Environmental Justice

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

This final project requires students to research and publish an analysis of a U.S. environmental justice issue in an open-access e-book, using open pedagogy to contribute scholarly work to the broader community.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Project goal: Research and analyze an environmental justice topic to help solve real issues, then publish the work in a college-level open educational resource (OER) e-book.
• Open pedagogy approach: Students learn to publish with open licenses, contributing to knowledge accessible to future students and the community.
• Flexible format: Students choose their medium (e.g., slides, podcast, infographic, case study, original research) and may remain anonymous, use a pseudonym, or use their real name.
• Core requirements: Define a relevant topic, describe affected populations and intersectionality, use evidence-based reasoning with cited sources, and apply an open license.
• Common confusion: Students may opt out of publishing at any time without grade penalty—the grade depends on completing the work, not on final publication consent.

🎯 Project purpose and pedagogy

🎯 What the project accomplishes

The purpose of this project is for you to research and analyze a topic in order to help solve an environmental justice issue in the United States.

• Students publish their work in a college-level open-access e-book that serves as an open educational resource (OER).
• The process is called open pedagogy: students contribute to scholarly work and knowledge about environmental justice for the broader community.
• By completing the project, students build academic confidence and create learning materials that benefit future students and the community at large.

🛠️ Skills students will use

The excerpt lists three main skill areas:

• Analyze and synthesize course concepts.
• Apply course concepts to real-world situations.
• Create learning materials with open licenses so future students can use the work.

📋 Format and submission options

🎨 Media choices

Students choose their own format. The excerpt provides examples from past students:

• GoogleSlides
• ArcGIS StoryMap
• Case study
• Short narrative topic/analysis
• Game
• Podcast
• Comic strip
• Infographic
• Song
• Painting, sculpture, or sketch
• Poetry
• Original research using Geographic Information Systems like EJScreen
• Interviewing a local environmental justice activist, tribal member, government official, or scholar

Note: Students may propose other media by consulting the instructor.

✍️ Special requirements for creative formats

Certain project types (comic strip, infographic, song, painting, sculpture, sketch, poetry) also require a short artist's statement that explains how the student synthesized course concepts in the creative process.

🕵️ Anonymity and opt-out

• Students may choose to make their work anonymous, use a pseudonym, or use their own name.
• Important: If a student decides their work will not be available to future students, this will not affect their grade.
• The note at the end of the tasks section repeats: "student/creator may decide at any time that they do not wish to publish final project work, and grade will not be affected."

Don't confuse: opting out of publication is allowed, but the student must still complete the project to earn the grade.

🗓️ Tasks and timeline

🗓️ Step-by-step process

The excerpt outlines seven tasks:

1. Choose a topic related to environmental justice in the United States that interests you. (Examples of possible topics are linked in the excerpt.)
2. Consult with Deron (the instructor) while choosing the topic.
3. Submit proposed topic and format (Week Seven). Research tools from the college library are introduced in Week 7.
4. Draft an outline/rough draft/raw footage and submit it on Moodle (Week Nine). This is the chance to draft ideas, identify sources, and consider the best format.
5. Cite your sources using any citation style (such as APA or MLA). If unclear, ask the instructor for guidance.
6. Upload your final product to Moodle and share your work with students during the Finals period (Week Eleven).
7. Learn about different types of open licenses and choose how to license your work.

📅 Grading distribution

The excerpt provides a points breakdown:

Points	What	When	Grading type
10	Topic Proposal	Sunday night, November 12, Week 7	Completion
20	Outline	Sunday night, November 26, Week 9	Qualitative grading
10	Present and participate in others' presentations	Tuesday, December 5, 2:30, Week 11	Completion
50	Project submission	Tuesday, December 5, 2:30, Week 11	Qualitative grading

Total: 90 points (the rubric below shows 50 points for the final submission, which aligns with the table).

📊 Grading rubric

📊 Five criteria

The rubric has five rows, each with a weight and five performance levels (Doesn't, Partially meets, Fully meets, Exceeds, Excels):

Criteria	Weight	What "Fully meets" requires
Topic is defined and relevant to course	5% (2.5 pts)	Topic is clearly defined and relevant to the course the student is enrolled in.
Who is affected / intersectionality	30% (15 pts)	Describes population and includes where it is, its demographics, and which groups are disproportionately affected.
Completion	30% (15 pts)	Project completed in a surface way. (Higher levels require thoroughness and intentionality.)
Uses data and evidence-based reasoning	30% (15 pts)	Adequate sources of evidence and/or data included. Sources are clearly cited if not the student's own work.
Conventions and Licensing	5% (2.5 pts)	Few errors and all sources acknowledged; uses open sources or all original work.

🔍 Key distinctions in the rubric

• Intersectionality: "Fully meets" requires describing the population (location, demographics, and which groups are disproportionately affected). "Exceeds" adds applying course concepts to explain why groups are disproportionately affected. "Excels" adds data, historical examples, and/or institutional/policy factors.
• Completion: "Fully meets" is "completed in a surface way." "Exceeds" means "thoroughly completed." "Excels" reflects thoughtfulness, intentionality, and following through on agreements with the instructor.
• Evidence: "Fully meets" requires adequate sources and clear citation. "Exceeds" requires multiple sources. "Excels" requires multiple sources used for analysis.
• Conventions and Licensing: All levels from "Fully meets" upward require using open sources or all original work, plus proper citation.

