Use this resource page to guide your students as they learn about AWTT portrait subjects who have engaged with Environmental Justice.

Essential Questions:

• What does environmental justice mean?
• What is environmental racism?
• How do environmental justice and environmental racism connect?
• What is climate change and why is it questioned?
• Why is climate change an environmental justice issue?
• How do humans impact and alter the environment?
• What are some types of  green energy? What are their “pros and cons”?
• How does environmental justice impact me and my community?

Truth Tellers and Environmental Justice

Lesson: Who are the AWTT Portrait Subjects?

Using our lesson plan Who are the AWTT portrait subjects?, choose three of the portrait subjects listed below. This lesson will  help students learn more about the portrait subjects’ lives and their commitment to environmental justice.

Judy Bonds
Rachel Carson
Dianna Cohen
Tim DeChristopher
Jaysa Hunter-Mellers
Kelsey Juliana
Robin Wall Kimmerer
Naomi Klein
Aldo Leopold
Russell Libby
Chloe Maxmin
Bill McKibben
Sandra Steingraber
Diane Wilson
Rev. Lenox Yearwood

Lesson: Speaking Truth to Youth Environmental Justice (video interviews)

Use our Speaking Truth to Youth Intro Lesson to explore three of these portrait subjects and what we can learn from them:

Dianna Cohen
Tim DeChristopher
Bill McKibben
Diane Wilson

Other resources to explore:

350.org
Zinn Education Project: Teach Climate Justice Campaign
EcoRise: Introduction to Environmental Justice for Elementary, Middle, and High School Students
Amara Ifeji – Storytelling for Social Change | Bioneers 2023

Integrate AWTT Activities into multiple content areas:

Connect what your students are learning in a variety of content areas – science, social studies, English language arts, math, creative arts – by completing the following activities:

• Select four of the suggested portraits.  After reading the bios, discuss the meaning of the quotes. What challenges do the quotes present?

• Dig deeper! Register for the Samantha Smith Challenge to help your students take a deeper dive into Environmental Justice.