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College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences Illinois Extension

Everyday Environment Blog

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picture of a street with rain drops and text overlay stormwater management

Using stormwater to your advantage

As a child, my friends and I played in a neighborhood stream, catching crawdads. What I didn’t know then was this small waterbody was mainly comprised of stormwater runoff and was connected to everything on our landscape.What is stormwater runoff?Stormwater is rain or melted snow that flows off...
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Monitoring stream water quality with...bugs?

Many of us have streams in our neighborhoods or cities that we see regularly but often take for granted. Maybe we have a stream in our backyard, one that flows through a local park where we walk our dogs, or one we drive over every day on our way to work or school. But how often do we take time to...
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aerial view of a river running through a forested bluff

What watershed do you live in? Diving into watershed basics

When rain falls, the water doesn’t just disappear; it has to go somewhere. Some of it soaks into the ground, replenishing groundwater, while the rest flows downhill over the land’s surface. As water moves, it gathers into small rivulets, which join creeks, which then merge with larger rivers and...
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Reduce methane generation with composting

The problem with food scraps in landfillsIn the U.S., food waste is a big problem. Nationally, landfills and trash incinerators receive 167 million tons of garbage a year. Half of that is compostable and 21% is food scraps. This means that of the 19 million tons of garbage going to Illinois...
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renewable energy and climate change

Renewable energy offers benefits for our future

When I was growing up in St. Louis, crossing the Mississippi River in Alton was always my cue that we were almost home from a long road trip.  Now that I live in Illinois, I know I am nearing home when I start to see windmills across the blue skies. Even at night, their blinking red lights...
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College of Agricultural, Consumer & Environmental Sciences Illinois Extension

101 Mumford Hall (MC-710)

1301 W. Gregory Dr.

Urbana, IL 61801

Email: extension@illinois.edu

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