Everyday Environment
Small changes have positive impacts on the environment.
Everyday Environment explores the intricate web of connections that bind us to the natural world. From water, air, energy, plants, and animals to the complex interactions within these elements, we aim to unravel the ties that link us to our environment.
Through podcasts, blogs, webinars, and videos, you'll gain a deeper understanding of and appreciation for these connections in Illinois and beyond. Each fall and spring, we'll explore a new topic in detail, including wildlife, water, and climate.
Fall 2026: Nature-Based Solutions
In Everyday Environment, we talk and talk about the ecology of our environment and how these different interactions impact each other, but how do we make these interactions work for us? How can we address the challenges of our human-centered ecosystems while also supporting the system as a whole?
Join us starting in August 2026, as the Everyday Environment team looks at issues that come up in your home and community, and how nature can help address them.
Stay connected with Everyday Environment!
Check out our previous season content below with blogs, podcasts, short videos, and webinars.
Visit your local county Extension office and connect with staff there with your nature questions.
See something cool in nature? Let us know! Send us your question or your everyday nature observation, and we may share it in a future blog or podcast.
Never miss an update! Join the Everyday Environment mailing list.
Webinars, Livestreams, and Videos
In fall and spring, tune in to monthly "Voices from the Field" webinars to learn about wildlife research projects from University of Illinois scientists. Leave with tools and information to help protect the planet for generations to enjoy. All sessions are free.
Looking for previous programs? Recordings are posted to YouTube several weeks after the live webinar.
Everyday Environment Podcast
Everyday Environment Blog
Effective invasive species management takes empathy and teamwork
Stories from the field: Managing invasive species at Emiquon Preserve
Past Seasons
Invasive Species, Spring 2026
Explore the collection of invasive species videos, blogs, and podcasts below.
Videos
- Webinar: Wild and Wily Animal Invaders
- Livestream: Invasive Species Q&A
- Shorts: Raise Awareness About Invasive Species, Get Involved By Removing Invasives, Help Prevent Accidental Invasions,
Interviews with an Invasive: Everyday Interviews with an Invasive Species: Autumn Olive, Everyday Interviews with an Invasive Species: Amur Bush Honeysuckle, Everyday Interviews with an Invasive Species: Burning Bush
Blogs
- A conversation about conservation, why words matter when talking about invasive species
- Meeting audiences where they are at with invasive species education
- Behind the scenes: how regulations are used to manage invasive species
- Public gardens in the fight against invasive species
- Community reported data helps EDDMapS inform and drive invasive species management
- What two decades of research tells us about invasive species
- The far-reaching effects of invasive landscape plants
- Protecting Illinois from invasive pest threats
- What makes a pest "invasive?"
- Invasive carp impact Illinois waterways
- Telling the story of escaped ornamental plants
- A golden opportunity to learn that mushrooms can be invasive too
- Stories from the field: Managing invasive species at Emiquon Preserve
- Effective invasive species management takes empathy and teamwork
Podcast Episodes
- Season 4 Preview and Invasives 101
- Words matter: how we engage others to care about invasive species with Emily Steele and Phil Anderson
- Breaking down invasive species rules and regulations with Chris Evans
- Early detection in public gardens with Michelle Beloskur
- Wading through the data: understanding EDDMapS, a leader in invasive species mapping with Rebekah Wallace
- Looking back to move forward: using historical data to understand invasions with TJ Benson
- When good plants go bad: invasives in the home landscape with Chris Enroth
- Tree check! Spotting invasive pests early with Tricia Bethke
- Protecting ag commodities, ecosystems and urban environments from invasive pests: the CAPS program with Kelly Estes
- Ornamental plants on the move: who is escaping from your garden with Theresa Culley
- Carrying a shield against invasive carp with Steven Butler
- Mushroom minute: a look at the invasive golden oyster mushroom with Aishwarya Veerabahu
- A case study in invasive species management: Emiquon Preserve with Dr. Maria Lemke
- Answering your invasive species questions: a Q&A with Chris Evans
Wildlife, Fall 2025
Explore the collection of wildlife videos, blogs, and podcasts below.
Videos
- Webinars: Uncovering the Winter Secrets of Whip-poor-wills, Saving the World, One Box Turtle at a Time
- Teeny Tiny wildlife shorts: The House Centipede, the North American Wheel Bug, the Yellow Garden Spider, the Roly Poly
Blogs
- Animals expand our understanding of the natural world
- Hunting, fishing, and the numbers behind the traditions from 1960-2024
- Where have all the quail gone?
- How do you study something you can't see? Environmental DNA gives scientists clues about wildlife
- Highway to harm – the hidden toll of roads on wildlife
- Should you rescue that animal? Understanding injured wildlife
- Return of bison revives biodiversity of one restored Illinois prairie
- Fish hatcheries benefit everyone, anglers and non-anglers alike
- Coyotes as sentinels: What wildlife reveal about public health
- Tracking the armadillo expansion into Illinois
- Digging into the plains pocket gopher, Illinois’ hidden soil builder
- Why you should listen to Illinois wildlife
- From observation to conservation through community science
- An unexpected turn: the human dimensions of wildlife
Podcast Episodes
- There's a snake in my basement!: wildlife encounters with Joy O'Keefe
- Funding the wild: the role of outdoor recreation in conservation
- Taking action for wildlife: The power of community science
- A poster child for wildlife conservation: quail in Illinois
- Environmental DNA basics: how we detect hidden life with Dr. Mark Davis
- It's all edges: road ecology with Kevin Rohling
- Wildlife in trouble: when to step in and when to step back
- What role do bison play in restoring Illinois prairies?
