Victoria Rodriguez Jarpa completed the Certificate in Climate Justice and Faith in December 2025. For her Sacred Action Project, she set out to educate community members about the causes of deforestation and contamination in their neighborhood and the importance of creating green spaces.

Victoria works at the Agentine Methodist Church in the Villa Riacheulo neighborhood of Buenos Aires where she coordinates workshops on art, job training, and nutrition. The neighborhood is on the banks of the Riachuelo river, one of the most polluted rivers in Latin America. Overcrowding, poverty, and pollution has left the neighborhood void of greenery and open spaces.

Working with a visual artist and two children from the congregation, Victoria designed a puppet show where puppets tell the story of a lagoon that is filled in with debris to build a gated community, the clearing of the surrounding trees, and the consequences for the ecosystem and the animals that inhabit it—all presented in language accessible to both children and adults. The story was an original creation based on the real events of a gated community built in Buenos Aires that destroyed the natural habitat of capybaras, rodents that ended up invading public spaces and roads. The play explained how unchecked development has led to deforestation and pollution in Buenos Aires and how that has impacted the Villa Riachuelo neighborhood. After the play, Victoria led conversations with the participants about how they’ve felt the loss of greenspace in their community and how they see the impacts of pollution. Victoria concluded the puppet theatre by distributing planters decorated by the children at the church along with seeds. Victoria hopes these potted plants will bring back some greenery in the neighborhood and inspire recipients to take further action by planting more plants or advocating for more greenspace.