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Climate HQ Newsletter

Volume 3, Issue 1: Sept/Oct 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: Applications due for the Climate Justice Internship Program and Storytellers' Lab, Upcoming Events, Climate Change Certificate Launches Canvas Dashboard, Recap Past Events, Faculty Scholarship, Save the Date for Celebration of Student Climate Leadership

The new school year is well on its way and so is Climate HQ. We are excited to welcome new and returning students who share a commitment to nurturing our ecological relationships while emphasizing social and economic justice. Although we may be from different majors and communities, or have different interests and skills, Climate HQ serves as a hub for bringing us together around this shared purpose. This newsletter will keep you updated with events, opportunities, courses, and more. All of our events and opportunities are open everyone on campus. Join us!

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:

Song for a Hard-Hit People by Beth Howard

Positive Tipping Points Playbook The Earthshot Prize

End Times Fascism: And the Fight for the Living World by Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor

North Stars of Emancipation by Antonio Roman-Alcalá

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.

The Certificate in Climate Change: Causes, Impacts, and Solutions has a new online community space! With input from student members, the Certificate Steering Committee has launched a new Canvas page for all those currently taking or newly interested in the certificate. Now, when you express interest in the certificate, an advisor will add you to the Canvas page to keep up to date. This is also a space where student are asked to post reflections on what they learned in each of their certificate classes + share their projects to build community across campus.

How Do I Become a Member?

Email Logan Hennessy (loganh@sfsu.edu) or Constance Gordon (cgordon@sfsu.edu) with your Student ID or SFSU Email

to be added to the Canvas page.

When you're in, post a bio to introduce yourself!

Need Certificate Advising?

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!

Climate Justice Internship Program

Applications Due by October 1

Get paid internship experience with a local climate justice organization! This is a great opportunity to build local connections, enact real-world climate justice, and grow your resume, all while doing work you care about with climate justice advocates! Learn more about the internship program, check out the application materials, and meet current interns here!

Climate HQ Storytellers' Lab and Fellowship

Applications due by October 1st

Applications are now open for the '26-'27 Climate HQ Storytellers’ Lab & Fellowship!

The Climate HQ Storytellers’ Lab & Fellowship is an interdisciplinary initiative entering its second year at San Francisco State University that supports students in the development and telling of their own stories about climate and ecological justice. The Lab is designed to help students at SFSU transform their ideas into impactful short-form media projects through hands-on workshops and individualized mentorship within a creative community of storytellers, activists, researchers, educators, and professional filmmakers. 

Storyteller Fellows receive a $750 stipend to support their work, as well as the opportunity to screen their completed projects at the 5th annual Climate HQ FilmFest in April 2027.

We welcome all currently enrolled SFSU students across disciplines and at all levels of production experience, from MFA filmmakers to first-time storytellers. We believe climate and ecological justice issues intersect with every facet of life and, therefore, will consider varied, diverse, and wide-reaching topics, proposals, and genres.

Projects at any stage of development or production will be considered, and students are encouraged to use this Fellowship to develop new ideas, expand on existing class projects, build on thesis work, and/or collaborate with community partners.

For more information on program requirements and/or to apply, see here.

September & October

Climate HQ Upcoming Events

Join us this fall for a lineup of events designed to connect SF State students with the climate movement through community, creativity, career opportunities and more! Below, we also have posted events from partners on and off campus.

Scroll through to see them all!

Crissy Field Hike and Stewardship Day

Sat. Sept 26th |10am - 4pm

Join us for a day of environmental stewardship, community, and outdoor exploration at Crissy Field. Participants will take part in stewardship activities and enjoy a group hike through the beautiful Crissy Field and Presidio area.

This is a great opportunity to spend time outdoors, connect with others, and help care for one of San Francisco’s most treasured natural spaces. Bring your friends! 

Lyft rides to Presidio provided. 

Snacks will be provided.



Register to attend here.

Golden Gate Park Nature Festival

Sun. Sept 27th |10am - 2pm

Join leaders from the SF Environment Department and the California Natural Resources Agency as they celebrate the State’s 30 X 30 biodiversity goals on September 27th from 10-2 at the California Academy of Sciences in Golden Gate Park. 

Participate in a bioblitz! Remove invasive species!

Network with government officials and local environmental organizations.

Prof. Constance Gordon, who teaches COMM 572: Communication and Environmental Justice, is opening up her classroom for all to attend this live virtual talk by Dr. Tiara R. Na'puti (Associate Professor of Global and International Studies, UC Irvine) on climate justice communication and organizing against militarism in the Mariana Islands. You'll learning by listening to frontline communities throughout the Mariana Islands archipelago and their supports about how they are taking action to protect oceanic environments from deep sea mining, military base expansion, and ongoing training and testing. This event is co-sponsored by Climate HQ, Communication Studies, and Critical Pacific Islands and Oceania Studies.

All students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend.

Join us for this special SF State screening of Earth's Greatest Enemy, a documentary about the environmental costs of U.S. militarism and empire (view trailer here). Filmmaker Abby Martin will join us virtually after the screening for a live Q&A with the audience. Food will be served after.

Registration needed to attend.

All students, faculty, and staff are welcome to attend, as well as members of the public with prior registration.

Bring a classmate, bring a friend!

Join SFSU Climate HQ, the Rotary Club, and Save The Bay for a hands-on volunteer experience that builds camaraderie, fosters a sense of place and makes a tangible impact on San Francisco Bay.

Led by Save The Bay's habitat restoration team, we'll help disassemble the Ravenswood Nursery and prep for out-planting at their new site, with possible invasive species removal along the shoreline. Along the way, we'll learn about wetland ecology, Bay history, and climate impacts on our region.

Register to attend here.