- An alien experience they just keep coming back for: fish hatcheries in Illinois with Kayleigh Smith
- City dwellers: the Urban Coyote Research Project with Chris Anchor
- Movement of Armadillos in Illinois with Agustin Jimenez
- Gopher it: Uncovering the unique ecology of the plains pocket gopher
- Get to know your neighbors: listening to Illinois wildlife with Brodie Dunn
- Taking action for wildlife: The power of community science
Water Resources, Spring 2025
Explore the collection of water videos, blogs, and podcasts below.
Blogs
- What watershed do you live in? Diving into watershed basics
- Monitoring stream water quality with...bugs?
- Help prevent household substances from becoming aquatic contaminants
- Using stormwater to your advantage
- Be a Hero: How you can prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species
- Protecting our waterways from excess nutrients
- Tips for creating a rain garden to protect water, nature, and communities
- Reversing the Chicago River created ripple effects we still see today
- Communities face challenges and find solutions together to address aging and changing water infrastructure
- The groundwater guide: Where our water comes from and the challenges communities face
- Clean water costs money – Here's how communities calculate water rates
- Taking Care of Water is a Community Effort
Podcast Episodes
- From raindrop to river: State Hydrologist explains watershed basics
- Science is not just for the professionals: RiverWatch and community science
- What you should know about contaminants of emerging concern
- Rain Check: Creative ways to use stormwater to your advantage
- A gauntlet for Carp: invasives species in our waterways
- Nutrient loss in our waterways: the role of agriculture
- Rain gardens and nerding out over native plants
- Taking into consideration the next 100 years: the reversal of the Chicago River
- Taking a systems-based approach to community water management
- Protecting our water supply with helicopters? How communities are tackling water challenges
- Water Economics: The Pricing Puzzle
- From youth to adults: engaging our communities to learn about their water
Videos
Climate Change in Illinois, Fall 2024
Explore the full collection of climate change videos, blogs, and podcasts below.
Blogs
- Reduce methane generation with composting
- Exploring the Potential of Agrivoltaics
- Renewable energy offers benefits for our future
- How agricultural carbon markets are investing in policy and interest for farmers
- Saving the planet is child's play! Empower youth about climate change
- Adapting to climate change can have added health benefits
- Pollinators' complicated relationship with climate change
- What to expect with invasives and climate change
- Soil carbon addresses climate resiliency for the future
- The urban forest is a climate tool for all
- How plants respond to rising carbon dioxide concentrations
- Climate expert breaks down the basics of climate change
Podcast Episodes
- Coffee grounds are green: composting reduces methane and builds up soil
- Investigating solar energy and agriculture: agrivoltaics and climate change
- Exploring carbon markets as part of emissions reduction goals
- Cover Crops not Mudslides: empowering youth on climate change
- It’s all about risk: how climate change increases our risk of health concerns and how we can adapt
- Exploring the challenges facing pollinators
- Will invasive species be helped or hindered by climate change?
- Understanding soil as a system
- 708 million tons of carbon storage: Urban Forests and climate change
- Too Much of a Good Thing: A Plant’s Perspective on Climate Change
- Shifting to a Silver Lining: Climate Expert Talks Climate Change Basics
Videos
- An Introduction to Climate Change in Illinois
- How renewable energy transitions are happening in rural Illinois
- Can your lawn be climate friendly?
- An Interview with a Buckthorn Tree
- Reduce your energy use to help fight climate change
- Webinar: What Illinois Residents Should Know about Climate Change
- Webinar: Actions for Illinois Residents to Combat Climate Change
Do you have questions about invasive species? We have the answers! This Q&A livestream about invasive species in Illinois was presented and recorded on May 21, 2026, on Facebook for the Everyday Environment series.
Across the U.S., including Illinois, many non-native wildlife species have found their way into new environments where they can be a threat. Explore the history of these animal invasions and the tug-of-war between the biology of animals, including humans, and efforts to protect our native...
Often heard and rarely seen, the eastern whip-poor-will and its namesake nighttime call is an iconic Midwestern woodland bird. But like many other insect-eating birds, its numbers are declining. University of Illinois avian researchers are working to uncover the secrets of where this elusive...
Box turtles are charismatic, long-lived turtles that are omnivorous and use both land and water ecosystems. These characteristics make them uniquely sensitive to the health of their environments and good indicators of overall ecosystem health. In the last 18 years, the Wildlife Epidemiology...
Do you know where your drinking water comes from? Illinois is a diverse state when it comes to water resources, and where your water comes from depends on how much is available, the quality of a water source, and its contamination risk. Explore sources of drinking water in Illinois, get an...
What’s in your water? Learn about common water pollutants, how your daily actions, indoor and outdoor, impact water quality, and how water is treated before returning to rivers and lakes. Simple tips to prevent pollution start with you.
This webinar was recorded on May 8, 2025. Find more...
Discover what climate change means for Illinois now and in the future and explore practical solutions. Learn how you can play a vital role in helping your community be healthier and more resilient to the effects of climate change. Don't miss this opportunity to be part of the conversation and...
While there are many strategies to reduce risk and adapt at global and regional scales, individuals can also take action.
In this video you will learn how you can address climate change in your home, landscape, and community, explore how different methods of managing your lawn,...
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Erin Garrett
Abigail Garofalo
