In this video, Shawn Taylor, a site supervisor at Land Force, is interviewed about his personal journey growing up in Pittsburgh and the importance of his job in fighting climate change.
Land Force plants trees, maintains green infrastructure, and reduces flooding and pollution through stormwater management.
The resource also includes written text about Shawn's story, discussion questions, links to learn more, and ways to take action.
The video opens at Emerald View Park, a beautiful example of restored land.
Teaching Tips
Positives
The video includes an inspiring personal narrative about overcoming financial hardship and incarceration.
Students will hear some great advice about finding a career they love.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should be familiar with the terms land restoration, stormwater management, and green infrastructure.
Differentiation
This is a great resource to use when students are exploring possible career paths.
The provided discussion questions will spark engaging conversations, but can alternatively be used as writing prompts.
The video discusses the importance of green spaces for physical and mental health. Students can journal about their own experiences with green spaces in their community or about how their community can benefit from more access to these types of spaces.
Teachers can encourage students to explore the links to learn more and take action. The Drawdown Ecochallenge is an especially great resource to learn about ways to join the fight against climate change.
This video inspires young people to take actions to draw down CO2 emissions through engaging in land restoration, green infrastructure, and tree planting activities. There is a high confidence in using this resource for teaching.
Standards
College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Standards
Dimension 4: Taking Informed Action
D4.7.6-8 Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.
D4.7.9-12 Assess options for individual and collective action to address local, regional, and global problems by engaging in self-reflection, strategy identification, and complex causal reasoning.
Common Core English Language Arts Standards (CCSS.ELA)
Speaking & Listening (K-12)
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.6.2 Interpret information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and explain how it contributes to a topic, text, or issue under study.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.8.2 Analyze the purpose of information presented in diverse media and formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) and evaluate the motives (e.g., social, commercial, political) behind its presentation.
