"Environmental Studies in Practice" is a UC Santa Cruz course providing a hands-on learning experience for graduate students to address a specific environmental problem in collaboration with stakeholders in the Monterey Bay region. As the final deliverable, students produce a report and give a public presentation based on their research and stakeholder engagement.
In 2018 and 2019, the course focused on sustainable and equitable use of groundwater in the Salinas Valley Basin within the context of California’s landmark groundwater legislation. The students presented their final reports in public forums in the Monterey County and City of Salinas offices. The instructors have included Chris Benner, Elliott Campbell, and Brent Haddad. This class builds on a collaborative study in 2006 between UC Santa Cruz students and members of the San Jerardo Cooperative (see timeline below) that documented human health impacts from water pollution.
We are grateful to Horacio Amezquita, Gary Peterson, Ruth Langridge, Eric Tynan, Colin Bailey, Khalid Khadir, and Bakul Rao who met with our class as a whole to share their perspectives on the sustainable and equitable use of groundwater as well as the many community members who participated in student interviews. By contributing to this course, these stakeholders are helping to train the next generation of environmental experts.
Student reports:
“Perceptions of Power and Influence within the Salinas Valley Basin Groundwater Sustainability Agency” Report, Presentation
- Jon Detka, Justin Luong, Nazanin Rezaei
“Rough Waters: Navigating the Governance Landscape to Safe Drinking Water in Marginalized Communities in the Salinas Valley Basin” Report, Interactive Timeline, Presentation
- Azucena Lucatero, Allyson Makuch, Aysha Peterson
“Food-Water-Energy Nexus of the Strawberry in Salinas Valley” Report, Presentation
- Taryn Farber, Chris Lang, Ruihua Wang
“Evaluating the use of Bayesian Networks in groundwater management in the Salinas Valley” Report,
- Whitney Hansen, Ashley Bae, Erica Mullins, Yiluan Song, Zach Dove
Figure 1. Cumulative interview responses on sustainability influence map.