The Climate Crisis Has a History. Teach It. Article. By Mimi Eisen and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 2023. A rationale for a new timeline of the climate crisis. Continue reading
Water and Environmental Racism Teaching Activity. By Matt Reed and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Rethinking Schools. A mixer activity, inspired by the 2016 Democracy Now! documentary Thirsty for Democracy, introduces students to the struggle of residents to access safe water for drinking, cooking, and bathing in the majority-Black cities of Flint, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi; and Newark, New Jersey. Continue reading
The Attack on Anti-Racist Teaching Attacks Environmental Justice Teaching The right-wing legislation restricting lessons on history and systemic racism also denies students climate literacy. Continue reading
Cooked: Survival by ZIP Code Film. Directed by Judith Helfand. 2020. 54 minutes. This documentary focuses on Chicago’s heat wave to look at how a weeklong tragedy is really a story about the “slow-motion disaster” caused by race and class inequality. Continue reading
Harlan County USA Film. Directed and produced by Barbara Kopple. 1976. 103 minutes. This documentary tells the story of a Kentucky coal miners' strike and the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line. Continue reading
Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance Book — Non-fiction. By Nick Estes. 2019. 320 pages. In Our History Is the Future, Nick Estes traces traditions of Indigenous resistance that led to the #NoDAPL movement. Continue reading
Running Book — Fiction. By Natalia Sylvester. 2020. 328 pages. A story that celebrates young people who find themselves as they come to political consciousness and commitment. Continue reading
Paradise on Fire Book — Fiction. By Jewell Parker Rhodes. 2023 paperback release. 256 pages. A powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change. Continue reading
No Planet B: A Teen Vogue Guide to the Climate Crisis Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Lucy Diavolo. 2021. 224 pages. A small volume made up of short student-friendly readings that offer lots of teaching possibilities. Continue reading
The Mystery Woman in Room Three Book — Fiction. By Aya de León. Serialized in six parts at Orion Magazine. 2021. A young adult novel that deals with immigration rights, climate justice, the Green New Deal, and youth activism. Available for free download at Orion Magazine. Continue reading
How to Change Everything: The Young Human’s Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other Book — Non-fiction. By Naomi Klein and Rebecca Stefoff. 2021. Young leaders are showing the world that this moment of increasingly dangerous climate change is also a moment of great opportunity — an opportunity to change everything for the better. Continue reading
From the New Deal to the Green New Deal: Stories of Crisis and Possibility Teaching Activity. By Suzanna Kassouf, Matt Reed, Tim Swinehart, Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, and Bill Bigelow. The stories of twenty people whose lives were touched by the New Deal of the 1930s come to life in this classroom activity, intended to open students' minds to the possibilities of a Green New Deal. Continue reading
Pacific Climate Warriors Speak at Climate Strike Film clip. Pacific Climate Warriors. 2019. During the Global Climate Strike on Sept. 20, 2019, the Pacific Climate Warriors in Portland showed up at their rally carrying their identity with pride and speaking their truths as Pacific islanders fighting for their homes. Continue reading
Video Poems by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner Film clip. Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner. Various years. Video poems by a Marshallese artist show the injustices and harm of environmental racism, nuclear weapons, and climate change around the world. Continue reading
No Option Except Escape: A Role Play on the Struggles of Climate Refugees Teaching Activity. By WorldOregon's Young Leaders in Action. In this role-play, students explore the challenges and perspectives of people — climate refugees — who have "no option except escape" from homes devastated by climate change. Continue reading
Teaching Climate Disobedience: Using the Film Necessity in the Classroom Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. A lesson about multiple cohorts of climate activists: Indigenous leaders in the Climate Justice Movement, valve turners using civil disobedience to stop the flow of oil, and the legal team that uses the “necessity defense” in the courts. Continue reading
Who’s to Blame? A People’s Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic Teaching Activity. By Caneisha Mills. This people’s tribunal begins with the premise that a heinous crime is being committed as tens of millions of people’s lives are in danger due to COVID-19. But who was responsible for this crime? Students weigh the evidence. Continue reading
