Category: Green Living/Environmental Tips

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Zero is the Favorite Number for Waste Fighter

Bartels
Bart Bartels calls the shots at the Fighting Illini’s Zero Waste football game during Homecoming.

ISTC’s Bart Bartels has joined the Purchasing, Waste, and Recycling  SWATeam at the U of I. It is one of six SWATeams (Sustainability Working Advisory Teams) helping evaluate the university’s progress since the 2010 Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP). Their work will be important for the formulation of the next iCAP later this year.

 

As Sustainability Outreach Specialist at ISTC, Bart has helped organize zero-waste events on campus. The next one will be the Naturally Illinois EXPO  (with something for all K-12 students) sponsored by the Prairie Research Institute. Bart also is the driving force behind the Illinois Green Office Challenge.

 

He has also worked as Zero Waste Coordinator within campus Facilities & Services and Campus Sustainability Manager at Grand Valley State University (MI). The SWATeams will be important to the successful updating of the iCAP this year by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment.

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No Need to Don a Gas Mask for Spring Cleaning

arm-hammer-baking-soda-454-grSpring cleaning is a happy tradition of opening every window and scrubbing the home down before bugs have opened their compound eyes.

 

You have a choice in the compounds you use for spring cleaning. Expensive commercial cleaning products allow you to fill your home with ammonia, alkyl ammonium chlorides, cationic and anionic solutions, chlorine, cresol, hydrochloric acid, isopropanol, lye, naphtha, nitrobenzene, oxalic acid, perchloroethylene, petroleum distillates, phenol, sodium bisulfate, sodium hypochlorite, and sulfuric acid.

 

For a lot less money, you can do the jobs with vinegar, baking soda, salt, and lemon juice, ISTC staffers Joy Scrogum and Laura Barnes remind us in a Tuesday story in The Daily Illini.

 

There we find that the University of Massachusetts Lowell Toxics Use Reduction Institute is a nice source of information about greening your spring cleaning.

 

The Cleveland Clinic has a checklist of hazardous ingredients you might find on your shelves.

 

The latest ISTC Report offers a cautionary tale of how one common cleaning chemical additive operates on the environment downstream of your drain.

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Sustainability Series Explores Recent Trends in Reuse and Recycling

30yearISTC-Seminar-Spring

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ISTC’s Spring Sustainability Series, commemorating the Center’s 30th anniversary year, deals with new developments in the original green practice, practiced for thousands of years, recycling.

 

The series opens at noon, Thursday, Feb. 12 and continues for four more Thursday noon hours through the semester. The live presentations will take place at 1 E. Hazelwood Dr. in Champaign, IL. Each will also be available by webcast at the listed websites.

 

Feb. 12, “How Sustainable is Information Technology? Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities,” Eric Masanet, Morris E. Fine Junior Professor in Materials and Manufacturing and Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Chemical and Biological Engineering, McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science, Northwestern University. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7017258394988082434

 

March 12, “Building a Local Circular Economy in Chicago,” John Mulrow – Interim Executive Director, Plant Chicago. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3276792405148335106

 

April 2, “Bioprocessing of Microbial Biomass: Enabling Sustainable Zero-Discharge Seafood Production,” David E. Brune, Professor of Bioprocess and Bioenergy Engineering, Division of Food Sciences and Bioengineering, University of Missouri at Columbia. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/502302355428424705

 

April 9, “Rubbery Shrubbery: Should We Use Rubber Mulch in Our Landscapes?” Linda Chalker-Scott, Extension Horticulturist, Puyallup Research and Extension Center, Washington State University. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/3502265956143542273

 

April 30, “Zero Waste Illinois,” Shantanu Pai, Waste Research Specialist, Illinois Sustainable Technology Center. https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/register/7792068845789351938

 

Following each event, the recorded presentation will be available at http://www.istc.illinois.edu/about/sustainability_seminars.cfm. For more information about the individual seminars, visit http://www.istc.illinois.edu/calendar/.

 

 

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Noon Extension Seminars Explore Planning for Climate Change

GAMEBOARDThe U of I Extension Webinar series begins tomorrow, Tuesday, Jan. 13, on the theme of “Planning for Climate Change.”

