1. Describe how the urban heat island effect can intersect with climate change to create inequities for marginalized communities.

2. Use data to identify patterns in the relationships between race, poverty, canopy cover, and temperature.

3. Identify solutions that will allow individuals and communities to be more resilient to climate change related heat.

4. Engage in conversation with friends, family, and/or strangers about these issues and the potential solutions.

I use this activity in an introductory environmental science course for non-STEM majors at a two-year college with a maximum class size of 24 students. The lecture portion of this activity is taught on Zoom, but could easily be done in-person in a classroom. I implement this activity during the last week of a 10-week-long quarter (term) and it spans the entire week. I use 90-minutes of a Zoom lecture session and a three-hour-long laboratory session for the activity, which requires about 30 to 60 minutes of work by students outside class time. This activity is specific to Portland, Oregon (USA), but could be adapted to any of the many other cities in the United States that is included in the ArcGIS map data layer that I use (REDLINING & Exposure to Urban Heat Islands). It could also be adapted to other regions where similar data sets and maps exist. The activity could be adapted to other educational contexts, such as a high school environmental science course or an upper level college environmental science course, in which students could do more of the graphing on their own (for example). The button-making component of this activity could be challenging for a large class size at a four-year college or university, but parts of the activity could still be used (Steps 1 and 2). Alternatively, the button-making could happen during small breakout or discussion sessions, when students could visit a campus MakerSpace (see next paragraph) with a graduate teaching assistant. Before encountering this activity, students should be able to enter data into a table, read and interpret a graph, and know how to read a map. It is also helpful to do some community-building within your classroom, prior to implementing this redlining activity, which has a focus on environmental racism.

Students make their buttons on a button-maker machine in my campus MakerSpace, but there are other options for implementing this activity if you do not have a MakerSpace with a button-maker machine on your campus. The lack of this resource does not pose a barrier to your use of this activity in your class. Materials needed for making the button are a button film cover (the clear cover that protects the button) and button backing (the metal or plastic part with the pin). My campus MakerSpace has a very nice button maker, but this is definitely not needed and fairly low-cost button maker machines can be purchased and used by you (the instructor) in your classroom. You could also make stickers instead of buttons using sticker paper, which can be used in any standard printer, to achieve the same end as the buttons. To design the buttons, each student needs access to a computer as well as an internet connection to access the Google Drawings tool, which is a free online tool that students use to design their buttons (any other diagramming or design type of software or app would likely work too). I also use the D2L Brightspace online learning management system (LMS) to share the activity and materials, since this course is taught in a hybrid modality, but any LMS will work. A LMS is also not necessary if teaching the course fully in-person in a classroom, as instructors can instead print out handouts for distribution to students during class.

Instructor Class Preparation: Check links to all online videos and articles; prepare PowerPoint presentation and student worksheet for the lecture session; acquire button-making materials (film cover and backing); coordinate with your campus MakerSpace or other space or arrange some other way for students to make buttons (or stickers, as an alternative) in your classroom (e.g., purchase a low-cost button maker machine); create a design template for button making in Google Drawings (I provide an example below); post the reflection assignment to your LMS and set up a submission link for student work (or print out the assignment for distribution to students during class time if you teach this full in-person in a classroom).

Step 1: Redlining and Urban Heat Islands in Portland (60 to 75 minutes). This part is the first 60 minutes of a 90-minute-long Zoom session, which could also be done in-person, which provides students with an introduction to redlining and urban heat islands, as well as time to brainstorm the design of a button that they will create later in this activity. I use a PowerPoint presentation and a worksheet to structure this session. Students complete the worksheet as we move through the session. (They complete Part 1 of the worksheet for this step.) I begin the session by showing a 6-minute-long video, Housing Segregation and Redlining in America: A Short History, to introduce students to redlining in the United States and students write (in their own words) what redlining is on their worksheet. We pause to talk about redlining as a class to provide students with a chance to ask questions and express their thoughts and ensure everyone understands.