NECESSITY: A Two-Part Documentary Series on Climate Resistance Films. Directed by Jan Haaken and Samantha Praus. 58 minutes & 57 minutes. Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance explores the work of attorneys, valve turners, and other water protectors in Minnesota. Climate Justice and the Thin Green Line examines climate resistance in the Pacific Northwest. Continue reading
How One 2nd-Grader’s Story Inspired Climate Justice Curriculum Teaching Activity. By Rachel Hanes. Rethinking Schools. A 2nd-grade teacher shows how connecting a student's home to the classroom led to profound lessons for all her students — in this case, about pipelines and climate justice. Continue reading
On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal Book — Non-fiction. By Naomi Klein. 2019. 320 pages. This collection of essays makes a case for a Green New Deal — explaining how bold climate action can be a blueprint for a just and thriving society. Continue reading
Teachers vs. Climate Change: The Story of Teachers’ Work for Climate Justice in Portland, Oregon Article. By Bill Bigelow. The story of how teachers, parents, and students in Portland, Oregon organized to demand that climate change be taught honestly and to pass a climate justice resolution. Continue reading
On September 20th, If Our Students are Not in the Streets, Let’s Bring the Streets to Our Students Article. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Rethinking Schools Blog, September 2019. A call to action for teachers to join students, whether in the streets or in classrooms, by using their voices for climate justice. Continue reading
Trinkets and Beads Film. By Christopher Walker. 1996. 52 minutes. This documentary reveals the funny, heartbreaking, and thrilling story of the battle waged by indigenous people to preserve their way of life in the Amazon, in the face of international capitalism and colonialism. Continue reading
Solar Power Comes to Math Class Teaching Activity. By Flannery Denny. Rethinking Schools, Summer 2019. A math educator brings data from a friend’s solar panels — and the story to win them in their community — into her 7th-grade classroom to build a bridge between math and climate justice education. Continue reading
Because Our Islands Are Our Life Article. By Moé Yonamine. Rethinking Schools, Summer, 2019. A high school ethnic studies teacher describes how students in the Pacific Island Club used poetry to refocus the narrative surrounding climate justice onto frontline communities. Continue reading
The Climate Crisis Has a History. Teach It. Article. By Mimi Eisen and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. 2023. A rationale for a new timeline of the climate crisis. Continue reading
Water and Environmental Racism Teaching Activity. By Matt Reed and Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Rethinking Schools. A mixer activity, inspired by the 2016 Democracy Now! documentary Thirsty for Democracy, introduces students to the struggle of residents to access safe water for drinking, cooking, and bathing in the majority-Black cities of Flint, Michigan; Jackson, Mississippi; and Newark, New Jersey. Continue reading
The Attack on Anti-Racist Teaching Attacks Environmental Justice Teaching The right-wing legislation restricting lessons on history and systemic racism also denies students climate literacy. Continue reading
Cooked: Survival by ZIP Code Film. Directed by Judith Helfand. 2020. 54 minutes. This documentary focuses on Chicago’s heat wave to look at how a weeklong tragedy is really a story about the “slow-motion disaster” caused by race and class inequality. Continue reading
Harlan County USA Film. Directed and produced by Barbara Kopple. 1976. 103 minutes. This documentary tells the story of a Kentucky coal miners' strike and the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line. Continue reading
Our History Is the Future: Standing Rock Versus the Dakota Access Pipeline, and the Long Tradition of Indigenous Resistance Book — Non-fiction. By Nick Estes. 2019. 320 pages. In Our History Is the Future, Nick Estes traces traditions of Indigenous resistance that led to the #NoDAPL movement. Continue reading
Running Book — Fiction. By Natalia Sylvester. 2020. 328 pages. A story that celebrates young people who find themselves as they come to political consciousness and commitment. Continue reading
Paradise on Fire Book — Fiction. By Jewell Parker Rhodes. 2023 paperback release. 256 pages. A powerful coming-of-age survival tale exploring issues of race, class, and climate change. Continue reading
No Planet B: A Teen Vogue Guide to the Climate Crisis Book — Non-fiction. Edited by Lucy Diavolo. 2021. 224 pages. A small volume made up of short student-friendly readings that offer lots of teaching possibilities. Continue reading
The Mystery Woman in Room Three Book — Fiction. By Aya de León. Serialized in six parts at Orion Magazine. 2021. A young adult novel that deals with immigration rights, climate justice, the Green New Deal, and youth activism. Available for free download at Orion Magazine. Continue reading
