All, Last week was a busy one. We had Strong Towns talk on Tuesday and the Illinois Bike Summit on Wednesday. Got in some good networking, heard some interesting talks/discussions, and got buzzed by two MTD buses on my bike commute there and then one car on my ride back to the Bike Center. Oh, the irony.

The cooler weather has curtailed our visitors, but we’ve had a few volunteers, too—always nice.

Grabbed some bikes from the warehouse last week and will continue to do so as I can this week. I have jury duty potentially all this week and next week, which majorly mucks up my plans for setting up with Working Bikes since I can’t plan past day-to-day. Likely will have to bump that to early November unless circumstances change.

The numbers:

Visitors: 42
Sales: $266
Memberships: 3 for $90
Tires/tubes: 3 for $20

Thanks!

Jacob Benjamin
Campus Bike Center Coordinator

The 2022 Campus Sustainability Celebration was a huge success! Thank you to all who participated! The PowerPoint presentation is attached, and the agenda for the event was as follows:

• 3-3:15 PM – Welcome
  • Jennifer Fraterrigo, on behalf of Director Madhu Khanna (iSEE)
  • Chancellor Jones
  • Vice Chancellor Susan Martinis (OVCRI)
• 3:15 – 3:30 PM – Holistic initiatives
  • Plastic reduction (Jen)
  • Clean energy/Solar Farm 3 (Morgan)
  • Greener Campus Program (Meredith)
• 3:30 – 4:40 PM – iCAP Team presentations
  • Energy
  • Transportation
  • Land and Water
  • Zero Waste
  • Education
  • Engagement
  • Resilience
• 4:40 – 5 PM – Student groups (SSLC, SSC) – Jack Reicherts and Maiah Caise
  • Closing remarks by Jennifer Fraterrigo (on behalf of Madhu Khanna)
• 5 – 6 PM – Celebration - refreshments, roundtable forum with each iCAP Team, student tabling session  

One of our favorite times of the year is almost here… Campus Sustainability Month! Below is a highlight of major events and programs happening this October, though check out the iSEE Sustainability Calendar for the full list. This is the perfect time to take action and show your support for environmental consciousness (and the Illinois Climate Action Plan!). I look forward to seeing you across campus!

• Plastic Reduction Challenge: Are you up to the challenge? From October 3–30, we provide the resources and point system to help you track your plastic use each week and find sustainable alternatives. The point system and fillable grid are attached, and additional information will be sent out prior to the start of the challenge. Take part with this fun and interactive community, and earn the chance to win a sustainability prize pack. It is easy to make a positive impact! Sign up here for the challenge.
   
• Clothing Swap: This is the perfect opportunity to donate your clothing items and update your wardrobe! Join iSEE, SECS, and SSLC for this reduce/reuse event at the Channing Murray Foundation on Tuesday, October 11. Drop off clothes at Channing Murray the day before, or during the event itself from 10AM – 3PM.  All are welcome to drop off and/or participate (it’s free!).
   
• Green Quad Day: Come check out the variety of student, staff, faculty, and community-led environmental groups on Thursday, October 13 from 11AM – 3PM at the Anniversary Plaza (cement area between the Quad and Union). This is a great opportunity to talk with and learn about the many sustainability efforts on campus. The rain date is October 17. If you are interested in representing your organization at a table, sign up here.
   
• Water Taste Test: It’s 2022 – why are we still drinking from plastic bottles? Let’s put our tap water to the test and see, blindly, which water we prefer. Check out the iSEE table at Green Quad Day (above) and see if you can taste a difference between bottled water and tap! In the meantime, take our drinking water behavior survey (and win a chance for a $50 gift card).
   
• Illini Lights Out: Join us to shut off lights in buildings around campus to save energy and reduce the environmental impact of our massive university! Meet at 5:30PM in the lobby of the Foreign Language Building on Friday, October 14 to receive brief instructions before heading out to turn off lights in assigned buildings. Come back to FLB (roughly 6:30) when you are done to turn in your clipboard, get a snack, and pat yourself on the back for helping to save so much energy! Register here, and come by yourself or bring a friend!
   
• Campus Sustainability Celebration: All are welcome to attend this annual event on Monday, October 17 from 3-6PM at NCSA (auditorium and lobby), 1205 W. Clark St., Urbana. The first two hours will be spent in the Auditorium, where we will hear from campus sustainability leaders and from the iCAP Teams. Following the presentations (5-6 PM), each iCAP Team will have a table in the lobby/atrium area for roundtable discussion, suggestions, and a Q&A. Student environmental groups will have tables set up and together, we will enjoy conversation, light refreshments, and cake!
   
• Trash Cleanup: Help keep our campus beautiful! On Wednesday, October 19, meet at Alma Mater at 4PM and join us to collect trash and recycling around campus until 5:30PM.
   
• TED Talk: Eco-Edition Series: Tune in to this edition of iSEE’s ongoing Zoom series on Wednesday, October 26 from 7 – 8PM. Our host this month is Lucy Nifong, a senior in Agricultural and Consumer Economics, iSEE Communications Intern, and Vice Chair Internal of the Student Sustainability Committee. Participants will view a prerecorded TED Talk, followed by a guided discussion and roundtable on Campus Sustainability Month! Sign up here.
   
• Sustainability BINGO: Fill out the iSEE board (attached) for a chance to win prizes! The board (PDF) includes sustainability-related activities and initiatives you can do across campus during Sustainability Month (Oct. 1-31). Make sure you document and let us know which actions you completed using the Google Form to be eligible for the prize drawing.
   
• Have you gotten your office, event, or Greek chapter certified as Green yet? It’s easy to be sustainable! Get certified and be recognized!

