Students vote for a sustainable campus
Earlier this month, students at the University of Illinois voted in student government elections. While turnout was low, some 5500 students cast ballots for senate and trustee candidates and for referenda on the ballot. The most popular measure on the ballot (receiving 77.1% support) was the Sustainable Campus referendum, which raises one of the campus environmental fees.
You may not know that students voted to create two different environmental fees in 2003 and 2007, both by ~70% margins of support. The fee created in 2003 is $2 per student assessed semesterly, and is restricted to clean energy and energy efficiency projects. The second fee, known as the Sustainable Campus Environment Fee, was created in 2007 in response to requests for funding for a broader range of environmental projects. This fee, a refundable $5 per semester, was up for increase to $14. Both of these fees are managed by the Student Sustainability Committee (SSC), a committee of 10 students, advised by 10 faculty and staff members. This referendum should provide $1.1 million in funding for sustainability on campus — for tangible projects that reduce the environmental impact of the University of Illinois.
| A road in search of a reason
Read Part One from Monday here.
IF YOU BUILD IT...
Opponents of the Olympian Drive project often point out that the area destined for industrial development sits on one of the three most productive soils in the world, the others being in the Ukraine and in Argentina.
That's true, but productive does not mean profitable. For most of the first half of the 20th century, the most profitable agricultural county in the country was Los Angeles. [Today it's probably some pot-growing county in northern California, or a southwest Kansas county with a bunch of cattle feedlots in it — it's hard to measure.] So even productive and profitable doesn't mean the land will be kept in agriculture, as the second half of the twentieth century in L.A. shows.
It's the 35th anniversary of one of the greatest American movies: Chinatown. It's certainly in my top three; partly because it's a brilliant negation of that durable American storyline: the lone wolf hero who puts a society steeped in corruption back to rights [the final lines emphasizing the futility: "Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."], and partly because it's about the nitty-gritty: real estate, local government, economic development, business, infrastructure, land use and agriculture, and driving farmers off the land to …
People confuse their cars with their homes. I can understand that. They're lounging in a reclining chair, talking on the phone, watching a movie and cramming salty foods into their fat faces. Sometimes they fall asleep. But the car is not the home. And when you steer your car on to public roads, you waive Constitutional rights enjoyed at home. Police can stop you without probable cause. Police can stop you without even particularized suspicion — just to see if …
(Ed. note: We posted this under Editors, but it's just Caleb and Joel that wrote it. Carry on. And leave Trig out of this.) As a society, we have made a habit out of hiding people with developmental disabilities. We have institutionalized them, we have sterilized them, we have shown them that they are not important to the fabric of our society. Our collective choice to recognize those with developmental disabilities as human beings with unique and genuine value is …
Seth Fein is my editor here at The People's Republic of Smile Politely. Therefore, you can be certain that anything you read below made it past Seth Fein. A couple weeks back, Seth wrote a reactionary piece about DUI. That's not surprising. DUI is a reactionary concept: It's only contemplated after-the-fact. WHY WE PUNISH Deterrence, retribution, incapacitation and rehabilitation are the four goals of punishment. In Illinois, we call our punishment system the "Department of Corrections" which proves that people …
Not being an Illini fan, it's easy for me to hate on something like the Orange Krush, the student cheering section of our university's basketball team. As a Purdue fan, I get jazzed about the Paint Crew, whose numbers make the Krush look like an amateur co-ed softball team on a rainy day. But I don't live in West Lafayette, and I don't consider them as part of my culture. So, the Orange Krush is on the hook here. Student …
February 14–21 is National Condom Week, and while educating your child about the use and effectiveness of condoms around Valentine's Day might seem scary or inappropriate, recent research suggests many parents are long overdue in addressing safer sex with their teens. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that nearly 19 million new sexually transmitted infections occur every year, with 15 to 24 year-olds making up half of these cases. Even more alarming, the heaviest Chlamydia and gonorrhea …
Before I begin, a few caveats: there are a bunch of great people who work at the News-Gazette, doing the best that they can under resource reductions in a tough time for newspapers as a commenter noted on one of our snarky posts earlier this week, they're utilizing their Twitter feed (as well as many of their reporters') as well as any media outlet in town we surely haven't figured out how to make money at online publishing either, and …
I've done a "Super Bowl Life Lessons" column for the last few years and, to be honest, I'm beginning to wonder if the Super Bowl as a cultural spectacle has all that much more to teach us. Guys are still oafs. Violence is still funny (especially so when it involves sumo wrestlers). Talking flowers and babies are still funny. Classic rockers are still old. The main innovation this year seems to be that guys not wearing pants is funny. Perhaps …
