1. Recognize the effects of environmental racism due to redlining, building of transportation infrastructure, and industrial air pollution that create climate and health injustices.
2. Gain knowledge of key meteorology concepts related to air pollutant types and principal air pollutants and connect these to local and global issues related to climate change and human health.
3. Use knowledge of atmospheric chemistry concepts to discuss current and future changes in air pollution and related climate injustices with others.
4. Identify and discuss ways people, communities, and organizations are addressing the challenges they are facing.
5. Build and practice science communication skills through civic engagement.

This activity was designed for an online, asynchronous Introductory Meteorology course at a community college. I have introduced this activity during Week 10 of the quarter-long course when students are studying climate change. In the previous week (Week 9), students had examined the types and sources of air pollution and identified atmospheric factors that affect air pollution episodes. I take the air pollution module a step further with this activity, which focuses on climate change and its connections with both air pollution and social justice. So prior to engaging in this activity, students are familiar with air pollutant types (e.g., primary vs secondary and fixed vs. mobile sources) and principal air pollutants (e.g., particulates, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, and nitrogen dioxide).

While I recommend providing the air pollution context for this activity, it is not absolutely necessary to teach a preceding air pollution unit. This activity could be adapted for other non-science major meteorology and introductory atmospheric science courses or introductory environmental science. It could be taught in-person or in a hybrid-course setting (see Description and Teaching Materials for suggestions for these adaptations and introductory information about air pollution).

The activity can be completed at the convenience of students over the course of a week when the module opens with the accompanying assignments. Students must first complete the activity in any word processing software (e.g., Microsoft Word, Google Documents). Then, students will complete the civic engagement activity by having meaningful conversations with friends or family, reflecting on their discussions and sharing their thoughts with their classmates using a discussion board created in the Canvas learning management system (LMS). Any LMS with discussion board capability can be used.

This activity is written for an online, asynchronous course. Because this is an online activity, students can take as much time as needed to complete the assignments within the time frame. On average, students can spend 60-90 minutes working through Steps 1 and 2 and 90-120 minutes to complete Step 3. Students are given one week to complete the activity and post to the discussion board.

If students do not have prior knowledge about air pollution and/or this lesson is not associated with an air pollution unit, you may first start with Step 0.

Step 0. As previously stated in the Context for Use section, students have previously learned about air pollution in the previous week. Students are given access to the lecture video and accompanying lecture slides: Air Pollution PowerPoint Slides.pptx (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 47.2MB Jun8 23). The PowerPoint includes concepts related to:

• categories of air pollutants (Slides 2-11)
• distribution of ozone in the atmosphere (Slides 12-15)
• trends and patterns of air pollutants (Slides 16-17)
• air quality index (Slides 18-19)
• the roles of atmospheric stability, inversions, and topography on air pollution (Slides 20-26)
• ingredients for severe air pollution event potential (Slides 27-28)
• urban heat island effect (Slides 28-30)
• civic engagement ideas for communities affected by pollutants (Slide 31)

To assess student learning, you can assign a quiz for students to complete or include these questions as concept-check questions at the end of the PowerPoint. Example quiz questions are included as a Word document: Example Air Pollution Quiz Questions.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 17kB May22 23)

Step 1. Students will explore and read through an interactive ArcGIS StoryMap article focused on two different communities in the city of Charlotte, North Carolina: Clearing the Air in the Historic West End created by Calvin A Cupini. Students will learn more about air pollution, citizen/community science, and environmental justice.

Step 2. Students then download the assignment document: Climate Justice Discussion Board.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 23kB May31 23)

Instructions include:

• Scroll through the ArcGIS StoryMap and answer questions pertaining directly to the maps and illustrations shown and information provided.
• Recall topics they have learned in the Introduction to Weather course and describe ways humans have contributed to climate change.
• Reflect on their overall thoughts on the StoryMap and state what surprised them while completing the assignment.

Step 3. Students will engage in a civic engagement activity by having a meaningful discussion with a family member, friend, or co-worker and discussing what they learned, potential solutions for how communities may rise up against the challenges they face through civic engagement. Students will post in an online class discussion board and reflect on their conversation.

Climate Justice Discussion Board.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 22kB May22 23)

Implementation for an in-person and/or hybrid synchronous course:

The Air Pollution PowerPoint lecture slides can be presented across a few class periods (e.g., two or three 50-minute sessions). The instructor can then assign the StoryMap article as an in-class assignment if students have access to a desktop, laptop, or tablet or as a homework assignment. Then, students can complete the civic engagement component of discussing with friends and family and share their reflections with their peers and the instructor through an in-person presentation, recording, or online discussion post.

