November 2023 | Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment | Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation

iCAP Update: Educating Our Entire Campus about Climate Change

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is already past the halfway point from Illinois Climate Action Plan 2020 to iCAP 2025. It’s time to check in with each of the iCAP topical chapters to gauge progress, address the challenges our campus faces, and celebrate some achievements. This month, iSEE Communications Intern Gabe Lareau examines the Education chapter to see how the university is keeping up with its commitment to give students a deeper understanding of what it means to be sustainable. View the full series >>>

Students in iSEE’s Environmental Leadership Program visit Springfield each year to lobby legislators and state agencies on environmental policies. Credit: iSEE

Among the University of Illinois’ many offices, departments, and levels of administration, one core mission rises to the top: to educate students.

The education component to the climate fight is just as vital. Amidst wildfires, heatwaves, and floods, educating the populace about our current situation has become a difficult, uphill battle with dire consequences. In America, only 37% of adults say dealing with climate change should be a top priority.

Education has the potential to raise awareness, denote the best sustainability practices, dissipate misinformation, and spur action. In the 2020 Illinois Climate Action Plan (iCAP), the Education chapter laid out six objectives to do just that.

The campus has made strides in educating students about climate change by launching the Environmental Leadership Program and by pushing to expand sustainability General Education options. However, there’s room for progress in setting up our students for success post-graduation by developing sustainability internship and career opportunities. Graphic credit: Tori Lawlor/iSEE Communications

Its achievements are inspiring. The Education iCAP Team’s loftiest assignments have become its greatest successes, namely working to incorporate sustainability into general education, expanding opportunities for graduate students, and developing the Environmental Leadership Program. The team’s progress has put the university’s sustainability curricula into a strong position going into the 2025 iCAP.

Here’s an update on the Education Team’s progress, objective by objective:

6.1: “Broaden the availability of sustainability education, beginning with first-year student orientation and continuing through commencement.”

As the first and foremost objective in the Education portion of the iCAP, the successful completion of incorporating sustainability into the general education track is vital. If completed, it will affect the curriculum of every one of the university’s 35,000 undergraduate students — a potentially massive impact.

To ensure the success of this goal, iCAP 2020 detailed four possible options, two of which have since been eliminated. The prospects of creating a first-year student sustainability seminar and implementing a sustainability unit in 100-level required classes like LAS 101 were deemed not engaging enough to be effective by students.

The most viable option, according to Education Team member Eric Green, is incorporating a sustainability general education requirement. Its proposal is written, and “now the team is building support,” said Green, who also serves as iSEE’s Senior Academic Program Instructor/Advisor.

The sustainability requirement will most likely be a “General Education Requirement Option” within the Natural Sciences & Technology requisite. Whereas students have two choices within this requisite today — Physical Sciences and Life Sciences — fulfilling this objective would give them option of choosing a class (or several) within a “Sustainability” category.

If Natural Sciences & Technology isn’t their cup of tea, Green said that sustainability options within the Social & Behavioral Sciences and Humanities & the Arts Gen-Ed requirements are still on the table.

To be clear, completing this iCAP objective wouldn’t add to the number of General Education classes students would have to take. Instead, it would simply highlight sustainability classes on campus and, hopefully, encourage more undergraduates to incorporate sustainability sometime during their higher education.

In summer 2023, Green and the Education Team hosted “open house” meetings with various department heads to refine the official proposal. After meeting with each college’s deans in late fall, Green hopes that the Education Team’s proposal for a sustainability general education requirement will be approved by the Urbana-Champaign Senate near the end of Spring 2024.

The fourth and final option of a sustainability workshop is a real possibility and currently in development, according to Green. If it came to fruition, it would most likely resemble the First Year Consent and Relationship Education (FYCARE) workshop on sexual assault required for all incoming students.

6.2: “Establish a comprehensive online repository for courses and academic programs with sustainability content.”

On the iSEE website, under “Academics,” students can access hundreds of courses that deal with sustainability, energy conservation, and environmentalism. These courses — everything from Urban Transportation Planning to Marine Biology — span 50 different departments at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

However, that public list is no longer updated regularly. With departments changing course offerings every semester and certain courses changing curricula because of new instructors, keeping up with where each department stands on offering sustainability courses is a monumental task. On top of that, “undergrads weren’t really using it,” said Green, referring to the original course list.