Don't confuse: "Fully meets" is not the highest level—students can aim for "Exceeds" or "Excels" by integrating course concepts more deeply, using more sources, and demonstrating intentionality.

✅ Final project checklist

✅ Submission and presentation

1. Turn in the final project on Moodle and present it to students during finals period.
2. Sharing format varies by project type:
   • Infographic or cartoon: Make six copies and bring to class (or email to the instructor who will make copies).
   • Narrative (mostly words): Select about one page double-spaced (about 300 words) to share. Make six copies and bring to class (or email to the instructor).
   • Be ready to talk about the purpose behind your project, your experience, and give feedback to other creators.

🔓 Open licensing steps

1. Select the license you want to use.
2. Copy and paste the license icon onto the first page of your project.
   • Example: The excerpt shows a CC-BY license icon.
3. For art projects (e.g., painting): You may handwrite your license and attribution on the back of the painting and include it in your artist statement.
4. Include an attribution statement: "by your name-license." Example: "by Deron Carter, CC-BY."
5. Share your final project with the instructor in Google Doc editable version by placing it in a specified folder. Be sure it has your name and topic title at the top.

📝 Attribution

The excerpt ends with:

"Final Project Description" By Elizabeth Pearce and Deron Carter is licensed under CC BY 4.0.

This shows the assignment description itself is openly licensed, modeling the practice students will follow.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Creative Commons licenses enable creators to grant standardized public permissions for their work, empowering students and faculty to share, adapt, and reuse educational materials while retaining control over how their work is used.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• What Creative Commons licenses do: they provide a standardized way to grant the public permission to use copyrighted creative work, answering "What can I do with this work?"
• OER (Open Educational Resources): course materials with open licenses that allow the 5 R's—revise, remix, reuse, redistribute, and retain—available free online or at low cost in print.
• Six license types exist: Creative Commons offers six different licenses plus a public domain tool, giving creators a range of sharing options.
• Common confusion: OER does not mean "free" (print costs money), "online only" (can be print or online), or that the term is widely recognized (use "affordable textbooks" or "openly licensed materials" instead).
• Student choice matters: students should never feel coerced into openly licensing their work; the decision is theirs alone, and they may choose pseudonyms or opt out entirely.

📚 What are Open Educational Resources

📖 OER definition

Open educational resources are course materials that are shared with an open license so that faculty can do the 5 R's: revise, remix, reuse, redistribute, and retain.

• Faculty can download, tailor to their course, save locally, and share back with attribution.
• Students can access the material for free online or in print at low cost.
• The excerpt emphasizes that OER are not just "free stuff"—they are materials with specific legal permissions.

🔄 The 5 R's

The excerpt lists five actions that open licenses enable:

• Revise: modify and adapt the material
• Remix: combine with other materials
• Reuse: use in different contexts
• Redistribute: share copies with others
• Retain: keep a local copy

Example: A faculty member can download an OER textbook, add new chapters, combine it with other resources, and share the updated version with students.

❌ Common misconceptions about OER

Misconception	Reality (from excerpt)
OER are free	Free online, but print versions cost money to cover materials, printing, and overhead
OER are online	Can be accessed in print or online (the "O" is for "Open," not "Online")
OER is a recognizable term	The term is jargon; use "affordable textbooks" or "openly licensed materials" instead

Don't confuse: "Open" refers to licensing permissions, not just accessibility or cost.

⚖️ Creative Commons licensing system

🎯 What Creative Commons licenses answer

The excerpt states that Creative Commons licenses answer the question from the reuser's perspective: "What can I do with this work?"

• They provide a standardized way for creators (individuals to large institutions) to grant public permission.
• They work within copyright law, not outside it.
• The standardization means users don't need to negotiate permissions individually.

🔢 Six license types plus public domain

The excerpt mentions:

• Six different Creative Commons license types exist
• A public domain dedication tool is also available
• Together, these give creators "a range of options"

The excerpt references a flowchart titled "Which Creative License is Right for Me?" and a Creative Commons License Chooser tool to help creators select the appropriate license.

🤔 How to choose a license

The excerpt advises thinking about:

• Why you want to share your work
• How you hope others will use that work

The decision framework is purpose-driven, not arbitrary.

Example: If you want others to build upon your work freely, you might choose a more permissive license; if you want to prevent commercial use, you would choose a license with restrictions.

🎓 Student creators and open licensing

👤 Student autonomy and consent

The excerpt emphasizes multiple times that students control their licensing decisions:

• "Your instructor should be creating an environment in which you feel comfortable either enthusiastically openly licensing your work or deciding not to."
• "You should never feel coerced into openly licensing your work."
• "Remember, the decision of choosing to openly license your work is yours and yours alone."

Students have legitimate reasons for not sharing openly and may:

• Share under a pseudonym
• Decide not to openly license at all
• Choose different levels of openness

Don't confuse: Open pedagogy assignments do not require open licensing—consent is always required.

🔄 New relationship with knowledge

When faculty create assignments that can be openly licensed, students enter a different relationship with knowledge:

• Instead of completing assignments "you will never look at again," students create projects that help future students and communities.
• Students become collaborators and creators, not just consumers.
• Work is shared with a specific audience and used in future classes.

