Introduction to Environmental Justice: Middle School

This suite of engaging and culturally responsive lessons creates a foundation for elementary, middle, and high school students’ understanding of environmental justice history and concepts.

Each lesson facilitates students’ exploration of how kindness, compassion, and empathy can contribute to repairing damage caused by racist behaviors, policies, and systems. Through a range of age-appropriate activities, students take a close look at leaders and events that helped form the EJ movement and discuss how they can help dismantle/counteract damage caused by systemic racism. They explore examples of EJ Heroes activists who have addressed environmental justice problems in their communities—and begin exploring how they can be EJ heroes, too.

At the upper grades, students are challenged to look at specific examples, such as the unequal distribution of resources and the “Not in My Backyard” (NIMBY) effect. Then, students explore solutions through role-playing political strategies, learning about EJ policies, and participating in a policy writing workshop.