Return to Environmental Justice Resources for Educators and Students

• Establish discussion agreements that foster listening, respect, courage, and accountability. Examples include:
  • Use "I" Statements: speak from experience and avoid generalizations. Think of the difference between "we all agree that..." versus "I agree," or "no one agrees with you" versus "I disagree."
  • Intent versus Impact: assume best intentions, and take responsibility for any negative impacts. Think of it as accidentally stepping on someone's foot and apologizing. While it was not your intent, it had an impact on their foot.
  • Practice "both-and" thinking: Try to explore new ideas and perspectives. Try to avoid binary, "either-or" thinking, and focus on finding common ground.
  • Take space, make space: be aware of how you are talking. If you are sharing a little or not at all, consider taking up more space. If you are sharing more than others, consider making space for other voices.
  • Expect and accept lack of closure: In discussions about difficult topics, there may not always be concrete answers or conclusions.
  • For more resources about healthy and effective discussions, including a sample list of class guidelines and sentence frames, check out these resources from EduTopia.
  • For discussions surrounding race, check out these resources from Teaching Tolerance, and the National Museum of African American History.
• Uplift the stories and voices of BIPOC, including those of participants.
• Highlight successful or ongoing examples of environmental justice, as much as or more than examples of environmental injustice.
• If possible, share local examples of environmental justice and injustice, and local organizations who are combatting these injustices, to make content relatable to learners.