Example: A student creates an infographic explaining a concept; future students use it to learn, and faculty may incorporate it into course materials.

📋 Planning an openly licensed project

The excerpt provides questions for students to consider:

• What could the project include? What should future users be able to do after engaging with it?
• What content needs to be covered? (Map content to ensure nothing is lost.)
• What is the process going to look like?
• What is the final format, and what resources are needed? (Work backward from the final format.)

Example: If producing a video for an OER textbook, the student may need to discuss video software access with the instructor.

🛠️ Practical licensing steps

📝 How to apply a license to your work

The excerpt describes the process from a final project checklist:

1. Select the license you want to use
2. Copy and paste the license icon onto the first page of your project
3. Include an attribution statement: "by your name-license" (Example: "by Deron Carter, CC-BY")
4. For art like paintings, you can handwrite the license and attribution on the back and include it in your artist statement

📤 Sharing formats vary by project type

The excerpt gives examples:

Project type	Sharing method
Infographic or cartoon	Make six copies or email to instructor for copying
Narrative (mostly words)	Select about one page double-spaced (~300 words) to share; make six copies or email to instructor
Art (e.g., painting)	Handwrite license on back; include in artist statement

Students should be ready to talk about the purpose behind the project, their experience, and give feedback to other creators.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Open licensing transforms student assignments from disposable work into collaborative contributions that future students and communities can use, giving students agency over how they share their creations.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• New relationship with knowledge: openly licensed assignments position students as collaborators and creators rather than completing work that disappears after grading.
• Student consent is central: students have legitimate reasons to decline open licensing, may use pseudonyms, or may opt out entirely without grade penalties.
• Planning matters: students should think backward from the final format, map content, and consider what future users will be able to do with the project.
• Common confusion: open licensing is not mandatory—it is a choice, and opting out does not affect grades.
• Licensing mechanics: Creative Commons licenses (recommended: CC BY 4.0) formalize how others may use the work.

🤝 Sharing your work openly

🤝 A different relationship with knowledge

• Faculty invite students into a new role when assignments can be openly licensed.
• Instead of work "you will never look at again," you create a project that helps future students and communities learn, grow, and change.
• You share your work with a specific audience (future classes, students, faculty, or both).

🎨 Becoming a collaborator and creator

• Open licensing positions you as a collaborator and creator, not just a student completing an assignment.
• Many students find this approach exciting and rewarding.
• The excerpt notes that your work "will be used in future classes."

Example: A student creates a video for an OER textbook; future students in the same course can watch and learn from it, and the instructor can integrate it into the curriculum.

🗺️ Planning your project

🗺️ Key planning questions

The excerpt recommends considering:

• What could the project include? What do you want future students or faculty to be able to do after engaging with your project?
• What content do you want/need to cover? Mapping your content ensures nothing gets lost.
• What is the process? Think about the workflow.
• What is the final format? Work backward to determine what is necessary to create it.

🎬 Working backward from format

• The excerpt emphasizes thinking about the final format first, then determining what is necessary.
• Example: If you want to produce a video to accompany an OER textbook, you may need to talk with your instructor about video-accessing software.

Don't confuse: planning is not just "what to say" but also "how to make it" and "what tools you need."

✅ Student consent and licensing

✅ You have choices

• Legitimate reasons exist for not wanting to share your work openly.
• You may share under a pseudonym.
• You may decide not to openly license your project at all.
• Opting out does not impact your grade for the course.

🏷️ Choosing a Creative Commons license

• Once your project is finished, it's time to license your work.
• Choose a Creative Commons license that best suits your goals for future use.
• The excerpt recommends CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution 4.0).
• A tool is available to attach the license to your work.

Action	What it means
Choose a license	Decide how others may use your work (e.g., with attribution, for commercial purposes, etc.)
Attach the license	Use a tool to formally mark your work with the chosen license
Opt out	Decline open licensing without penalty

🔍 Don't confuse: consent vs. requirement

• Open licensing is not mandatory.
• The excerpt explicitly states "if you choose to opt out, it will not impact your grade."
• Student agency is central: you control whether and how your work is shared.

📚 Context and attributions

📚 Where this guide comes from

This work is adapted from multiple sources:

• "Quick Guide to Open Pedagogy for Students" by Veronica Vold for Open Oregon Educational Resources.
• Remixed from "Designing a Renewable Assignment Worksheet" (CC BY 4.0), "The Open Pedagogy Project Roadmap" (CC BY-NC 4.0), and "Open Pedagogy" by the Rebus Community (CC BY 4.0).
• Adaptations by Elizabeth Pearce and Deron Carter include focus on student agency and user-friendly language.

🖼️ Image source

• "5Rs of student sharing" by Colleen Sanders is adapted from "5 Rs of open pedagogy" by Rajiv Jhangiani (CC BY SA 4.0).
• The adaptation substitutes user-friendly language.

📝 License for this guide

"Student Project Licensing Guide" by Elizabeth Pearce and Deron Carter is licensed under CC BY-NC 4.0.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Open Educational Resources (OER) form the foundation of the Open Education Movement, which seeks to remove financial, technical, and legal barriers to education by providing freely accessible, reusable learning materials.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• What the Open Education Movement aims to do: remedy imperfect global knowledge sharing by providing resources that promote increased access to education without barriers.
• What OER are: teaching, learning, and research materials in the public domain or released under open licenses that permit free use and re-purposing by others.
• What you can do with OER: copy, mix, share, keep, edit, or use any kind of educational material (textbooks, course modules, lecture slides, etc.) for free.
• Common confusion: OER are not just "free to read"—open licenses specify six different rights and permissions (details covered in Chapter Six).
• Why it matters: open education should matter to all citizens of the world because it expands access to knowledge globally.

