This newsletter is best viewed via web browser.

Climate HQ Newsletter

Volume 2, Issue 4: April 2026

For students, faculty, staff, and community.

Climate HQ was created to empower SF State's diverse students, staff, and faculty to become climate justice leaders. Together, we are training student leaders, fostering collective knowledge, creating empowering events, and transforming our campus to face today's greatest climate challenges.

In This Issue: Fall 2026 Certificate Courses, Certificate Advising, April Events, 4th Annual Earth Week FilmFest, Climate HQ x Human Rights Organizing Summit Collaboration, Summer Class in the Sierras, Call for Student Research Participants, Field Trip Recap, and more.

April is here and Climate HQ has a full and exciting schedule of events this month! Mark your calendars for panel discussions, the Climate HQ 4th Annual Earth Week FilmFest, a book launch, our collaboration with CFA for the Human Rights Organizing Summit, and more. Prepare for enrollment season with our list of Climate Change Certificate courses being taught in fall 2026 + meet with an advisor to get your schedule set. We hope to see you join us and bring a friend to get involved!

For those new to Climate HQ - welcome! Make sure you browse our website or reach out to members of our team to get plugged into our opportunities!

Check out our past newsletters to get a sense of what we've been up to.

What we are reading, watching, & listening to:

Grasping at the Roots: A Love Letter to the Black EJ Movement, by CJA's Black Caucus

Over 100 Orgs Call For Changes to CalEnviroScreen Mapping Tool, in SF Gate

The Iran War and the Climate Emergency discussion by Covering Climate Now

The Urgent Case Against Data Centers, Food & Water Watch

Whitey on the Moon spoken-word poem by Gil Scott-Heron (1970)

Thank you for being a reader of the Climate HQ Newsletter. We'd love to learn where our newsletters are circulating and who they are reaching.

Announcing Our Fall 2026

Climate Change Certificate Courses

Certificate in Climate Change: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions

Interested in the Climate Change Certificate? Need advising? This unique program is open to students of any major and is a great way to complete your SF State Studies requirements along with many of your Upper Division and even major requirements!

Students take classes in the areas of: Foundations, Causes, Impacts, & Solutions. Students gain an interdisciplinary overview of climate change issues and climate justice. This is a great way to get started in studies on climate change and is flexible to accommodate students in all majors.

We have certificate advisors across campus in every college. Contact a certificate advisor to plan your schedule to best fit your graduation timeline!

April 2026 Events

Climate HQ and our partners across and beyond campus have a full April of events! See below, mark your calendar, and join us!

Register here for "Innovation or Extraction"

Wednesday, April 8th|Library 121

Talk 5-6pm | Op-Ed Workshop 6:15-7:15pm

Space is limited.

What's the role of AI and its unintended–or intended–consequences? This discussion will engage issues such as the intensification of labor precarity, privatization, war, and violence, as well as data and ecological extraction at SF State and beyond.

Join us in conversation with Dr. Alex Hanna, co-author of The AI Con: How to Fight Big Tech's Hype and Create the Future We Want!

An op-ed writing workshop led by the Scholars Strategy Network will follow the talk, to support academics and students in public communication and advocacy.

Reserve your seat here for the screening & conversation

with Norcal Public Media and Bay Area Advocates

Thursday, April 9 | 12:30-1:45pm

SFSU's Coppola Theater

Join us at the Coppola Theater for a screening and panel on the new PBS documentary produced by Ken Burns, which explores power and deeply connected themes drawn from the life and philosophy of Henry David Thoreau. A panel discussion will follow with three on-the-ground environmental justice advocates in the Bay Area. Stick around to grab food and chat with the panelists!

Reserve a spot at the Careers in Sustainability & Climate Panel

Monday, April 13 | 12pm - 3pm

SFSU's Library 121

Join us for a panel with professionals across different sectors–zero waste, environmental research, storytelling and nonprofit leadership–sharing their paths, challenges, and insights into building meaningful careers in the sustainability and climate space.

Join us in celebrating the book launch for International Relations

Professor Mahmood Monshipouri, who recently published the book

Climate Change, Environmental Refugees, and Human Rights in the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2025).

Open to all students!

