“Many people think that climate change is still in the future or is only affecting far off places — and that’s simply not true,” says Robert Soden, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s Department of Computer Science and School of the Environment.
“Climate change is happening now and it’s happening everywhere, including in the city of Toronto.”
Soden and Rohini Patel — who received her PhD from the Department of History and was a postdoctoral fellow with the School of the Environment — were co-instructors for the first-ever session of the Toronto Climate Summer School, an intensive six-week course in which second- and third-year students examined the climate crisis from the perspective of a city like Toronto.
“Of course, we talked about the floods, wildfires and heatwaves that get so much attention,” says Soden. “But in their projects, the students also looked at how climate change is affecting local agriculture, housing, immigration, labour and migrant justice, as well as how the city copes with weather extremes.”
We tried to do something that was different from how climate change has been taught before. We had a great group of students that were very game and invested in it, with lots of good classes and discussions. It was a wonderful, really fun experience and I’m looking forward to next year.
Elise Corbin is a member of Innis College entering her second year at U of T, working toward a specialist in computer science and minors in mathematics and urban studies.
“I'm hoping to dedicate my computer science skills to combat climate change,” she says. “When I found out about the school I thought, this sounds right up my alley. So I signed up and I'm really glad I did.”
For their climate summer school project, Corbin and her team attempted to identify the sources of emissions of methane — a more potent greenhouse gas than CO2 — in Toronto’s Junction neighbourhood.
The work was supervised by Debra Wunch, an associate professor in the Department of Physics and the School of the Environment. She monitors greenhouse gas emissions using data from satellites, remote sensing devices in the city and with bicycle-mounted detectors.
“The Junction had a number of methane spikes and nobody knew why,” says Corbin. “So our project was to figure out where they were coming from. We made a bunch of visits to various sites with the bike-mounted methane sensor and also used handheld sensors.”
Eventually, the students determined that the methane was coming from the sewer system. The neighborhood has an old system — meaning the sewer is connected to the storm drains. Organic matter from the sewers was getting clogged in the pipes and decomposing and methane was bubbling up through the storm drains out into the streets.
Lucas Lyons graduated in the spring of 2024 as a member of St. Michael’s College with an honours bachelor’s degree in mathematics and statistics.
“I'm from Toronto and I can see myself living here in the future,” he says. “So, I took the course because I was interested in learning more about climate change as it relates to Toronto. Plus, I wanted to learn about ways in which I could apply my math and statistical skills in a way that was productive for society.”
Lyon’s team worked with Professor Karen Smith from the Department of Physical & Environmental Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, to examine questions related to shifting baselines in climate change.
For example, a heat wave can be defined as a period of temperatures higher than what is normally expected based on historic climate averages. But this raises the question: Which historical period? A baseline from a half century ago when temperatures were lower or a baseline from the past decade when temperatures were higher?
A heatwave can also be defined by an absolute temperature; for example, for southern Ontario, Environment Canada declares a heatwave after at least two days with a humidex of 42 degrees C. But, as “normal” temperatures creep higher and higher, what does it mean to say that Toronto is experiencing a heatwave?
Funding for the summer school was provided by U of T’s Learning & Education Advancement Fund. Graduate students Rugare Rukuni and Jordan Hogg contributed to the development of the school, strengthening the course structure and the interdisciplinary approaches offered.
This was the first year of a three-year pilot phase for the summer school and while it was very much an experiment, Soden is confident it was a successful one and is already planning changes based on this year’s experience.
“We tried to do something that was different from how climate change has been taught before,” he says. “We had a great group of students that were very game and invested in it, with lots of good classes and discussions. It was a wonderful, really fun experience and I’m looking forward to next year.”