Next, I show another 6-minute-long video, How urban heat islands make the impacts of excessive heat worse, to introduce students to the concept of urban heat islands and students write (in their own words) what the urban heat island effect is on their worksheet. We pause again to talk about the urban heat island effect as a class and allow time for questions. After watching the two videos, I facilitate a class discussion during which I ask students to share what they have noticed about how the amount of pavement and the amount of trees varies around different parts of Portland. This is a way for me to check in about what students already know as well as an opportunity for them to share any experiences they have that are related to these issues. On students' worksheets, and on the PowerPoint presentation after this discussion, I provide a link to Racist Housing Practices From The 1930s Linked To Hotter Neighborhoods Today, which is a short article (about 3-minutes to read or listen) that explicitly links redlining and urban heat islands. The article includes a graph that shows that Portland, Oregon (USA) has the largest heat discrepancy (12.76 degrees Farenheit) between neighborhoods and the highest-rated neighborhoods (as rated by the Home Owners' Loan Corporation, HOLC, in the United States) of major cities across the United States.

After the introduction to redlining and the urban heat island effect, I create breakout rooms in Zoom where students work in small groups to compare several locations in Portland using a free online ArcGIS map data layer called REDLINING & Exposure to Urban Heat Islands. (The data for this map comes from this open-access research article published in 2020: The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas.) On this map, students can select Portland, among many other U.S. cities. From the Portland data layer on the map, students can select different neighborhoods and find information about each neighborhoods' HOLC rating, average temperature difference, the percentage of the area that is covered by trees, the percentage of the population that is a minority, and the percentage of the population living below the poverty line. I ask students to collect this data from the map for ten different locations in Portland and record it in the data table on their worksheet. Once they have their data set, students discuss and answer questions about patterns they see in their data. Then they are asked to look at a series of graphs that I created using the data from this map, and interpret the graphs, again looking for patterns.

After students have discussed these patterns as a group, I close the breakout rooms, and we come back together to share observations and insights as a class. Next, I give students 5 minutes to brainstorm some potential solutions that could decrease (or erase!) the existing inequities in Portland, as related to redlining and the urban heat island effect. I ask students to "think big" and avoid letting logistics constrain their ideas at this point. Once students have brainstormed at least three potential solutions, I present to them the Canopy of Stories project, which is a project in Multnomah County, Oregon (where Portland is located), that aims to pair community stories and feedback with scientific data (e.g., temperature, tree canopy, maps) to visually present climate impacts on frontline communities in the county, that is, those lower income communities that experience "first and worst" environmental hazards and climate change. This helps to bring to the forefront personalization of the quantitative data and community involvement of those most impacted, in order to create a fuller picture of how our community is impacted. I also share some good news about the Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) ballot initiative, passed in 2018, as the first climate-fund measure in the country created by and for BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and People of Color) communities and others on the frontlines of climate change. Portland has also created a Climate Investment Plan (CIP) to invest $750 million of PCEF funding, over the next 5 years, in green jobs and healthy homes, especially for frontline communities. I share that one part of the CIP is to plant more street trees. At the end of the Zoom lecture session, students submit their worksheets to me as a graded assignment.

Lecture Slides.pptx (PowerPoint 2007 (.pptx) 1.2MB Jun6 24)

Lecture Worksheet.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 284kB Jun19 24)

Step 2: Introduction to Civic Engagement and Button Design Brainstorm (15 to 30 minutes). The last 30 minutes of the 90-minute-long Zoom lecture session provides students with an introduction to a type of civic engagement that raises other peoples' awareness about an important issue, specifically through the use of student-designed buttons. This segment offers students a chance to begin brainstorming their button designs. I use the same PowerPoint presentation as in Step 1 (Slides 18 through 20) and the same worksheet to structure this part of the session. (Students refer to Part 2 of the worksheet for this step.) I begin this part of the session by introducing civic engagement using a definition that I found on a New York Time website (The Definition of Civic Engagement) and then focus students on the awareness and education aspects of civic engagement, whose vehicle is the buttons they will make. I explain to students how sharing what we know with others can spread momentum and make it more likely that we will see policies and actions that help to increase equity in our communities. After this introduction, I explain to students what will happen during the next laboratory session for the class (button making) and ask students to brainstorm their button design to prepare for this laboratory session, which will take place in my college campus MakerSpace. Before we start to brainstorm our button design, I ask students to pause and think about what makes an effective button and allow time for them to share their ideas. During our button-making session, students create two copies of the same button (one to wear and one to give to another person). I tell the students that people might ask them about their button when they are wearing it, and that this is an opportunity for them to explain the heat island effect and the inequities that exist in different neighborhoods in Portland. I also tell students that, when they give their second button to someone else, they will explain what it symbolizes, which is a means to initiate conversations and educate their community. The only content-based guideline I give them for their button design is that it should be focused on urban heat islands and/or canopy cover inequities and/or potential solutions to these problems. We use this template in Google Drawings to support students' button design, which ensures that it is the correct size for our button maker and will look as the students expect it to look: Google Drawing Button Template. The content within the red circle will actually appear on the front of the button, whereas the content between the red and black circles will wrap around to the back of the button, and it is important to explain this to students as they work on their design.

