Humber College
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Students from the Fashion Arts and Business diploma program annually plan and host an Eco Closet event in collaboration with the Office of Sustainability and IGNITE student union since 2018. Gently used business attire items are collected from the Humber community and then sold at accessible prices to Humber students, staff and faculty with the revenue being donated to a charity. In 2022, the event will be sustainability-themed, with the community learning more about the social and environmental impacts of fashion. The Fashion Arts and Business students learn more about event planning and budgeting through this experience.

In 2021, the PR Graduate Certificate students ran an event called “Repurpose for Purpose” a virtual party that connected people to raise awareness of both environment and social sustainability from home. This initiative is a collaboration between the Office of Sustainability, Student Success & Engagement and the Faculty of Media & Creative Arts. The Office of Sustainability and Student Success & Engagement sponsors the event and provides a budget of $1,000. Post-graduate Public Relations students organize and execute the event as part of their course curriculum with support from faculty and staff. The responsibilities include developing the theme and slogan; marketing and promotions; social media engagement; budget management; registration; as well as production.

The Lakeshore Grounds Sustainability Tour explores the natural and built environment that is shared by a number of partners and home to many florae and fauna. This tour tells the ongoing story of South Etobicoke’s changing landscape through a sustainability and ecological lens. Participants will discover the sustainability initiatives made by Humber’s Lakeshore Campus and reflect on the diverse environment in Colonel Samuel Smith Park that local groups aim to protect, enhance, and promote. The tour embodies where we come from and where we are going, inviting attendees to advance their understanding of the rich ecosystems and sustainability initiatives at the Lakeshore Grounds.

The Humber Arboretum serves the North Etobicoke community as a public park, educational hub and outdoor classroom with a focus on strengthening our relationship with nature and each other through the support of local organizations and initiatives within our community. ​

Four demonstration photovoltaic (PV) systems (three fixed and one tracking) are located on the roof of the L-Building, North Campus. Humber students use online monitoring tools to measure energy and compare performance of the fixed and tracking systems.

In 2021-2022, a multi-disciplinary team of students designed new improvements for Building NX at North Campus. The teams worked with industry professionals and researched advanced solutions for sustainable building design and construction. Throughout the process, they received feedback about their design choices from industry leaders such as B+H Architect, Morrison Hershfield, and Humber’s Capital Development & Facilities Management team. Their findings will be incorporated into Humber’s Green Building Standards, ensuring EDI & health, belonging themes as well as the student voice included in the standard.  This collaborative project provided an opportunity for students to experience real-world challenges, develop their professional skills, and network with industry professionals centered on sustainability.

In 2020, Sustainable Energy & Building Technology (SEBT) students completed a comprehensive energy audit of Building NX as a capstone project. Students were tasked with analyzing energy flow and identifying energy-saving opportunities for their audit report and were provided with building drawings, equipment specs, energy metering data and a virtual tour of the building systems. This allowed students the opportunity to consider the environmental impact of energy use, possible solutions that also maintains or improve occupancy health, safety and comfort to gain insight into the performance of a world class energy efficiency retrofit on their own campus.

The Humber Food Learning Garden is a demonstration garden and outdoor classroom that was first opened in 2018, and is still currently in operation in 2022. The Food learning garden:
- Supports the learning of Humber College students in a variety of programs such as landscaping, horticulture, culinary arts, and Early Childhood Education as they learn how to tend, harvest, and teach in the space
- Provides fresh, locally grown ingredients for use in dishes at The Humber Room, Humber College's student-run restaurant
- Helps children taking part in the Humber Arboretum's Nature Day Camps or school programs understand where their food comes and connect with the joy of growing and eating fresh herbs and vegetables

Humber culinary students also turn sap collected in the Humber Arboretum into Maple Syrup.

The Humber Arboretum is an urban green space, public garden and outdoor education centre that consists of botanical gardens and natural areas surrounding the Humber River. This unique site is home to the Carolinian bioregion, the most diverse ecosystem in Canada, and boasts over 1,700 species of plants and animals. Its purpose is to facilitate research and education, establish and maintain living plant collections, promote conservation and restoration practices, and provide a quality visitor experience. It is a joint venture of the City of Toronto, Humber College, and Toronto and Region Conservation Authority. Students contribute to the Arboretum in the following projects:

- Humber Landscape students practice their plant ID skills by identifying the plants and trees located throughout the Humber Arboretum

- Humber Arboriculture students practice, tree climbing, chainsaw, and safety skills on different trees located in the Humber Arboretum.

- Humber Landscape students practice different construction techniques through building/repairing pathways and retaining walls as well as assisting in the construction of pergolas and gazebos within the public garden area.

