Teaching Environmental Justice in Early Childhood
By Ashley Chu
Students drew observations of the natural resources in our community after a nature walk.
Scientists agree that climate change is a real threat to the earth’s future. The impacts of rising temperatures on the earth from unchecked greenhouse gas emissions are detailed in a 2019 UN climate report, laying out a sobering picture of what we can expect in the near future. Students are leading the charge in combating this crisis, with groups like Zero Hour and U.S. Youth Climate Strike standing up for their futures and advocating for changes in climate policy. But what about our youngest learners? How can we encourage young children to become the future leaders in the fight for climate justice?
Early childhood units on the environment are often reduced to tropes like “reduce, reuse, recycle,” “don’t litter,” and “turn off the lights and water.” These ideas are certainly important and worth teaching to students. They are tangible concepts that are easy for young children to understand and put into action. But the work should not stop there. Young students need to see how these actions fit into the larger picture of environmental justice and fighting for a better and more just earth for everyone.
My district’s curriculum includes a three-week domain on caring for the earth, but it is limited to these familiar tropes. It is necessary to start students with this important background information, but I wanted to connect this with current social issues in environmental justice. So my teaching team and I designed a four-week study on taking care of the earth using a Project Based Learning approach. The first week included basic information you would expect to find in a kindergarten unit on earth, including: Earth’s natural resources; what happens with trash; what it means to reduce, reuse, and recycle; and land, air, and water pollution. Because the resources in this half of the unit are fairly standard, I will not go into detail about them here. This article will focus on the bulk of our study on environmental activism and justice.
We defined environmental justice as the idea that everyone deserves to live on a clean earth. This is a much simplified definition, but one that young children can grasp. This enables them to create their own images for what a clean and healthy earth is, and start to understand that not everyone experiences the same environment. (The EPA definition: “Environmental justice is the fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, color, national origin, or income, with respect to the development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental laws, regulations, and policies.”)
Our guiding question, or “big question” as it was known to the students, for the unit was: How can we, as environmental activists, stand up for the Earth?
Building background knowledge
To create a sense of urgency and hook students into the topic, we began with a science experiment on water pollution. We chose water pollution to build on a field trip we took to the Aquatic Resources Education Center, where we learned about plants and animals that live in the local area by the Anacostia River in Washington, D.C. Students brainstormed reasons we need clean water. They came up with ideas such as drinking, washing hands, washing dishes, and taking showers and baths. Then we watched the video “It Took Us 4 Years” to learn that some people do not have access to clean water. We brainstormed reasons why water can become dirty. Student responses included “people throw trash in there,” “bottles roll into the water,” and “people drive by and throw trash out the window.” Noticing that all their responses focused on individual actions, I added that trash can get in the water when cities do not have the right places to put trash.
We then did a simple experiment. Using two cups of water, we added trash to one to see how it gets polluted. We added an apple core, coffee grounds, a crushed cookie, newspaper scraps, and other small pieces of trash. Students were in awe (lots of “yuck!” and “ew!”) as the water changed. We discussed how polluted water affects people and animals in the river. Students shared that they would not want to drink the water or use it to wash anything. One student said, “Animals might get sick and die,” and another feared, “Animals might choke on the apple,” and another was concerned, “Turtles might choke on plastic if they think it’s a jellyfish.” We also talked about how if fish eat or drink the water, it could harm bigger animals like beavers that eat those smaller animals.
We furthered our discussion of water pollution and introduced the concept of activism through the book The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson. One page shows various ways the water gets polluted. We zoomed in on this page and students shared their observations:
Fish are dying because of trash in the water
Fire near the water can make the water dirty (there is a picture of a factory emitting smog)
Pipe is leaking yucky things
Cars let smoke out into the air
People brush their teeth and leave the water running; this can waste a lot of water
We talked about how some of these are individual actions (i.e. running water while brushing your teeth), and some involve bigger groups like companies with factories. After finishing the story, I asked, “What do you think it means to protect water?” Students said that protecting water means keeping it clean, not throwing trash in it, and using clean water from the sink.
From there, we identified three main problem areas we would try to solve through our projects: water pollution, air pollution, and land pollution.
Highlighting activists of color
After creating a foundation for the project by identifying our three problem areas, students split into three smaller groups based on interest. Each group was tasked with learning about current activists who are working on their issue, coming up with some solutions to the problem, and creating a way to share their ideas with the public.
One of my major goals for this study was to ensure that students understood that people of color, in particular Indigenous folks, have always been leaders in taking care of the environment. While mainstream narratives often whitewash environmentalism and focus on individual actions, I wanted students to see how activists of color have historically focused on collective efforts to protect the earth. To show this in an age-appropriate way, we studied activists and learned about their work through books, videos, and articles. Here are the activists we highlighted and the resources we used to teach about them:
Nokomis Josephine Mandamin through the book The Water Walker by Joanne Robertson
Aslan Tudor through the book Young Water Protectors by Aslan Tudor and Kelly Tudor
Isatou Ceesay through the book One Plastic Bag by Miranda Paul
Wangari Maathai through the book Wangari’s Trees of Peace by Jeanette Winter
Mari Copeny aka Little Miss Flint
Making it public
Each group was tasked with presenting their knowledge to the public. The water pollution group chose to make a short movie, the land pollution group made a poster, and the air pollution group wrote letters and drew pictures to send to the mayor. Students had to come up with a concise set of messages they wanted to share about their topic. Brainstorming with a teacher, each group came up with those messages to share in their chosen format, and put their ideas into action. The posters below show what they came up with:
Conclusion
Older students are digging into the topic of climate change, becoming leaders by challenging policymakers with their messages and taking their demands to the streets. Our youngest learners need to be engaged with these messages as well, beyond tropes of individual actions that are good for the earth. Young learners are capable of learning about these complex systems in age appropriate ways, without the doom and gloom that can sometimes accompany discussions of climate change. Rather, teachers can empower them by teaching and learning about activists leading change. They can then see themselves as leaders by taking action to educate others and becoming activists themselves.
Ashley Chu is a member of the D.C. Area Educators for Social Justice (DCAESJ) Anti-bias Education Working Group. She teaches Kindergarten at Center City Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. She has been working in early childhood education since 2011. Here are more articles by Ashley Chu at DCAESJ.