In collaboration with Centennial College, Ontario Tech University, Durham College, and Trent University, UTSC has created and introduced the Environmental and Related Technologies Hub (EaRTH) District — a training and research hub that focuses on researching and creating green technologies.
EaRTH District goals
In an interview with The Varsity, UTSC’s Chief Administrative Officer Andrew Arifuzzaman said that EaRTH District is one of U of T’s many localized initiatives to reduce its carbon footprint and slow climate change. He noted that the university has also been looking for ways to reduce its carbon footprint when it constructs new buildings and upgrades existing ones.
Arifuzzaman said that supply chain issues can make it difficult to ensure a project is sustainable. “Much of the material is being produced elsewhere and that innovation isn’t really being driven locally as much as we think [it] can be,” he said.
A part of the EaRTH District initiative is a net-zero vertical farm, the first of its kind in Canada, that is being created by UTSC and Centennial College. According to Arifuzzaman, this vertical farm at UTSC will be “a teaching and research facility.” He said that conversations between UTSC and Centennial College about its creation led to discussions about broader sustainability objectives formed by the United Nations and how the two could contribute to sustainability innovation.
Arifuzzaman sees the EaRTH District initiative not only as a way of stimulating innovation and developing technology to reduce carbon footprints, but also as a way of investing in the people and facilitating collaboration by providing positions for students at the hub.
Additionally, the project will be “creating more jobs locally, stimulating the local economy, [and] reducing transportation costs” by revitalizing the vast manufacturing spaces available in Scarborough and the Durham Region.
“[The] analysis that we undertook has demonstrated that, by 2040, this work could generate over $8 billion of new investment in taxable income,” added Arifuzzaman.
Opportunities for students
According to Arifuzzaman, the project will provide employment opportunities for students. He said that students will also be “actively involved and engaged in the research projects that have been funded by the five institutions.” For example, the vertical farm will allow students to gain skills for food security challenges and learn methods of experimentation.
Beyond this, the collaboration could allow students to take courses at the other four institutions. He added that the opportunity for students to take unique specialty courses focused on green technology is important because it allows them to gain new skill sets.
The collaboration
Speaking on the structure of the collaboration, Arifuzzaman suggested that “this collaboration is capitalizing [each institution’s] strengths and actually [bringing] those strengths together in unique ways.”
He added that there are some conversations underway about “creating micro-credentialing programs that will allow industry to reconnect with the institution and develop new skill sets for people who are currently in the field and practicing.”
Arifuzzaman concluded by saying that the project has been designed with the hope that it will be able to make “environmental and sustainable technologies locally, making them more affordable.”