 
Don Fullerton, Gutgsell Professor of Finance and Institute of Government and Public Affairs at the U of I, will lead off the series with a discussion of how the “U.S. Clean Power Plan Provides Opportunity for Significant Cuts in Budget Deficits.”

 
The fall ISTC seminar series is now also viewable on-line at http://www.istc.illinois.edu/about/ sustainability_seminars.cfm dealing with Sustainability Planning and Climate Change.

 
Together they promise a valuable resource for groups and organizations of all sizes to engineer society’s pivot toward a carbon-limited future.

 
Register for tomorrow’s Extension webinar at: http://web.extension.illinois.edu/lgien/.
More highlights:
Tuesday, Feb. 17, Edith Makra, The Metropolitan Mayors Caucus, “The Greenest Region Compact.”
Tuesday, March 10, Andy Robinson and Todd Rusk, Smart Energy Design Assistance Center, “Case Studies in Municipal Energy Conservation.”
Tuesday, April 14, Eliana Brown and Lisa Merrifield, IL-IN SeaGrant, “Green Infrastructure and Stormwater Management.”

ISTC will announce its Spring Semester Sustainability Series shortly.

Previous ISTC sustainability planning webinars are available on-line:

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Businesses in Central Illinois Taking Up Green Challenge

GOCbuildingThe Illinois Green Office Challenge is picking up steam in it’s goal to green-up Central Illinois businesses.

 

CBS affiliate WYZZ Channel 31 last night reported on The Ecology Action Center’s partnership with the U of I’s Illinois Sustainable Technology Center to help Illinois businesses and organizations save money buy cutting utility bills and waste.

 

The Challenge provides ideas to help businesses compete to get recognition for their successes in sustainable business. This year the competition is focusing on organizations in and around Peoria, Bloomington-Normal, and Champaign-Urbana.

 

Other partners in the Challenge include the University of Illinois Extension, Economic Development Council for Central Illinois and the City of Urbana.

 

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9 Ways to have a Waste Free Holiday

  1. Reduce the quantity of food served. Holiday season means fun andfood with friends and family.  We all want to impress our guest with a lavish display of food but then we are left with the dreaded left overs. Don’t get me wrong…I love the cold turkey sandwich with the cranberry sauce the next day but after a week of left overs, I think, “Why did I make it all?”  So I challenge everyone to make less this holiday.  If you just can’t resist making all that food, consider finding a soup kitchen to donate all the left overs. (For more reading see this article: Reducing Food Waste During the Holiday Season)

    using old news papers, comics, and maps as wrapping paper instead of traditional wrapping paper
    News paper and map wrapped presents
  2. Consider locally sourced food. Plants are CO2 negative but you might be surprised just how much CO2 was emitted to get the holiday mashed potatoes on the table (For more information see True Cost of a Holiday Dinner).
  3. Give the gift that keeps on giving: Alternative gifts such as planting a tree in someone’s name (American Forests or Arbor Day Foundation) can be a lovely way to say you care about the special someone without bogging them down with more stuff. Or consider making a donation in their name to a charity that does work they value.
  4. If you still want to give a gift, consider giving the gift of curiosity and creativity. Think about what inspires your kids, your loved ones or your loved one’s kids to indulge their curiosity about art, the natural world, or how to create something innovative. Or give the gift of an experience, like a trip to a nearby city or a gift certificate for a new activity.
  5. Use greener alternatives to traditional wrapping paper
  6. Make eco-friendly decorations from used shipping boxes or consider getting a potted tree to plant after the holidays

    cell phone lights LEDs instead of a candle lit menorah
    Cell phone menorah for Hanukkak
  7. Consider Eco-Smart Holiday Greeting Choices – this article says it all!
  8. Traveling? Consider off setting your carbon emissions and remember to lower the thermostat at home or in the office.
  9. Spring isn’t the only season for cleaning. Because most of us feel “stuck inside” during the cold months, winter can be the perfect time to purge the house of unneeded or unwanted items. Don’t just throw them out.  Think of ways to donate, reuse, or recycle those items.

 

Additional Resources

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Events Promote Sustainability Awareness at Home and Far-Far Away

PlasticParadiseDirector, writer and actress Angela Sun will visit the Urbana-Champaign campus at 6 p.m. on Tues., Oct. 21 for a screening of her film “Plastic Paradise: The Great Pacific Garbage Patch.”

