Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources

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Exemplar Type: MODULE
Title: Environmental Justice and Freshwater Resources
Grades: 11, 12, Undergraduate
Discipline: Science
Submitted By: Jill Schneiderman
Courtesy Of: InTeGrate at Carleton College


Summary Despite the fact that most people would agree that water is a shared resource, few think about who gets what share of fresh water. This module enables students to identify the freshwater components of the hydrologic cycle and connect them to the basic need of all human beings for equal access to clean fresh water. This is accomplished by framing the water science within theories of environmental justice defined by the US Environmental Protection Agency as "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.”


BENCHMARKS REPRESENTED IN THIS EXEMPLAR

Big Ideas

  • We are all in this together: We are interdependent on each other and on the natural systems - The changes to the Earth’s surface environments made by human activity are causing unintended consequences on the health and well-being of human and other life on Earth (proposed Anthropocene Epoch)

  • The significant problems we face can’t be solved with the same thinking we used to create them. Our prior experiences with the world create cognitive frameworks (also known as mental models/maps) that inform what we can perceive. They shape our behavior and our behavior causes results. If we want to produce different results, it all begins with a change in thinking

  • Fairness applies to all. To us, to them and to the “we” that binds us all together

  • Sustain-ability requires individual and social learning and community practice

Applied Knowledge and Actions

  • Cultures, Tradition, and Change

  • The Many Ways of Knowing

  • Multiple Perspectives

Higher Order Thinking Skills

  • Anticipatory: Futures Thinking

  • Complex: Critical Thinking

  • Mindful: Questioning

Dispositions

  • Open Minded

  • Caring

  • Place/Community Conscious

Applications and Actions

  • Create Social Learning Communities

  • Honor the specific knowledge and skills that each person and culture brings

  • Build from successes, Learn from mistakes, develop strategies to improve, and apply what is learned

Community Connections

  • Consider and prepare for a range of potential future scenarios, while charting a course toward the preferred future

  • Provide Independent and Curriculum Based Learning Sites (case studies, learning journeys, research sites)

  • Provide Physical spaces for school and community stakeholders to learn and work together for the future they want