SCU Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative

Please submit a manuscript and share this invitation with your networks.

See the full call for papers at https://bit.ly/MDPI-Papers

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Join us for a one-day conference on PFAS sources and shallow groundwater contamination near tribally managed lands in California. Explore opportunities for joint work to characterize the issues and develop solutions.

Register at bit.ly/4bDUtr2, and see the full program at bit.ly/4bGuOhD.

Speakers include Otakuye Conroy-Ben (Oglala Lakota, Arizona State University, PFAS issues on tribal lands nationally), Toki Fillman (California Department of Public Health, Biomonitoring California: PFAS data in California), Seigi Karasaki (University of California, Berkeley, Mapping PFAS sources in California), Daniel Beene (University of New Mexico, Mapping water quality, Navajo Water GIS), Charlie Toledo (Towa, Executive Director, Suscol Intertribal Council), Gregg Castro (T’Rowt’Raahl Salinan/ Rumsien-Ramaytush Ohlone, Culture Director, The Association of Ramaytush Ohlone), Shaun Livermore, PO (Operations Manager, Poarch Band of Creek Indians), James Sarmento (Shasta, Executive Director of Cultural Resources, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians), Zachary Gigone (Environmental Scientist, Shingle Springs Band of Miwok Indians), Cintia Cortez (Assistant Policy Analyst, Restore the Delta), Spencer Fern (Delta Science Program Manager, Restore the Delta), and Stephanie Safdi (Stanford University, Clinical Supervising Attorney and Lecturer in Law, Stanford Environmental Law Clinic).

Moderated by Iris Stewart-Frey (Santa Clara University, Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative), Clare Pace (UC Berkeley, Water Equity Science Shop), Daniel Beene (University of New Mexico), and Tedde Simon (Tribal Liaison, UC Berkeley).

Proud of the Initiative's Iris Stewart-Frey and SCU colleague Jake Dialesandro for their research supporting this complaint.

The Initiative's Jesica Siham Fernández has been named a 2024-25 Fulbright U.S. Scholar. Her project, Youth Making a Change, is a transnational study of climate justice activists' sociopolitical development. The goal of her project is to examine how youth are involved in organizing sustainable climate action in the United States and the European Union. During her short-term Fulbright fellowship, Jesica will study youth activists in Florence, Italy. What youth think about climate change—and its connections to issues such as poverty, poor health, and forced migration due to environmental disasters, for example—matters because it can explain why youth enact their politics, and how youth embody their citizenship as members of the polity. Transnational organizations in the US and the EU can develop appropriate policies and interventions to support climate adaptation for sustainability, environmental health, and global democratic thriving. Jesica's scholarly project will offer implications to advance climate justice, document youth citizenship, and foster US-EU transnational collaborations of political accountability for climate action.

Join us on Thursday, April 18, at 7:00 PM at the Music Recital Hall at SCU for a documentary screening featuring a panelist conversation with climate action activists and film director. The event will bring together Greater Silicon Valley environmental justice youth activists to reflect on and discuss their concerns and radical hopes for climate action. By featuring “Fruits of Labor” (2021), a documentary highlighting the story of a young girl agricultural worker and high school student in Watsonville, CA, the event will invite the audience to reflect on the complexities of coming of age in a time of climate change, environmental injustices, and economic inequities that intersect with race, gender, age, and immigrant status. The differential yet interwoven youth experiences featured in the film will be enhanced through the testimonies of youth activists Keala Uchoa (Communities for a Better Environment), Janina Turner (HOPE Collaborative), Elizabeth Esparza (HOPE Collaborative), Amaya Dorman Mackenzie (Sunrise Movement), Ariela Lara (Sunrise Movement), and Najiha Al Asmar (Climate Resilient Communities) complemented by insights from the documentary director, Emily Cohen Ibañez. The event will invite us to imagine possibilities for solidarity in action as we work toward climate actions that can restore sustainability and global environmental thriving.

This event is partially funded by an OML Multicultural Learning Grant and several Departments in the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering, and Leavey School of Business. This event is in partnership with SCU•Presents Arts for Social Justice.

Today is our annual Day of Giving! Donate to SCU’s Environmental Justice & the Common Good Initiative at bit.ly/3U66UGs. Learn more about the Initiative at https://bit.ly/3DQrqRH.