The documentary records the plight of the natural ecosystem of Midway Atoll as it encounters the Great Pacific Gyre, a swirling garbage patch of plastic washed off of surrounding continents.

Named a National Wildlife Refuge in 1988, Midway’s reefs and sand islands form a habitat for millions of seabirds. The film traces Sun’s investigation of the damage produced by humans’ demand for plastic.

The event will be held in Room 149, National Soybean Research Center.

Co-sponsors for this free community/campus event are the Institute for Sustainablity, Energy, and the Environment (iSEE), and the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center.

Plastics in the environment have increasingly raised concerns from researchers, activists and policy makers. California-based Surfrider Foundation has named October “Rise Above Plastics” month, during which they promote consumer awareness against the tsunami of plastic in the human economy. A phenomenon of the second half of the 20th century, plastic production has supplanted the use of natural materials with the benefits of being light and strong. But those very properties mean they degrade very slowly and have alarmed many scientists for their increasing presence in the marine food chain. ISTC has several projects looking at the reuse and recycling of plastics to keep more of them out of landfills or the environment. Click here for a recent report on plastic to oil research at ISTC.

Sun’s visit is also an appropriate warm-up to “Campus Sustainability Day” recognized on the U of I campus and nationally the next day, Oct. 22. Between 1-4 p.m. in Illini Union Room 314B on Oct. 22, iSEE will sponsor a progress report of the university’s Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP). In 2010, U of I became a leader among U.S. universities by announcing ambitious climate goals, including carbon neutrality by 2050. Register here for the iCAP update.

Working teams developing revisions to the 2010 iCAP will review the campus’ progress on the plan and accept public comment on a proposed 2015 iCAP update.

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Springfield Newspaper Features People, Planet, Profit Approach at ISTC

ILTimesA lengthy article in the Springfield’s Illinois Times yesterday examined the practical, progressive approach to sustainable action  at the Illinois Sustainable Technology Center. It is called the “Triple Bottom Line,” describing an approach to balance the interests of the planet, its people and a healthy economy — or, people, planet profits.

 

In the article, reporter Patrick Yeagle quotes ISTC Director Kevin O’Brien saying “We don’t want Illinois businesses to prioritize profit at the expense of the planet; that’s Texas,” O’Brien said. “Likewise, we don’t want them to forgo profit in the name of saving the planet; that’s California.”

 

The Times reviews some of the current research and technical assistance efforts of the Center including: making a variety of liquid fuels from plastics; supercapacitors from biochar; low-energy desalinization technology; combatting emerging pollutants; detecting water infrastructure leaks, and; shrinking waste streams to landfills.

 

To read the full article visit the Time’s website at http://illinoistimes.com/article-14158-science-to-solve-tomorrow%25E2%2580%2599s-problems.html

 

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Tiny Plastic Pollutants Banned in Illinois

MicrobeadsWhy did Illinois pull the plug on the use of plastic microbeads as exfoliants? ISTC’s B.K. Sharma and Nancy Holm offer insights on the trouble with microbeads in the “A Minute With…” feature on the U of I website.

ISTC has worked on beneficial recycling of plastic waste and the effects of pharmaceuticals and personal care products in the environment.

The Illinois General Assembly passed the ban, signed by Gov. Pat Quinn on Sunday, June 8, prohibiting the manufacture (by 2018) and the sale (by 2019) of microbeads in personal care products in the state.

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Middle Schoolers Celebrate Clean Power on Earth Day

WindJeffersonOn Earth Day, April 22, Jefferson Middle School hosted a ribbon cutting to celebrate the completion of their 3.5 kW h wind turbine project.

The clean energy project was funded by the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, ISTC, and high efficiency light bulb sales by the school’s Green Team.

The little turbine spun energetically during the morning ceremony, producing an estimated three percent of the school’s energy requirements. Members of the Green Team gathered around a commemorative plaque while a green ribbon was ceremonially cut.

Science teacher Jeff Freymuth (right) explained that the idea for collecting wind power came from a visit to a school in Springfield. “They had a wind turbine, why can’t we?” he recalled. The installation will be used in clean power course work for both the middle school and Centennial High next door, he said.

The 13.4 foot diameter rotor will produce an estimated 5550-11,300 kW h directly into the school’s power grid. Also pictured (left) is Jefferson Middle School Principal Angelica Franklin.