New! JHA Environmental Justice curriculum now available

JHA is excited to announce our new Environmental Justice (EJ) curriculum. Our EJ curriculum is highly interactive. It involves drawing, role play, mapping, and case study analysis. JHA’s teaching approach also encourages critical analysis and reflection, similar to education for ‘critical consciousness’ advocated by the famous Brazilian educator, Paulo Freire. We actively teach our students to explore the root causes of a problem. We believe that if we teach participants to understand the social, political, economic, and environmental conditions that affect them, as well as teach the skills to take action on these root causes, students’ increased empowerment to act will help improve community conditions and promote equity.

While our main audience for this EJ curriculum is secondary school students, we have found that these interactive techniques appeal to both youth and adults. We piloted the lesson plans with two different multi-cultural youth groups located in the Duwamish Valley, Seattle, Washington, an area with EJ concerns. We then revised the final curriculum that is provided here. We welcome your comments and suggestions.

Our eight EJ lesson plans are divided into three parts:

Introduction/Background: No One’s Backyard: A Curriculum for Incorporating Environmental Justice into Our Future Waste Management Plans

Part 1: Introduction to Environmental Justice, Equity, and Health
Lesson Plan 1: What Makes a Community Healthy?
Lesson Plan 2: Whose Backyard? Environmental Justice: Toxic Waste Management Meeting
Lesson Plan 3: How are Equity and Equality different?
Lesson Plan 4: Causes of the Causes: What are the Root Causes of this Problem?

Part 2: Environmental Justice Mapping Case Study: Seattle, Washington
Lesson Plan 5: Environmental Justice Matters: Mapping ZIP Codes (Part 1)
Lesson Plan 6: Environmental Justice Matters: Mapping Cumulative Impacts (Part 2)

Part 3: Incorporating Environmental Justice when Reducing Contamination in Stormwater Runoff
Lesson Plan 7: How does Green Infrastructure Help Reduce Stormwater Pollution?
Lesson Plan 8: Equity Impact Review: Green Stormwater Infrastructure in Seattle