Spring 2023 Newsletter

Chris Bacon and Chad Raphael Named to AJCU’s Laudato Sí Commission

The Association of Jesuit Colleges and Universities (AJCU) recently launched six commissions as they plan for the AJCU Justice Assembly to be held in Chicago on July 16-19, 2024. The goal is to develop bold proposals for change during challenging times. Fr. Michael Garanzini SJ, AJCU President and EJ&CGI Advisory Board member, named the Initiative's Chris Bacon and Michael Schuck of Loyola University Chicago as co-chairs of the Laudato Sí: Advancing a Shared Agenda for our Common Home Commission. Chad Raphael will also serve on the commission, which will include 24 members from 14 universities. The Commission has started work toward developing transformative proposals for how Jesuit higher education can elevate its response to the world's ecological crisis in alignment with Pope Francis' vision in Laudato Sí and his 7-Year Journey Towards Integral Ecology, staring with an inaugural meeting at SCU’s Climate and Environmental Justice Conference. Please send your ideas for collective action to environmentaljustice@scu.edu, and stay tuned for updates.

Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems Book

New Article on Gender and Food Security among Nicaraguan Coffee Farmers

Chris Bacon, María Eugenia Flores Gómez, and five student co-authors published an article in Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, analyzing how diversification relates to food security. The team partnered with PRODECOOP, a co-op of 2000 organic and fair trade farmers, to conduct a participatory mixed methods study, including 171 surveys and 50 interviews. The research found that crop diversity correlated with household dietary diversity, and that average male-owned farms were 1.8 ha larger than women-owned farms. Suggested strategic actions included supporting female land ownership, farmer-led experimentation, and more training for men on gender, for women on diversification, and for all participants in feminist agroecology. Student co-authors included Vanessa Shin (Environmental Science '19), now at Peninsula Clean Energy; Gabi Ballardo (Environmental Studies and Italian Studies '21), now an M.S. candidate in environmental policy at Duke University; Skyler Kriese (Environmental Studies '20), now an M.S. candidate in Environmental Justice at University of Michigan and an Environmental Fellow at Yale University; Emma McCurry (Bioengineering '21), now an M.S. candidate in Education at Oregon State, high school student teacher in chemistry; and Erica Martinez (Biology, Public Health Science, and Spanish Studies '20), now a researcher at Stanford’s Food Equity Lab.