This website is currently under construction; please be patient, as new materials and information are in the works!
PLEASE NOTE: This section of the website is a work-and-progress with an upcoming project between the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, and UBC MET graduate students, Cody Peters and Carina Losito, under the supervision of Dr. Keri Ewart.
To understand the connections between environmental racism and urban transformation, it is crucial to delve into history. Discriminatory policies have strategically located hazardous industries, waste facilities, and polluting infrastructure in communities of colour, relegating them to areas with limited resources and decision-making powers. This section includes modules, lesson plans, resources, and teacher guides that approach the historical roots of environmental racism in urban areas.
Environmental racism manifests in the disproportionate exposure of minority communities to environmental hazards. Studies consistently show that marginalized neighborhoods, primarily inhabited by Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour, face higher levels of air and water pollution and limited access to green spaces and health food options. These injustices perpetuate health disparities and marginalization. The resources, inclusive maker challenges, lesson plans and artifacts that you will find this section support these findings, create knowledge mobilization around these topics and propose implications for solutions.
Urban transformation projects like gentrification exacerbate environmental racism. Rising property values, displace long-time residents, often lower-income people of colour, to make way for affluent newcomers. The displaced communities are forced into areas of inadequate environmental protectors, worsening their exposure to pollution, and living conditions.
This section includes modules, lesson plans, resources, and teacher guides that debunk the disparities of gentrification and displacement as they pertain to environmental racism in urban areas.
The lack of community participation and representation in urban planning perpetuates environmental racism. Minority voices are often excluded from development discussions, and their concerns about environmental injustices are dismissed or ignored. Diverse perspectives are essential to breaking the cycle of discrimination, and by drawing attention to these factors we hope to enable participation and involvement of affected groups to foster change. We hope to accomplish this via the creation and exploration of educational resources for both learners and educators, as well as individuals to consume in their own time, at their own pace. These resources include frameworks and lesson plans that can be integrated into existing classroom structures and learning modules, or can stand alone as individually driven collaborative learning scenarios.
Inequitable Access to Green Spaces
Access to green spaces is crucial for physical and mental well-being. However, environmental racism denies marginalized communities access, as parks and green spaces are concentrated in affluent neighbours, exacerbating health inequalities.
We plan to address the issue of unequal access to green spaces and health inequalities through the creation of interactive educational resources for both educators and learners, as well as anyone else interested in learning more. The resources include lesson plans, multimodal interactive learning experiences, and maker space challenges that can be integrated into classrooms or explored in informal learning spaces.
Climate Change and Vulnerability
Environmental racism compounds the vulnerability of marginalized communities to climate change impacts. The lack of infrastructure and resources in these neighbourhoods increases risks and disasters for already marginalized populations.
We plan to address the issue of vulnerability to climate change through the creation of interactive educational resources for both educators and learners, as well as anyone else interested in learning more. The resources include lesson plans, multimodal learning experiences, and teacher's guides that can be integrated into classrooms or explored in informal learning spaces.
Advancing environmental justice involves addressing the systemic issue of environmental racism, which unjustly exposes minority communities such as Indigenous, Black, and People of Colour to environmental hazards. This section provides inclusive resources, maker challenges, provocations, and lesson plans that support these findings, raise awareness, and propose solutions to mitigate health disparities and marginalizations caused by these injustices.
We plan to address the issue of environmental justice through the creation of interactive educational resources for both educators and learners, as well as anyone else interested in learning more. The resources include lesson plans, multimodal learning experiences, maker space challenges, and teacher's guides that can be integrated into classrooms or explored in informal learning spaces.