Environment and Elections-Lesson Plans for Earth Day and Beyond

As Earth Day approaches, lesson plans on the Flint Water crisis provide an interesting perspective

Flint Water Crisis 

Teaching Tolerance, a project of the Southern Poverty Law Center has a lesson plan on Progressive City Planners
http://www.tolerance.org/lesson/progressive-city-planners  with these objectives:

Objectives:

Students will:

• Consider how our society is divided by race and class and consider the stark differences in treatment within communities
• Evaluate previous biases against people of color and working-class communities.
• Analyze the impact of environmental racism on the health and well-being of communities of color
• Create a vision of a more just and equitable society

Another environmental lesson plan was included in this blog's post

http://educationservicesnews.blogspot.com/2009/04/earth-day-research-project.html

The Teachable Moment

The Teachable Moment a project of the Morningside Center

has the following lesson plan  and readings specifically on the crisis

http://morningsidecenter.org/teachable-moment/lessons/flint-water-crisis-environmental-racism-work

Elections 

The Teachable Moment also has lessons on the current elections
http://www.morningsidecenter.org/search/node/elections%20type%3Ateachable_moment_lesson

Teaching Tolerance has lesson plans on past election and voters' rights concerns
http://www.tolerance.org/classroom-resources?keys=elections&type=All&topic=All&grade=All&domain=All&subject=All

For more lesson plan websites and other materials   check this bibliography
http://www.njcu.edu/guarini/department/EdServiceBib/LessonPlans.pdf

Earth Day Research Project

In honor of Earth Day, a quick but illuminating interdisciplinary research project for grades 9-12 reflecting

NJCCS (New Jersey Core Curriculum Standards)
STANDARD 5.10 (ENVIRONMENTAL STUDIES) ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP AN UNDERSTANDING OF THE ENVIRONMENT AS A SYSTEM OF INTERDEPENDENT COMPONENTS AFFECTED BY HUMAN ACTIVITY AND NATURAL PHENOMENA.

B. Human Interactions and Impact
Assess the impact of human activities on the cycling of matter and the flow of energy through ecosystems.
Use scientific, economic, and other data to assess environmental risks and benefits associated with societal activity.


Background

Research the industrial history of Jersey City in the following library books and websites:
F144 .J543 G33 2007 2007
Jersey City : a monumental history

F144 .J5 J47 1910a 1996
Jersey City of to-day, Hudson County, New Jersey, America : its history, people, trades, commerce, institutions & industries

F144 .J5 J47 1910a 1996
Jersey City of to-day, Hudson County, New Jersey, America : its history, people, trades, commerce, institutions & industries

Jersey city Online
http://www.jerseycityonline.com/history/jc_history.htm

Jersey City History-Past and Present
http://www.njcu.edu/programs/jchistory/

New Jersey Department of Environmental Chromium Map
http://www.state.nj.us/dep/dsr/chromium/map.htm

Jersey City Now
Students can view the following videos




Research
Note some of the main points of the videos
View the videos again and note some of the visuals that accompanied the main points
Note what emotions the visuals tried to elicit, if any.

Research the terms "chromium" and "Jersey City" in several periodical (newspaper)
databases such as Lexis Nexis or Academic Search premier.

Are your sources authoritative?
Does your research confirm the main points of the video

Discuss your findings with the class

What conclusions can you make, if any?

Follow Up
If you are concerned about industrial pollution, what actions can be taken?
Contact your representatives
Do more research
Contact environmental organizations