Changing up its strategy, the Education Team is revising the course list for the latest semester and streamlining how students can search for available courses. The idea is that inputting keywords to search by topic instead of by name will allow students to more efficiently search for sustainability courses that align with their interests.

And while this objective was intended as a resource for students, it also serves a dual purpose in the university’s self-reporting.

The Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System (STARS) is a tool created by the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) that catalogs and rates how sustainable higher education institutions are across a variety of categories.

In the 2022 report, the University of Illinois scored 4.31 points out of a possible 14 in the “Academic Courses” credit, under the “Curriculum” subcategory. But AASHE is exploring a new scoring system for its Education category. Once that process is complete, the university’s STARS rating — and its reputation as a nationwide sustainability leader — should see improvement.

6.3: “Launch an undergraduate Environmental Leadership Program (ELP).”

“It’s a thing!” as Green says.

The Environmental Leadership program (ELP) launched in Spring 2021 and has increased its enrollment in each subsequent year; the most recent cohort in Spring 2023 enrolled 25 students. The program consists of an introductory, two-day workshop and meetings throughout the semester that culminate in visits to both Champaign and Urbana City Council meetings and a trip to the State Capitol in Springfield.

During the program, students learn the inner workings of state and local politics as well as how to craft a unique message that effectively advocates for the environment. The students put these strategies to use as they actively lobby for specific environmental policies with lawmakers.

Next spring, students will also visit Chicago during Spring Break to talk with business leaders about corporate sustainability, Green said.

6.4: “Develop a sustainability internship program by partnering with businesses, nonprofits, local governments, and cultural institutions in Central Illinois.”

During the Spring 2021 semester, ENVS 491 student Carissa Mysliwiec submitted a report on the possibility of a University of Illinois Sustainability Internship Program. After a semester’s worth of meetings with local and regional governments and organizations, Mysliwiec calculated a budget upwards of $5,000 per intern and estimated the program would consist of five to 10 students.

Unfortunately, since then no new updates have emerged. As of Fall 2023, the funding for this objective has not materialized and the possibility of a sustainability internship program is on hold.

6.5: “Partner with The Career Center to help students explore and discover career interests related to sustainability.”

Like so many organizations post-COVID, both iSEE and the University Career Center have dealt with staffing shortages that have stunted certain projects, this objective numbering among them.

Now that iSEE has a new Sustainability Coordinator and the Career Center is hiring new staff, Green is confident that an in-depth collaboration can finally take off to make finding careers in sustainability an easy process for students. Until then, this objective remains on hold.

6.6: “Offer a new graduate certificate in sustainability by 2024.”

Thanks to one of iSEE’s directors and a close institutional partner, the Education Team has so far had its work taken care of in making a graduate certificate in sustainability a reality.

Luis Rodríguez is a U of I Associate Professor of Agricultural and Biological Engineering as well as iSEE’s Associate Director for Education & Outreach. His vision for a “virtual resource center,” as Green put it, would manifest in the form of a website that would make it easier than ever for graduate students, faculty, and staff to share sustainability research and resources.

At the same time, the Prairie Research Institute was recently awarded an “Investment for Growth Grant” from the Office of the Provost to help develop courses within the proposed graduate certificate.

Both developments, while not definitive steps forward, set the stage for a graduate certificate to happen eventually. “Right now, we probably won’t hit 2024 and the timeframe is unknown,” said Green.

By taking the initiative to find solutions, the Education Team and its partners are leading in sustainability by example: exactly what the university expects its students to do. But, in order to do that, we must first equip students with the tools they need to succeed: in a word, educate.

Mapping Tool Will Help Wetland Management in the Midwest

Rohini Vembar is one of two M.S. students in Natural Resources & Environmental Sciences who has received funding from the Midwest Climate Adaption Science Center (CASC) team at the University of Illinois. Working with Illinois Natural History Survey (INHS) scientist Suneeti Jog, she has helped create a mapping tool that will assess Midwest wetlands using projected climatic changes expected in these areas. This tool would inform wetland management decisions in determining areas to prioritize protection and conservation.

For a general audience who may not have lots of information about wetland management, why are wetlands and their ecosystems important?

Since they’re at the intersection of terrestrial and aquatic environments, wetlands are influenced by and heavily influence those systems. They’re often referred to as “the kidneys of the Earth” due to their role in nutrient and pollutant filtration. Additionally, they provide natural flood protection by acting as a water catchment.

Mapped wetlands in the Midwest from U.S. Fish and Wildlife.

