High School Climate Justice Activity: Meet Today's Climate Justice Activists

The climate crisis is a global emergency that requires, in the words of UN scientists, “unprecedented changes in all aspects of society.” Or as Greta Thunberg, founder of the global student strike for climate movement, says, “We can’t save the world by playing by the rules, because the rules have to be changed. Everything needs to change, and it has to start today.”

For educators, this means it is no longer enough for our students to simply understand the science of climate change, or how the climate crisis currently affects people and places around the world.

If we focus only on the causes and effects of the climate crisis, then we miss out on the story of students organizing school strikes for climate across Australia and Europe. We miss out on how protests at Standing Rock have inspired a generation of new activists, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. We miss out on the imaginative responses to the climate disaster that have grown out of communities across the world such as Casa Pueblo in Puerto Rico.

We wrote this mixer to highlight some of the stories of climate justice activists, especially young people, who are organizing toward climate action. We chose roles that bring together various strands of the climate justice movement, and that highlight the broad coalition of groups are working toward the goal of a just transition — including people who students might not recognize as climate activists.

By bringing the story of the climate justice movement to our classrooms, we create an opportunity for our students to begin to see themselves as part of this movement — as activists — capable of creating the change that so often feels out of reach.

If you would like to investigate additional resources available, visit the Zinn Education Project website. You will need to create an account.

Meet_Climate_Justice_Activists_ZEP_April2019.pdf