Join us this Wednesday, April 10, at 11:45 AM Locatelli Center for a conversation about Collaborative Innovation for Food Justice in Silicon Valley. Panelists from and the Initiative’s Food and Climate Justice Program will discuss how the Environmental Justice Initiative’s Food and Climate Justice Program, Veggielution, and Democracy at Work Institute () are joining forces to transform the food system while supporting community prosperity through community-based research, education and reflective action that addresses the root causes of inequities.

Panelists include Emily Schwing (Acting Executive Director at Veggielution), SCU alumnus Antonio Amore Rojas (Environmental Studies and Management ’23 and Veggielution’s Cooperative Manager), Claudia Damiani (Veggielution Program Director), and Christopher Bacon (SCU’s Initiative Food and Climate Program Lead and Professor in the Environmental Studies and Science Department). This event will be moderated by Toby McChesney.

In compliance with the ADA/504, please direct your accommodation request to [email protected] at least 72 hours prior to the event.

Two days until our annual Day of Giving! Donate to SCU’s Environmental Justice & the Common Good Initiative by April 10 at bit.ly/3U66UGs. Learn more about the Initiative at https://bit.ly/3DQrqRH.

How can environmental researchers make their work public in ways that center communities’ needs and interests, rather than simply acting as a vehicle for scholarly persuasion or academic self-branding? For answers, see Chad Raphael’s chapter in Thomas J. Billard and Silvio Waisbord’s edited book, Public Scholarship in Communication Studies.

Raphael’s chapter focuses on the major approaches to doing public scholarship involving environmental communication, and their potential rewards and risks for scholars, communities, and the natural world. The chapter argues that the purposes of environmental communication studies should especially drive scholars to practice participatory research with communities, not simply on or for them, and to center issues of environmental justice.

Check out the book from the University of Illinois Press: https://bit.ly/4aCATuJ

Join us on Thursday, April 18, at 7:00 PM at the Music Recital Hall at SCU for a documentary screening featuring a panelist conversation with climate action activists and the film director. The event will bring together Greater Silicon Valley environmental justice youth activists to reflect on and discuss their concerns and radical hopes for climate action. By featuring “Fruits of Labor” (2021), a documentary highlighting the story of a young girl agricultural worker and high school student in Watsonville, CA, the event will invite the audience to reflect on the complexities of coming of age in a time of climate change, environmental injustices, and economic inequities that intersect with race, gender, age, and immigrant status. The differential yet interwoven youth experiences featured in the film will be enhanced through the testimonies of youth activists Keala Uchoa (Communities for a Better Environment), Janina Turner (HOPE Collaborative), Elizabeth Esparza (HOPE Collaborative), Amaya Dorman Mackenzie (Sunrise Movement), Ariela Lara (Sunrise Movement), and Najiha Al Asmar (Climate Resilient Communities) complemented by insights from the documentary director, Emily Cohen Ibañez. The event will invite us to imagine possibilities for solidarity in action as we work toward climate actions that can restore sustainability and global environmental thriving.

This event is partially funded by an OML Multicultural Learning Grant and several Departments in the College of Arts and Sciences, School of Engineering, and Leavey School of Business. This event is in partnership with SCU•Presents Arts for Social Justice.

Register here: https://events.scu.edu/environmental-justice-initiative/event/327871-youth-making-a-change-in-times-of-climate-change-a

Join us on Wednesday, April 10, at 11:45 AM at Santa Clara University Locatelli Center for a conversation about Collaborative Innovation for Food Justice in Silicon Valley. Panelists from Veggielution and the Initiative’s Food and Climate Justice Program will discuss how the Environmental Justice Initiative’s Food and Climate Justice Program, Veggielution, and Democracy At Work Institute are joining forces to transform the food system while supporting community prosperity through community-based research, education and reflective action that addresses the root causes of inequities.

Panelists include Emily Schwing (Acting Executive Director at Veggielution), SCU alumnus Antonio Amore Rojas (Environmental Studies and Management ’23 and Veggielution’s Cooperative Manager), Claudia Damiani (Veggielution Program Director), and Christopher Bacon (SCU’s Initiative Food and Climate Program Lead and Professor in the Environmental Studies and Science Department). This event will be moderated by Toby McChesney.

