Join us for a walking tour of downtown Springfield businesses focused on sustainability. We will start at 4PM at The Keep Store (314 E. Adams), an (almost) zero waste store and refillery. Around 4:30, we will head to the Creative Reuse Marketplace (122 S. 4th St.), which collects donated materials for reuse as art supplies. We will end with dinner at Maldaner's (222 S. 6th), which sources local foods and has solar panels and bee hives on the roof.
The UN Climate Negotiations: A Complex Space for Understanding the Impacts of Climate Change and Determining Pathways Forward
Dr. Brandon Derman (UIS Environmental Studies)
More information can be found on ECCE's event page.
Co-sponsored by the World Affairs Council of Central IL (WACCI)
Enjoy a day at the zoo and learn about all of the organizations in Springfield that help make our city greener. There will be exhibits, vendors, and live entertainment! Free city buses are available from downtown Springfield to the zoo. More information can be found on the city of Springfield's website:
Join Brookens Library and the UIS Community Garden Club to plant a vegetable seed that you can take home in a small pot. All materials will be provided. Sign up on UIS Connection.
Two University of Illinois Springfield undergraduate students are working with Associate Professor of Environmental Studies Tih-Fen Ting to research factors affecting the winter survival of American kestrels, a type of bird that is experiencing population declines in North America.
The University of Illinois Springfield provides students with unique learning opportunities at the UIS Field Station at Lake Springfield and the Therkildsen Field Station at Emiquon in Lewistown. Dr. Tom Rothfus is the director of the field stations and spoke to Community Voices about the research being conducted and how it benefits the local habitats.
During the new Winter Intersession term between Fall and Spring semesters, nine students from ENS and other programs enrolled in Dr. Derman’s Topics in Environmental Studies course “Understanding Struggles for Climate Justice.” The course examined the ways in which climate change is increasingly being understood as an issue of intergenerational, racial, and global justice, building on Derman’s longstanding research interests, explored in his new book.
On November 14, 2020, the GIS Lab, joined by Junu Shrestha from the UIS Public Health Department, offered a virtual GIS workshop titled “Mapping COVID-19 Using GIS.” The workshop introduced the use of desktop and online GIS tools in visualizing COVID- 19 to help in the decision-making process. Two example products are included here. This is the first time the GIS Lab offered an online workshop.
This past summer, ENS Chair Dr. Megan Styles and PA faculty member Dr. Junfeng Wang, conducted research on the adoption of plastic bag legislation in Illinois communities. They interviewed city officials and community leaders in the five IL municipalities that have adopted plastic bag laws (e.g. bans or fees designed to deter the use of these bags) to understand why these communities adopted these laws and their experiences with implementation. Drs.