Teaching tips and notes are still a work in progress as I have taught this lesson once in 2022. The student feedback thus far has been very positive. Many students found the lesson impactful and informational. Several students were already familiar with the practice of redlining, but expressed shock on how government policies and industry practices were connected to climate change and air pollution. Many students shared their frustration and sadness learning about the disproportionate impacts on communities of color. The ArcGIS StoryMap includes a section towards the end that describes how residents are building a community-level monitoring network to gather real-time air quality measurements and installing air pollution monitors at their homes and schools. These efforts have led to immediate health benefits for the communities involved. This story of positive change is an example of how communities impacted by air pollution are rising up to meet the challenges they face through advocacy, education, and community-driven research (https://cleanairenc.org/). I have found that it is important to provide stories of positive change and solutions to students, so that they feel hopeful and empowered, rather than overwhelmed and in despair.

The majority of my students live in Washington State (USA), so they were unfamiliar with the two communities in Charlotte, North Carolina described in the StoryMap. However, in their written work, a few students noted how communities closer to home are likely experiencing similar impacts of redlining and racial segregation on air quality. Therefore, I recommend including another example or case study that is more local to students, since students likely understand more about the local context in which they live as opposed to an example farther away in a location where they likely have never lived and are therefore unaware. For example, students could examine one of the cities featured in the large colleection of redlined maps published by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition (https://ncrc.org/holc-health/ - to access the map collection on this site, go to the right-hand navigation and scroll down to "maps and data" in blue).

Then, students can read and learn about the ongoing policymaking in their local community aimed to address the ongoing disparities for community of color that are more likely to live near polluted sites and have less access to clean air. (Example for Seattle, Washington: https://www.seattle.gov/environment/environmental-progress/environmental-justice#improvinghealthoutcomes).

Students in my course were receptive to talking with friends and family about climate change and injustices. I tell my students at the beginning of the quarter that we will be learning and discussing climate change at the end of the quarter. One of the most important things we can do for our climate might be the simplest: talking about it now. Talking with family and friends can be a powerful--and often new--civic engagement step for students, since talking about climate change can lead to heightened awareness and concern. Here are several resources that I have found helpful as I have engaged students with these issues.

• The Most Important Thing You Can Do to Fight Climate Change: Talk About It
• Do Something Important on Climate: Talk About It
• Who is Most Likely to Talk About Climate

1. Recognize the effects of environmental racism due to redlining, building of transportation infrastructure, and industrial air pollution that create climate and health injustices.

Students explore an interactive ArcGIS StoryMap article on the air pollution, citizen/community science, and environmental justice and answer concepts through a summative assessment (graded activity worksheet).

2. Gain knowledge of key meteorology concepts related to air pollutant types and principal air pollutants and connect these to local and global issues related to climate change and human health.

To assess students' knowledge of key meteorology concepts, I conduct a summative assessment through an untimed quiz in the Canvas LMS. Students have two opportunities to earn the maximum number of points on the quiz. The quiz consists of conceptual multiple choice questions.

3. Use knowledge of atmospheric chemistry concepts to discuss current and future changes in air pollution and related climate injustices with others.

In the online format, students engage in an online discussion board with their peers by writing their own post first and responding to one classmate. Their grade on the assignment is based on:

(a) engaging in a meaningful conversation with a family member, friend, or co-worker (part a of students' Discussion posts)

(b) an accurate description of how the meteorology or climate change topics are connected or related to the climate justice issue(s) they discussed (part b of students' Discussion posts)

4. Identify and discuss ways people, communities, and organizations are addressing the challenges they are facing.

Students first discuss why some people may be more vulnerable to climate change compared to others. Then, I evaluate students' ability to identify and discuss potential solutions to the challenges that communities in North Carolina are facing through civic engagement. Student responses to this prompt are not graded for accuracy. (parts c-f of students' Discussion posts)

5. Build and practice science communication skills through civic engagement.

I evaluate how students can accurately describe the atmospheric concepts in their conversation. This description is graded for accuracy. Students also had to lead the conversation on why some people may be more vulnerable to climate change than others. Finally, students had to reflect on what went well and what did not go well in their conversations and brainstorm how their conversations could be improved upon in the future. (parts g and h of students' Discussion posts)

This work is supported in part by NSF-IUSE grant (DUE 2043535).

List of suggested videos to assign or show in class:

• Air Pollution 101 (4 min): The impact of greenhouse gases, smog, and toxic pollutants on climate change and human health: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e6rglsLy1Ys
• Air Pollution Overview (9.5 min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dTtvtlct9k
• Urban Heat Islands (2.5 min): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnBO4vX82Fs

Regarding the importance of talking about climate change, this is a useful resource--both to faculty members and students--published by Yale University's Program on Climate Communication: https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-spiral-silence-america/

A large national collection of redlined maps in major US cities is online at the National Community Reinvestment Coalition's website at https://ncrc.org/holc-health/   To access the map collection on this website, go to the right-hand navigation and scroll down to "maps and data" in blue.