🌍 The Open Education Movement

🌍 What the movement addresses

• The global expansion of the internet has made knowledge sharing and access to information easier and more affordable than ever before.
• However, the system is still not perfect.
• The Open Education Movement seeks to remedy this imperfection.

🎯 Core goal

Open Education seeks to provide resources that promote increased access to education without any financial, technical, or legal barriers.

• Financial barriers: cost of textbooks, courses, or materials.
• Technical barriers: proprietary formats, restricted platforms, or software requirements.
• Legal barriers: copyright restrictions that prevent copying, sharing, or adapting.
• The movement aims to remove all three types of barriers simultaneously.

🌐 Global approach

• The movement stems from the need for an updated, global approach to learning and education.
• It leverages the internet's reach to make knowledge sharing more equitable worldwide.
• Example: An organization in one country can share educational materials freely with learners in another country without legal or financial obstacles.

📚 Open Educational Resources (OER)

📚 Definition and scope

OER are defined as teaching, learning, and research materials that reside in the public domain or have been released under an open license that permits their free use and re-purposing by others.

• OER are the foundation of the Open Education Movement.
• They can be any kind of educational material:
  • Textbooks
  • Course modules
  • Lecture slides
  • Other teaching or learning resources

🔓 What "open" means in practice

OER can be used in six ways, all for free:

• Copy: duplicate the material
• Mix: combine with other materials
• Share: distribute to others
• Keep: retain a copy indefinitely
• Edit: modify or adapt the content
• Use: employ in teaching or learning

Don't confuse: "free" here means both no cost and freedom to reuse—not just "free to read" or "free to download once."

⚖️ Open licenses

• OER use open licenses to specify which of the six rights and permissions apply to each resource.
• The excerpt notes that open licenses will be discussed in more detail in Chapter Six.
• Licenses clarify what users are allowed to do without asking permission.

🔗 Relationship to open pedagogy

🔗 Foundation for open pedagogy

• The excerpt states that open pedagogy is built on the foundation of Open Education and OER.
• Understanding OER is necessary before diving into open pedagogy.
• The same principles of sharing information publicly and globally, and removing barriers, underpin both OER and open pedagogy.

📖 Context in the larger work

• This chapter provides the history and background of where open pedagogy comes from.
• The excerpt positions OER as the prerequisite knowledge for understanding open pedagogy (covered in subsequent chapters).

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Open pedagogy empowers students to become co-creators of knowledge rather than passive consumers, centering care, agency, and inclusive learning experiences.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Core principle: Open pedagogy invites students to create and contribute content, not just receive it, treating them as whole people with valuable perspectives.
• Foundation in OER: Built on Open Educational Resources—materials anyone can freely use, edit, share, and remix under open licenses.
• Common thread across definitions: All definitions emphasize empowering students and making them knowledge co-creators through participatory, social learning.
• Care-centered approach: Creates transparent, inclusive environments that are attentive, responsible, competent, and trust-building.
• Student agency: Gives learners decision-making power over their work, including intellectual property rights, project formats, and participation methods.

🏗️ Foundations and definitions

🧱 What "open" means in this context

• Based on the same principles as the open education movement and OER.
• Core values:
  • Sharing information publicly and globally
  • Access without financial, technical, or legal barriers
• Connects directly to Open Educational Resources covered in previous chapters.

📚 What "pedagogy" means

Pedagogy: the practice and theory of teaching and learning.

• There are different types of pedagogies (constructivist, collaborative, etc.).
• Open pedagogy is one type, distinguished by being inclusive, engaging, and rooted in social justice principles.

🔍 Multiple expert definitions

The excerpt presents three definitions that all converge on the same core idea:

Source	Key emphasis
Catherine Cronin	Use/reuse/creation of OER + collaborative practices + social/participatory technologies for peer-learning, knowledge creation, and learner empowerment
BC Campus	Using OER to support learning by inviting students to participate in co-creation of knowledge
Iowa State University	Engaging students as creators rather than consumers; experiential learning where students demonstrate understanding through creation

Common thread: All center around empowering students and inviting them to be content and knowledge co-creators.

🌟 How open pedagogy sees students

• Views students as whole people with different perspectives, ideas, and skills.
• These diverse attributes are valuable to the classroom.
• Student contributions lend authenticity to the learning process.
• Don't confuse with traditional models: this is not about students passively receiving information from instructors.

🎯 Core principles in practice

🎯 Student-centered experience

Open pedagogy centers the student experience in three key ways:

1. Centers the student experience itself
2. Embraces students creating content (not just consuming)
3. Creates a transparent and inclusive learning environment

🤝 Creating as learning

• Students demonstrate understanding through the act of creation.
• This is a form of experiential learning.
• Students participate in the co-creation of knowledge alongside instructors.
• Example: Instead of only reading a textbook, students might contribute to creating learning materials that others can use.

