Investigating Justice Issues in Pajaro Levee Failure

The 2024-25 Environmental Ethics Fellows are working as a team to co-author a paper on the ethical dimensions of the levee failure in the unincorporated community of Pajaro, California. 

During winter storms of Winter 2023, a major levee failed, resulting in the catastrophic flooding of Pajaro, a predominantly agricultural and immigrant community. The failure raised broad ethical questions about environmental justice, climate change, and levee construction throughout California and the United States. 

This year's environmental ethics fellows are continuing work that began in the previous academic year with the 2023-24 fellowship cohort, and is led by Ethics Center Director of Religious and Catholic Ethics David DeCosse, Professor Rocio Lilen Segura of civil engineering and Professor Iris Stewart-Frey of environmental studies. According to DeCosse, the cohort will be building upon last year’s foundation by focusing on how the community of Pajaro has recovered since the flood. 

Their work so far has included focus group conversations with residents centered on what they encountered during the flooding and how they’ve recovered, organized with assistance from California Rural Legal Assistance. They additionally met with community leaders of the Pajaro Business Group to understand how the community organized themselves to lobby for state funding and assistance, particularly from Monterey County government. The students’ work will culminate in the publishing of a research paper.

^{Arden DiCicco ’25, Jessica Garofalo ’25 present their research project at the SCU Sustainability and Environmental Justice Student Research Symposium on March 11, 2025. Photo by David DeCosse.}

According to Environmental Ethics Fellow Jessica Garofalo ‘25, speaking with the president of the Pajaro Business Group coupled with viewing the magnitude of the community’s unhoused population and the lack of basic infrastructure was particularly impactful, revealing how Pajaro is neglected by Monterey County. 

“You learn a lot by being somewhere…we were able to walk on the levee, see the way the water had flowed into town, things like that that are really important to see to know what you’re talking about,” said DeCosse. DeCosse added that he hopes these fellows, “never forget these good people, their struggles and their dignity, as they go beyond their time at Santa Clara.” 

The 2024-25 Environmental Ethics Fellows—Arden DiCicco ’25, Jessica Garofalo ’25, Hannah Hamawi ’27, and Mahi Shah ’28—presented their research at the SCU Sustainability and Environmental Justice Student Research Symposium on March 11. Hamawi and Shah examined the ethical implications of the cost-benefit analysis used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to determine the prioritization and timeline of levee repairs, while DiCicco and Garofalo explored the impact of flood response strategies on vulnerable communities.

^{Hannah Hamawi and Mahi Shah, both EE Fellows and students at the SCU School of Engineering, with a poster about ethical issues related to the cost-benefit analysis used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to prioritize which levees to fix and when. March 11, 2025 at the SCU Sustainability and Environmental Justice Student Research Symposium. Photo by David DeCosse.}

The Fellowship in Environmental Ethics is awarded to outstanding Santa Clara University undergraduates to support a project that examines the ethical implications of an environmental topic. 

The work of this year’s team will continue to bring light not just to the events of Pajaro, but to the vulnerabilities of unincorporated and low income communities across California and the United States. These communities are disproportionately impacted by major weather events, such as drastic floods, fires, and storms, which will continue to unfold and intensify with climate change.

^{Mahi Shah ('24-'25 Environmental Ethics Fellow), Giselle Aviles SCU '25, Sophia Toribio SCU '28, Prof. Allan Baez Morales, Victory Chika-Okafor SCU '27, Prof. Rocio Lilen Segura, Prof. Iris Stewart-Frey, and David DeCosse of the Ethics Center at the levee in Pajaro, CA.}

“My hope in completing this work is to increase awareness that environmental justice has impacts not just across the world or in some far away place, but we can see its effects in our own backyards. I have so appreciated being able to gain this unique perspective from the local community and be a part of increasing their voice in this space,” said Garofalo.

Learn more about this year’s team and the Fellowship in Environmental Ethics.