These services that wetlands provide are important for humans but the long history of draining wetlands for farmland have resulted in a significant decline in the services that wetlands provide. Almost 90% of the historical wetlands in Illinois have been drained and are farm fields now. We’ve had to build levees and dams along the Mississippi river and that would not have been needed if the wetlands that buffer the river had been left alone.

In terms of management, federal legislation doesn’t have one rule specific to wetlands. Wetland protections are a culmination of lots of different acts and laws administered by several agencies, making wetland regulation incredibly confusing and constantly up for debate. Part of my work is conducting wetland delineations for the Illinois Department of Transportation. So, when there’s a construction project that has federal or state funding, we go and see what natural resources are there that will be impacted by the project.

Midwest mapping from the Nature Conservancy’s Resilient and Connected Network.

Your research is on climate change adaptation and mitigation. What kinds of impacts are we seeing currently and what do future projections say about wetlands in a changing climate?

In terms of precipitation, there are some regions that have been a lot wetter, but if you look at Illinois, most of it has been in a drought. When we do get those big occasional rain events, it leads to flooding. What makes wetlands special is that the vegetation has adapted to deal with heavy amounts of water. These plants can survive in a lot of water where other plants would die when you drown them. When a wetland doesn’t get enough rain or water needed to keep up with those plants, they’ll die in a drought. When we do get a big rain event, the root system isn’t there to suck up the water. So instead, the water sits there like a puddle.

Wetlands also act as carbon sinks. When there’s more carbon in the atmosphere, wetlands are able to take up some of that, but there’s a thin line between being a carbon sink and a carbon source. At some point, they will start emitting carbon instead.

Tell me about the mapping tool you’re creating.

I have been working on a mapping tool that highlights areas where wetland protection and management should be prioritized as climate patterns continue to change. It looks at the distribution of wetlands across the Midwest and how they overlap with areas of high landscape resiliency. Landscape resiliency includes the ability for landscapes to perform functions and sustain biodiversity through habitat connectivity as conditions change. Overlaying general distribution of wetland habitat with those areas of interconnectedness will show where wetland protection should be a high priority as the climate changes. Additionally, the inclusion of climate projections shows how and where wetlands are expected to be impacted.

Oftentimes, destruction of wetlands is unavoidable. In instances where wetlands are impacted, federal legislation requires compensation in the form of wetland restoration, creation, or preservation to result in “no net loss.”

However, there is a lot of evidence that restoration and construction of wetlands needs a lot of human intervention after the restoration to maintain the system. They’re not as sustainable as natural wetlands. There is a high probability of new wetlands being overrun with invasive species or needing water to be pumped into it. Of course, restoration is better than nothing, but preservation is the best way to go.

Midwest climate projections for the current carbon emissions trajectory (top) and a worst-case scenario (bottom).

What kind of data is currently used in your model?

First is the U.S Fish and Wildlife Service’s wetland distribution data. Their National Wetlands Inventory shows where wetlands in the country are located. The second data source is the Resilient and Connected Network from the Nature Conservancy. It’s a newer piece of data that was really helpful to my research. The third piece of data is climate projections. I’ve used two different emissions scenarios: The first is RCP 4.5, which is our current carbon emissions trajectory, and RCP 8.5 is a worst-case scenario. This also includes five different climate variables that heavily influence wetlands: mean annual temperature, precipitation, runoff, soil storage (how much water the soil can hold), and evaporation deficit (how much water after precipitation can be evaporated). The goal is to show how these three components influence each other.

How are you hoping this tool will be used?

To give priority to certain wetlands that need protection. With climate change occurring there’s a very real possibility that wetlands will slowly migrate, which raises the question of whether they should be allowed to move to new areas. Larger wetlands with more diversity used to cover the Midwest, historically. In some ways, those are the most productive types of wetlands to have because they perform many different functions and can provide many different services.

Looking into how climate change impacts resilient landscapes should lead to giving information needed to prioritize wetlands and how to manage certain wetlands. If someone is going out to do an assessment, understanding how those wetlands in that area are expected to change can influence management decisions. There are a lot of potential paths for this tool, and it would take years to get it into something that is used regularly, but it’s a step in the right direction. There’s so much written information about these issues, but it’s hard to visualize, and I hope this can help with that.