💝 Benefits: Care-centered learning

💝 What centering care means

The excerpt acknowledges that open pedagogy asks a lot of students:

• Learn new information AND create/contribute to learning
• This can feel frightening, frustrating, exciting, or all three

The care response: Instructors create learning environments that center care, empathy, and flexibility.

🔬 Research on care in open pedagogy

According to a recent article, students report that open pedagogy processes encourage both students and teachers to be:

• Attentive
• Responsible
• Competent
• Trust-building

🗺️ Visual model of care

The excerpt references a visual representation showing participant perspectives of care in open pedagogy (by Maultsaid, D. and Harrison M., licensed under CC BY 4.0).

Key insight: Navigating these new experiences can lead to student empowerment and growth because care is centered in the process.

🎨 Benefits: Student agency

🎨 What agency means in this context

Agency: the power students have over their work in many different ways.

Open pedagogy centers student agency, giving learners decision-making power over:

• Intellectual property rights (covered more in Chapter Six)
• Submission format for projects
• How they choose to participate

🔓 Why agency matters

• Students are not locked into one way of demonstrating learning.
• Flexibility allows students to express understanding in ways that work for them.
• Connects to the principle of seeing students as whole people with different skills and perspectives.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Open pedagogy creates significant benefits for students by centering care and empathy, giving students agency over their work, introducing them to digital tools, and increasing engagement through deeper critical thinking.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Core benefit—centering care: open pedagogy creates a learning environment focused on care, empathy, flexibility, and trust-building between students and instructors.
• Student agency: students gain decision-making power over their work, including intellectual property rights, submission formats, and participation methods.
• Scaffolded learning with digital tools: instructors build skills progressively using digital tools, preventing overwhelm while preparing students for technology use in the workforce.
• Enhanced engagement and critical thinking: research shows students report increased motivation and deeper understanding when creating content rather than taking traditional tests.
• Common confusion: open pedagogy expects a lot from students (learning and creating), which can feel overwhelming, but the care-centered approach and scaffolding help navigate these challenges.

🤝 Care-Centered Learning Environment

💙 What centering care means

A major benefit of engaging in open pedagogy is that your instructor is taking all of these different feelings into account and creating a learning environment that centers care, empathy, and flexibility.

• Open pedagogy acknowledges that being expected to both learn and create content is demanding.
• Students may feel frightened, frustrated, excited, or all three—the approach validates these emotions.
• Research found that open pedagogy processes encourage students and teachers to be "attentive, responsible, competent, and trust-building."

🌱 How care supports empowerment

• Navigating new experiences within a care-centered framework leads to student empowerment and growth.
• The transparent and flexible nature of open pedagogy helps students manage the increased expectations.
• Don't confuse: the "extra work" of creating content is balanced by the supportive, empathetic learning environment.

🎯 Student Agency and Control

🎯 What agency means in practice

Another benefit of engaging in open pedagogy is the agency you'll have over your work in so many different ways.

Students make decisions about:

• How to express intellectual property rights
• Submission format for projects
• How to participate in certain activities

🧱 Scaffolded skill-building

Scaffolded: each part of the class builds skills progressively so students consistently learn new skills and then build on those skills.

• The process is transparent, flexible, and builds in opportunities for choice.
• Instructors lay foundation for working in the open step-by-step.
• The scaffolding process prevents students from feeling overwhelmed while learning to work in the open.
• Example: An instructor might introduce one new skill, allow practice, then build the next skill on top of it, rather than expecting all skills at once.

💻 Digital Tools and Technology Skills

🛠️ Common tools in open pedagogy

The excerpt lists several digital tools frequently used:

• Hypothes.is
• Pressbooks
• Google Suite
• Padlet
• H5P

🚀 Why learning digital tools matters

• Open pedagogy projects and renewable assignments go hand in hand with digital learning tools.
• Tools offer students opportunities to easily create, collaborate, and share work with their class and potentially a more public audience.
• Technology is never going to stop evolving and innovating—these skills transfer beyond the classroom.

🤖 Artificial Intelligence (AI) integration

• AI tools like ChatGPT, Bard, and Dall-E are becoming increasingly popular.
• Understanding how to use AI effectively and ethically adds to your skillset as a technology user and consumer.
• The use of AI will continue to grow, making familiarity with it valuable.

🏢 Workforce preparation

• Technology plays a big role in accomplishing goals in the workforce and daily life.
• Being familiar with the basic architecture of digital tools builds a foundation for using other types of technology in the future.

🧠 Engagement and Critical Thinking Benefits

📈 Research on student engagement

• Preliminary research shows open pedagogy can positively impact students.
• Students have reported increased engagement and motivation when engaging in renewable assignments and other forms of open pedagogy.
• The logic: when you have more say in your educational experience and how you complete a project, you take more pride and find more enjoyment in your work.

🔍 Deeper learning through content creation

When you're creating content, you have to really understand what you're talking about.

• Open pedagogy creates opportunities for deeper learning through a dynamic learning process where critical thinking is essential.
• Students reported that open pedagogy made them "really understand and synthesize the material better than a traditional quiz or test."
• The cognitive rigor was much higher than experienced in classes without open pedagogy assignments.

