Environment (Re)defined: Exploring the Human Impacts of Climate Change

Lesson Summary:

In this lesson, students analyze print, video, photo, and audio reporting ons climate change and the different impacts that it can have on individuals, communities, and on the environment itself in different parts of the work. Through analyzing different perspectives on how climate change is affecting people’s lives across the globe, students will also be able to draw local connections to their own communities and their own lives

Objectives:

Students will be able to...

1. Analyze reporting on the way climate change looks on both the macro and community/individual levels. 
2. Use reporting on the impact of climate change on different communities to evaluate local connections to their own homes and communities. 
3. Find creative ways to document the way that they see and think about climate change, the environment, and their community in one of two creative extension activities.

Warm-up:

Take a few minutes to answer the following questions in a few words:

1. What do you know about climate change?
2. How would you describe climate change, in your own words?
3. Where do you hear climate change being spoken about the most?
4. Do you think most of the information that you hear about climate change feels relevant to your own life? Why or why not?

Take 5-10 minutes individually to explore the “Great Climate Migration” interactive experience on the New York Times Magazine website.  Take a look at the graphics, and analyze what the data has to say about migration in response to climate change and what is projected to happen in the future.

Pay special attention to the following excerpt from the experience:

After exploring the interactive experience and reading the except, ask students to answer the following questions as a whole group:

1. After reading the excerpt and exploring the interactive experience, who do you think is impacted by climate change? How? 
2. The excerpt speaks a little bit about people migrating in response to climate change, and especially migrating in larger numbers to cities. Why do you think this is?
3. What is one photo or graphic from the interactive experience that you found especially interesting? Why?

Background:

Throughout the history of reporting on climate change, scientists and journalists have used different metrics to examine the way the environment is changing. Some examples of this are metrics on rising sea levels or average temperatures, both of which are common numbers that are used to talk about climate change. 

A little less common are numbers and statistics about people and how they are affected by the shifting environments around them. When the climate changes, it can affect different parts of people’s lives: agriculture, the economy, racial justice, immigration, gender equality, and more. Although these topics are less well explored when it comes to the lens of climate change, this is changing as scientists, journalists, and policymakers are learning about the ways shifting environments are affecting individuals and communities around the world. 

Today, we are going to look at climate change from a few different perspectives, in stories from around the world. As we examine the reporting below, I am going to ask you to keep thinking about the people who are affected by these stories. How can you relate to them? How do you think they might be feeling? 

Vocabulary:

• Climate change
• Sea level rise
• Environmental migration
• Climate refugee
• Environmental justice

Introducing the Lesson:

We will watch the video “Rising Waters” from  The Post and Courier in Charleston, SC as a class and then answer a few comprehension questions. 

Then, in groups of no more than 5, you will choose between two articles that look at ways that communities are impacted by climate change and answer some discussion and reflection questions about those articles.

Throughout, we will be exploring ways that climate change is impacting people throughout the world. As you watch and read the stories, notice where the experiences of people highlighted in the articles are alike and different. Also, notice what connections you can make between these stories and your own life. 

Exploring “Rising Waters” from The Post and Courier

After watching the video, choose one of the following two pieces of reporting to read and discuss with a group of up to five students. As you read, note what details stick out to you about the impact of climate change on the individuals highlighted in the article. Also, note any connections you are making between the story and your own life and community.

• “How Climate Migration Will Reshape America” from The New York Times Magazine, which takes an in-depth look at considering how climate change might affect migration patterns across America in the future. 
• “Flooding Intensifies Charleston’s Racial and Wealth Inequities” from The Post and Courier, which takes a more specific look at one city, Charleston, South Carolina, and how it is impacted by rising sea levels causing flooding in the area. This article closely examines how changes to the climate in Charleston are disproportionately affecting the city’s Black residents.

Note for teachers: Both articles are fairly long. Students can have the option to take them home as assigned reading and to discuss with r classmates during the next class period, if time does not permit reading and discussing the articles during class. Instead of closely reading every single word, students could also focus on finding the statistics and stories that they find interesting in the article. Write them down or highlight them. 

