This article explains how LGBTQ+ individuals are more prone to environmental risks, face discrimination in receiving aid, and how the environmental justice community could benefit from including more LGBTQ+ people.
This resource is a review of a scientific paper published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This short article gives students a summary of an academic journal article that explains the disproportionate impacts of environmental exposure and discrimination on the LGBTQ+ community.
Students will gain understanding or perspective through reading.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should understand how certain groups face discrimination and how aid after environmental events is offered to populations.
Differentiation
Cross-curricular connections can be made in health classes discussing health concerns after natural disasters.
Social studies classes can discuss how various communities are impacted differently by natural disasters and how discrimination can affect those groups of people in a negative way.
After reading, a class discussion about the link between discrimination and increased risks would be beneficial. Have students list other risks that could increase with discrimination and brainstorm steps that can be taken to lessen those risks or decrease discrimination.
To increase empathy, consider having students participate in an activity where anyone with a particular eye color or shirt color is not allowed to have a treat that is offered to all other students. Then discuss the implications of not receiving clean water, food, or shelter after a natural disaster using the same criteria.
Scientist Notes
This resource underscores the impact of climate change on BIPOC and the LGBTQ community. Climate change decreases their socio-economic and health status disproportionately. On that point, there is an urgent need to address these inequities and explore sustainable ways to prevent social, racial, and environmental injustice. This resource is recommended for teaching.
Standards
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Reading: Informational Text (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.7.5 Analyze the structure an author uses to organize a text, including how the major sections contribute to the whole and to the development of the ideas.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.9-10.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including figurative, connotative, and technical meanings; analyze how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term or terms over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).
Reading: Science & Technical Subjects (6-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or conclusions of a text; summarize complex concepts, processes, or information presented in a text by paraphrasing them in simpler but still accurate terms.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RST.11-12.10 By the end of grade 12, read and comprehend science/technical texts in the grades 11-CCR text complexity band independently and proficiently.
