This brief video gives a quick definition of fracking and focuses on the potential human health impacts for communities near industrial fossil fuel activities.
The video provides aerial footage of hydraulic fracturing sites in Western Pennsylvania and the cities around them.
Teaching Tips
Positives
This video uses a youth voice to succinctly explain a complicated environmental justice issue related to fossil fuel extraction.
Additional Prerequisites
Students should be familiar with how fossil fuels are mined and used in the United States.
The video is available without an account.
Differentiation
Closed captioning and subtitles can be enabled for students with learning differences or English language learners.
Consider having students think about who might have opposing arguments to this video and how to find common ground with those people.
This video would be an effective conversation starter before further investigation into the environmental health concerns of mining and burning fossil fuels.
Scientist Notes
People of color and low-income communities may be surrounded by fracking activities. This resource is suitable and recommended for teaching environmental and climate justice.
Standards
Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)
ESS2: Earth's Systems
HS-ESS2-2 Analyze geoscience data to make the claim that one change to Earth’s surface can create feedbacks that cause changes to other Earth systems.
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.