In compliance with the ADA/504, please direct your accommodation request to [email protected] at least 72 hours prior to the event.

Register here: https://events.scu.edu/environmental-justice-initiative/event/328339-collaborative-innovation-for-food-justice-in

Now is the time to apply for Santa Clara University’s Sustainability & Justice Curriculum Development Workshops, which will be offered online this summer to SCU and non-SCU faculty and staff. Apply by April 2 for priority consideration (or by May 6 for consideration if space is still available).

The workshops are for instructors who are revising a module or course, and for faculty and staff members who train colleagues on their campuses to integrate sustainability and justice across the curriculum.

Last summer, 19 SCU faculty and 36 instructors from across the country completed at least one of our three workshops on Sustainability Across the Curriculum, Environmental Justice and Integral Ecology, and Pedagogy for Sustainability and Justice.

Participants rate the workshops highly. As one faculty member noted, “My understand[ing] of the importance of including race and justice as a basic part of courses on sustainability (and really all of my classes) grew tremendously. Also, the resources are such a wealth of information on both the subject and how to teach it.” See Accounting Professor Stacey Ritter explain how she responded to student interest in learning about these issues by transforming her course at https://bit.ly/3Ii2dSU.

For more information and the link to apply, see bit.ly/3wpzjO3

The workshops are offered jointly by SCU’s Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative and SustaiSustainability at SCUis a national training center for sustainability across the curriculum affiliated with AASHE.AASHEacherProfessionalDevelopment

Looking forward to Mark Arax's visit to SCU on Weds Feb 28.

Big Ag & Big Tech: A Tale of Two Valleys Where Innovation, Inequality & Plunder Meet Mark Arax, author & journalist

See the full call for papers at https://bit.ly/MDPI-Papers

https://www.facebook.com/martha.matsuoka
https://www.facebook.com/MDPIOpenAccessPublishing

Join us on March 7, 2024, from noon to 1:00 PM PST for the final webinar based on the new book “Ground Truths: Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice.” This webinar includes two presentations:

1. Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice in Community Economic Development - Miriam Solis (The University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture) describes community-academic research at the crossroads of environmental justice and community economic development.

2. Community-Engaged Research for Urban and Regional Planning - Ana Isabel Baptista (Tishman Environment and Design Center) discusses how community-engaged research can contribute to urban and regional planning.

Register at http://bit.ly/3SeY0p3.

Student researchers Paulina Ursua Garcia, Kimberly Wood, and Wanyu Xiang from SCU’s Food Justice on Campus project will present at the California Higher Education Basic Needs Alliance Summit in Sacramento February 21-22 alongside Chris Bacon. They’re expecting 1500 people from academia and community groups to address student success by advancing students’ basic needs security! See https://bit.ly/3wpcE4w, , https://bit.ly/49H6s6b.

Join us on March 1, 2024, from noon to 1:00 PM PST for the third webinar based on the new book “Ground Truths: Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice.” This webinar includes two presentations:

1. Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice Law and Policy - Carolina Prado (San Francisco State University Department of Latina/Latino Studies) and Prof. Zsea Bowmani (University of Toledo College of Law) describe how community-academic research can support environmental justice through legal, policy, regulatory, and public participation strategies.

2. Community-Engaged Research for Food Justice and Food Sovereignty - Vera L. Chang (University of California, Berkeley Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management) and Teresa Mares (University of Vermont Department of Anthropology and Gund Institute for Environment) discuss the past and future of community-academic research for food justice and sovereignty.

Register at bit.ly/GroundTruthsReg.

Join us on February 15, 2024, from Noon to 1:00 PM PST for the second webinar based on the new book “Ground Truths: Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice.” This webinar includes two presentations:

1. Community-Engaged Research Methods & Methodologies for Environmental Justice - Ryan J. Petteway (Oregon Health & Science University and Portland State University School of Public Health) and Sarah Commodore (Indiana University - Bloomington School of Public Health) describe a broad range of research methods used by community and academic partners in environmental justice research.

2. Community-Engaged Public Health Research for Environmental Justice - Ryan J. Petteway (Oregon Health & Science University and Portland State University School of Public Health) and R. David Rebanal (San Francisco State University Department of Public Health) explain the major contributions of community-academic public health research for environmental justice and new directions for this work.

