SHIFT has allocated the needed funds for both Black Liberation Month 2025 and 2026. The activities throughout this month aim to uphold sustainability through a social justice lens by creating and implementing programming that centers our most marginalized population on campus, those being Black-identified students. Through a month of events and engagement opportunities, we hope to spotlight and uplift our Black-identified student population by keeping the Black experience as the foundation of the ideas we put forward in this project.

The E-Cycler Expansion Project seeks to improve recycling rates, reduce waste contamination and support the university’s waste reduction goals. It calls for the purchase of eight Max-R brand E-Cycler bins, in which students, faculty and staff can deposit universal waste items like batteries and electronic devices. Cal Poly Humboldt’s new Zero Waste Action Plan (ZWAP) identifies the need to expand consumer electronics recycling to meet the increasing amount of e-waste generated on campus by adding additional collection bins.

This project focuses on offering young children in the Child Development Laboratory opportunities for engagement with the natural world and the ability to develop an ethic of care for our planet. Children will be able to spend time outdoors and in the Arcata Community Forest no matter the weather, geared up for the elements and ready to observe, interact, and develop an ethos of care for the place they call home.

This project will serve students in the emerging Critical Agriculture Studies major and the wider university community. The project will fund some initial infrastructure, including two polycarbonate greenhouses, a rainwater catchment system and a vegetable washing station. A part of this project is the ‘Cotton & Collards: A Black Plant Relationships Initiative’ which focuses on two plants central to the history of Black people in the United States.

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.

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.  

In Fall 2008 a proposal was made to obtain five animal-proof compost bins, five additional liners for the bins, a digital scale to weigh the amount of compost for monitoring purposes and five locks for Cal Poly Humboldt (Humboldt). 

In 2013, a two-year pilot of Zimride at Cal Poly Humboldt (Humboldt) was proposed. Zimride is a private university carpooling network for students, staff, faculty, and alumni. The program is designed to be a user-friendly ridesharing system for both daily commutes and long-distance travel.After the two year pilot program, the program was deemed successful. Parking and Commuter Services took over the management of this program. It is anticipated as of December 2020 the vendor will discontinue the service. 

Project proposes installing 9 new bottle filling stations for a total cost of $20,761 throughout Humboldt campus to save energy, reduce waste, and make it convenient for Cal Poly Humboldt’s community to refill reusable water bottles on campus. Final selected sites include: Redwood Bowl, JVD Lobby x2, Library x2, Gist Hall x1, Wildlife x1, BSS x1, and signage at Forbes and Gist Hall.

This project added 7 compost bins strategically placed around campus which allow for better accessibility to the campus community, ultimately reducing Humboldt’s impact on the landfill waste stream. This project also replaced 5 existing bins with a consistent style. Final additional exterior locations include: Natural Resources, Science D, Redwood Plaza, Art Quad, Founders Hall, Redwood Bowl, and Kinesiology & Athletics.