— Article by iSEE Communications Intern Erin Minor

Making an Impact: Q&A With Sustainability Programs Coordinator Miriam Keep

Miriam Keep brings a global background to her new position as iSEE’s Sustainability Programs Coordinator. After receiving her Master’s in Urban Planning from the University of Illinois, Keep spent six years in international development working with refugee settlements and communities in severely climate-affected regions. Now she has returned to the U of I, where she hopes to make an impact within her own community.

Joining iSEE in late September, just before Campus Sustainability Month, Keep has hit the ground running. iSEE Communications Intern Kratika Tandon talked with Keep about her diverse professional experience, her new role, and her hopes for the future.

I can imagine you must already be balancing a lot of responsibilities here. What does a day at work look like for you?

I’m not sure that there really is a typical day on the job. The role is quite dynamic, so ultimately my work involves making progress toward implementing the iCAP: the Illinois Climate Action Plan. This entails coordinating with different student groups, the iCAP topical teams and working group — which consist of students, faculty, staff, and community members — and trying to move forward with the recommendations for iCAP and understand what it takes to make progress. That can also mean coordinating with different units on campus. From what I’ve seen so far, the work changes quite a bit. I also work closely with the campus sustainability interns to plan events and programs related to sustainability and to raise awareness about the kinds of sustainable actions or habits that students, staff, and faculty can implement here on campus.

Tell us a little bit about your background.

After I graduated from UIUC in 2017, I worked for about six years with international NGOs that are mostly involved in different kinds of poverty alleviation work. The most recent one was a small organization called Trickle Up that does economic inclusion programming in refugee settlements around the world. That involved working closely with partners in affected countries to try to come up with feasible small business models that people living in extreme poverty can engage in to increase their income, build their savings, and improve the situation for their households. A big part of that involved working in countries that are deeply impacted by climate change, and understanding how this crisis hits some of the world’s most vulnerable communities where agricultural practices, for example, have been affected by drought, flooding, or extreme heat. I think that work experience was a big part of what made me interested in acting toward sustainability change.

Did you work with climate-induced displacement and climate refugees?

Not specifically, but I worked on some projects that were designed for communities heavily impacted by climate change. Before Trickle Up, I worked on a project that was based in Tunisia. It was specifically targeting a region that has been impacted a lot by climate change, mostly through drought. We were partnering with the International Fund for Agricultural Development at the U.N., which was funding the project and working with the government of Tunisia. The idea was to find sustainable agricultural practices for people in this community who were living in extreme poverty so they could make money and have sustainable livelihoods that would allow them to provide for their families long into the future.

Could you elaborate on what sparked your initial interest in sustainability as a potential career choice, and how your work with international development and urban planning ties in with sustainability?

My studies in urban planning and my work in international development have always been tied to sustainability. With international development, the goal is to make change that will benefit people long-term. That means thinking about sustainability at all levels and making sure that we’re taking into consideration all the environmental factors and the risks associated with climate change — and addressing those head-on so that we’re not telling people to grow a crop that won’t be viable in three years’ time, for example. But I also think that work made me realize the urgency of focusing on sustainability, particularly in rich countries producing most of the carbon that is causing climate change.

At my last job, I worked at a project site in northern Kenya, which is in an area that’s been impacted by severe drought for eight years. Just seeing that and realizing like how many people had lost their entire source of revenue because of the drought’s impact was eye-opening. I think one of the biggest social justice issues of our time is addressing this climate challenge.

What brought you back to the U of I and specifically to iSEE?

I was really excited to have the chance to focus on working a bit more locally, making an impact in my own community. I enjoy working with different stakeholder groups on campus, coordinating with departmental units and student groups to find common goals and figure out how we can work together to make progress toward change. I think that trying to balance stakeholder interests and come up with solutions that work well for everyone is the kind of complicated challenge that really motivates me.

For me, my work had always touched on sustainability, but it had never been a primary focus. This is an interesting opportunity for me to delve more into this topic and better understand what it means to implement sustainable practices at an institution like the U of I.

How did your first Campus Sustainability Month go?

It was great; we organized a lot of great events that had good turnout. Green Quad Day was a big success. We combined a few different events this year with Green Quad Day — Kindness Rocks and the Clothing Swap — and I think that was effective and garnered a lot of interest. The Campus Sustainability interns put a lot of work into organizing these events, as well as the Sustainable Habits Challenge. It’s been exciting to see all the great work that’s been going on.

What do you like most about working with iSEE so far?

