Knox College
AC-8: Campus as a Living Laboratory

Students collaborate and participate in promoting sustainability initiatives during year long programming of working to reduce waste and treat it as a resource in varying capacities. One of the favorite events is the "There is No AWAY Campaign at MOVE OUT". the campaign is very well engaged by students through volunteering to help run the 3 week event and by diverting the materials that are donated (from the landfill),then collected, sorted and taken to the FREE Store on campus (the Share Shop)for all to enjoy!

KnoxCorps fellows are placed in internship roles at public institutions, building connections between the campus and the community, and experiencing the political challenges of governmental and NGO work for social causes. These students have facilitated and introduced new programs involving food aid, health education, neighborhood improvement, and more. This is an ongoing program, since 2012, that recruits new fellows each year.

In ENVS 325 Applied Climatology,, students examine climate change at locations in Illinois, including Galesburg, for a lab. They reflect on the implications of the changes they observe.
In ENVS 170 Atmosphere and Weather, students examine air quality at locations in the state of IL for a lab. They reflect on the results they observe in terms of human and ecological health.

ENVS 101
--some students look for alternative energy sources for the campus' heating/cooling and electricity (they often request the energy usage on campus, by type (NG or electricity) and by building/sector (when possible) to determine strategies that might reduce energy consumption or increase energy efficiency.
ENVS 243 Energy
--all students are exposed to campus/city energy usage and contemplate how this could be modified to make energy consumption less intense, more sustainable, more fair (on a global basis) and more environmentally friendly
--some students engage in very intensified literature reviews on a broad array of energy topics with sustainability providing a overarching principle guiding their research
ENVS 180
--some students engage in term-long, group projects focused on making energy use on campus (on in the larger community) more efficient and sustainable

ENVS 101
--some students look for alternative energy sources for the campus' heating/cooling and electricity (they often request the energy usage on campus, by type (NG or electricity) and by building/sector (when possible) to determine strategies that might reduce energy consumption or increase energy efficiency.
ENVS 243 Energy
--all students are exposed to campus/city energy usage and contemplate how this could be modified to make energy consumption less intense, more sustainable, more fair (on a global basis) and more environmentally friendly
--some students engage in very intensified literature reviews on a broad array of energy topics with sustainability providing a overarching principle guiding their research
ENVS 180
--some students engage in term-long, group projects focused on making energy use on campus (on in the larger community) more efficient and sustainable

The Bioregional Herbalism Collaborative Research Group, the Urban Ag classes, and the Food Systems classes worked at expanding our existing campus farm to include plantings of fruit and herbal guilds with more perennials to be harvested by farm volunteers for the college dining hall. Students in these classes also help plan and manage the Knox Farm to grow, harvest, and deliver fresh food for the Dining Hall.
The Knox farm hosts many events that feature farm to fork meals, workshops, and events with food offered that is made only with produce grown at the Knox farm (one example is a collaborative event with our Chef on the topic of climate change in regards to food systems, where the Chef prepared the featured dish of the meal for the event (Vegetable Curries: including butter nut squash, a variety of tomatoes, ginger, garlic, peppers, onions, turmeric, cauliflowers, and beans with only local food grown at Knox farm.

An ANSO course that is offered each spring maintains the campus' two rain gardens. This includes weeding, applying mulch, and planting new native plants to increase biodiversity. This project is a collaboration with the Grounds department and students learn about sustainable landscape maintenance.

Environmental and Economics students work with the harvest metrics from the food grown at the Knox Farm and do a price comparison of organic local food in regards to pricing. Produce harvested and delivered from the Knox farm to Knox Dining is sold to Dining according to the research collected from this data.

Students in ENVS 101 perform a waste audit of one week of trash from one campus building and/or in the Dining hall, as part of their Make a Difference Project. The waste audit is a collaboration with the sustainability office. The data collected are compared to the previous years' data and are shared with the campus in the Waste to Zero Waste Campaign as a way to reduce contamination in all the waste streams.

ENVS -101 includes water issues as part of the Make a Difference projects, and are incorporating lead pollution analysis in soil and water on campus.
In 242- Hydrology, we look at water quality on campus and also talk about how to measure rainfall, as well as set up rain gauges.
In 241 -Soil, we look at/measure water infiltration on the Knox farm and talk about how to manage soil water.
In ENVS -174, Urban Ag, we work with water catchment and irrigation system for the garden beds. We have set up a water gauge in one of the high tunnels to assess water needed through the summer and how we might choose different crops and work with additional water catchment systems.

Students in clubs and Student Senate help to plan and coordinate Zero waste events and educational programming for the 8 week Campus Race to Zero waste Campaign with the NWF. They also help organize and collect data for the waste streams (landfill, recycling, organics) for 8 weeks in an effort to reduce waste on campus and divert materials from the landfill. Other students coordinate an entire month of programming on sustainability for Earth Month - ranging from events that educate on sustainable reproductive health to how to start a garden, as well as to identify areas of improvement on campus and work with the Office of Sustainability to implement these ideas: most recently on three way waste receptacles for events.

The Campus Spring Shop & Swap Event and repair workshops worked with LGBTQ+, Campus Life, Student clubs and Greek Life to offer opportunities to gather together and bring/donate used clothing and swap them out with "new" Clothes. Repair areas for altering clothes to make them more gender affirming and create fun new designs were also offered. All the collected clothing, shoes, hats etc were shared with the different FREE clothing places on campus (LGBTQ+ Closet, Career Closet and Share Shop), as well as with local thrift stores in the community.

The wellness opportunities of being outside in the green space of the Knox farm, while volunteering, enjoying the harvest of fresh food, sharing skills on how to tend a garden, and reducing stress/making friends at the same time is invaluable work in regards to understanding sustainability. The insights and questions of being in place where food is grown and how soil is taken care of, and how to live in reciprocal relationship with the land that nurtures our selves and communities speaks to the wellness of mind and body and contributes to healthier people and greater resilience.