FORTY-TWO
Georgia
“WHEN I SAY CLIMATE,YOU SAY JUSTICE!” Max and I scream. “CLIMATE!”
“JUSTICE!” Twenty-eight little voices scream after us.
“CLIMATE!”
“JUSTICE!”
Maybe three or four weeks later (who am I kidding? It’s been exactly twenty-three days since I last saw Oliver), we’ve finished up our climate justice unit, and our class decided we should end with a climate march around Fort Greene. Twenty-nine little ones hold posters the size of their bodies. Posters with messages created by my students themselves, messages like:
CLIMATE JUSTICE = HUMAN JUSTICE
I SPEAK FOR THE TREES
No more coal, no more oil
Keep that carbon inthe soil!
Kids these days are so fucking clever.
I was proud of this final project. I made it with Oliver. For this one, we made a list of possible projects, and then students could choose which one they wanted to do. Individually, or in groups. Look at this fucking list.
Create a photomontage of natural resources across the global community (eg: compare and contrast human access to resources locally or globally)
Advocate to advertisers, business owners, and/or politicians for support with climate justice initiatives (eg: urban farming options, farmers markets in ALL communities, etc.)
Write and Record a podcast or audiovisual presentation to inform the overall community of the BIPOC perspective
Create a PSA for climate justice initiatives (TikTok, YouTube, posters, etc)
Role-play an in-class or whole-school debate on the effects of inequality on the global climate crisis (eg: racial disparity, gender inequality made worse by climate change, ageism: rights of children vs. adults)
Create a 3D model of a climate justice community to show others what is possible right now in terms of taking action