I like that every day is different. I enjoy working with different groups across campus, especially the student groups. It’s exciting to see the energy and creative ideas that the students bring to address current issues. I really like figuring out how I can give student initiatives the support that they need to succeed. This coordinator role brings together a lot of the skills that I’ve been developing and hope to continue to develop in my career. I want to continue to grow into a role where I’m making an impact. I think that’s what’s most important to me. I hope to focus on the program management side of working with communities to create a positive impact.

Where do you think the campus is in terms of its climate action goals, and where would you like it to be?

I think the campus has made a lot of great progress in terms of the Climate Action Plan and its goals, particularly those related to energy. There’s been a lot of great awareness-raising, engaging with different units across campus to help them better understand what the goals are, why they’re important, and how they can contribute. There’s still some work to be done in that area to help other stakeholders on campus understand more about the iCAP and how they can contribute. But I think the progress that the University of Illinois has made is quite impressive — and we can see it through the carbon footprint of the university continuing to decrease.

What do you hope to accomplish through your role as Sustainability Coordinator?

I hope to help the university move forward with reaching the iCAP objectives and serve as a support for all the different actors involved in that process. With the student groups and the iCAP working groups, I want to be able to connect them to the resources and information that they need, and try to facilitate reaching our goals and moving the university closer to carbon neutral.

Do you have any recommendations for students, staff, and faculty who are committed to living sustainability? What can people do to make a difference on campus?

There are lots of great resources on the iSEE website and social media pages. Every semester iSEE organizes great events like Illini Lights Out, which helps save energy over the weekend when buildings aren’t in use, trash pick-up events, recycling events, and more. There are also opportunities to get involved directly in supporting the iCAP by joining an iCAP working group. Finally, there are lots student groups focused on sustainability. There is so much great work going on across campus, and many ways to get involved!

What are some of your favorite tips that you personally implement?

My favorite sustainable practice is shopping secondhand! It’s fun to find unique items, save money, and avoid creating additional clothing waste.

USDA Selects U of I Team to Study Spring Dust Storms over Rural Midwest

It made headlines nationwide. An abrupt dust storm blinded drivers on Interstate 55 south of Springfield, Ill., on May 1, causing a massive pileup, ultimately killing eight people and injuring 37. A team of researchers from the University of Illinois, Cornell University, and Texas A&M University will try to determine the factors that caused the tragic event with the hope to prevent future similar episodes thanks to a U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) grant.

“We put this team together to understand the mechanisms of this kind of dust storm through the lens of at least three factors,” said Sheng Wang, the principal investigator (PI) on the project. “How much did climate (drought, soil dryness), farming activities (tillage, cover crop planting), and the extreme weather event (wind gusts, direction, etc.) each contribute to the disaster?”

Wang notes that while the May 1 I-55 storm received the most attention, it was one of a multitude of such events to hit the Midwest within the last year.

“Agricultural dust storms very rarely happen in the central Midwest,” Wang said. “Not since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s have we seen them here with this kind of regularity.”

Wang, a research assistant professor and research scientist affiliated with the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE) and the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences (NRES), leads the airborne sensing research team for the two-year old Agroecosystems Sustainability Center (ASC).

ASC, under the leadership of Founder and Director Kaiyu Guan, was established to use advanced modeling and monitoring of agroecosystems to improve sustainability in the light of climate change.

“We have the foundation to elaborate work on these problems,” Wang said. “For example, we can use remote system data as well as artificial intelligence to detect conservation practices like the use of cover crops. We have published a number of papers on this subject.”

The USDA has funds available to support “rapid response” projects. In this case, researchers had one month after the incident to apply for the funding and a year to produce results. The study begins in earnest on Oct. 1, 2023 and concludes Sept. 30, 2024.

Team members will first use remote system data collected from satellite images and ASC’s highly accurate AI modeling to characterize conservation practice in Illinois. They will use information along with NOAA climate data to plug into weather research and forecasting with chemistry (WRF-Chem) models. From there they can develop different scenarios. For example, what if farmers had used 10 percent or 50 percent of their land for cover crops.

“We can develop a mitigation strategy to advise stakeholders on potential preventative measures like cover crops and no-till practices,” Wang said.

The third component will be a social and policy analysis. The researchers do not want to merely rely on empirical data to drive the solution. They intend to survey local farmers, policymakers, and traffic agencies to understand their thoughts about the dust storms and conservation agriculture practices.

“At ASC we advocate for these practices,” Wang said. “We can use modeling of these incidents as part of our research at UIUC to help develop agriculture policy and social science.”

