[A title card fades in and out reading: This film contains flashing lights that may affect photosensitive viewers.]
[Soft modern classical music fades up and plays throughout the video.]
[A black and white image of an old plant wall fades in.]
Male voice (offscreen): “So this biofilter was one of the very first living wall…
[Another black and white image of the old plant wall from a different angle.]
Male voice (offscreen): “…biofilters ever built.”
[Another black and white image of the old plant wall from a different angle.]
Dylan Robertson: “And it reached its end-of-life cycle and so what we’ve done is taken the old technology…”
[Image of man (same as offscreen voice from earlier) speaking on camera. Lower third graphic: Dylan Robertson, Co-Founder at New Earth Solutions]
Dylan Robertson (offscreen): “…improved and innovated on that tech and then implemented the new tech into what was otherwise known as one of the very first biofilters ever built.”
[Time lapse footage of current plant wall biofilter construction at Guelph-Humber]
Ashnaa: “When I first came to Guelph-Humber in my first semester it was like normal, it was thriving, it was green, but eventually it started to deteriorate and like seeing that happen me and my friends were like ‘you know is this the COVID effect on the planet wall too.”
[Image of woman speaking on camera. Lower third graphic: Ashnaa Narumathan, 2nd Year Kinesiology Student]
Ashnaa (offscreen): “Because school also gets really stressful during that point that the plant wall started to deteriorate, and it was just like “oh my God the plant wall is literally mirroring what students are going through during this Covid stricken time”.”
[Time lapse footage of current plant wall biofilter construction at Guelph-Humber]
Dylan: “This particular project is unique because it’s a flagship project. It’s in a building that stands for sustainability.”
[Dylan Robertson speaking on camera.]
Dylan (offscreen): “I think it’s a statement piece or a signal, a beacon of sustainability and wellness for the built environment.”
[Close up footage of the first plant being planted into the plant wall.]
Ashaa (offscreen): “The plant wall is an integral part of our campus because it represents what Guelph-Humber is all about. It just feels…”
[Timelapse footage of plants being planted into the plant wall.]
Ashnaa: “…like you’re not really walking into a school it’s more so like you’re walking into this environment where you want to learn and you want to be there and you want to meet up with your teachers and your friends.”
[Ashnaa Narumathan speaking on camera.]
Dylan: “There’s two different parts to how the wall works. The first is that it’s hydroponic.”
[Dylan Robertson speaking on camera.]
Dylan (offscreen): “It’s really important to stipulate that it’s a hydroponic system and that the roots are completely exposed because that’s actually how we do step two which is the biofiltration aspect. It’s how we filter the air. So a plant purifies the air using its root zone, and by exposing the roots we can actively pull air into the root zone…scrub the air, remove all the toxins that we would otherwise be breathing, and then recirculate that air into the building.”
Ashnaa: “To students to have the plant wall in the atrium, it shows that we’re finally coming out of this Covid stricken state, and that we’re turning over this new leaf, and that things are changing, and we’re back in person, and the plant wall’s back, and like order is restored at Guelph-Humber.
Because it’s so important, it’s like the biggest part of Guelph-Humber, it’s an entire wall, it’s really hard to miss, so just seeing that back up and running again I think it just shows students like, hey like we’re back to our like old campus life, so you can come…”
[Slow panning and tracking shots of the completed new plant wall.]
Ashnaa: “…back, and you can join clubs, and you can like be a part of campus life.”
Music plays
[Black screen
A title card fades in and out reading: Over the next four months the plant wall will continue to grow, returning to its original state bringing clean air and beauty to our campus.]
[The University of Guelph-Humber Logo fades in and out.]