Cara Chapman, an environmental engineering student at the University of British Columbia (UBC), says reading about climate change in the news can often feel “isolating and hopeless. Students might feel like there’s nothing they can do.
But the passion project she’s part of at school has made her realize that this is far from the truth.
Every weekend, Chapman and a group of her peers gather at a grassy lot near UBC’s main campus — geared up in hard hats, vests, work boots and heavy gloves.
They’re working hard to assemble a prototype structure that aims to tackle both climate change and the demand for affordable housing — the Sustainable Mobile Research Testbed (SMRT) — a tiny home powered by renewable energies.