The team was carefully put together with the goal of using multiple approaches to understand the mechanism of this kind of dust storm. Guan and Bin Peng, an incoming assistant professor of crop sciences, will focus on sustainability. Jonathan Coppess, the Director of the Gardner Agricultural Policy Program, and Mackenzie Johnson, an assistant professor in NRES, will focus on agricultural policy. All of which are a vital part of the ASC team. Qi Li, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Cornell University and Yangyang Xu, an assistant professor of atmospheric sciences at Texas A&M University, will largely focus on modeling.

“We have received very positive feedback from the USDA,” Wang said. “ There are many dust storm studies on the dry land region in the western part of the United States, but there is very limited study in the Midwest. This is a great integration of research with an extension component. It takes advantage of the strength of ASC and has great interest to the public. With such an elite team, I am quite confident we can generate some very exciting results.”

— Article by ASC Communications Lead Mike Koon

New Funding, New Brand: I-Regen!

Urbana, Ill. — The Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative (IRAI) marks the successful completion of its first three years with a new name: I-Regen. The name change reflects an ongoing commitment to the future of regenerative agriculture in the Midwest. I-Regen encourages diversified value chains that balance the health and wealth of Midwest agricultural systems, creating a resilient bioeconomy that combats climate change, enhances soil and water quality, supports communities, and ensures food security.

Since its inception, IRAI has served as a catalyst for regenerative agriculture, gathering diverse voices and knowledge to navigate this vital and growing space. Building upon this foundation, I-Regen is poised to reduce fragmentation and promote a shared vision of regenerative agriculture in the I-States region (Illinois, Iowa, and Indiana). Collaborating with Extension and University partners, I-Regen provides a regional approach to research, education, and outreach. Through seed grants, community engagement, public convenings, and innovative projects like Voices and the Coalition of Regenerative Agriculture, Food and Health, I-Regen is strategically positioned to develop regenerative agriculture partnerships across the I-States.

In 2020, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and a collaborative fund at Fresh Taste began the Illinois Regenerative Agriculture Initiative. With IRAI’s expansion and name change to I-Regen, Fresh Taste’s continued financial support will now be known as the Midwest Regenerative Agriculture Fund (MRAF).

“MRAF is committed to advancing regenerative agriculture in the region,” said I-Regen Director Emily Heaton, Professor of Crop Sciences at the U of I. “The strategic alliance of I-Regen and MRAF will enable us to further amplify our impact by mobilizing extension programs, fostering ongoing dialogues, and promoting interdisciplinary education.”

“IRAI has been impressively successful in elevating the profile of regenerative agriculture, both at the University and in the constellation of organizations and funders working on food and sustainable agriculture,” said Lenore Beyer, Co-Chair of Fresh Taste and Director of Conservation Initiatives at Kinship Foundation, which co-administers Food:Land:Opportunity, funded through the Searle Funds at The Chicago Community Trust. “Building off of this success to further strengthen ties between on-the-ground organizations, growers, and researchers is vital, and this evolution to I-Regen sets Illinois up well to be a leader.”

Heaton and Assistant Director Anya Knecht have steered this endeavor into a robust platform for the growth of regenerative agriculture on a regional scale. Said Knecht: “As the new logo illustrates, we are bringing health and wealth to the I-States.”

Together, the Illinois team stands united in its dedication to drive forward the cause of regenerative agriculture. “With the support of MRAF and our remarkable team,” Heaton said, “we are excited to propel the regenerative agriculture movement to new heights, enriching our communities and fostering a healthier future for all.”

“I’m excited to build regenerative agriculture partnerships with our ‘I-states’ neighbors through I-Regen,” said Adam Davis, Head of Crop Sciences at the U of I. “A regional approach to research, education, and outreach will help encourage the diversified value chains needed to balance Health and Wealth in Midwest agricultural systems.”

MORE BACKGROUND DETAILS

I-Regen: Changing the Midwest Landscape is overseen by the Institute for Sustainability, Energy, and Environment (iSEE), an interdisciplinary research institute at the University of Illinois. The leadership team comprises experts from the Department of Crop Sciences, the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES), and University of Illinois Extension.