Step 3: Buttons Making and Planning for Civic Engagement (3 hours). This step occurs during a three-hour-long laboratory session held in my college campus MakerSpace, where we are lucky to have staff members to help students make their buttons. Students spend the first hour of the session finalizing their button design and the rest of the session making their buttons. I provide students with guidelines and instructions from our MakerSpace staff to help the process run smoothly. While the buttons are being made, I ask students to prepare for civic engagement by explaining why they selected the design, who they will give their second button to, and what they plan to say when they give their button to that person and/or if someone asks them about their button when they are wearing it.  I have provided here some examples of the buttons that students make.

Button Making & Preparing for Civic Engagement.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 16kB Jun6 24)

Student Button Examples.pdf (Acrobat (PDF) 13.9MB Jun6 24)

Step 4: Using Buttons for Civic Engagement (30 to 60 minutes). This part involves a civic engagement action and a reflection assignment that students carry out on their own outside class. Students give their button to someone and wear their own over the several days before this assignment is due, and engage in conversation as a result. After they take this action, I ask them to share two takeaways from the project and reflect on how they feel after sharing their button and/or talking to someone about its significance, whether they feel their role in their community has shifted at all, how they are impacted by climate injustice in direct and indirect ways, whether they feel more empowered to make changes in their community after this project, and to identify other actions they could take and whether there are any changes they are willing to try.

Civic Engagement Reflection.docx (Microsoft Word 2007 (.docx) 16kB Jun19 24)

The GIS map-based activity is very engaging for most students, and it took them longer than I anticipated because they spent a lot of time exploring the map. I gave them 20 minutes to complete this part, but was surprised to find that not all groups finished during this time frame. The students reported that the map is not difficult to use, but they enjoyed exploring it and spent a lot of time doing this. One way to modify this activity is to ask students to collect less data from the map. For example, I ask them to collect data for ten locations on the map, but you could easily reduce the number of locations for which they collect data.

For collaboration with a similar MakerSpace or other space on your campus, be sure to plan ahead to make sure they can host your students on the day and time that you want to complete Step 3. It would be helpful for you to go through the button designing and making process yourself, using the specific equipment that you have access to (which may be different from what I used!), so that you can provide guidelines and instructions to students. I asked staff in the MakerSpace for feedback on the guidelines and instructions I planned to give to students, so that we had a common understanding of and a plan for what students would do on the day they would be hosted by the MakerSpace.

The actual printing of each button in the MakerSpace takes a while. Most times that I've done this in my course, I have had a class size of about 16 students and making all of their buttons takes the full two hours. With larger class sizes, the amount of time needed could increase considerably. You can reduce the amount of time needed in a MakerSpace by having students complete the one hour of button design prior to going there. Because the printing takes a while, there is also a lot of "downtime" during this session, which could be filled with other activities while students are waiting for their button design to be printed. If the buttons were designed and printed ahead of time, the actual button making does not take very long (maybe 2 minutes per button). In the future, I am considering ways to occupy the downtime that exists during button printing, to make it more meaningful, by inviting a guest to interact with students around redlining and the urban heat island effect, and ways to address these issues in Portland or larger Multnomah County, Oregon (where Portland is located). For example, a government official, a representative from a non-profit, or a community member could attend the session and lead a class discussion, wander around the room and talk with small groups of students, or answer a set of questions from our class that I would help students prepare in advance. That all said, I lead this activity at the end of the quarter and I have noticed that the students use the "waiting time" to socialize, and it turns out to be a sort of end-of-term celebration of all the work we've done together as a class community.