- Humber Nursing students use the Arboretum grounds as an outdoor classroom and area of study during placement in Fall and Winter semesters.

- Early Childhood Education students use the Humber Arboretum for training and facilitation in the Fall and Winter semester.

- 2 Humber students who were a part of the Learning by Leading – Environmental Stewards branch assisted with a research project that focused on determining the most effective manual removal of Phragmites australis which is an invasive species throughout Ontario. Research plots were created and tested in the Humber Arboretum.

- Civil Engineering students us the Humber Pond as an outdoor laboratory where they test water quality of the pond.

- Humber surveying students conducted field projects in the Humber Arboretum, using the pre-set surveying course located within the Arboretum.

- Humber College students in the Fire Services program use the Arboretum to test out remote first aid scenarios.

- Culinary students use the Humber Arboretum to learn about wild edibles focused on foraging non-native plant species like dandelion, burdock, garlic mustard etc. Students also learn about maple syrup production. Students also harvest food from the Food Learning Garden for use in the Humber Room and the culinary labs.

- Students in the Occupational and Physical Therapy program take part in a yearly field trip into the Arboretum to learn about incorporating nature and the outdoors into their therapy practice.

- Students in the ECE program take part in a course called Etuaptmumk – Two Eyed Seeing where they use the Humber Arboretum as a classroom for the land based teachings and experiential learning portion of the course.

Humber’s intensive Horticultural Technician Apprenticeship program stresses practical skills through applied study at our on-site construction laboratory and greenhouse, campus rooftop and in the Humber Arboretum. The in-college component of your program coincides with the typical slowdown in the horticultural industry during the winter months.

A Faculty of Applied Sciences and Technology student did an ergonomic evaluation and analysis of how people interact with visual wayfinding elements such as words and images and graphics on waste sorting bins in public spaces. The student researcher created a prototype wayfinding graphic which temporarily overlaps the current waste bins on campus to observe campus-users waste sorting habits. The overall goal of the student’s thesis is to redesign the waste collection system to reduce the number of recyclables that end up in the landfill and make the act of throwing out waste simpler and less intrusive.

Humber Pond Revitalization Project: The Humber Pond plays a key role in managing runoff water from Humber College's north campus before it reaches the Humber River. The Humber Pond Revitalization Project is an innovative, collaborative initiative to improve water quality in the pond while increasing natural habitat for wildlife, providing new social gathering spaces for our community, and creating an outdoor classroom and living laboratory space for students. This project has created opportunities for student involvement from departments across Humber College:

Landscape Technician program: Students have already participated in plantings and will continue to be involved in maintaining the area as part of their curriculum. In the future, classes will create landscape designs for a social gathering space and outdoor classroom on an island on the pond.

Sustainable Energy and Building Technology students visit the pond as part of their studies, learning about the functions of the pond's features and the energy impact of treating stormwater.

Civil Engineering Technology students were the first involved as they began testing the water quality before the project work even began. This is part of the program's long-term study of the impacts the revitalization has on water quality. They will also use the site as an outdoor classroom and living laboratory.

Currently under construction, the Humber Cultural Hub project will be one of the most sustainable developments in the country and a showcase for global best practices in sustainability and energy efficiency. Humber is adopting a passive design approach that uses the building architecture to maximize occupant comfort and minimize energy use. Like the NX building, Humber Cultural Hub will also include the instructions of students in sustainable construction practices and efficient operations. Students will be working with faculty on multi-disciplinary teams to leverage the many visible sustainability elements on the interior and exterior of the building and design and test innovative ideas and solutions to real-world sustainability issues. To be completed by 2025, this opportunity will prepare students to shape the future of sustainability.

In September 2018, IGNITE (Humber’s Student Federation) became aware that one of the leading stresses for post-secondary students is food insecurity. In response to this issue, they launched Soupbar: a pay-what-you-can initiative for students that is now offered at both North and Lakeshore campuses. In 2020 and 2021 as campuses were partially closed, Soupbar adapted to meet the needs of students and offered a variety of frozen soups to address the reduced number of students on campus. The soups that range from Chicken Noodle to Italian Wedding takes food donated by local restaurants and businesses including on campus grown food from Humber Arboretum’s Food Learning Garden, which is a space for students and community members to learn about sustainable urban agriculture, local food security, and how to grow and harvest their own fresh, healthy food in whatever space is available to them. In 2021, the Soupbar remained a contactless fridge/freezer to-go option. IGNITE also added dry soup from a local vendor called Soup Girl and provided students with grocery vouchers from Go Cart City.