Climate Justice: Science for a Better World

ABSTRACT

Student groups research air pollution (both a cause of climate change with the buildup of greenhouse gases, and an effect of climate change as the warming atmosphere holds the polluted air close to the earth), and other effects of climate change. Explore Divide the students into groups to research one vulnerable population and create an audio-visual presentation to help the rest of the class understand how a particular population is affected disproportionately by the impacts of climate change. Encourage students within each group to peruse different resources and then pool their knowledge to create a focused presentation. Since time is always at a premium, consider giving students access to the Vulnerable Populations Research Websites page (see Online Connections), rather than having them do an open search. Have different student groups focus on different parts of the world, or different issues (drought, fire, sea level rise, extreme weather, air quality), or different populations (poor, children, elderly, sick).