Justice, Power, and Activism: What the Goldman Environmental Prize Winners Teach Us About Resilience and Democracy
Jason Lambacher, University of Washington-Tacoma Campus
This activity is a set of student-centered exercises that enable students to learn about the individual stories of Goldman environmental prize winners, the activism and organizing that grounds their work, and the underlying political and social contexts from which their struggles emerge. The lesson inspires critical reflection about justice, power, and democracy in green politics, and encourages ways to make personal connections to activism and environmental work.

Unit 5: Abating Carbon Emissions
Robyn Smyth, Bard College; Gautam Sethi, Bard College; Curt Gervich, SUNY College at Plattsburgh
Students evaluate the EPA's Clean Power Plan in the context of Common but Differentiated Responsibility. This unit also introduces students to the idea that there are costs and benefits associated with the ...

Unit 6: Carbon Emissions Game
Gautam Sethi, Bard College
In this unit, students play a game, a variation on the "Pollution Game" (Corrigan 2011), to develop an appreciation of the pros and cons of the commonly discussed policy options for carbon abatement ...

Regulating Carbon Emissions
Regulating Carbon Emissions Robyn Smyth (Bard College) Sandra Penny (Sage Colleges) Curt Gervich (SUNY Plattsburgh) Gautam Sethi (Bard College) Eric Leibensperger (SUNY Plattsburgh) Pinar Batur (Vassar College) Editor: John Taber (IRIS Consortium)
In this 3+ week module, students will experience the integration of climate science, economics, and law in the formulation of federal policy to address climate change. The module is interdisciplinary and ...

Unit 2: Water Footprints
Robert Turner, University of Washington-Bothell Campus
Unit 2 opens a window into water accounting and reveals intensive water use that few people think about. How much water goes into common commodities? Have you considered how much water it takes to support our ...

Unit 3: Crops and Irrigation Patterns in the United States
Chris Sinton, Ithaca College
This unit is designed to allow students to quantitatively assess how much water is used for irrigating crops and how this varies across the United States. This unit also has students link water use to the economic ...

Afghan Poppies, Climate Change and War: Thinking Systemically About Us and Them
Karen Litfin, University of Washington-Seattle Campus
This contemplative practice inquires into the complex web of interdependencies linking global climate change, the War on Terror, Afghan poppy production, opiate addiction, and food security through the lens of systems theory. The exercise challenges students to consider these linkages not only conceptually but also somatically and emotionally.

Unit 7: Climate Change from the Socio-Environmental Systems Perspective
Robyn Smyth, Bard College; Curt Gervich, SUNY College at Plattsburgh; Eric Leibensperger, Ithaca College
This unit summarizes and synthesizes the previous six units by inviting students to reflect on their experiences throughout the module, identify key learning moments and consider how these events influenced their ...

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?"

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