This is the default layout most projects will use.
The Mahomet Aquifer is the primary source of drinking water for municipalities and homeowners in 15 Illinois Counties. It is the sole source of water for residents of the Cities of Champaign, Urbana, and Savoy, as well as other central Illinois communities. The aquifer provides drinking water to hundreds of thousands of people. The aquifer also supports thousands of commercial, industrial, and agricultural water users.
The 2015 iCAP, chapter 11, objective 2 is, "Strengthen and communicate about sustainability outreach programs. Specifically, at least half of the full-time campus staff will be participating in the Certified Green Office Program (CGOP) by FY20." Although the University's activities are a major focus of the Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP), activities in the surrounding community are also of importance.
The Princeton Review's Guide to 322 Green Colleges profiles 320 institutions of higher education in the United States and two in Canada that demonstrate a strong commitment to sustainability in their academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities, and career preparation. The 232-page guide is the only free, comprehensive, annually updated guide to green colleges.
The Natual Resources Building is the site of another native species planting project, both in front of the building and behind it on Pennsylvania Avenue. This project is funded by the Student Sustaianability Project.
The Beyond Oil Campaign began in Fall 2012 with the aim of reducing use of oil on the University of Illinois campus, since oil dependence has harmful economic, political, and environmental effects. The goals of the group are to persuade the administration to green their fleets, improve bike policies, and improve access to public transportation. The group plans to accomplish these goals through petitions, gaining student and faculty support, and communication with the administration.
In 2011, the University applied for and was granted Bronze-level certification as a Bicycle Friendly University (BFU) from the League of American Bicyclists. The University retained its Bronze-level BFU certification in 2015. The University has filed an application in August 2019 to renew the BFU status. The U of I was promoted to the Silver-Level BFU status on October 17th, 2019.
Campus Sustainability Month on the University of Illinois campus expanded from Campus Sustainability Week, which was created to raise awareness of the University’s sustainability projects, celebrate the successes of those projects, and motivate more progress on the sustainability front. The first Sustainability Week was held October 25-29, 2010, and the event has been held every Fall semester since then.
The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has several outlets to learn about sustainability initiatives, education, research, and events. These efforts have been championed on campus over the past several decades by various groups, committees, offices, centers, and institutes. As of January 2014, the convenor for these groups is the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE).
Illinois is proud to offer a wide variety of co-curricular programs for students to get involved in the sustainability field. There are numerous sustainability-related student organizations and hundreds of opportunities to get engaged both on and off campus. To share historical information and ideas toward meeting our sustainability goals, details about projects, events, and programs are being collected on the iCAP Portal.
