SCU Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative

09/28/2026

Congratulations to Christopher Bacon for winning Santa Clara University ’s Professor Joseph Bayma, S.J., Scholarship Award! The award is given for having established among colleagues and students a well-deserved reputation for productive, meaningful, and rigorous scholarly or creative work, and for having demonstrated the ability to motivate other scholars or artists, teachers and learners. We’re proud of Chris for collaborating with community partners to produce participatory action research for food, climate, and environmental justice.

Learn more about Chris’s research at https://www.scu.edu/ej/about-us/leaders-/christopher-bacon/

09/28/2026

Read about the key policy themes that emerged from the 2026 California Environmental Justice Strategy Summit at Santa Clara University at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/how-do-we-protect-advance-environmental-justice-california-amidst-qtdee/

08/31/2026

Leaders from community-based organizations and government agencies reflect on the future of environmental justice policy, research, and advocacy. Please join us for this engaging webinar during these times of transition.

Panelists:

Marie Choi, Strategy Director, Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)

Marisol Aguilar, Deputy Director, California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.

Gustavo Aguirre, Associate Director, The Center on Race, Poverty & the Environment

Geneva E. B. Thompson, Deputy Secretary for Tribal Affairs, California Natural Resources Agency

Yuting (Yvonne) Chi, Deputy Secretary for Equity and Environmental Justice, California Environmental Protection Agency

The conversation will be moderated by Iris Stewart-Frey and Chris Bacon from the SCU Environmental Justice and the Common Good Initiative at Santa Clara University.

Register by September 14 at https://lnkd.in/gK844Tm4

08/17/2026

Read Jesica Siham Fernández's reflection on sustainability and community in the sencha green tea harvest at Megumi Tea Garden 瀬戸谷のめぐみ茶園 in Shizuoka, Japan.

See the story at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/gratitude-communitea-ejscu-vzhnc

Thanks to Izumi Sato for arranging Jesica's visit. https://www.facebook.com/izumi.sato.yoga/

Jesica Siham Fernández learns about the green tea harvest at the Megumi Tea Garden plantation in Shizuoka, Japan, and how it embodies values of sustainability.

06/04/2026

Congratulations to Anna Keenan for her contributions to a project in the Water and Climate Justice Lab with Prof. Iris Stewart-Frey that examined the intersection of AI data centers with water scarcity and historically marginalized communities in California. Anna contributed to the part of the work that sought to identify the environmental review processes and projected water use for current and planned data centers and is a co-author on a published report.

06/02/2026

We are proud of .kaneko , who has worked with Prof. Iris Stewart-Frey and Dr. Jake Dialesandro on analyzing nitrate and other contaminant trends on California’s Central Coast using GIS and statistics. His work has contributed to presentations to the California State Water Board Expert Panel and related advocacy efforts for clean water in rural farmworker communities. Austin is planning to build a career in environmental consulting.

06/02/2026

Congratulations to Arturo Torres Torres Landa for his dedication and work with Prof. Iris Stewart-Frey, Frugal Innovation Hub Director Allan Baez Morales and the entire NicaAgua team in the Water and Climate Justice Lab to build a mobile app designed to strengthen smallholder climate resilience in Northern Nicaragua. For over 2 years, Arturo was the backbone of the implementation team, researching and building options, managing other students, as well as coordinating workshops with community partners in Spanish and implementing feedback. Arturo brought so many quantitative talents and so much maturity in team operations to the NicaAgua project that we have started to think of him as a key and permanent team member. He was a co-author on a peer-reviewed publication, presented at conferences, was a Miller Center and Sigma Xi fellow, and is considering several options for graduate school and employment.

05/29/2026

On Tuesday, May 19, thirteen middle-school youth engaged in the Youth for Justice Project (YJP) afterschool program unveiled their mural, entitled “Time to Take Action.” The mural was made possible through a collaboration between SCU’s Environmental Justice Initiative and .

Over the past academic year, youth learned various art techniques and skills under the guidance of local muralists and art-educators, Jessica Carmen and Augie WK, affiliated with and JAMS. In addition to engaging in and applying these skills in their creative projects, youth learned how to conduct social science research under the guidance of Dr. Jesica S. Fernández and undergraduate student researchers Ashley Orozco-Plata, Linda Soto and Milagros Cruz-Jimenez.

Featuring youth advocacy on environmental justice topics – from labor and immigrant rights to economic equity and gender inclusivity – the mural captures young people’s interests, and visions of communities coming together to create social change. Youth selected their topics after reflecting upon their lives, community and family environments, as well as pressing sociopolitical issues impacting them. Capturing their visions for a world where justice, peace and wellbeing is possible, the mural reflects the necessity to “take action” – and that there is no better time than now.

The mural will be on display at , located in the Guadalupe-Washington neighborhood, where the YJP program has served youth since 2021.

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05/29/2026

Congratulations to Will Jaspen, who is a creative, thoughtful and engaged member of the Agroecology, Climate Resilience, and Food Justice Lab, with Professor Chris Bacon. With Veggielution, Will collected feedback from food system professionals through focus groups and surveys, before helping to redesign the South Bay Food Justice website. As part of this work, he rapidly learned new data analysis, visualization, and website design skills. He partnered with Carmel Dill-Cruz to conduct a benchmarking study of online food system courses, presented the findings to food system leaders in the Bay Area from public health agencies, county government, Stanford Medicine, UC Extension, and elsewhere. Additionally, Will contributed to the Student Basic Needs Research Project. Will is dedicated to producing great music and building a more just and sustainable food system at SCU and throughout the broader South Bay community.
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05/28/2026

Today we are celebrating for her contributions to a project with Prof. Iris Stewart-Frey in the Water and Climate Justice Lab that examined the intersection of AI data centers with water scarcity and historically marginalized communities in California. Rachel led the part of the work that sought to identify the environmental review processes and projected water use for current and planned data centers, and is a co-author on a published report. Rachel was also a Miller Center and Sigma Xi fellow and will be joining the Peace Corps for the next 2+ years. She will be going to Jamaica as a Sustainable Agriculture Facilitator. In this role, she will be working with the Rural Agricultural Development Authority and local farming communities to conduct needs assessments, develop work plans, and collaborate with community partners to implement projects that improve agricultural productivity, such as sustainable soil and water conservation techniques. Rachel, we are so proud of your dedication to building a better world with communities on the ground!