The January TED Talk: Eco-Edition Series event was held on 1/23/2023. iSEE intern Jenna Schaefer led a discussion about food waste. The presentation is attached and the TED Talk by Tristram Stuart is linked here.

1/25 Meeting Recap:

• Sarthak introduces the project to Ethan in their first meeting via zoom. They are expected to develop the planning process for the development of the 2024 Bicycle Plan, which is expounding upon the former 2014 Bicycle Plan. Next school year, Ethan would work alongside Sarthak in developing the plan itself. 
• Firstly, Sarthak wants Ethan to read all of the relevant readings for understanding the context of this project, especially the 2014 Bicycle Plan and report/updates on that plan since then. Sarthak introduces the iCAP portal to Ethan and grants him access to the reports/to make edits to the developing projects. 
• Ethan to start the readings before the next meeting on (2/1).

2/1 Meeting Recap

• Sarthak and Ethan met via zoom to discuss Ethan’s progress in familiarizing himself with the 2014 Bicycle Plan and its other relevant documents and reports. 
• Ethan read 30 pages of the 2014 Plan so far, and had two questions for Sarthak. One was in regard to the scope of the 2024 Plan’s recommendations. Specifically, Ethan was wondering to what degree will their 2024 Plan discuss campus connectivity with the greater Champaign-Urbana areas. Sarthak said that he would need to get a confirmation from his colleagues, but he believes that the scope of this plan should only encompass the campus district. This considers the main campus, but also the adjacent northwest area that contains mostly residential and commercial spaces. This campus district stretches to the northbound-southbound railroad tracks west of campus and up to University Avenue. 
• Ethan’s second question was in regard to the goals listed in the executive summary versus the desired outcomes listed in the introduction. The executive summary lists the primary goals of the entire plans while the introduction’s outcomes describe the specific goals of the bikeway network improvement project. 
• Sarthak shows Ethan how to post updates to the 2024 Bicycle Plan on the iCAP portal. Ethan will begin posting his weekly updates based on their weekly meetings there. 
• Sarthak advised Ethan to finish reading the 2014 Bicycle Plan by next week’s meeting (2/8) and to finish the rest of the relevant readings/reports by the end of the month (February). 

On February 8, Housing and F&S met to discuss Dump & Run plans. See the attached meeting minutes. A recording can be found here.

Sarthak Prasad met with Warren Lavey on Feb 3, 2023 to discuss the possibility of working with some students from Department of Law  to work on the amendment of the University's concession agreement with Veo. Matt Musipa, Habeeb Adekola, and Emily Sajkoski showed interest in this project. The initial introductory meeting was held on Wednesday, February 8, 2023 with all mentioned to discuss the project and the timeline. F&S TDM has to provide the Contract Specialist with the suggested amendments by the end of February.

Sarthak and Ethan met in person to discuss Ethan’s updates on his readings on the former 2014 Bicycle Plan. He has completed his review of the 2014 Plan and will delve into the progress reports and updates reports published in 2019, 2022, and 2023 for next week to see which projects have been completed, changed, or left unfinished indefinitely. He will also review the feedback from the League of American Bicyclists based on the University’s Bronze Bicycle Friendly Status awarded in 2019. The goal is to receive Gold Status this August, if not in 2027 because the review is done every 4 years. A main aspect of the 2024 Bicycle Plan will be to achieve Platinum Status by 2031. Sarthak also assured Ethan that many of the projects of the 2014 plan have since been completed which will be seen in the update/progress reports. Ethan’s to do list is to finish his readings relevant to the 2024 Bicycle Plan, such as the update reports. Also, he must begin preparing to consolidate the work he and Sarthak have done. This will then be presented to Sarthak’s bosses which will focus on the plan for this semester and the next two semesters.

Please find attached PDF containing performance metrics for ZipCar usage on campus for January 2023.

As of February 7, Champaign County Forest Preserve, Champaign County Master Naturalists, and the Rotary Club of Champaign have expressed support for the initiative and will advertise the volunteer opportunity to their respective communities come April/May.