Fresh Taste, under the fiscal sponsorship of Forefront, is a collaborative funder initiative dedicated to racial and economic equity. It is committed to transforming the way food is grown, processed, distributed, and consumed in the Chicago region, with a vision of promoting healthy land, healthy people, and healthy communities. Forefront, Illinois’ membership association for nonprofits, grantmakers, advisors, public agencies, and their allies, oversees all financial and legal activities of Fresh Taste while providing education, advocacy, and thought leadership.

iCAP Update: Building Resilience with Green Infrastructure, Jobs

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is already past the halfway point from Illinois Climate Action Plan 2020 to iCAP 2025. It’s time to check in with each of the iCAP topical chapters to gauge progress, address the challenges our campus faces, and celebrate some achievements. This month, iSEE Communications Intern Gabe Lareau examines the Resilience chapter to see how the university community is keeping up with its commitment to be climate-resilient. View the full series >>>

The Red Oak Rain Garden near Allen Hall is a shining example of both green infrastructure and biodiversity. Credit: Julie Wurth/iSEE Communications

Climate change often takes the future tense. In our international accords, nationwide legislation, and general discourse, we set sustainability goals with the implication that, if we do not succeed, the planet will be in for an environmental, ecological, and economic collapse.

Because of upgrades in community planning, the climate resilience of the Champaign-Urbana metro area is poised for big improvements in both stormwater and urban green infrastructure. The biggest hurdles lie ahead as the community must actually implement those infrastructural upgrades while also promoting green job programs and environmental justice initiatives. Graphic credit: Tori Lawlor/iSEE Communications

The conversation must now reflect the present. In recent years, extreme weather has become more commonplace — and more destructive. Oceans are rising and becoming more acidic. Wildfires are more frequent and burn longer, covering cities, like Champaign-Urbana last summer, in a blanket of haze.

The University of Illinois and its surrounding communities are and will be ever more affected. That’s why, in early 2019, representatives from Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and the university formed the iCAP Resilience Team. This team is markedly different from other iCAP Teams. It is entwined with the community: Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and other local entities are all involved in its efforts.

While the rest work away at reducing the U of I’s contributions to climate change — transitioning to renewables for the Energy Team, electrifying campus’ fleet for Transportation, etc. — the Resilience Team is preparing us for a more hazardous environmental future. Its mission is complex, interdisciplinary, unachievable without collaboration, and critical. By finding adaptation methods to minimize infrastructural or ecological damage due to the effects of climate change, the Resilience Team’s goals are deeply interwoven with the other iCAP teams’ efforts to mitigate further causes of climate change.

The 2020 iCAP identified three major areas that “augment our mitigation strategies with innovative resilience measures.” Those initiatives — rainwater management, urban biodiversity, and green jobs — each require an array of solutions. Because climate resilience presents a moving target that is hard to quantify, these approaches can seem unwieldy and even abstract. But these three areas are deeply interconnected.

Rainwater Management

While Champaign-Urbana isn’t affected by sea-level rise, flooding is still a risk. The most visible body of water here, the Boneyard Creek, is spanned by a bridge that takes three steps to cross, a timid non-factor whose biggest hazard is wet socks. But it wasn’t always this way.

A bicyclist navigates knee-high water on Green Street in Campustown on June 25, 1975, long before the city’s Boneyard Creek stormwater improvements. Photo courtesy Champaign County Archives

In the 1980s, the Boneyard would invade Green Street, submerging Campustown in knee-deep, pungent, destructive floodwater. This once-every-rainstorm event had an enormous negative impact on people’s livelihoods – flooding businesses, disrupting foot and vehicle traffic, and making its way into residences. Since 2002, when the city of Champaign launched its Streetscape project to divert the Boneyard into places like the Healey and 2^nd Street basins, Green Street and its businesses and apartments have seen nary a drop of displaced water.

The Boneyard’s transformation from a perpetually imminent disaster to an issue the community hardly thinks about anymore is a local, effective example of what proper rainwater management can achieve. Its implementation has served a dual purpose: a drainage system for increased rainfalls and a prominent wildlife oasis in our increasingly drought-susceptible local climate. Since 2002, though, as the climate has grown hotter and more extreme weather events occur, both flood and heat risks have increased. More measures are needed.

Progress is being made through the Champaign County Stormwater Partnership, fulfilling part of the iCAP’s objective on the coordination of stormwater management across the C-U metropolitan area. A collaboration between the county, university, Champaign, Urbana, Savoy, and the Champaign County Soil and Water Conservation District (SWCD), the partnership provides resources on proper waterway management for industrial and residential uses. It also hosted the third Illinois Green Infrastructure & Erosion Control Conference in October.

