RAD Sustainability

A laboratory is a place for science. People in white lab coats bustle about with delicate glass instruments, mixing precise amounts of this with exact amounts of that. Beakers full of strange bubbling liquids fume in the background.

A laboratory is a place for experiments. The Sustainability Lab is no exception, but you may be surprised when you walk in.

Instead of lab coats, we wear green t-shirts and Carhartts. Instead of fragile glassware we work with 50 gallon barrels, submersible pumps, and 2x4s. Rather than the harsh scent of sterilization, you may catch the faint aroma of coffee coming from The Mushroom Kingdom. A bubbling aquarium full of algae substitutes the bubbling beakers. We produce food and data in tandem.

The Sustainability Lab veers from the traditional image of a “lab”. It does not simply house experiments; it is, in itself, an experiment. Most of our tools and techniques fall in line with the “do it yourself” spirit that is currently prevalent in sustainable culture. We have no standard issue solutions.

The work we do, the tests we conduct in our space are especially unique due to the fact that our lab resides in the basement of a freshmen dormitory. A basement may not be the first place you would think to look for a small scale aquaponics system in which goldfish happily swim around and leafy greens sprout. You may not be expecting to find baskets full of coffee grounds and straw – teeming with mycelium and preparing to sprout giant, delicious oyster mushrooms. But our basement laboratory is full of life, but the room itself is no different than one’s basement back home.

The motivation behind all our projects in the lab is the same: to prove that anyone can produce delicious and healthy foods, even if one lives in an urban environment. We want to prove that you don’t need to build a big greenhouse to have an aquaponics system and that you don’t have to be a professional mycologist to grow gourmet mushrooms.

Urban agriculture has huge potential, much of which is not being realized. A lot of that comes from people simply not being aware of the potential their living space holds. We want students to be able to see some examples of what they can do, even if they live in a studio apartment, share a house with five other people, or live in their parent’s basement. We want to share the data we have collected in the lab with you. Or, at the very least, we want to inspire you.

No matter how small a project is, growing your own food is an amazing experience. If you live in a city apartment but have window boxes with a couple of strawberry plants, you’re making a difference. You save a couple of dollars, and get fresh, tasty food in the process. Most people find great satisfaction in eating food they grew with their own hands; I know I do. You don’t need a lab coat to experiment; your results may surprise you.