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SFSU’s Climate HQ teamed up with the SF Rotary Club to transplant local native flowers in the historic San Francisco neighborhood

At Candlestick Point Native Plant Nursery in Bayview-Hunters Point, the view tells two very different stories. On one side is the Bay and its beauty; on the other, a decommissioned shipyard — a Superfund site with radioactive, metal and industrial contamination that continues to affect the neighborhood’s health. Hidden behind a building is a lush and lively community garden as well as the native plant nursery, both part of a nature-based response to these environmental challenges. On March 14, San Francisco State University students added their energy to the space as volunteers.

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This story was produced by The Hechinger Report and Grist, a nonprofit, independent news organization focused on inequality and innovation in education.

SFSU's new ESCA requirement was mentioned in this article, 

"At San Francisco State University, leaders said they instead chose to require climate justice for all students, beginning with the class of 2029, because of the urgency of understanding how climate change affects communities differently. 

Students need to understand broader systems of oppression and privilege so that they can address the unequal effects of climate change for “communities of color, low-income communities, global south communities and other marginalized communities,” said Autumn Thoyre, co-director of Climate HQ, the university’s center for climate education, research, and action." 

Read the full article by clicking on the link below,

https://grist.org/solutions/climate-change-is-the-new-liberal-arts-coll…

Students participate in the inaugural cohort for the Graduate Certificate in PK-12 Climate Justice Education program that started summer 2025.

The program trains PK-12 educators to teach climate change, justice-based solutions at all grade levels

SAN FRANCISCO – September 25, 2025 – San Francisco State University (SFSU), the premier public university that educates and equips students to thrive in a global society, is offering scholarships to fully cover the cost of attendance to pursue its Graduate Certificate in PK-12 Climate Justice Education. 

The certificate provides teachers from pre-kindergarten to 12th grade the skills and knowledge to effectively teach about climate change and climate justice, which focuses on the unequal impacts of climate change on marginalized and underserved populations as well as justice-based solutions to address those inequities. SFSU is the first major public university to offer a PK-12 certificate specifically focused on climate justice education — not just climate change.

“Young people are interested in climate change and doing something about it. However, they don’t know how to approach it or even that they have the agency to take climate action,” said Aritree Samanta, co-director of the Climate HQ campus hub that promotes and supports climate-related activities across the University. “Teachers are best positioned to work with young people. Training them is hugely important because they can channel students’ interests and passions to where they’d be most effective.” 

Read more in the official news release and explore details on the PK-12 Climate Justice Certificate Page.

Our very own Dr. Aritree Samanta, was recently featured in an SFGate article examining how San Francisco’s summer weather is changing due to climate change. Dr. Samanta emphasized how even slight temperature increases can lead to significantly more extreme heat events, with important implications for public health and infrastructure in cities not built for heat.

“Even a little bit of heat is too much in San Francisco because our buildings and our bodies are not adapted to handling this heat,” Aritree Samanta, an associate environmental studies professor at San Francisco State University and co-director of the university's Climate HQ, told SFGATE.

“Heat is really a silent killer,” Samanta said. “It’s super important to be attuned to and be mindful of heat days.”

Read the entire article here.