Discussion:

After reading, use the questions below to guide a discussion about the article you read:

Discussion Questions for “How Climate Migration Will Reshape America”

1. The article speaks a lot about how climate change will affect different regions of the United States. And yet, the journalist seems uncertain about whether or not people will actually move as a result of these changes. What do you think? Will people leave their homes behind as a result of climate-induced problems - why or why not?
2. The article indicates that most people who will be forced to move due to climate-related problems will choose to move further north and to major cities. What are some challenges these cities might face if this migration was to happen?
3. How did you feel about the way the journalists chose to tell this story? Is there anything you would have done differently? What would you have done, and why?

Discussion Questions for ““Flooding Intensifies Charleston’s Racial and Wealth Inequities” 

1. The article is very focused on ways that Charleston’s Black neighborhoods and communities are more affected by sea level rise causing flooding in the city. What are 1-2 examples of this that stood out to you? 
2. Omar Muhammad, the executive director of the Lowcountry Alliance for Model Communities, states in the article that damage to homes from flooding is not a race issue, but a class one. After reading the article, do you agree or disagree with this statement? 
3. Think about the interactive experience from the New York Times Magazine, looking at how people all over the world migrate in response to climate change and tough ecological conditions in their communities. Do you think the residents of Charleston whose homes are being affected by the floods would choose to move out of the city? Why or why not?
4. How did you feel about the way the journalists chose to tell this story? Is there anything you would have done differently? What would you have done, and why?

Reflection:

As a class or in groups, reflect on the following questions after discussing your articles: 

1. What is one new thing you learned from the reporting you have looked at today? 
2. Does anything from the reporting feel relatable to stories you have heard in other places, or to your own life?

Extension Activities:

1. Comic drawing: 
   1. Read Tony Bartelme’s Flood Woman comic book. Bartelme uses a short, imaginative comic to create a superhero who fights back against “Climate Doom,” a villain he uses to represent the rising sea levels and flood-related problems in Charleston, South Carolina. 
   2. Then, think about a climate issue that you think would be interesting to see in comic form. It could be something that you found interesting from the reporting examined in class, or something that you find through your own research. 
   3. Find some way to tell a creative story about this issue. You can use a superhero and villain, the way Bartelme did, or you can come up with a completely different story idea. Create a 1 page comic or story board based on your story - try and use your work to think through how climate change affects people and communities.  Be sure to include some original illustrations and color!
   4. Click here for a free resource that you can use to create your comic!
2. Think like a photojournalist: 
   1. Take a look at the photo essay, “Sinop, Lost Forest, Prosperity, and Monocultures” by Heriberto Araújo and Melissa Chan. This essay is focused on a city in Brazil that has transformed in a little over 40 years from being covered in rainforest to being a huge hub for growing and distributing soy and sugar to buyers such as in China, where the crops are used to feed pigs.
   2.  Look at the way the journalists use photos to tell a story about Sinop. Are there any similar stories that you could tell about your own neighborhood and community? Has your community experienced the effects of flooding, or rising temperatures? What about construction and new developments? Find a story you think would be interesting to tell, and then go out into your community with a phone or some other camera you have access to. 
   3. Take 3-5 photos of your community that you think tell the story you want to tell. Upload the images to a document, and give them captions to help someone understand your story who might never have been in your community before.
   4. As an alternative to this assignment, you can also try to compare and contrast changes in your community over time. Using the Internet or a local library, try to find a photo from 20 years ago or more of some place that you know well now. Take a photo of that place as it is now, and write a short paragraph on how that place has changed over the years. 
3. “Minipod” podcast recording: 
   1. The short piece of audio journalism, “Chinese Development in the Amazon” by Melissa Chan considers the economic relationship between China and Brazil as one of the biggest drivers of deforestation in the Amazon. This deforestation is driven by a high demand from China for soybeans from Brazil. Listen to the piece and think about the techniques that journalist Melissa Chan uses to talk about this topic. What do you learn from listening to Chan talk about this issue in this way?
   2. Think about the issues covered in this lesson. Choose one that you think you could explain to your classmates and create a “minipod” podcast episode by recording yourself on your phone. Your episode should be about 3-5 minutes long, and should feature you explaining some issue relating to climate change: climate migration, environmental justice, etc. You can also choose to focus on a climate-related issue in your own community like construction,  trash collection, littering, etc. 
   3. Try to explain the issue as if you are talking to a group of your classmates. How can you make it easier for them to understand? 
   4. Record your minipod on your phone or another device and think of a creative title for your episode. Consider using a free platform like Audacity or Garageband to record and cut together your episode. If you want to post it online, you can use a platform like Anchor from Spotify!