Why Sustainable Housing Matters

Positives

• Students will learn that sustainable housing is a multifaceted concept that involves much more than energy-efficient appliances or green roofs. 
• Students will enjoy the casual, conversational tone of the video.
• The video is segmented into chapters, making it easy to navigate to specific sections.

Additional Prerequisites

• Students should have some background knowledge on the history of school segregation and desegregation in the United States.

Differentiation

• For biology classes, if time is an issue, consider just showing the portion of the video called "highway to habitat destruction."
• Before showing the video, engineering and design classes could have students answer the question from the video: "what comes to mind when you think about sustainable housing?" Students could answer this question again after the video to see how their ideas have changed.
• Students could make a list of the components that make housing sustainable and research which of these components are present in their neighborhoods.
• Other resources on this topic include this video about how the Oglala Lakota people of South Dakota prioritize sustainable living, this video about the importance of urban design, and this article on environmental racism.