Final Assignment
A photo of a colorful mural showing hands up in the air. One hand shows the index and middle fingers raised and parted in a V for the peace or victory sign.
In this lesson, you have learned about a variety of environmental issues and the tactics and strategies used by student activists engaged in environmental justice and public health at the local and state levels. The final assignment offers you a choice of activities to pursue an environmental issue of interest to you in your local community.
Choose one of the topics below and follow the directions. If you are instructed to do so, use Write It to compose and/or submit your assignment response.
Assignment 1: Get involved!
- Think of a problem that is affecting (or may one day affect) the health of your community and/or its environment. You may want to review the comments you made on Page 4 of this lesson and choose one of those issues, or you may choose a new one. If you can’t think of any, ask your teacher or classmates to share some ideas.
- Next, identify the groups on each side of the problem: those creating the hazard and those most affected by it.
- Summarize the problem. Write down a brief overview of the issue, researching if necessary for more information. Include how long it’s been a matter of debate, and cite the primary public health and environmental risks. Also, research what, if any thing, your elected officials have said on the matter.
- Plan a campaign. Choose a side in the debate, identify the group, business, or institution you’d seek to persuade; and explain which tactics you’d use to convince them to support your cause. For example, decide whether you’d lobby local, state, or federal officials or make an appeal to consumers. You might describe the kinds of campaign materials you would create, learn what has worked well for others running similar campaigns, and consider other groups or interests with whom you could form an alliance. If you have a solution to the problem, outline your approach. If necessary, go back to your notes to review which types of activism worked in situations similar to the issue you are addressing.
- Write up your civic action plan. Present to your class, or submit it to your teacher.
Assignment 2: Find out more about an activist
- Interview an environmental activist in your community. If you cannot interview an environmental activist directly, interview a family member or friend who may have known them well enough to describe the person and their work in detail. Or, if the activist is well known, do some online research to write a profile of this person.
- Take notes about the environmental activist’s cause, what the activist did to support the cause, and the successes or failures they have experienced. Find out what inspired this individual to become an activist, the tactics they have used, and the personal characteristics or qualities that have served them well as an activist.
- Share highlights of your interview or profile with the class.
Write It!: Your work has been submitted.
