Environmental Resilience Institute at Indiana University

Today's MCF spotlight is on Schelby Schlager! 🔦

This summer, Schelby, a senior at IU Southeast, is working with the of Richmond to help the community develop an urban forestry master plan.

Over the last ten weeks, she has facilitated community task force meetings, gathered community feedback, and helped identify priorities and opportunities for Richmond's urban forest. She also has been using GIS and the city's tree inventory data to better understand Richmond's urban forest and support long-term planning efforts.

Along the way, Schelby has collaborated with city staff and community partners to support Richmond's forest planning.

"One of my favorite parts of this fellowship has been seeing how community engagement, data, and planning all come together to support better decision-making for Richmond's urban forest," Schelby said. "It's been a great opportunity to apply what I've learned in school while gaining hands-on experience in urban forestry, sustainability, and local government."

Read more about Schelby's MCF experience: https://news.iu.edu/southeast/live/news/51742-iu-southeast-senior-schelby-schlager-impacting

Last week, the City of Gary Common Council passed a resolution calling for modernizing Northwest Indiana’s steel industry with cleaner, more advanced technologies that could secure the region’s steelmaking future and dramatically reduce pollution affecting Hoosier communities.

The resolution calls for:

✅ companies to investment in direct reduction iron technology
✅ meaningful steps to reduce hazardous air pollutants
✅ a transition that protects union jobs, supports workforce training and local hiring, and promotes long-term investment

Earlier this year, ERI released a report outlining pathways U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel could take to achieve these outcomes and strengthen Northwest Indiana's regional economy.

Building a modern, sustainable steel industry in Northwest Indiana Building a modern, sustainable steel industry in Northwest Indiana

Time to meet another McKinney Climate Fellow, Anjani Dent! 🤩

Anjani, a graduate student at the O'Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs at Indiana University, has been producing key information to help the City of Carmel track energy usage and greenhouse gas emissions associated with city buildings and facilities. These metrics include calculating annual waste, electricity, and water data for Carmel's city hall and using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager to calculate total greenhouse gas emissions.

Anjani is also measuring city hall's energy efficiency against targets published in Carmel's Climate Action Plan. She presented these results to Carmel's Environmental Stewardship Committee this summer to spur a conversation about conducting annual energy reporting for all city buildings and facilities.

Anjani also helped create the first ever sustainability booth at Carmel's monthly neighborhood pop-up series, where the mayor and city staff visit neighborhoods and talk to residents about public services and initiatives. She authored take-home materials to raise awareness of Carmel's composting and rain barrel rebate programs as well as climate activities for youth.

Thank you for your dedication to sustainability, Anjani! 💚

Hoosiers should feel safe navigating their communities' roadways whether they live in high-traffic cities or small towns.🚸

Residents of Town of Montgomery,IN, a community of less than 1,000 along U.S. Highway 50 in the southwest region of the state, face limited options in getting from place to place due to gaps in pedestrian infrastructure and high levels of transportation insecurity.

Recently, Montgomery received a Safe Streets for All grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation to conduct a town-wide safety action plan that will provide recommendations to improve transportation safety and will qualify the town to apply for federal funding to implement the plan. Montgomery also received an AARP Community Challenge award to extend a sidewalk connecting its downtown to a residential area on the community's westside, improving pedestrian mobility in the community.

The successful grants are the result of free technical assistance and grant support provided by the Indiana Resilience Funding Hub, an initiative administered by ERI and the IU Center for Rural Engagement.

"Without the staff at IU, I just don't know how we would have been able to do it on our own," Montgomery Town Council Member Doug Meiring said. "For a town our size, to be able to win these grants, we don't have staff that can really allocate the time it takes."

Learn more: https://eri.iu.edu/news-and-events/_news/archive/2026/20260721-hub-highlight-ss4a-aarp-grants-fund-pedestrian-safety-projects-in-montgomery.html

Can solar development and farmland exist in harmony? 🎶

A recent article by faculty Jerome Dumortier and Rafael Almeida of the IU O'Neill School for Public and Environmental Affairs shows that solar expansion on farmland is unlikely to affect food cost and security.