Image Credit: LWF/ Albin Hillert, Center for International Environmental Law. From COP 27, Egypt

Climate HQ partners with the California Faculty Association (CFA) for the 11th Human Rights Organizing Summit

April 20-23rd at SF State

Starting in 2004, the late Professor Mariana Ferreira (1959-2025) organized annual Human Rights Summits at San Francisco State, engaging students, faculty, and community activists to share scholarship, arts and performance with a focus on proposing action to defend human rights. We bring back the Human Rights Summit to renew Mariana’s legacy in Pedagogy of the Oppressed-informed praxis—theory, action and reflection—and apply it to our current moment of multiple interlocking crises.  

In addition to a full week of activity on campus, Climate HQ is supporting multiple events on Thursday, April 23rd at the intersection of climate justice, labor, and human rights. Stay tuned for more information.

Join us for Climate HQ's 4th Annual Earth Week FilmFest

Thursday, April 23 |5:30pm-7pm

Coppola Theater (Fine Arts Building)

This year we are featuring two short films, “Ndjimu (Deep Cobalt)” directed by Congolese filmmaker and activist Petna Ndaliko Katondolo & “In the Maritime Frequencies” directed by School of Cinema professor Greta Snider. 

In addition, student projects produced by the Climate HQ Storytellers Fellows will also be featured as part of this special screening. These short audio-visual projects, produced as part of the Climate HQ Storytellers Lab, tell students’ stories of climate and ecological struggle, justice, and resilience. This interdisciplinary group of Fellows represent a diversity of departments and fields, including Philosophy, Environmental Sciences, Ethnic Studies, and Cinema from both undergraduate and graduate programs. Projects explore indigenous relationships to land and healing, a philosophical meditation on the impacts of AI, a subterranean sewer monster, a view of a future where daylight and energy consumption are controlled by the fascist state, stories of Bay Area teens told in their own voices, and more. Storytelling approaches include documentary, fiction, stop motion animation (using recycled and reclaimed materials), essay & narrative, and experimental film from both seasoned student filmmakers and creators without any previous production experience alike. 

The annual Climate HQ Earth Week FilmFest is co-produced with the School of Cinema’s Marcus Endowed Chair of Social Justice Filmmaking and co-sponsored by Race & Resistance Studies and the SFSU Office of Sustainability. 

Free dinner will be provided after the screenings for all participants and attendees! Please arrive early to secure your seat. 

And please stay tuned for event flyer with more info coming soon!

“In the Maritime Frequencies”

Directed by Greta Snider (Professor, School of Cinema).

Runtime: 16 minutes

A conversation about how we internalize our climate emergency, letting mortalities large and small emerge only when the night puts our guard down. Inspired by the San Francisco Bay, dreams, and novelist Octavia Butler's vision of a future California. This film embraces the aesthetics of a crumbling society – expired and cast-off film, backyard developing, hand cranked camera – because it is a premonition, a goodbye, and a last look over the shoulder.

Keep Up With Climate HQ & Partners

Keep up with our recurring and new events here!

We are always adding new events to our calendar as we partner with departments, student groups, and organizations on and off campus.

Other New & Events from Campus and Community Partners

Pa' Fuera!: Equity in Birdwatching and the Outdoors

Tuesday, April 14 | 12:30 – 2 pm

Library 121| Open to All

The Department of Latina/Latino Studies hosts the last of its Latinx Speaker Series!

Analicia Hawkins will present their talk, “Pa’Fuera!: Equity in Birdwatching and the Outdoors.” Hawkins will discuss their experience in creating spaces for queer and trans people of color in the birding realm. Attendees will participate in a bird bingo activity.  

For questions or accommodations, please email the Latina/Latino Studies Department at ltns@sfsu.edu.

Register for the Bike Build through the SF Rotary Club here

Saturday, April 18 | Bayview Hunter's Point YMCA

Join the SF Rotary Club and partners to help assemble 130 brand new bikes for distribution to kids in Kindergarten thru 5th grades in the Bayview area of San Francisco. All are welcome.

Register for Student & Faculty Surveillance in the Automated Academy

Friday, April 24th | Zoom

Public talk open to all 3-4pm

Climate HQ faculty have teamed up for the "Data's Counter Stories" speaker series this April. Join us for a virtual talk with Dr. Lindsay Weinberg, author of

Smart University: Student Surveillance in the Digital Age, to discuss how higher education has become a battleground for the deployment of data extraction and surveillance technologies. What are the many implications for labor and education? How do we fight back?

