Threading Climate Justice, an Equity Ethic, and Systems Thinking Through a General Chemistry Course part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
Sonya Doucette, Bellevue Community College
Using a series of case studies incorporated into lectures, activities, and laboratory sessions, I thread climate justice throughout the first quarter of General Chemistry. Case studies highlight social justice issues exacerbated by the climate crisis, which humanizes abstract chemistry content and engages students with an equity ethic. For some case studies, students use systems thinking to identify the compositions and phases of matter present in real-world environments and contexts.

Human Health and Particulate Pollution in Wildfire Smoke: Fluid Flow and Wind Velocity Vectors in Physics part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
John Schaub, South Puget Sound Community College
Students learn about particulate matter pollution (PM 2.5 and PM 10) in wildfire smoke and its impacts on human health, as well as how it disproportionately affects marginalized groups and ways that individuals and communities can address these issues. They apply free body diagrams, Newton's second law, Bernoulli's equation, and vectors to study the atmospheric transport of particulate matter pollutants during a local smoke event. Students create an infographic, comic, poem, short story,or other artifact to contribute to a class zine to illustrate what they have learned.

Bridging Computer Science and Sustainable Transportation for an Equitable Green Future part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
Fatma Serce, Bellevue Community College

Climate Justice, Life Expectancy, and Gender Disparities in Intermediate Algebra part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
Tatiana Mihaylova, Bellevue Community College
After an introduction to climate justice and life expectancy, students complete a two-part project. For the first part of the project, students use life expectancy data and plots using the Cartesian coordinate system to make conclusions about the impact of climate change on health and longevity and to explore gender differences. For the second part of the project, students continue to practice math skills, and also practice math communication and build their math literacy, by engaging civically through conversation about the first part of their project, as well as how they can take action to support gender equity through family planning and education for women and girls as a way to address climate change.

Systems Thinking and Civic Engagement for Climate Justice in General Chemistry: CO2 and PM 2.5 Pollution from Coal Combustion part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
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.

Afghan Poppies, Climate Change and US Heroin: Thinking Systemically About Us and Them part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
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?"

Courting Environmental Justice: Science, Community Knowledge and Public Health part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
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.

Investigating Local Food: Meet Your Washington Farmers part of Curriculum for the Bioregion:Activities
June Johnson Bube, Seattle University
This assignment sequence seeks to stimulate students' thinking and writing about food production in the western Washington bioregion through a series of activities combining readings, class discussion, fieldwork, and writing assignments. Collaborative work in and outside of class culminates in students' interviewing local farmers and vendors at farmers markets and writing a surprising informative essay.

Research project to consider how projected climate change will impact a region of interest to the student part of Climate Change:Activities
Susan Kaspari, Central Washington University
Students consult the most recent Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) chapters on climate projections and the primary scientific literature to write a research paper and present their results to the ...

The Dark Side of Mineral Mining part of Teaching Activities
Karen Helgers, Ulster County Community College
Students choose one of four short articles to read about mineral mining, including the impacts of mining on the Native American community in the region. Each article highlights a specific example where the ...