Clearing the Air through Climate Justice and Civic Engagement
Jessica Wang, Bellevue Community College

The Impacts of Climate Change on x̌əpayac (Western Redcedar) and the Social Justice Implications for Indigenous Culture
Kristen Harrison, Tacoma Community College
Students use botany to explore how cedar trees are affected by climate change and the cultural importance of these trees to local indigenous peoples. As part of a field-based laboratory experience, students participate in a citizen science project that involves collecting data about cedar trees. The activity ends with a civic engagement experience designed and carried out by students to demonstrate how scientists can share their work with the public and with policymakers to address issues of concern to society.

Using Case Studies, Mind mapping, and Social Media to Explore Climate Justice and Build Science Communication Skills
Woody Moses, Highline Community College
Students engage in a mind mapping activity about climate gentrification in Miami to learn about climate justice as well as how the climate systems and human systems interact with each other. Students then identify their own climate justice issue and complete an annotated bibliography of climate justice case studies related to that issue to prepare a post for Instagram. The activity ends with a final case study about the Lummi nation, who were able to effect change through a lawsuit against coal trains.

Spatial Inequities of Heat Impacts in Portland Oregon: Examining Climate Justice Solutions through Civic Engagement in Environmental Science
Taryn Oakley, Portland Community College
This environmental science project introduces students to inequities caused by climate change, specifically how redlined neighborhoods in cities experience disproportionately higher temperatures than other areas of the city. Students explore ways that this climate justice issue can be addressed, with a focus on tree planting, and engage civically through public outreach by designing and creating buttons used as a conversation starter to share what they've learned with their community.

Afghan Poppies, Climate Change and US Heroin: Thinking Systemically About Us and Them
Karen Litfin, University of Washington-Seattle Campus
This very simple contemplative exercise is rooted in my "Person/Planet Politics" approach, which invites students to into an experiential relationship with a global socioecological phenomenon: in this instance, Afghan poppy production. It can be adapted to a range of courses and a range of topics within those courses. The basic question is: "Who am I in relation to this?"

Environmental Justice in Tacoma: A Non-Majors Qualitative Assessment of Pollution and Public Policy in the Local Community
Jim Gawel, University of Washington- Tacoma
This activity is designed to get non-environmental majors to qualitatively examine their own community for evidence of environmental injustice. Using a mix of evidence from online sources (U.S. Census, EnviroMapper, Toxic Release Inventory, Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction, etc.) and field observations, student groups describe the population and pollution sources found within an assigned elementary school district in Tacoma.

Using Reflection Activities in the Field to Deepen Student Learning
Holly Hughes, Edmonds Community College
This activity offers one of the reflection activities we developed in our learning community "Exploring Natural History in Word and Field." In this class, the students learn about natural history by reading natural history essays and participating in field trips. In this activity, we use reflection before and during a field trip to an Old Growth Forest to help our students clarify their own stance for a Position Paper on whether and under what conditions logging should be allowed in Old Growth Forests.

Courting Environmental Justice: Science, Community Knowledge and Public Health
Lin Nelson, The Evergreen State College
While this module was developed when we followed the federal criminal case around WR Grace and asbestos exposure in a small Montana mining town, it can be adapted for a range of learning experiences regarding environmental justice, argumentation, strategizing, remediation and sustainability.

Mining Decisions: Developing New Perspectives on Mineral Extraction
Katie Chenu, Seattle Community College-Central Campus
Students examine different stakeholder-perspectives with respect to a local mining project. Debate and discussion will highlight environmental, economic, and social justice issues.

Problem-Solving: Where to Put the Poop
Barry Maxwell, Whatcom Community College