In this meeting,  potential ideas for secured bicycle parking were discussed as ways to promote awareness among the campus community. A capstone proposal outlining the final objectives and deliverables was drafted and Sarthak helped support this discussion sharing an Excel sheet that has all of the goals, current status, and plans for the future of some mentioned ideas towards achieving the said objectives with challenges that are yet to be tackled. 

This week, Aparna is going to try to get in touch with the transportation team from other universities that have achieved the Gold BFU status to gather some ideas specific to raising awareness about bike thefts. This would navigate the research better. 

Aparna is also spending her initial time on the project learning about the Bike registration process and other initiatives that are already ongoing at UIUC to help understand the way forward. She also has access to the iCAP portal to update and document the weekly meetings to keep a track of the project progress.

Attached is the "Save the Date! March Monarch Meeting" invitation:

At last Friday's Illini Lights Out event, 5,042 light bulbs were shut off that otherwise would have been left on all weekend, saving $767.12 in energy costs. This also prevented 6.16 metric tons of CO2 equivalent from entering the atmosphere, the same as the greenhouse gas emissions from the average vehicle driving 15,300. That's a HUGE impact - this is the most lights shut off since I've become involved with the program in August 2021!

There are two more Illini Lights Out events of the semester:

• November 11
• December 2

Sign up for one or more of them at this link. Stay up to date with other sustainability-related events and news by signing up for the Institute of Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) newsletter here! iSEE is also hosting a campus trash pickup this Wednesday the 19th. Meet at Alma Mater at 4p m and bring your friends!

Illini Lights Out addresses objectives 2.2 and 2.2.2 of the iCAP, or Illinois Climate Action Plan, to increase energy efficiency and reduce building-level energy. Find out about other iCAP objectives here and read the entire iCAP here.

Illini Lights Out is a certified Green Event! Click this link to learn how to green-certify your own event.

Hello!

We hope every Illini had a safe, fun homecoming weekend and that everyone is excited about yet another Illini football win! You are officially halfway through the Plastic Reduction Challenge! How does it feel? Meticulously tracking your plastic use for two weeks now calls for celebration. This halfway point is a great time to reflect on what you have learned so far, what resources and new lifestyle changes you have gained, and what it is you’d still like to work on in the remaining two weeks. Please remember to submit your Week 2 Google Form no later than tomorrow, October 17th. 

This week, in addition to refusing, repurposing, and recycling plastic, we encourage each of you to dedicate time to challenge yourself to commit to a new, environmentally-conscious action. Whether it be having a discussion with a roommate about consumerism or switching to reusable grocery bags, positive point opportunities are a great way to help the environment even further and spread awareness of the detrimental effects of plastic (while, of course, gaining points toward your point total, too).

Be sure to check out the iSEE Campus Sustainability Month Calendar for opportunities to earn positive points this month. Upcoming this week is the Campus Sustainability Celebration on 10/17 and the Campus Trash Pickup on 10/19!

Here is the Week 3 Google Form. Please submit this by Monday, October 24. We will check in with you again on Thursday with another weekly tip. As a reminder, at any time throughout the challenge (especially if you have recently joined!), you can revisit emails or resources that have been distributed to the group at this Box Folder. The folder can also be found by scrolling down to “More Information” on the iSEE Plastic Reduction Challenge webpage).

Keep up the great work, and have a fantastic week!

Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainability Programs Manager

Emily Dickett and Jenna Schaefer, iSEE Sustainability Interns 

For Nuclear, Plasma, & Radiological Engineering 201 & 101 classes with Professor Dr. Daniel Andruczyk.

Good morning, everyone!

You are almost halfway through the Plastic Reduction Challenge - wow! With over 185 of us participating, in just two weeks we have already created positive change in our communities and world. Think of all the plastic waste we have avoided and the waste we will continue to reduce over the next two weeks!

We loved hearing about your experiences during Week 1 and have been very impressed with your insightful comments, thoughtful questions, and creative ways you’ve earned positive points. Many of you have great goals for this week, such as remembering your reusable grocery bag, having a conversation with a friend or peer, and even having an overall positive weekly score. 

Last week, our group average was 2.75 points! This is extremely impressive. This positive number reflects plastic avoidance and many, many positive actions to outweigh plastic consumption. Let’s keep it up and try to get an even higher average for Week 2!

This week, we have compiled tips on how to avoid plastics when you’re on-the-go. We feel that avoiding plastics when you’re out and about is one of the more challenging elements of plastic reduction due to how integrated plastics are in “to-go” nature. Plastic bags, take-out containers, straws, cups, forks - oh my! This was particularly difficult during COVID-19 when most restaurants did not allow customers to bring their own reusables. As of now, most restaurants have shifted back to their normal policies, so we urge you to plan ahead when you know you’ll be eating out or gone from your home for a large part of the day. Not sure if your reusables are allowed? Just ask - communication is key, and it shows that people want to do the right thing when it comes to plastic reduction. Check out the attached Week 2 Tip Guide for more details and ideas on how to earn positive points this week.

Please remember to submit the Week 2 Google Form by Monday, October 17th. As usual, please reach out with questions or comments, and be sure to utilize the Waste Reduction @ Illinois Facebook group to learn how peers are reducing plastic consumption this month.

We look forward to chatting with you on Sunday. Have a great Illinois Homecoming weekend!

Thank you!

Meredith Moore, iSEE Sustainability Programs Manager

Emily Dickett and Jenna Schaefer, iSEE Sustainability Interns

Education iCAP Team had its online October meeting on Monday, October 10th, from 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM. The team worked on the Campus Sustainability Celebration slides, discussed a potential action idea on listing courses that focus on other aspects of sustainability than environment, and talked about inviting people from various departments to discuss Sustainability in Study Abroad Recommendation. Meeting minutes are attached.