The Benefit of Acknowledging and Addressing Students' Uncomfortable Emotions when Learning about Environmental Issues: Fostering Growth and Change in Action-Oriented Exercises
Ellen Moore
Research reveals that if students are presented with negative information about environmental issues and they are not also provided with a plan for action, they often manifest denial on many levels. This exercise is designed to get students to directly address the emotions they face when learning about environmental issues and to make an action plan to address them in their individual lives.

Systems Thinking and Civic Engagement for Climate Justice in General Chemistry: CO2 and PM 2.5 Pollution from Coal Combustion
Sonya Doucette, Bellevue Community College
Students apply chemistry to a climate justice case study using a systems thinking perspective in class and discuss the connections between chemistry and climate justice in a conversation with a community outside of the classroom for civic engagement. The instructor offers formative feedback during class time and in response to discussion posts. Feedback is meant to build understanding and application of concepts important to learning chemistry within a systems thinking context and using civic engagement to communicate how chemistry relates to climate justice.

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.

Water and Civic Responsibility: An Online Discussion Exercise
Rob Viens, Bellevue Community College
Students apply their science learning to regional issues related to water quantity and quality.

Marine Debris: Fishing for Microplastics in Your Home
Julie Masura, University of Washington-Tacoma Campus
Students engage with the issue of plastics found in the ocean environment, by exploring products in their homes which contain plastics; they also learn how to calculate the concentration of plastics found in a chosen personal care product.

Transportation: Waterways to Interstate Highways
Charles Luckmann, Skagit Valley College
Students practice open-ended inquiry, guided inquiry, synthesis and expository writing as they explore personal and public modes of transportation, past and present, in the Puget Sound bioregion. This activity can be adapted to any region.

Sustainability, Nuclear Waste, and the Hanford Site
John VanLeer, Cascadia Community College
An introduction to the Hanford Site in Washington, including its history, geology, and hydrology, and examines the sustainability issues associated with it.

Waste As A Resource
Ben Fackler-Adams, Skagit Valley College
Students understand the growing impact of waste and waste disposal on our environment and economy, and examines solutions to these issues through exploration of waste as a resource and the implementation of zero-waste manufacturing/building practices.

Visualizing Social Justice in South Seattle: Data Analysis, Race, and The Duwamish River Basin
Eunice Blavascunas, University of Washington
We examine the factors of race and environmental contamination, starting from the premise (and data proving) that race is not a biological, scientifically valid category, but a social, historical construction with real world consequences for equal access to health, resources, and power.