Register at https://bit.ly/3SeY0p3.

Ryan Petteway – https://bit.ly/3Oqg0KP
David Rebanal – https://bit.ly/3HLkQyw

Join us on February 1, 2024, from noon to 1:00 PM PST for the first webinar based on the new book “Ground Truths: Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice.” This webinar includes two presentations on the value of community-engaged research for environmental justice organizing and advocacy:

1. Community-Engaged Research for Environmental Justice - Chad Raphael (Santa Clara University Department of Communication) and Martha Matsuoka (Occidental College Department of Urban and Environmental Policy) introduce this approach to collaborative research and why it is especially valuable for advancing environmental justice.

2. The Community-Engaged Research Process - Julie E. Lucero (University of Utah College of Health) and Erika Marquez (University of Nevada, Las Vegas School of Public Health) describe critical issues that arise in each stage of the community-engaged research process and how researchers and their community partners can negotiate them successfully.

Register at https://bit.ly/3SeY0p3.

https://bit.ly/4252Wju
https://bit.ly/3HKT4Cp
https://bit.ly/3Hsz9rq
https://bit.ly/422Ss4d

Ground Truths, a new open access book on the power of community-engaged research for environmental justice, is now available for free from University of California Press!

Join us for a webinar series to launch the book, co-hosted by the SCU Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative and the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College.

Read the book - https://bit.ly/48N0OPy

Register for the webinars - https://bit.ly/3SeY0p3

Join us for a webinar series on community-engaged research for environmental justice to launch the new open-access book, Ground Truths, which will be available for free on January 9 from University of California Press.

The webinars are co-hosted by the SCU Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative and the Urban & Environmental Policy Institute, Occidental College.

Webinar registration - https://www.scu.edu/ej/email/rsvp-letter-cer-for-ej-webinar/

Ground Truths book - https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520384330/ground-truths

See the statement we and over 100 other Ignatian organizations signed, calling on leaders at COP28 to take action for South-North Climate Justice advocacy. https://climatejustice.ecojesuit.com/ecojesuit-towards-cop28-committing-to-a-south-north-climate-justice-advocacy/

Towards COP28 Committing to a South North Climate Justice Advocacy

Join Chris Bacon and student researchers at the FLI Forward Conference on Tuesday, November 7, 3-4 PM in SCDI 1302 for a dialogue on how to increase access to culturally relevant foods and support mutual aid for the 35% of SCU students who experience food insecurity. The conference highlights the experiences of first-generation and limited-income students in higher education through an engaging keynote speaker, panel discussions, interactive workshops, and networking opportunities.
See the conference program at https://bit.ly/3Qh4qSr
Learn more about SCU Inclusive Excellence at https://bit.ly/3FzR26O

This Wednesday, New Mexico Tech Assistant Professor and Diné leader Ranalda Tsosie will talk about the efforts to remove uranium contamination from wells on tribal lands using traditional and Western approaches. Join us in the St. Clare Room LC 316 or on Zoom from 9:15-10:15. RSVP at https://bit.ly/3trso5B.

Today, Assistant Professor Khalid K. Osman (Stanford University) will explore the societal and technical dimensions of the provision of water and sanitation, focusing on how to center justice in the decision-making process. Join us in the St. Clare Room LC 316 or on Zoom!

Recap and Call to Action from the Climate and Environmental Justice Conference

Thank you to the 420+ individuals who joined us in April for the Climate and Environmental Justice Conference at Santa Clara University. Please visit the archival version of the conference website for session recordings, the final report of the conference, photos, and the final report of the Youth Summit.

While it’s impossible to sum up the three intense days of the conference, and the many ideas and engagements that brought it alive, several key insights included:

1️⃣ The compelling testimonies and proposals for personal and collective change from the conference’s opening panels and dialogue throughout the three days reaffirmed our strategy of centering Indigeneity, race, class, and youth voices in efforts to partner with the frontline of environmental justice communities. This includes deepening solidarities and becoming more effective allies for this long-term work.
2️⃣ The panels and breakout sessions highlighted examples of long-term university-community partnerships that have advanced science and social change, as presenters shared strategies for co-producing actionable knowledge. These partnerships are rooted in trust and relationships that recognize individual and institutional differences. They can be scaled with additional support for networking and reciprocal capacity building.
3️⃣ Presenters shared best practices and practical strategies to advance the much-needed transformation in higher education, and explained how cross institutional networks can simultaneously deepen and accelerate these vital change processes.
4️⃣ There are powerful possibilities that arise from integrating faith-based and secular approaches grounded in mutual respect and commitments to justice and care for “our common home” at the local, regional, national, and global scales.

