The Native American Studies Department’s Rou Dalagurr Food Sovereignty Lab and Traditional Ecological Knowledges Institute, Cultural Fire Club, and the NAS Department are leading Returning Good Fire — an Indigenous-led rematriation project restoring cultural burns on California’s North Coast. Guided by cultural fire practitioners and Indigenous students, the project supports habitat restoration, revives culturally significant plants, conserves water, and trains future Indigenous firekeepers.

This project will develop a certificate in Appropriate Computing, adapting the principles of Appropriate Technology to the context of AI. This project will empower students to drive AI development toward a more sustainable future. The certificate will be the first of its kind.

Gist Theater LED Retrofit Project will replace older 750 and 1000 watt tungsten theater lighting fixtures with modern low consumption pro LED theater fixtures. Currently, Gist Theater uses about 40-50 fixtures during any given production. LED fixtures use less than 80 percent of the energy and require less fixtures with their color-changing capabilities. Therefore, the LED Retrofit will replace 50 high-energy fixtures with 18 low-energy fixtures, creating an extreme energy-saving change.

The Library of Things (LoTs) at Cal Poly Humboldt will provide students with access to tools, equipment, and everyday items that are often too expensive or impractical to own individually. By promoting shared use, reuse, and repair, LoTs reduce waste and support a more sustainable, circular economy. In order to figure out how to best implement this project, the SHIFT Committee has funded a student research position for AY 25-26 that will help figure out how best to navigate the logistical concerns that have and will rise with this project.