The button-making activity is a means for students to engage in conversations about the issues studied in this activity and to describe the issues in their own words. Although students were excited and engaged during the button making, when it came to actually giving the button to another person, some students were apprehensive, so I made sure to emphasize and reiterate that they could give the button to someone they know and are comfortable talking with. However, other students were very excited to give away their buttons and educate other people about the issues they learned about in the course. There was a real mix, so it helps, as the instructor, to be ready to support a range of student responses and reactions to the activity. Almost all students were excited about wearing their own buttons and had minimal hesitation about that part. When I use this activity, students wear their buttons for about three to five days prior to completing the reflection assignment that goes with Step 4. If possible, it might be worthwhile to do this earlier in the term than I do, and to ask their students to wear their buttons for a longer period of time; this would make it more likely that the students would have a conversation about their button before the reflection assignment is due. When it came to their reflections, many students at my college felt they were affected by the climate injustice surrounding redlining and heat island because they live in neighborhoods where there is not a lot of tree cover. Many felt the conversation with the person they gave their button to was easier than they thought, and they expressed excitement about doing it again. Students also shared ideas on other ways that they could personally work to address this issue in Portland, including actions such as writing letters or joining local committees that are focused on this problem.

1. Describe how the urban heat island effect can intersect with climate change to create inequities for marginalized communities.

I assess this learning goal using Questions 1 and 2 in Part 1 of the Lecture Worksheet (Step 1), which students submit to me at the end of lecture as a graded assignment (for credit). Before submitting this assignment, I do a formative assessment of this learning goal during class discussions in Step 1, which provides both a chance for me to offer feedback to students and for them to revise and finalize their answers to the questions on the worksheet before they submit the assignment.

2. Use data to identify patterns in the relationships between race, poverty, canopy cover and temperature.

I assess this learning goal using Questions 3 through 5 in Part 1 of the Lecture Worksheet (Step 1), which students submit to me at the end of lecture as a graded assignment (for credit). Before submitting this assignment, I do a formative assessment of this learning goal during class discussions in Step 1, about patterns students see in the data they collected from the ArcGIS interactive REDLINING & Exposure to Urban Heat Islands map and also in the graphs that I provided. As with Learning Goal 1, the class discussion provides both a chance for me to offer feedback to students and for them to revise and finalize their answers to the questions on the worksheet before they submit the assignment.

3. Identify solutions that will allow individuals and communities to be more resilient to climate change related heat.

I initially assess this learning goal using Question 6 in Part 1 of the Lecture Worksheet (Step 1), which students submit to me at the end of lecture as a graded assignment (for credit). We discuss their ideas in class, which offers a chance for me to provide feedback and for them to revise their responses on the worksheet before submitting it to me for a grade. I assess this learning goal again, at the end of this activity, using Question 5 in the reflection assignment that follows students' civic actions in Step 4.

4. Engage in conversation with your friends, family, and/or strangers about these issues and the potential solutions.

I assess this learning goal using Question 2 in the reflection assignment that follows students' civic actions in Step 4. Depending on what students write, sometimes other questions in this reflection assignment provide insight into this learning goal (e.g., Question 1 is quite open-ended).

Housing Segregation and Redlining in America: A Short History, (Code Switch episode, National Public Radio)

How urban heat islands make the impacts of excessive heat worse (PBS News Hour; PBS is a Public Broadcasting Service in the United States)

Racist Housing Practices From The 1930s Linked To Hotter Neighborhoods Today (All Things Considered, National Public Radio)

Hoffman, Shandas, & Pendleton, 2020, The Effects of Historical Housing Policies on Resident Exposure to Intra-Urban Heat: A Study of 108 US Urban Areas (open-access research article)

Interactive ArcGIS map with information about redlining and environmental data: REDLINING & Exposure to Urban Heat Islands

Canopy of Stories project (project in Multnomah County, Oregon)

Portland Clean Energy Fund (PCEF) (local ballot initiative passed in 2018)

Climate Investment Plan (CIP) (plan for investing PCEF funding)

The Definition of Civic Engagement (from New York Time website, excerpts from Civic Responsibility and Higher Education, edited by Thomas Ehrlich, published by Oryx Press, 2000)

Google Drawing Button Template (example that you can download and use or adapt)