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.  

This project proposal seeks to take a radical approach to landscaping by establishing guiding principles that challenge human-centric relationships with the “landscape”. The selected preliminary sites for this project were regions that have been proven difficult to maintain as lawns, making them ideal for this conversion. These areas are difficult to access with equipment, have smaller/more irregular shaped lawns, and where leisure would not be preferred (damp and shady).