Do you want to do something about climate change? Would you like to work on a real-world research project, alongside students from different disciplines?
At McGill’s Bieler School of Environment, there’s a course for that.
In ENVR 401, advanced undergrads team up to conduct research on behalf of actual “clients,” such as not-for-profit organizations, government agencies, and operating units of the University. The students scope out their projects at the start of the fall semester. By the end of the semester, they submit final reports for dissemination to the research community and to the people affected.
So it was that Laura Jardin, Léalu Que-Trépanier and the six other students on their team spent much of the fall analyzing the vulnerability of McGill’s Macdonald Campus Farm to climate change. Located along the banks of the St. Lawrence River at the western tip of Montreal island, the 205-hectare site is an experimental and demonstration farm dedicated to teaching and research.
Laura, originally from Calgary, is a fourth-year student majoring in Environment through the Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Léalu, who grew up in a small town near Montreal, is majoring in Environment through the Faculty of Science.
The mandate
Their client for the project was McGill’s Climate Officer, Divya Sharma. Based in McGill’s Office of Sustainability, Sharma is responsible for supporting McGill on its path to carbon neutrality by 2040 and assisting the various climate-action projects on campus.
Sharma asked the team to identify key infrastructure and operations at the sites; assess how they might be vulnerable to climate change; and come up with options for mitigating those risks.
The students set to work by conducting a “literature review” to size up regional climate trends and identify possible adaptation strategies. They also carried out a series of online interviews with people on site -- staff, researchers and students -- to get their insights into the operations and the state of infrastructure at the Mac Farm.
The findings
On Dec. 7, the team members gathered in an Arts Building lecture hall to present their findings to their ENVR 401 classmates and the six instructors who jointly supervise the 100-student class.
The students displayed data showing rising temperatures and longer growing seasons since 1950 -- as well as an increase in extreme precipitation events. Interviews with staff members at the farm also found unanimous agreement that the frequency and intensity of dry spells have increased in recent years, the team reported.
Among their suggested adaptation options for the Mac Farm: expand the Farm’s practice of choosing drought-resistant crop varieties; intercropping; and capturing rainwater from extreme precipitation events to be used to irrigate crops during extended dry periods. The team also recommended increasing the Farm’s staff to accommodate the extra demands incurred from adapting to the changing climate.
Putting theory into practice
For the students, the course is a valuable opportunity to apply much of what they’ve learned as Environment majors -- and to get hands-on experience in devising a project and carrying it out. The Mac Farm team’s 60-page final report, for example, is packed with analysis and detailed suggestions, such as expanding the use of drip irrigation.
“There’s a lot of theory in first-year courses, and I was kind of lost as to how that could translate in the real world,” Léalu says. ENVR 401 “involved a lot of real-life skills,” such as communicating with the people working on site.
The course instructors include professors and postdoctoral researchers from disciplines such as Geography, Urban Planning, and Biology. Student projects last fall covered topics ranging from urban transportation to impacts of agricultural fertilizer on Canada’s nitrogen footprint.
“This course provides students with hands-on experience on climate change vulnerability analysis – a sought after asset, especially for students looking forward to working on climate change after graduation,” says instructor Camila Flórez Bossio, a postdoctoral researcher who completed her PhD at McGill last year. “For clients, this is a valuable research product that helps them identify their key vulnerabilities and potential adaptation solutions.”
Sharma took ENVR401 as an undergrad, herself, 10 years ago. Her project back then examined how sustainability could be integrated into McGill’s curriculum. Now, the Office of Sustainability is developing plans to do just that -- showing how student work in this course can sow the seeds for future change.
The students’ work on the Mac Farm’s operations “is a helpful first step as we begin to assess the risks of climate change to the University as a whole and identify potential adaptation measures,” Sharma says. “Collaborations like these with students enrich our capacities at the University.”