Energy, the Environment, and Justice
Provided by: Stanford Understand Energy|Published on: August 15, 2024|Last updated: September 26, 2026
Grades: 11, 12, AP
Type: Articles/Websites
Subjects: Physics, Civics, Geography, Engineering
Authors: Stanford Understand Energy
Location: North America > United States
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Learn about our review process →
Synopsis
- This resource features a fast facts downloadable PDF, infographics, and background information to complement a video lecture about the disproportionate impact of energy use on the health of marginalized communities.
- The resource helps students build a strong background knowledge of environmental justice concerns before they watch the lecture.
Teaching Materials
Positives
- Compared to other lectures, the featured video lecture is short and can fit into one class period.
- The presenter does an excellent job of addressing a few misconceptions about some clean energy practices.
Prerequisites
- Students should know how to read and interpret graphs.
- Students should have an understanding of eras and epochs.
Differentiation & Implementation
- To ensure students only watch from the suggested timestamp on the second Essential video, teachers can put this video on a Google Slides presentation and use the feature that allows them to start from a certain point in the video.
- Teachers can assign the lecture as homework and discuss the content in a Socratic circle.
- History teachers can follow this lecture with a more in-depth look at redlining and how it has shaped the neighborhoods of today.
- Health teachers can cover the health impacts of particulate matter and other pollution.
- To practice persuasive writing, students can write to convince others to support clean energy like wind and solar, using this lecture to counter arguments about land use and bird endangerment.
This resource includes readings, videos, and a lecture about how energy use, the environment, and justice are related. The relationship between energy and greenhouse gasses, the different environmental impacts energy production and use have, and how these resources are used and impacts felt unequally are explained. The impacts discussed are split into four different categories; air, water, land, and wildlife. This resource is a detailed example of how climate issues are complex and involve many concepts and subjects. It also ties these concepts to social justice. The information presented is accurate and this resource is recommended for teaching.
Teaching Tips
Standards
Resource Type and Format
Scientist Reviewed
This resource has been reviewed by SubjectToClimate's climate scientists and verified for scientific accuracy and up-to-date information. Our review process ensures that every resource in our library reflects the current state of climate science.
Learn about our review process →
