your fantastic support for the 2023 Reimagine our Future competition as a participant, specialist advisor, judge, sponsor, media representative, or interested person. This year we had a record number of 243 participants and 44 submissions from 10 higher education institutions.

The roughly 100 initial judges have reviewed the submissions, provided comments which will be sent to the teams, and selected 12 finalists. (The list of finalists is available below this message.) These teams or individuals will briefly present their projects during an award ceremony on Saturday Dec. 2, 2023, 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. (US Central Time). The winners of nine awards totaling US$7,000 will be announced after the presentations.  

Professor Kelvin Droegemeier will be the guest speaker at this event. UIUC’s Student Sustainability Committee will conduct the ceremonies.

You are cordially invited to join us in-person if you are in the vicinity of the UIUC. The ceremony will take place in Room 4031 of UIUC’s Campus Instructional Facility. We will serve refreshments from 10:45 a.m. and a light lunch after the ceremony.

If you cannot join us in-person, you are invited to join the award ceremony via Zoom:

Please be so kind to respond to this invitation by completing the following poll before Thursday Nov. 30 at 10 a.m. (US Central Time).

Thank you again for your support. We look forward to thanking you on Dec. 2 and are confident that you will be impressed by the students’ outstanding projects.

Yours sincerely,

Leon Liebenberg (Teaching Professor, Department of Nuclear, Plasma, and Radiological Engineering, UIUC) 

Warren Lavey (Adjunct Professor, College of Law, School of Earth, Society & Environment, and College of Medicine, UIUC) 

Robert McKim (Emeritus Professor, Department of Religion, UIUC) 
Codie Sterner (Coordinator, Student Sustainability Committee, UIUC) 

(Reimagine Our Future co-founders and coordinating committee)

FINALISTS IN THE 2023 REIMAGINE OUR FUTURE COMPETITION

(In alphabetical order of the team leaders’ last names)

Arshia Ajmera, Keerthana Nallamotu (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) – Accessible screening for preeclampsia

Muskaan Alimchandani (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) – Vrddhi Sthan – A brighter future for Dharavi

Brandon Baron, Whitney Fowler, Shito Ito, Ada Moy, Gwynne McGrady (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) – Parking lot permaculture

Karmyn Flesch, Nadia Wilson, Emily Rhodes, Gabriella Sanchez (University of Illinois, Springfield) – Zero food waste

Amy Jurkowski, Matthew Nowlan, Liesl Schrag, Aiden Sup (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) – Renewable energy-supported housing and opportunities for immigrants

Iryna Maistrenko (International Humanitarian University, Ukraine) – Organization of organic farming during the war in Ukraine

Margot O'Malley, Tom George, Jasper Nord (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) – Grounds for nutrition

Manan Sanghavi (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) – Optimizing resource efficiency by digitizing receipt processes

Jamie Scimeca, Xiang Fei Heah (University of Birmingham) – Light-water small modular reactor

Advay Sudarshan, Patrick Harsono, Jesse Wei, Hugo Ji (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign) – Polyester upcycling and fiber composite furniture

Hlib Vakumenko (Vienna University of Economics and Business) – Transform food waste into improved dietary nutrition

Charles Wheeler, Lucas Baronello, Saharra Murphy, Caila Riggs, Michelle Check (University of Illinois, Springfield) – Farm to School: a shared investment for a healthier future

The following email was sent by Marty Kaufman on Oct 26, 2023:

Hey Jennifer,

 

I reached out to Tim Knox, and DIA did try to become a member of the Green Sports Alliance in June, but the organization said that the University was already a member so there was no need to submit payment. I see no reason to pay more money if the organization already says we are members. I understand that Athletics isn’t mentioned independently as a member, but since we are part of the University as a whole and the Alliance doesn’t feel we need to have a separate membership, it doesn’t seem fiscally responsible to pay a second membership fee.

 

Maybe we look at sharing the cost for next fiscal year or at bumping it up to the $2,500 level next year if that provides more benefits? Please see the correspondence from Tim attached.

 

I welcome your thoughts.

 

Thank you,

Marty
 

Jen Fraterrigo responded on Oct 26, 2023:

Hi Marty,

 

Thanks for looking into this matter. I reached out to Betsy Ligett and she confirmed that F&S paid the membership fee for the Nov. 1st, 2022 - Nov. 30th, 2023 time period. I agree with you about not needing a second membership. However, it would be great for DIA take over the membership starting December 1st, 2023 and pay the membership fees going forward at the level you prefer.

 

For now, I suggest identifying a new point person at DIA. I would then be happy to facilitate a meeting with Betsy and the DIA POC to get him/her up to speed.

 

Best,

Jen

Marty Kaufman responded on Nov 21, 2023:

Hi Jen,

 

Happy Thanksgiving to you as well.

 

Yes, DIA will pay for the renewal. Tim has been in touch with the Green Alliance and we will coordinate the payment for next year.

 

Happy to help.

 

Thanks,

 

Marty

Hi Linda,

I just talked to Morgan White, copied. Can you send her the final version of the Rainwater Report you did for Champaign? They are closing the loop on that.

Thank you!

Lisa

-----------------------

Hi Lisa,

Of course! If anything else is needed to close the loop, happy to help. 

Best,

Linda

Hello,

iSEE has been notified by Second Nature that there is an incoming payment for recent carbon credit sales, totaling $15,625. I have attached the sales confirmation. The wire will be sent today or tomorrow to the account previously used for these payments.

Please let me know if you need any other information.

Best,

Miriam

-------------------

Miriam-

Thank you for the email and the sales confirmation attached. I will prepare the ACH form for this so University Accounting is aware the ACH will be coming in and where to deposit it.

Thanks!

-----------------

Hi everyone,

Did we receive this payment, as expected? I’d like to update the attached excel file, when the funds are received.

Thanks,

Morgan

------------------

Hi Morgan,

Yes we did, please see my updated version attached. Let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks so much,

Courtney

Lisa Merrifield from Extension submitted the attached report to iSEE. The report was prepared by Linda Derhak, a master of urban planning student.

All,

I had to change the date on our next COAD Meeting.  We will be having our East Central Illinois Community Organizations Active in Disasters (COAD) meeting on December 7th at 2:30 pm at the ILEAS Training Center, 1701 E. Main St, in Urbana.  I have attached the agenda for your review.  Feel free to forward the invite to others that may want to be part of our group.

I hope to see you all on the 7th.  Thank you.

Sincerely,

John