🎯 How benefits work together

All these benefits work in concert to reinforce the goals of open pedagogy:

• Empowering students as learners and creators
• Building engaging and inclusive learning experiences for all

Don't confuse: this is not just about making assignments "more fun"—it's about fundamentally changing the depth of understanding through the act of creation.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Open pedagogy transforms students into creators who must understand both their copyright rights and their responsibilities to make work accessible to all users.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Creator rights begin with copyright: students automatically own copyright over original work they create for renewable assignments.
• Choice in licensing: creators can keep traditional "All Rights Reserved" copyright or use Creative Commons licenses to intentionally share their work.
• Privacy options exist: students can openly license work anonymously or under a pseudonym to share without revealing identity.
• Common confusion: copyright ownership vs. licensing choice—owning copyright doesn't mean you must restrict use; you can choose how others may use your work.
• Accessibility is a responsibility: whether shared publicly or not, student-created work should follow accessibility principles so anyone can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with it.

🎨 Your Rights as a Creator

⚖️ Copyright ownership

Copyright law in the United States grants a creator control over certain uses of their work; to qualify for copyright protection, a work must be an "original work of authorship" and fixed in any tangible medium of expression with "at least a modicum" of creativity and be an independent creation of the creator.

• When you create, you own: the moment you begin creating content for a renewable assignment, you own the copyright over your work.
• Medium doesn't matter: copyright applies whether the work is written on paper, typed on a computer, recorded as a video, or any other form of media.
• Originality requirement: the work must have at least a small amount of creativity and be independently created by you.

🔓 Choosing how to express your copyright

Open pedagogy gives creators two main paths:

Copyright approach	What it means	Who can use your work
All Rights Reserved	Traditional copyright	Only with your permission; unauthorized use in ways not covered by copyright law is legal misdoing
Creative Commons licenses	Open licensing	You intentionally choose how someone could use your work in the future

• Student agency matters: the distinction of choosing how to express your copyright is completely up to you.
• Not a requirement: working in the open doesn't force you to openly license; you decide.

🎭 Privacy protections

Concern: Posting something publicly (to an open repository or class website) might feel scary because everyone could see your work.

Solutions the excerpt mentions:

• Anonymous licensing: openly license your work without attaching your real name.
• Pseudonym option: share under a made-up name so no one knows you created it.
• Example: A student wants to share the hard work they've put into creating but doesn't want classmates or future employers to find it—they can use a pseudonym.

Process recommendations:

• Carefully consider and reflect on your privacy rights throughout the semester.
• Reach out to your instructor to ensure you're both on the same page.
• Collaborate on signed agreements to exercise your rights in the way that makes sense for you.
• Sample student work agreements are provided at the end of the toolkit.

Don't confuse: openly licensing your work vs. revealing your identity—you can do the first without the second.

🛠️ Your Responsibilities as a Creator

♿ Accessibility principles

Accessibility can be viewed as the "ability to access" something; Web accessibility means that people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web.

• Broader benefit: Web accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging.
• Core idea: making something accessible means making it readily available and easily understood.
• Universal responsibility: whether you decide to share your work publicly or not, it should still be built on principles of accessibility.

🎯 Accessible design practices

When you begin creating content, keep accessible design in mind so that anyone could access your work as intended.

Important accessibility features the excerpt lists:

• Heading levels: use proper heading structure (not just bold text).
• Images: ensure all images have alt text and captions.
• Visual design: pay attention to color contrast and font choices.
• Links: use descriptive text for links/URLs (not just "click here").

Resources mentioned:

• Experte Accessibility Checker (desktop and mobile versions)
• WebAIM Contrast Checker Tool
• WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines)
• FLOE (Flexible Learning for Open Education)
• Video: "Creating Accessible OER for Student Authors" by Abbey Elder (closed captioned with transcript)

🌐 Universal Design for Learning

• The excerpt introduces Universal Design for Learning as another responsibility framework but does not provide details in this section.
• It is presented alongside accessibility as a principle student creators should follow.

🤝 Working with Your Instructor

💬 Open communication

• Authentic engagement: open pedagogy leads to spaces where you should feel comfortable expressing any thoughts, concerns, or questions you might have.
• Collaborative decision-making: you and your instructor have the opportunity to work together to create meaningful educational experiences.
• Agreements: instructors can help mitigate discomfort about sharing work through signed agreements that protect your rights.

🔄 Two key elements of the creator role

The excerpt emphasizes that taking on the role of a creator in your class involves:

1. Your rights as a creator: understanding copyright, licensing choices, and privacy options.
2. Your responsibilities as a creator: ensuring accessibility and following Universal Design for Learning principles.

Both elements are explored in more detail in subsequent chapters of the toolkit.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Student creators have a responsibility to design their work according to accessibility and Universal Design for Learning principles so that anyone can access and engage with the content as intended, regardless of ability.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Core responsibility: Even if you don't share your work publicly, you should build it on principles of accessibility and Universal Design for Learning.
• What accessibility means: The ability for people with disabilities to perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with web content; also means making content readily available and easily understood.
• What UDL adds: Universal Design for Learning goes beyond accessibility standards to create resources that meet the needs of all users in a variety of ways, not just those with disabilities.
• Common confusion: Accessibility vs. UDL—accessibility focuses on removing barriers for people with disabilities, while UDL designs for variability in how all people learn and engage.
• Practical implementation: Use heading levels, alt text, captions, color contrast, descriptive links, and multiple engagement formats.

🌐 Understanding accessibility

🌐 What web accessibility means

Accessibility: the "ability to access" something; for web content, it means people with disabilities can perceive, understand, navigate, and interact with the Web, and contribute to it.

