In this media literacy activity, students analyze three videos about environmental injustice.
Students will discuss the different ways in which each video explains the causes and effects of environmental injustice.
This resource includes a student lesson plan and three video clips.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The lesson plan includes discussion questions for several academic subjects.
Students will see how three filmmakers chose to focus on different aspects of environmental injustice.
Additional Prerequisites
Teachers must create a free account to access the materials.
Differentiation
Students could respond to questions individually or in small groups before discussing their answers as a class.
Students could discuss how the solutions presented in the three videos could be combined into a policy or plan. As they discuss their answers students could consider the following questions:
Is there a way to create a plan that could garner bipartisan approval?
Who should be involved in creating the plan?
What are the primary obstacles to achieving environmental justice?
Civics or social studies classes could discuss environmental policy shifts that have occurred during Biden's term in office.
Other resources on this topic include this EPA interactive map that acts as an environmental justice screening tool and this lesson and activity on building an equitable city.
Scientist Notes
The resource provides a good explanation of the concept of environmental justice. It is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; provide an accurate summary of the text distinct from prior knowledge or opinions.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.6-8.6 Analyze the author's purpose in providing an explanation, describing a procedure, or discussing an experiment in a text.
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS3: Earth and Human Activity
HS-ESS3-5 Analyze geoscience data and the results from global climate models to make an evidence-based forecast of the current rate of global or regional climate change and associated future impacts to Earth systems.
ETS1: Engineering Design
HS-ETS1-1 Analyze a major global challenge to specify qualitative and quantitative criteria and constraints for solutions that account for societal needs and wants.
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 2: Geography
D2.Geo.5.9-12 Evaluate how political and economic decisions throughout time have influenced cultural and environmental characteristics of various places and regions.
D2.Geo.6.9-12 Evaluate the impact of human settlement activities on the environmental and cultural characteristics of specific places and regions.
