Landfill Lesson: Environmental Justice
Lesson Plan
1 hour 40 minutesGrades6, 7, 8English Language Arts
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Written by Mallory Swafford, Yen-Yen Chiu
About this lesson
In this lesson, students explore various impacts of landfills, learn about the environmental justice movement, and apply their learning to community action.
Step 1 - Inquire: Students learn about the decomposition rates of items commonly found in landfills and begin to discern issues landfills may cause.
Step 2 - Investigate: Students explore their local landfills, watch a video on the beginning of the environmental justice movement, and learn about environmental racism.
Step 3 - Inspire: Students learn about the federal environmental justice office and create a community awareness plan about landfills.
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Suggestions
- This lesson can be taught in an English or Social Studies class or within a unit on civics or justice.
- One of the environmental impacts discussed is methane and its impact on climate change. For a deeper lesson focusing on methane and landfills, see The Chemistry of Landfills lesson.
- Students are made aware of environmental injustice and engage in meaningful community action.
- Both the Investigate and Inspire sections can be extended into one class period each.
Prerequisites
- Teachers should review the resources prior to teaching the lesson and be familiar with the concept of environmental racism.
- For the Four Corners game in the Inquire section, teachers will need to make and label the four corners of their room with the following time segments:
- 0 to 50 years
- 51 years to 100 years
- 101 years to 250 years
- 251 years to 500+ years
- Environmental Justice may be a new concept for students. Teachers may want to prepare additional resources such as The Solutions Project that highlights the voice of women and people of color.
Differentiation
- Students can explore or research three different categories of landfills to learn about rules, policies, containment, and other related issues.
- Students can research what has become of the roughly 10,000 closed landfills in the United States and present their findings to the class.
- Students can explore composting as an option to reduce landfill waste. Potential resources include:
- Students can explore Superfund Sites, by locating the ones closest to their community and learning about the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) steps to address them.
- Students can explore other examples of environmental racism or research local communities that are disproportionately impacted by climate change.
From the scientist review
Students will learn about environmental justice movements, the reasons landfills are located in disproportionately poor areas, the harm that landfills do to the environment and nearby communities, and steps they can take to address the problems. We fact-checked the sources used to create this lesson, and it passed our evaluation of the science.
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About the teacher writers
Mallory Swafford
Teacher
I graduated in 2014 from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale with a zoology degree. I worked in the field of zoology until 2018 when I decided to make the switch to education. I now am certified to teach first through sixth grades in general education. I am endorsed in middle grades science and I expect to finish my master's in high school biology this year. I love teaching science and am excited to work with the Subject to Climate team!
Yen-Yen Chiu
Director of Education
Yen-Yen Chiu, Ed.D., is SubjectToClimate's Director of Education. She holds a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership from the University of Phoenix and a Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of San Diego, and taught public school for 22 years specializing in English Language Arts, Mathematics, and Music for grades 6–12, including Advanced Placement. She is credentialed in English, Mathematics, and Introductory Music, with extensive experience designing interdisciplinary curricula that foster student choice, meaningful assessment, and authentic learning.
Reviews
Emmanual Collins
This is an EXCELLENT lesson plan on environmental racism! I'm glad lessons like this are available!
3 years ago