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Change is the only constant thing in this world. Change is just an indication that a particular place is improving or not. It is a good thing that there is a room for a change but it must be a change for the better. It is just…
Now that Olympian is probably a given, they’re going to have to rename the section between Willow and 45. Any suggestions? Now lets get onto Urbana’s next road to nowhere. Airport Rd., They want to extend it from Bartlow west to Lincoln thru 3 farm fields. One…
I had a great time reading around your post as I read it extensively. Gold
I’ve always suspected that there’s a direct correlation between projected land use for the Rt 150 corridor [Industrial / Commercial] and the drive to expand 74. See the CCRPC Future Land Use Map for details, and then take a look at who owns land there, and you…
The University does not subsidize the Airbus. For decades bus transportation to the airport was provided expressly for Institute of Aviation students. This service was paid for by the Institute of Aviation, not campus as a whole. Some of you may even remember the old orange or…
A book just published gives a very useful different perspective on the “growth for growth’s sake” model and its ecological unsustainability. It is “Prosperity Without Growth: Economics for a Finite Planet” by Tim Jackson. The first chapter of the book can be downloaded via http://earthscan.co.uk/pwg . This…
I agree with most of the comments on the Orange “Krush.“ They are mostly immature, ignorant, college students who can’t wait for the next frat party so they can get wasted on Keystone light
“Since there is no congestion on 74, one wonders what he is talking about.“ - Duh. Perhaps the congestion is wishful thinking? And IL DOT is planning to spend $71 million taxpayer dollars widening I-74 between Champaign and Mahomet. I contacted IL DOT on the I-74 stuff. …
Great articles, btw.
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Um. Yeah — check out that “General Disclaimer” at the bottom of the article, folks.
As an adoptee, I can empathize—although I’m not an international adoptee, and I apologize if I’m assuming too much on the nature of your adoption. You can feel what you feel, but don’t be too hard on yourself. When I started a search for my birth family,…
I highly doubt a single dish is vegan at Bombay. Most Indian dishes use Ghee(essentially clarrified butter) as the base fat. While I guess they could make some dishes with canola oil, I would for sure ask the exact ingredients before I consumed if you are following a vegan diet.
You’re right! Every runner, in my opinion, is a real runner.
Congratulations on the AG place! In all of your accomplishments, don’t forget what it was like to think a mile was an impossible distance. Getting to the six-mile point takes a lot of training and preparation to acclimate the mind and musculature to so much pounding. Your…
Sounds like it!
I heading out on my 9 miler before my 10 hour work day right now. Do I have what it takes?
Nice, killer work pretty man…the channeled, one sided collaborated rhyming poem. An oft forgot genre. The ruckus was felt even here in my living room, which is normally a safe haven from ruckus.
wait, I was commenting on the wrong thing - sorry - he’s actually a gigantic sellout but who really knows what all this is about.
If the democrats didn’t have Kucinich, and the republicans didn’t have Ron Paul, where would both these parties really stand? These men actually mean what they say.
Joel, thank you for the opportunity to answer these questions and have them posted here. I really appreciate it! Yes, I was thrilled to see that Rep. Kucinich flipped today, so he will has committed to voting yes for health reform. I appreciated his comments which seem…
It appears to me that your reviewer did all that could be expected: she paid her money, saw the play and conveyed her impressions. The review (on the whole, laudatory) may have been rushed, in a generous attempt to publicize the production while it was still available…
Dan Schreiber’s chocolate is simply the best I’ve ever had. It’s a whole different ball-game; closer to very high-end wine than anything out of Hershey PA.
That settles it… Im going.
Vosges is pretty decent chocolate, but you should definitely try the locally-produced chocolate from Dan Schreiber, available (regularly?) at Amara, Caffe Paradiso, and Common Ground. I believe it is or will be at other places soon.
I read Kucinich flipped today. He must have read this and been convinced.
Bread Company can do some fantastic vegan dinner dishes! Several of their pastas are vegan or could be made vegan and their pizzas can be ordered (and taste great) without the cheese. I also recommend their roasted potatoes and their roasted garlic head appetizer.
General Admission? Are we supposed to camp out the night before the game to get decent seats?
I wonder with Griffey if he’s not in game shape enough to play a significant number of minutes. If you look at his minutes played this year, he’s never played a starters minutes.
I really appreciated Ms. Lennhoff’s candid answers to the questions. I learned a lot about health care reform from this experience. Thanks CCHCC!
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Ok, just tell me when I can exhale - Just curious, since all the globalists, carbon traders, and pretty much anyone with copious amounts of wealth have weighed in on population reduction in recent years, i was wondering what yer magic number was. Some of the more…