What Is Environmental Justice?
Provided by: Project Look Sharp|Published on: April 27, 2021|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12
Type: Lesson Plans
Subjects: Civics, History, Health
Authors: Project Look Sharp, Sox Sperry
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- In this media literacy lesson, students will read an article on the history of the environmental justice movement and examine several media images related to environmental justice, examining the influence of Hurricane Katrina on the movement.
- Students will learn about the Keystone Pipeline, Standing Rock, mountaintop removal, Hurricane Maria, pesticides on farm land, and other related events. Students will also read about Dr. Robert Bullard.
- The resource includes an assessment, a PowerPoint presentation, a teaching guide, a lesson plan, and a student reading.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- This lesson plan provides an excellent set of sources for students to analyze, using media literacy concepts such as audience, authorship, message, and representation to understand the environmental justice movement.
- Teachers can model how to analyze a source and then set teams to analyze a set of environmental justice examples together before asking the students to analyze similar environmental justice examples on their own in the assessment.
Additional Prerequisites
- Teachers must sign up for a free account to access pdf downloads
- There is an opportunity for the teacher to integrate group work and collaboration. For example, after the students read the basic information about the environmental justice movement, the teacher can set an investigation question such as: "How has race, poverty or wealth, and national origin shape how communities have been impacted by environmental disasters?" After answering questions like this, having students analyze “what is environmental justice?” will allow for more discussion between students and better analysis.
- In addition, students would need to have a basic understanding of how to summarize their evidence and the implications of sources for the assessment to be meaningful.
Differentiation
- Teachers can model how to analyze a source and then set teams to analyze a set of environmental justice examples together before asking the students to analyze similar environmental justice examples on their own in the assessment.
- Consider integrating a demonstration on how to write the origin, content, and analysis of the source so that the students can write their analysis of the source in the written assessment OR provide an alternative mode of assessment (such as a verbal presentation).
Additional Resources
- Learning for Justice has additional resources on how wealth and poverty can affect communities in specific ways. This lesson focuses specifically on pollution as an environmental justice example.
- Additionally, for a more hands-on activity about helping communities, The Sierra Club has many local chapters and even ways to get active on a federal level through writing letters and even just posting on social media. This can allow students to take what they learn about environmental justice and apply it in a real-world context. It will also allow for more analysis of what environmental justice entails.
Although this resource is recommended for teaching, poverty scaling is not consistent (5.2%-13.4%, 13.5%-19.3%, 19.4%-27.5%, 26.6%-45.4%). Educators should take notice.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
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