Are you interested in supporting the natural world while learning about nature’s relationships, getting to know your fellow classmates, and having fun in your local national park? Join us for a morning of stewardship and connection to help build a resilient home for the park’s many local plants and animals. Join us at Lands End to enjoy a beautiful ocean view and to help prepare a new site to be planted with native plants this winter. We will honor and discuss indigenous stewardship and what we can do to amplify their work. This event is held in collaboration with the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, providing the opportunity for networking and professional development. Register here!

Join this native plant planting workshop at Garden for the Environment! This is chance to travel beyond campus to learn about the vast array of native plants in San Francisco and how to include them in home gardens to nurture local ecosystems. Secure your tickets and learn more about Garden for the Environment here!

Please join us for Climate HQ’s Second Annual Celebration of Student Climate Leadership on November 5, 2026, as we bring together the SFSU community and beyond to celebrate students, fellows, and alumni working toward a more sustainable and just future. The evening will feature SFSU alumni Carolyn McArdle, co-host of 98.1 The Breeze and Public Address Announcer for the San Francisco Giants, and Ericka Cruz Guevara, host and producer of KQED’s The Bay podcast.

The ecological and health impacts of hyperscale data center development have become a major concern for communities around the U.S., including in the Bay Area and regions close to home. How does an everyday person learn about a proposed project in their community? What happens when you find out there are plans, already approved, coming to your town?

This Tuesday, September 22nd, Professor of WGS 593: Women, Health, and the Environment, Martha Kenney, invited the campus into their classroom to hear from two everyday activists resisting data centers in their communities: Landon Sepulveda of Gilroy Community Action and Hrag Balian of No Data Center Monterey Park. Speaking to a packed room of students and faculty, both shared how the struggle against data centers 'found them' and required they practice skills to build relationships in their regions, learn complicated policy processes, advocate publicly, and "get comfortable with being uncomfortable" in their new roles as community advocates. They also reminded us that popular opinion against data centers is on our side, and movements must make space for human connection and joy along the way.

Professor of Women and Gender Studies, Leslie Quintanilla, co-authors accessible handbook for scientists, researchers, and students called Transforming Science: Theory and Practice (Springer, 2026). This much-needed book demonstrates how to apply tools derived from social justice-informed research to problems of science and technology, including how science and technology serve the interests of top-down structures in government and industry, and practical and accessible ways to practice science for and with the people.

Berkeley Fishing Oral History Project covered by East Bay Yesterday Podcast

Supported by an SFSU Climate HQ Climate Justice Mini-Grant in 2024, Camille Antinori’s Berkeley Fishing Oral History Project (with Venoo Kakar and Pavlina Latkova) documents the intergenerational stories of people who grew up fishing along the Berkeley waterfront, highlighting fishing as a source of community, food, well-being, and connection to nature. The project’s stories recently reached a broader audience through East Bay Yesterday’s 2026 episode, “Fishing Kept Us Out of Trouble,” illuminating how equitable access to the Bay shoreline has shaped generations of East Bay residents. The first four photos shown for this episode were ones collected during this investigation.

Professor of International Relations, Mahmood Monshipouri, who recently published the book Climate Change, Environmental Refugees, and Human Rights in the Middle East (Bloomsbury, 2025) will be presenting parts at the Annual Meetings of the International Studies Association in Spring 2027. He also recently collaborated with a former SF State Student on the article, “Climate Change and Forced Displacement in the Middle East: Emerging Threats to Security and Human Rights.”

Pictured: Mix of faculty, students, and visitors to the public showcase held in spring 2026.

This past spring, 2025-2026 faculty fellows with the Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Hub debuted research and pedagogy done by faculty across campus under the banner of extractivism. Showcasing how various faculty across disciplines approach the topic, the STS Hub debuted public samples of lesson plans to show the various ways we approach extraction and the environment. It is the goal for this to provide ready-made lessons for faculty across SF State and beyond. 

This is a love letter for the Sierra Nevada Field Campus (adapted from a journal entry I wrote up there).

Thank you for the space you have given me to grow. You helped me build confidence and a strength within myself that I never knew I was capable of. When I thought I was alone, I looked around and realized that I was far from it.

You held me in your pine trees and neon green colored wolf lichen that is bright against the bark. You held me in your streams, as the ripples and splashes of the Yuba river lulled me to sleep. You held me in the people here, where humanity shines, reminding me what compassion and life truly is.

Sierra Nevada Field Campus, you are where I connected with the earth once again. It can be easy to forget where you come from, but my first experience with you reminded me of home, mi pueblo.

Mi pueblo is a mountain, from the Sierra Nevada to the Peruvian Sierra. Ah mi pueblo, sus altos y sus bajos. Y a veces choca el soroche, pero con un mate de coca se desvanecen mis inquietudes. Mate de coca, té de canela y clavo, manzanilla. Mi pueblo es medicina. Medicina para el alma, para mi cuerpo, para la tierra. Mi pueblo is more than one place. Soy de aqui y de alla, I am from here and from there. My home transcends borders.

Mi pueblo aqui comes in the form of the frost of the morning, with our sleeping bags covered in ice. It comes in the form of laughter exchanged by the warm fire as stars illuminate the sky. It comes in the joy of setting up a tent for the very first time, excited to explore this new way of being in spaces as beautiful as you.

Mi pueblo comes in the form of the people that also call you home. I often had said throughout my time up this summer that dinner always felt like a home cooked meal, because it was. Thanks to the love the staff put into their food, their warm welcomes, and their guidance.

Mi pueblo is within myself, reflecting on how I have grown in your presence. I navigate outdoor spaces with confidence, only to realize I never had a reason not to be confident in the first place. The Sierra Nevada Field Campus reminded me of who I am, what life is, and I give gratitude & thanks for the lessons that you have taught me. May you be a continuing presence for me & the generations that follow.

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.