• Accessibility also benefits older people with changing abilities due to aging.
• It means making content readily available and easily understood.
• The focus is on removing barriers so that content can be accessed as intended.

🛠️ Key accessibility practices

When creating content, keep accessible design in mind from the start:

• Heading levels: Use proper heading structure for navigation.
• Alt text and captions: All images must have alternative text descriptions and captions.
• Color contrast and font choices: Ensure sufficient contrast and readable fonts.
• Descriptive link text: Use meaningful text for links/URLs instead of generic phrases like "click here."

Tools mentioned: Experte Accessibility Checker, WebAIM Contrast Checker Tool, WCAG guidelines, and FLOE (Flexible Learning for Open Education).

Don't confuse: Accessibility is not just about compliance checklists; it's about ensuring your work can be accessed and understood by anyone who encounters it.

🎓 Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

🎓 What UDL means

Universal Design for Learning (UDL): a framework to improve and optimize teaching and learning for all people based on scientific insights into how humans learn.

• UDL moves beyond accessibility standards to create learning resources that meet the needs of all users regardless of ability.
• It designs resources in a variety of ways so users can engage with material in the process that works best for them.

🔄 How UDL differs from accessibility

Concept	Focus	Example
Accessibility	Removing barriers for people with disabilities	Providing a transcript for a video helps users who are hard of hearing
UDL	Designing for variability in all learners	The same transcript also helps visual learners who understand material better by reading than listening

• Accessibility addresses specific barriers; UDL anticipates diverse learning preferences.
• Example: A transcript serves both accessibility (for hard-of-hearing users) and UDL (for visual learners who prefer reading to listening).

🎯 Why UDL matters for creators

• UDL ensures your work can be engaged with in multiple ways, not just one "correct" way.
• It recognizes that people learn and process information differently.
• By implementing UDL, you fulfill your responsibilities as a creator by making your work more effective for everyone.

✅ Fulfilling creator responsibilities

✅ The core obligation

• Whether you decide to share your work publicly or not, it should still be built on principles of accessibility and Universal Design for Learning.
• Understanding and implementing these principles ensures you are fulfilling your responsibilities as a creator.
• This is not optional or only for public work—it is a foundational responsibility.

🔍 Practical approach

• Start with accessible design from the beginning, not as an afterthought.
• Use available tools and checkers to verify your work meets accessibility standards.
• Think about multiple ways users might engage with your content and design accordingly.
• Consider both technical accessibility (alt text, contrast) and learning variability (multiple formats, engagement options).

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Climate change is both an environmental and social problem because inequitable power dynamics place some communities at greater risk, requiring collective action from diverse groups to achieve environmental and social justice.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Real-world case study: The Jordan Cove Energy Project (JCEP) in Oregon shows how communities can unite across diverse backgrounds to resist environmental threats through sustained collective action over 17 years.
• Interconnection of society and environment: Human activity has become so pervasive that scientists call the current geological period the Anthropocene, yet we often forget we are one of billions of life forms dependent on a healthy environment.
• Unequal responsibility and impact: Not all human groups are equally responsible for causing the climate crisis, and power dynamics determine who bears the greatest risks and consequences.
• Common confusion: Climate change is not just an environmental/technical problem—it is fundamentally a social problem involving colonization, worldviews, race, class, gender, and justice.
• Solutions require both levels: Addressing climate change demands both individual behavior changes and collective action, with emphasis on movements that support environmental and social justice together.

🌍 The Jordan Cove case: community resistance in action

🏭 What the project threatened

The Jordan Cove Energy Project proposed by a Canadian corporation included:

• A large coastal terminal and refinery site
• A 229-mile pipeline crossing tribal, forest, and agricultural lands
• Impacts on 400 streams and rivers, six miles of wetlands
• Threats to over 600 private landowners through eminent domain (property seizure)
• Endangerment of ancestral territories, cultural resources, and burial grounds of five Oregon and three northern California federally recognized tribes

⚠️ Multiple dimensions of risk

The project posed threats across economic, environmental, health, and climate dimensions:

Risk category	Specific concerns
Economic	Only ~250 permanent jobs; nearly all gas shipped to Asia, not benefiting Oregonians
Environmental	Impacts on rivers, streams, plants, and threatened/endangered species
Health & safety	Highly explosive fuel pipeline in wildfire-prone area; refinery in earthquake/tsunami zone
Climate	Would become Oregon's largest greenhouse gas emitter—equivalent to adding 7.9 million cars annually
Upstream impacts	Gas extraction via fracking in Rocky Mountain states and northern Canada causes contaminated groundwater, air pollution, and toxic waste, increasing cancer risk

🤝 Coalition-building across differences

• Community members from diverse backgrounds came together once they learned about the risks
• Tribal communities were at the forefront, viewing JCEP as another method of colonization disregarding their cultural and human rights
• The unified coalition maintained resistance for 17 years until the project was officially canceled in December 2021
• Example: This rare victory against a wealthy multinational corporation shows that sustained, broad-based collective action can succeed even when companies have invested millions and stand to earn billions

🛠️ Tactics of resistance

Opponents used multiple strategies simultaneously:

• Filed lawsuits
• Attended state and government hearings
• Demonstrated in front of the Oregon Capitol
• Decorated trees with protest signs
• Organized awareness-raising events (e.g., hiking along the proposed pipeline route to show potential impacts)

Don't confuse: This wasn't just "NIMBY" (not in my backyard) opposition—the resistance connected local impacts to broader climate justice, recognizing the project as part of industries "largely responsible for causing the climate crisis."