The research finds that "even if 40% of future solar development is placed on cropland" — a rate consistent with historical patterns — prices for maize, soybeans, and wheat would increase by less than 5.6%.

“The land area required for solar expansion is small relative to the total U.S. cropland area,” the researchers noted. “Although the concern is understandable, it is difficult to square with the data. Our agricultural land base is enormous and has seen declining acreage for decades due to massive productivity gains.”

Read more about this research: https://blog.oneill.indianapolis.iu.edu/2026/06/22/dumortier-almeida-food-cost-green-energy/

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Today we're celebrating Nahian Islam and his contributions to the City of Indianapolis - Government!

Nahian is serving his fellowship with the Indianapolis Office of Sustainability where he is supporting the development of the city's 2025 community-wide greenhouse gas emissions inventory. Guided by Thrive Indianapolis, Indy's climate action plan, Nahian is analyzing emissions across key sectors to identify trends and opportunities for policy interventions to support equitable interim emissions-reduction targets for 2035. These insights will help keep Indianapolis on track to achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2050.

"It's been an incredible opportunity to contribute to data-driven climate action while learning how local governments translate sustainability goals into meaningful policies and community impact," Nahian said.

As a teacher born into a family of teachers, Ellenor Llona understands the importance of continuing education.🍎

This summer, Ellenor’s dedication to her craft led her to Indiana University Bloomington to attend the Educating for Environmental Change (EfEC) Summer Science Institute (SSI), a week-long workshop for K-12 teachers focused on climate change education.

The program provides teachers with an immersive week of learning led by IU faculty and covers concepts and curriculum attendees can adapt for their own classrooms.

During her week at IU Bloomington, Ellenor,a chemistry teacher at Pioneer Junior-Senior High School in Royal Center, Ind., participated in activities such as making field observations, measuring soil respiration, and forecasting the weather.

“There are so many ways to get students to see climate change,” she said. “If you let the students do hands-on activities, you would be surprised at how it opens their eyes to see these things that are happening.”

Read more about Ellenor: https://eri.iu.edu/news-and-events/_news/archive/2026/20260713-born-educator-empowers-rural-students-through-climate-science-lessons.html

Time to see what McKinney Climate Fellow Anna Wagner is up to at the Shirley Heinze Land Trust! 👀

Anna is working with the land trust on a project funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to create actionable strategies for nature-based solutions that address climate challenges in the Calumet region.

She's also been traveling around Porter County studying the condition of culverts on Indiana's water pathways in support of Ducks Unlimited's Aquatic Barriers Survey. This entails finding out whether the structures are permeable by fish and other wildlife whose life cycles are influenced by travel.

Thank you, Anna, for being a trusted steward of the land 💚

Air quality in Indiana and other parts of the Midwest continues to be impacted by smoke from Canadian wildfires.

Real-time air quality measurements for Indiana and elsewhere are available through PurpleAir, a global open-data air quality monitoring effort. ERI-affiliated researchers contribute to the platform through management of an Indianapolis-based network of air quality monitors.

View air quality map: https://map.purpleair.com/air-quality-standards-us-epa-aqi?opt=%2F1%2Flp%2Fa10%2Fp604800%2FcC0 #4.63/38.73/-83.24

With all of the clean energy facilities booming in Indiana and the rest of the "Rust Belt", perhaps a new nickname is in order 🤔

Case in point: Nine Indiana manufacturers build secondary components used in land-based wind turbines across the country.

That's in addition to the established and soon-to-open companies across the state contributing to the solar and battery energy storage industries. (Check out our previous posts on these topics.)

Find out who these companies are by checking out the "America Builds Power"report by American Clean Power: https://cleanpower.org/america-builds-power