On February 7, Daphne Hulse met with Nate Himes (Director of Counseling Ministries) at Merci's Refuge and Tom King (Director of Logistics) + Wally Proenza (VP Retail Operations) at Goodwill Land of Lincoln to discuss donation logistics. On February 13, Daphne will meet with Lisa Sheltra (Director of Community Engagement) + Mike Jenkins (Director of Retail Operations) at Salt & Light.

On February 6, UIUC sustainability representatives met and discussed the following:

Attendance: Bryan Johnson, Steve Breitwieser, Julie Wurth, Shawn Patterson, Dominika Szal, Travis Tate, Jen Fraterrigo, Thurman Etchison, Pete Varney, Tony Mancuso, Daphne Hulse

Agenda:

1. Housing/Dining: #Don’tWasteWednesday

   1. Housing is prepared for their post on Wednesday.

2. Housing/Dining: Glass hauling to Midwest Fiber

   1. Thurman reported that Dining does not pay to dispose of (recycle) their glass at Midwest Fiber.

      Tailgate recycling Fall 2023 - exploring glass recycling.

   2. Dominika will follow up with Midwest Fiber.

3. iSEE: Basketball volunteer sign-up timeline

   1. Daphne to create the sheet, iSEE/Eric to send out/promote.

   2. Volunteer numbers:

      1. 15 sign up spots for 5:00pm-6:30pm (set up, advertisement to those entering)

      2. 35 sign up spots for 6:30pm - 8:00pm (half-time collection, t-shirt giveaway)

      3. 50 sign up spots for 8:00pm - 9:30pm (end-game collection, arena collection, tear down)

4. iSEE: Earth Week/Month programming - interns/Tony/Eric Green

   1. Office Supplies Collection - check on timing of this. Already a lot is planned!

      1. Bypass Surplus: <$100, no p-tag - loop in Steve Breitwieser/Travis Tate into this conversation.

      2. “Take it or leave it,” allow students, faculty, staff, to take and leave items, donate excess office supplies to local schools.

   2. Arbor Day & Tree Planting - ?

   3. Trash Pick-Up - iSEE interns looking into this.

5. F&S CRC: F&S basketball communications strategy

   1. Digital signboards across campus - Coca-Cola to provide a digital sign.

   2. Eweek, GradLinks, iNews posts

   3. Other recommendations?

      1. Outreach to media (recap of previous game, segue into long-term direction).

         1. Daphne to send info to Steve.

         2. Jen: Tim Knox says single-ticket and season-ticket holders receive information. Can we raise visibility of this event to them? Highlight reusable bottle policy. Daphne + Jen to work with Marty + Tim.

6. Group feedback: Game day posters design

   1. Consistent branding with the digital signboards.

   2. Communicate the primary objective of the event.

      1. Feedback

         1. Reduce sponsorship size - remove F&S and iSEE change to general university, move to bottom

         2. Increase size of text, remove “with us,” consider removing “Bottles & Cans”

         3. Increase the size of recycling logo

7. Group feedback: Post-game survey

   1. Did you notice that this was a recycling-focused game? YES/NO

   2. Did you know State Farm Center recycles bottles and cans? YES/NO

   3. Did you recycle your cans and/or bottles at this game? YES/NO/I HAD NO RECYCLABLES

   4. Would you like to see more recycling initiatives at State Farm Center? YES/NO

   5. Can we use this as a vehicle for messaging re: reusable bottles?

      1. Did you know you can bring your own clear, reusable bottle to [check DIA language] athletic events? YES/NO

All, Steady week. Had a few new staffers start, held a staff meeting—some good ideas batted around!—and got a couple bikes safety inspected and ready for the sales floor. Still about a dozen bikes that are student-level “finished”.

This week is another round of interviews as we bolster our team for expanding hours and programming this spring/summer. I’ll also move a few forgotten steeds over here from the land of the abandoned bikes.

The numbers:

Visitors: 24
Sales: $151
Memberships: 1 for $30

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator

UIUC FY21 carbon credit report per SIMAP/Second Nature can be found here: https://unhsimap.org/public/institution/193 

Net MTCDE (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent): 340,212.67

Attached is the retirement transaction confirmation from M-RETS (the regional entity that issues unique certificates for the environmental attributes), and the JV for the REC charge. 

For Dr. Jamie Jones

Earth, Society, & Environment 360: Environmental Writing