Conferences like these further emphasize what the Resilience Team has recommended for this entire community: Upgrading rainwater management systems. Some of the best practices the team identified include an increased use of permeable pavement and native landscaping to minimize flooding. The recommendations have yet to be implemented and will likely require additional revenue — Urbana is set to increase its stormwater fees to $27 a month next year, and Champaign increased its fee by 3.5% last year.

Urban Biodiversity

While strengthening each community’s built infrastructure is certainly important, just as crucial for a resilient city is the capacity to support its natural infrastructure.

According to the Urban Biodiversity objective, not only do tree canopies “improve air quality and reduce atmospheric CO₂,” they also “curb the heat island effect.” This is good news for not just the human residents of Champaign-Urbana, but also native bird and insect species that use them as habitats.

Wildlife can flourish in urban areas with the help of “patches” and corridors.” Species can move safely between different habitats (patches) through green corridors lined with native plants. This conserves native wildlife while also carrying all the benefits of green infrastructure. Graphic credit: Tori Lawlor/iSEE Communications

Trees also function as a natural water management system — they decrease stormwater runoff not only by taking up water but also by increasing water infiltration because their roots loosen the soil. The more there are, the more water their roots, and the newly absorptive soil, can soak up. Even more, trees also prevent soil erosion, a vital service to waterways choked by unwanted sediments.

Along with reducing stress by being more aesthetically pleasing than a concrete slab, natural shade can mitigate the urban greenhouse effect — a dire need in lower-income areas. According to Scott Tess, Urbana’s Sustainability & Resilience Officer and member of the iCAP Resilience Team, the city has been “reorienting” where to plant, placing about 100 trees per year in low-income and unshaded low-income areas in an effort to address locally the nationwide problem of poorer areas’ lack of tree cover. Using trees to help the most vulnerable and least fortunate among us also plays into the Green Jobs iCAP goal and completes a “tree-fecta” — absorbing water runoff, improving air quality, and promoting environmental justice.

The Resilience Team recommended that UI Extension develop an Urban Biodiversity Master Plan to make “the campus metro area a model for biodiversity.” While still a year from its planned completion date, the preliminary draft extensively catalogs the biodiversity assets, vulnerabilities, and possible improvements for Champaign, Urbana, and Savoy.

Its data-based conclusions — including C-U’s natural areas and their unique ability for flood management, the opportunities offered by new plantings for large-scale green job growth, and a rough patch-and-corridor habitat plan that would support pollinator and bird populations, among others — will guide the iCAP Resilience Team’s future efforts in this topic.

Green Jobs

Proper stormwater systems and biodiversity infrastructure do not simply appear out of thin air. Every iCAP Resilience objective will require a massive effort to recruit workers with a multitude of skills. Managing projects, conducting scientific studies, surveying ecosystems, actually building climate-resilient green infrastructure — all of these (and more) will be needed to fulfill the iCAP’s Green Jobs objective.

The City of Champaign is actively searching for a new employee to oversee its sustainability plan, the City’s version of the university’s iCAP. In Urbana, Tess has held his position for almost a decade and has overseen the city’s participation in Geothermal Urbana-Champaign and Solar Urbana-Champaign programs — as well as a solar landfill project. Tess also noted the many “exciting” legislative developments on the state and federal level — like the Inflation Reduction Act and Illinois’ Climate and Equitable Jobs Act — that could expand similar future programs.

In truth, every objective within the Resilience chapter (and, arguably, the entire iCAP) has the potential to spur job growth, especially among underprivileged communities and at-risk youths.

Another prospect for green jobs within the university metro area is laid out in the as-yet unpublished Urban Biodiversity Master Plan. To fulfill its short- and long-term goals of restoring Champaign-Urbana’s natural infrastructure as much as possible will require vast amounts of effort.

Nor will the iCAP-related job opportunities arise only within the community. The iCAP requires the University of Illinois to be a regional climate leader — a goal that our campus has partially fulfilled via its partnerships with other Big Ten institutions, the Illinois Geothermal Coalition, and more.

The path to resilient communities depends on the growth of green jobs and the proposition that reframing the issue from climate change to job growth can dampen backlash from climate skeptics. And, with programs mentioned in the iCAP like the National Green Infrastructure Certification Program (NGICP), which educates participants about the technical aspects and importance of their work, more people will realize that building resilient communities is a job-creating endeavor.

Perhaps soon, talking about our environment in the future tense might sound a little bit brighter.