Curious how science, design, and activism can work together to create real change? Are you passionate about the planet and ready to do something about it? Interested in earning course credit while exploring the breathtaking Sierra Nevadas?

In this hands-on, interdisciplinary course, students dive into California’s most pressing environmental challenges and discover creative ways to respond. It includes classes at SF State and a one-week visit to the Sierra Nevada Field Campus near Bassets, CA. Blending fieldwork, research, and artistic practice, the class invites you to explore the natural world up close, understand the forces shaping it, and design meaningful interventions.

Climate Issues & Activism is a 3 unit cross-listed course and can count towards your major degree in: Visual Com Design (DES 312), Liberal Studies (LS 312), and Environmental Studies (ENVS 312).

Register here and fill out the Student Interest Survey.

Contact Professors:

Saskia van Kampen (saskia@sfsu.edu)

Logan Hennessy (loganh@sfsu.edu).

Student Participants Wanted!

Participate in a Research Study on Climate Anxiety

& Sustainable Food Systems

Professors Zubaida Qamar (FINA/Climate HQ) and Supriya Misra (Public Health), are conducting research on college students’ feelings about climate change, sustainable food systems, and mental health. We are inviting you to participate because you are a part of the student community at SF State, and your voice matters!

If you are interested in the research project, please fill out this form:

https://sfsu.co1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6uqSG2wJ4wsQsLA?Q_CHL=qr

If you have any questions or would like to participate in the research,

email food4future@sfsu.edu.

The TOGETHER Bay Area Conference is a unique opportunity to explore careers in climate change and connect with professionals leading climate action across the region. Past student volunteers have built connections with land trusts, sustainability organizations, park agencies, and Native tribes—gaining insight into meaningful post-graduation pathways.

By participating, you can earn field practicum or independent study credit while expanding your network and learning about real-world climate solutions. Volunteering at the registration desk also comes with a complimentary conference ticket (valued at $300–$400), which includes breakfast and lunch.

The experience includes:

• A virtual volunteer training (Zoom)
• A kickoff session on May 12
• The in-person conference on May 13 at Fort Mason
• Optional field trips on May 14–15
• 
  

Sign up to attend! First come first served. Please email Ella Walls, ewalls@sfsu.edu and add your name in this sign-up sheet.

Save the Date - SF Climate Week

April 18-26, 2026

The City of San Francisco is once again hosting Climate Week in mid-April.

This annual summit brings industry, government, and civil society actors together for a number of events, occasionally with high-profile guests. Past participants have included Indigenous leaders throughout the world as well as state and national climate leaders. Stay tuned on the link below for updates to this year’s schedule.

Follow for updates and to plan your schedule: www.sfclimateweek.org

On a beautiful Saturday morning with sweeping views of the Bay, SF Rotary members joined SFSU Climate HQ students and staff for a hands-on restoration workday at the Native Plant Nursery run by Literacy for Environmental Justice in Candlestick Park. Together, our 35 volunteers, alongside 5 dedicated LEJ staff, transplanted native iris and sticky monkey flower, moved dirt, and put in a full week's worth of work before lunchtime, fueled by good conversation and pizza.

The feedback said it all. Every single respondent rated the experience "Excellent" or "Very Good" and called it "Extremely Valuable" — and every one said they'd "Definitely" do it again. Participants highlighted the joy of working side by side: SFSU students, community college students, and Rotarians forming new friendships while doing something that genuinely matters.

One volunteer summed it up perfectly: "The Native Plant Nursery is such a hidden gem. It is uplifting to see students and Rotarians work side by side on this important work."

In 2021, participants across 6 of SF State's colleges joined to create what would become Climate HQ, a hub to empower SF State's diverse students, staff, and faculty to become climate justice leaders. We began by creating the Climate Change Certificate Program, open to all students in every major.

We then developed the Climate Justice Leaders Initiative, a multi-year effort to grow our impact through education, research, and action. We launched a paid opportunity for students called the Climate Action Fellows, developed Applied Climate Justice Courses, rolled out Faculty Learning Communities and Faculty Mini Grants, initiated a PK-12 Graduate Certificate in Climate Justice Education for teachers, hosted annual events like Earth Week (including an annual FilmFest), launched a paid Climate Justice Internship Program + more.