Environmental Justice for Junior High

Happy Earth Day!

This is our final 9th grade ESL Social Studies Unit for 2019. Since most of my units and themes are interdisciplinary and cross over a variety of subjects, students have already been exposed to environmental injustices when we studied Poverty in 8th grade, and Fast Fashion last semester.

Recently, there has been more exciting dissent in the streets, for example, the Student Strikes in Europe, and Extinction Rebellion, so I want to discuss these movements. I also want the students to do student teaching, as in a seminar format and so I'm going to organize groups and have them present the vocabulary and readings for their final grade.

 Handouts: A Class/ B class and ppt

1. Introduction: Define Climate Justice, who it affects, and why it matters
2. Environmental Racism
3. Outsourcing in Taiwan in the 1980s
4. Taiwanese Corporations in Vietnam Role Play
5. The Triple Threat: Climate Change, Fossil Fuels and Extinction

• Video of starving polar bear goes viral (A/B)
• Carbon footprint of global tourism is huge (A/B)
• Earth has lost half its trees because of humans
• Half of life on Earth gone since humans arrived
• Pope warns fossil fuels threaten humanity

3. The Effects On Our Health and Environmental Racism:

• Pollution is the world's biggest killer
• Worries about microplastics in our seafood
• India tops global pollution deaths of 9 million a year

1. Movements

Indigenous People: Oil pipeline protest joined by military veterans, NZ

Youth (Grete Thunberg)

B. Solutions

• Governments: California becomes first US state to require solar panels on new homes
• Businesses:  Chocolate Maker Mars Vows To Spend $1 Billion To Fight Climate Change

Resources:

https://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources/tolerance-lessons/what-is-environmental-justice

https://www.pitzer.edu/redfordconservancy/wp-content/uploads/sites/6/2015/01/EJ-Lesson-Plan-web.pdf

https://rethinkingschoolsblog.com/tag/environmental-justice/

https://www.usgbc.org/articles/k12-curriculum-solutions-environmental-injustice

https://breakingnewsenglish.com/environment.html
https://serc.carleton.edu/integrate/workshops/envirojustice2013/activities/70821.html
https://fn.se/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/climate_role_play.pdf
https://www.zinnedproject.org/materials/?cond[0]=themes_str:Climate+Justice&cond[1]=media_types_str:Teaching+Activities+(Free)