Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability

Spotlights

Seed by Seed: Pitzer Students Preserve a Rare Ecosystem on Campus

Zoë Wong-VanHaren leans over a bush as she cuts a branch of sets with blue scissors. She has long wavy brown hair and wears a pink and maroon tie-dye T-shirt over a long-sleeved black shirt. Behind her is the Outback’s coastal sage scrub and a pale blue sky.What did Claremont look like 100 years ago? One parcel on Pitzer College’s campus gives us a glimpse: the Outback Preserve. Home to alluvial sage scrub—one of the rarest ecosystems in the world—the Outback is a 3.4-acre living-learning laboratory for students to engage in hands-on science with California’s indigenous plants. Pitzer students and environmental analysis majors Tommy Shenoi ’24 and Zoë Wong-VanHaren ’25 have made the Outback a passion in action with the California Botanic Garden and Pitzer’s Robert Redford Conservancy's help.
January 19, 2023
Press Releases | Spotlights

Pitzer & Adelanto Community Members Organize ­to Bring Water Justice to the City

Orange text reads 2022 Adelanto Community Water Report on a light blue backdrop with a white city map line drawing overlaid on a topographical map. In the lower right corner is the dark blue AWJC logo with each letter resting on a dip in a wavy dark blue line. Adelanto Water Justice Coalition in dark blue text is underneath the wavy line.Imagine turning on a faucet and brown water coming out. This is what happened to residents of Adelanto. They wanted to know more about the origins and safety of their water, so a coalition of Pitzer College and community organizations has joined forces with residents to answer these questions. Discover how Pitzer’s Community Engagement Center, Robert Redford Conservancy, Keck Science, and CASA Pitzer collaborate in science and activism with students, faculty, and local partners. "I have engaged not only as a student but as an organizer who is passionate about these issues," said Pitzer senior Olivia Rosenberg-Chavez '23.
November 7, 2022
Spotlights

Pitzer Alumna Pursues Social Justice Through Black Radical Farming

Yaquana Williams '21 in a blue collared shirt with the FoodCorps logo stands in a green garden and holds three bright green round vegetables.Pitzer alumna Yaquana Williams ’21 described how her study abroad and environmental advocacy experience at Pitzer equipped her to support healthy nutrition in her hometown. For her senior thesis in Africana Studies, Williams examined how Black farming collectives across the African Diaspora nurture the land and local communities. She was inspired by Black farmers in her hometown of Newark, New Jersey. “The farm spaces not only serve as places to get food but also community hubs. People can gather, be in tune with nature, and reclaim those spaces.”
October 5, 2022
Press Releases

Redford Conservancy Director Brinda Sarathy Awarded Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship

Brinda Sarathy, Director of the Redford Conservancy at Pitzer CollegePitzer College Professor of Environmental Analysis and Director of the Director of the Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability, has received a Fulbright-Nehru Academic and Professional Excellence Fellowship to conduct her research “Best Practices in Municipal Solid Waste Management: A Case Study from Kodaikanal, India” over the 2020-21 academic year.
February 19, 2020
Press Releases

Redford Conservancy Is First Higher Ed Building in California to Earn Zero Net Energy Certification

The Robert Redford Conservancy for Southern California Sustainability at Pitzer College has won the first higher education building certification in California for using Zero Net Energy. The certification from the International Living Future Institute is highly sought after and challenging to achieve. The International Living Future Institute’s mission is to lead the transformation toward a civilization that is socially just, culturally rich, and ecologically restorative.
April 22, 2019
Press Releases

Writer Mark Arax Explores California Water Issues in Pitzer College’s 2019 Sullivan Lecture

Claremont, Calif. (January 23, 2019)—Award-winning journalist and California water historian Mark Arax will deliver the 2019 John D. Sullivan Memorial Lecture at Pitzer College on February 15. Drawing on his forthcoming book, The Dreamt Land: Chasing Dust and Water Across California, Arax will explore California’s complicated relationship to water, ranging from the state’s century-old water [Read More...]
January 23, 2019