How to Change Everything: The Young Human’s Guide to Protecting the Planet and Each Other Book — Non-fiction. By Naomi Klein and Rebecca Stefoff. 2021. Young leaders are showing the world that this moment of increasingly dangerous climate change is also a moment of great opportunity — an opportunity to change everything for the better. Continue reading
From the New Deal to the Green New Deal: Stories of Crisis and Possibility Teaching Activity. By Suzanna Kassouf, Matt Reed, Tim Swinehart, Ursula Wolfe-Rocca, and Bill Bigelow. The stories of twenty people whose lives were touched by the New Deal of the 1930s come to life in this classroom activity, intended to open students' minds to the possibilities of a Green New Deal. Continue reading
Pacific Climate Warriors Speak at Climate Strike Film clip. Pacific Climate Warriors. 2019. During the Global Climate Strike on Sept. 20, 2019, the Pacific Climate Warriors in Portland showed up at their rally carrying their identity with pride and speaking their truths as Pacific islanders fighting for their homes. Continue reading
Video Poems by Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner Film clip. Kathy Jetn̄il-Kijiner. Various years. Video poems by a Marshallese artist show the injustices and harm of environmental racism, nuclear weapons, and climate change around the world. Continue reading
No Option Except Escape: A Role Play on the Struggles of Climate Refugees Teaching Activity. By WorldOregon's Young Leaders in Action. In this role-play, students explore the challenges and perspectives of people — climate refugees — who have "no option except escape" from homes devastated by climate change. Continue reading
Teaching Climate Disobedience: Using the Film Necessity in the Classroom Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. A lesson about multiple cohorts of climate activists: Indigenous leaders in the Climate Justice Movement, valve turners using civil disobedience to stop the flow of oil, and the legal team that uses the “necessity defense” in the courts. Continue reading
Who’s to Blame? A People’s Tribunal on the Coronavirus Pandemic Teaching Activity. By Caneisha Mills. This people’s tribunal begins with the premise that a heinous crime is being committed as tens of millions of people’s lives are in danger due to COVID-19. But who was responsible for this crime? Students weigh the evidence. Continue reading
NECESSITY: A Two-Part Documentary Series on Climate Resistance Films. Directed by Jan Haaken and Samantha Praus. 58 minutes & 57 minutes. Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance explores the work of attorneys, valve turners, and other water protectors in Minnesota. Climate Justice and the Thin Green Line examines climate resistance in the Pacific Northwest. Continue reading
How One 2nd-Grader’s Story Inspired Climate Justice Curriculum Teaching Activity. By Rachel Hanes. Rethinking Schools. A 2nd-grade teacher shows how connecting a student's home to the classroom led to profound lessons for all her students — in this case, about pipelines and climate justice. Continue reading
On Fire: The (Burning) Case for a Green New Deal Book — Non-fiction. By Naomi Klein. 2019. 320 pages. This collection of essays makes a case for a Green New Deal — explaining how bold climate action can be a blueprint for a just and thriving society. Continue reading
Teachers vs. Climate Change: The Story of Teachers’ Work for Climate Justice in Portland, Oregon Article. By Bill Bigelow. The story of how teachers, parents, and students in Portland, Oregon organized to demand that climate change be taught honestly and to pass a climate justice resolution. Continue reading
On September 20th, If Our Students are Not in the Streets, Let’s Bring the Streets to Our Students Article. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Rethinking Schools Blog, September 2019. A call to action for teachers to join students, whether in the streets or in classrooms, by using their voices for climate justice. Continue reading
Trinkets and Beads Film. By Christopher Walker. 1996. 52 minutes. This documentary reveals the funny, heartbreaking, and thrilling story of the battle waged by indigenous people to preserve their way of life in the Amazon, in the face of international capitalism and colonialism. Continue reading
Solar Power Comes to Math Class Teaching Activity. By Flannery Denny. Rethinking Schools, Summer 2019. A math educator brings data from a friend’s solar panels — and the story to win them in their community — into her 7th-grade classroom to build a bridge between math and climate justice education. Continue reading
Because Our Islands Are Our Life Article. By Moé Yonamine. Rethinking Schools, Summer, 2019. A high school ethnic studies teacher describes how students in the Pacific Island Club used poetry to refocus the narrative surrounding climate justice onto frontline communities. Continue reading
