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Environmental Change Institute Answers Needs on Campus by Emma Hunter
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nvironmentalism is taking our cities by storm. Every day, someone complains loudly about the lack of recycling capabilities here in Champaign and how we should really do something about it (yes, Urbana, we know you’re much better with recycling). Every day, someone turns off the lights when we’re leaving a classroom instead of leaving them on for the next class. However, the University hasn’t been trumpeting its commitment to respecting the environment ... until now. As of last Friday, the Environmental Change Institute (ECI) is officially a part of our community. The institute, established by the College of ACES, the College of Business and the College of Law, has been created with some seriously lofty goals. According to its proposal, the ECI hopes to create functioning solutions for such important issues as food systems and security, sustainability, biofuels and carbon sequestration/cycling by partnering
scientific research with community awareness and involvement. More than two-thirds of the funding for the ECI is provided by the Alvin H. Baum Family Fund, with other financial commitments coming from the colleges of ACES, Law and Business. The interim director of the institute, Dr. Wesley Jarrell, professor in the department of natural resources and environmental sciences, says that the University’s Extension offices will be a main focus for getting the solutions out into the communities of Illinois and beyond. “People think they’re living in the ’50s or ’60s, but we can use Extension to move results from research to community,” Dr. Jarrell said. “An objective, unbiased leader [such as the ECI] will help people to do the right thing. We can provide the link between the researchers and the community.” Dr. Jarrell believes that a two-pronged approach by the Environmental Change Institute will be most successful in enabling change in and
around our community. The first step is to make the students aware of the issues, and to do this, Dr. Jarrell proposes a second step: developing a “cadre of professionals” to be the leaders of the movement on campus and in the community. This cadre will take the lead on projects involving not only the research coming from the ECI but also the relationships between the ECI and the community, including the student body. They will be our connection to everything the ECI stands for. Our university, being one of the best in the world, has incredible research capabilities and has the potential to be one of the frontrunners regarding environmental change. Thanks to the efforts of three of the colleges, as well as an amazing donor fund, we now have an institute specifically designed to confront this issue and lead us into a greener, more environmentally sound future. For more information, visit http://eci.illinois.edu.
Five Ways to Shop Smart and Save Money This Holiday Season
Great prices
by Brittany Abeijon The current financial pressures and a lack of confidence in the economy will force shoppers to be very conservative with their holiday spending this year. The National Retail Foundation is projecting that holiday sales will rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion. This gain falls well below the 10year average of a 4.4 percent holiday sales growth and represents the slowest growth since 2002, when holiday sales rose 1.3 percent. If holiday shopping has you worried about pinching pennies, it’s time to get smart about your shopping. Here are some ways to save cash during the upcoming holidays: 1. Brave Black Friday. Take advantage of the dayafter-Thanksgiving sales, and you can actually save money. People often start at 5 a.m. and wait in long lines to receive freebies, discounts and deals. With a little strategy, you can plan which gifts to buy in advance by reading sales advertisements on Thanksgiving. Preparation is a must to tackle the craziness of the crowds. Carefully check opening times for stores, and watch for the fine print regarding popular items, such as “while supplies last” or “available to first 100 customers only.” Tip: Pair up with a bargain-minded buddy. While people jump — sometimes literally — on the hottest items, your smart-shopping pal can hit one end of the store while you are at another. Then you can swap limited-quantity items and double your deals. 2. Shop late, too! The smartest of shoppers ditch all the stress of Black Friday and pick up their presents the day after Christmas. Although the lines will be long with returns, nearly everything is marked down in price. So avoid the customer service chaos, head to the last-minute clearance sales and buy a quick gift for a friend you have yet www.the217.com
Live bands and DJs to see. There is no predicting what the economy will be like tomorrow, let alone next holiday season, so be a savvy shopper, take advantage of the deals and buy for next year, too. Tip: Those snowflake sweaters and Santa slippers may not have quite the same appeal when they’re tossed in a clearance pile in January. 3. Save time and transportation money by shopping early online. Heard of Cyber Monday? If you are not fearless enough for Black Friday, the Monday after Thanksgiving is the Internet equivalent. Avoid the crowds, and shop online instead. Lots of stores offer discounts that are exclusively for online shoppers, many with free shipping, too. Also, you don’t have to wait for Thanksgiving to start holiday shopping, so get your gift list together, and surf the net early to find the best buys. Many e-tailers offer free or discounted shipping, which may seem like an extra expense, but with the current gas prices, the cost of shipping can even out when you end up driving from store to store to snag those hard-tofind items. Tip: A great way to pay for online items is through PayPal. It offers discounts to shoppers several times during the year, including the month of December. 4. Use up those forgotten store credits and old gift cards. For your last birthday, did Grandpa give you a gift certificate to a store he shops at himself? This is a perfect way to re-gift. Use up a gift card to a store you may not shop in to buy for someone else. If you have some forgotten store credit for a few returned items, this is a simple way to reduce your gift-buying, moneyspending budget. Tip: Consider giving the gift card back to Grandpa. He may not remember anyhow.
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5. Sign up to receive e-mails from your favorite stores. These e-mails allow you to use online-only discounts not available to in-store shoppers. You can surf the Web or sign up to receive e-mails while in the store. Check out this secret weapon: www.bargainist.com. This Web site lists the best online shopping deals and claims to make you “go broke saving money.” The Bargainist digs up discounts for you on thousands of everyday items. Begin searching Bargainist as early as October when online holiday deals start. Tip: Not a good idea for a spam-hater; expect to receive at least two e-mails per week from stores during December.
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Check out the217.com for more shop-smart tips.
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