Here's how you can stay engaged and take action after the conference:

1️⃣ Keep up with our work with community partners and learn about future training workshops by following us on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, and/or Twitter.
2️⃣ Join our mailing list by sending a request to [email protected] and invite others to do the same.
3️⃣ Become a part of the Northern California Environmental Justice Network by sending a request to [email protected].
4️⃣ Connect with us to explore potential collaborations in research areas such as food, water, climate, youth, and law and advocacy. We welcome your suggestions and ideas.
5️⃣ Launch your own university-community partnerships for climate and environmental justice.

Thank you once again for your commitment to creating a more just, equitable, healthy, and sustainable world.

The Conference Organizing Committee

Christopher Bacon
Jesica S. Fernández
María Eugenia Flores Gómez
Chad Raphael
Iris Stewart-Frey
Tseming Yang

Grateful to be part of this important work!

📣📣📣 Chris Bacon and Chad Raphael Named to AJCU’s Laudato Sí Commission. The goal is to develop bold proposals for change especially when we are faced with so many ecological challenges.

Santa Clara University Irish Jesuits International SCU Ignatian Center Ignatian Solidarity Network Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities SCU Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative Laudato Si Movement Laudato Si Movement-Africa Laudato Si’ Movement Timor-Leste Laudato Si Movement-Asia Pacific Jesuit Centre for Ecology and Development California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. La Mesa Verde - Sacred Heart Community Service Faith in the Valley Catholic Youth Network for Environmental Sustainability in Africa (CYNESA) Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat SomosJesuitas Don Bosco Green Alliance Green agricultural youth organisation JENA -Jesuit Justice &Ecology Network Africa Jesuit Conference Asia Pacific Kasisi Agricultural Training Centre Jesuit Conference of India

Lee Panich (SCU Anthropology), along with Amy Lueck (English) and Kai Lukoff (Computer Science & Engineering) are creating an augmented reality (AR) tour of the Santa Clara University campus that tells the story of the Ohlone, who have stewarded this land for hundreds of years. The AR tour will allow people to visit about 20 stops on the campus, hold up their phone, and encounter the past, present, and future of the Ohlone in new and provocative ways. The research team recently received a Whitham Family Foundation grant to create “The AR Toolkit for Social Justice Tours,” a guide and set of resources that empowers educators and storytellers around the world to create alternative tours that challenge traditional narratives.

The Initiative's Iris Stewart-Frey and Ed Maurer, along with Allan Baez-Morales (Frugal Innovation Hub), Qiuwen Li (SCU Art & Art History), and a team of 5 student researchers have launched the beta-version of NicaAgua, a groundbreaking mobile phone application designed for their partner organization, CII-ASDENIC, in Nicaragua. This app, developed with human-centric design and frugal innovation principles in mind, aims to revolutionize how local users interact with climate data and make informed decisions.

NicaAgua enables users to effortlessly upload and share data from local weather stations, providing real-time information on extreme weather events and offering insights into climatic changes. By fostering community engagement, the app seeks to support farmers and communities in effectively managing crops and water resources, while developing locally-adapted adaptation and mitigation strategies. The Whitham Family Collaborative Scholarship Award will support further development and uses for the app.

https://bit.ly/463uszG
https://bit.ly/45YuEjr

Iris Stewart-Frey received a $24,000 subaward from the Windward Foundation to work with California Rural Legal Assistance (CRLA) on improving access to safe drinking water in California’s Central Valley. The research team will survey residents to evaluate water quality regulators’ community outreach about controlling nitrate contamination in groundwater, assess social and structural barriers to accessing safe drinking water, and develop educational information on alternatives. The project will help build CRLA’s capacity to engage in community-based data collection, conduct spatial data analysis and visualization, and develop a locally-relevant environmental justice data repository.
Read more here: https://bit.ly/43kc1EZ