🌐 Humans and the environment: interconnection and impact

🔗 The larger whole

The excerpt emphasizes: "We share our planet with far more than just members of our species... we are part of a greater whole––a whole in which we are but one of the billions of life forms that inhabit Earth, all equally dependent on a healthy and safe environment."

• Human society and the natural environment are interconnected parts of this whole
• Because daily life centers around the human-built world, it's easy to forget this interdependence
• All life forms are equally dependent on a healthy and safe environment to live and thrive

🏭 The Anthropocene: the age of humans

The Anthropocene: the current geological period of Earth's history, named for the age of humans because human impacts are so pervasive.

• Scientists worldwide recognize that human activity now defines Earth's geological era
• These impacts are "increasingly" affecting the world we share with other life forms
• The name itself signals that human influence has become a planetary-scale force

🔍 Core questions: justice, responsibility, and solutions

❓ Why climate change is a social problem

The chapter frames climate change as a social problem because:

• It involves "inequitable power dynamics" that place some communities at greater risk than others
• Historical experiences of colonization contribute to the environmental crisis
• The causes and consequences intersect with race, class, gender, and other social locations
• It raises questions of who is responsible and who suffers the consequences

Don't confuse: The chapter does not say climate change is only a social problem or only an environmental problem—it is explicitly "both an environmental issue and a social problem."

🌏 Worldviews and solutions

The chapter signals that differences between Indigenous and Western worldviews:

• Help explain how the climate crisis developed
• Offer opportunities for innovative solutions

Example: Tribal communities' view of the JCEP as colonization reflects a different relationship to land and environment than the corporate/extractive approach.

⚖️ Individual vs. collective action

The chapter poses a key question: Are changes in individual behavior or collective action more important?

The framing suggests both matter, but with emphasis on:

• "Collective action" as the primary mechanism for achieving environmental and social justice
• Solutions that support both environmental and social justice together
• Communities "acting to adapt to the current effects of climate change and to prevent further social and ecological harm"
• Leaving behind "a cleaner and safer environment for future generations"

🎯 Unequal responsibility

A central question: "Are all human groups equally responsible for causing the climate crisis?"

The chapter's framing strongly suggests the answer is no:

• Power dynamics determine risk distribution
• Some communities are placed at "greater risk than others"
• The question itself implies differentiation in responsibility
• The JCEP case shows how corporate actors and wealthy entities drive projects that harm less powerful communities

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Climate change is a social problem because humans cause it through unequal activities and its consequences fall disproportionately on the least powerful communities, making it both an environmental and a justice issue.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• What climate change is: long-term shifts in global and regional temperatures, humidity, rainfall, and atmospheric characteristics over seasons, years, or decades—not short-term weather fluctuations.
• Why it's a social problem: humans cause it (fossil fuels, deforestation, urbanization, unsustainable agriculture) and people are differently impacted based on race, class, gender, and other social locations.
• The greenhouse effect: since the Industrial Revolution, greenhouse gases (CO₂, methane) have reached levels higher than any time in the past 800,000 years, trapping heat and raising global temperature.
• "Those who contribute the least suffer the most": the poorest people and communities use the least resources but are most vulnerable to extreme weather, cultural loss, and health impacts.
• Common confusion: climate change vs. weather—weather is local and measured in hours/days/weeks; climate change refers to longer-term regional or global fluctuations over years or decades.

🌡️ Defining climate change and its causes

🌡️ What climate change means

Climate change: the long-term shift in global and regional temperatures, humidity and rainfall patterns, and other atmospheric characteristics.

• It is not the same as weather.
• Weather occurs locally and changes hourly, daily, or weekly.
• Climate change refers to longer-term fluctuations (regional or global) over seasons, years, or decades.
• Don't confuse: a hot day is weather; a decade of rising average temperatures is climate change.

🏭 The greenhouse effect and human activity

Greenhouse effect: an imbalance between the energy entering and leaving the earth's atmosphere, resulting in a rise in global temperature.

• Certain gases (carbon dioxide, methane) absorb energy and trap heat, preventing it from escaping into space.
• Since the Industrial Revolution, greenhouse gas concentrations are higher than at any time in the past 800,000 years.
• The vast majority of scientists attribute the speed of recent global warming to human activity, especially burning fossil fuels.
• Other human activities also contribute: deforestation, urbanization, and unsustainable agricultural practices.
• Scientists examine ocean sediments, ice cores, tree rings, and glacier changes to understand climate variations over time.

🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Why it's a social problem

Social problem: a social condition or pattern of behavior that has negative consequences for individuals, our social world, or our physical world.

• Humans are causing the problem.
• People are differently impacted by the problem based on power dynamics and social location.
• Early sociological definitions of social problems rarely included "our physical world"; today, climate change drives the importance of adding this phrase.

🌪️ Consequences of climate change

🌪️ Extreme weather events

Extreme weather event: defined by the severity of its effects or any weather event uncommon for a particular location.

• Many scientists argue these events are caused or at least made worse by climate change.
• Examples in the U.S.:
  • Hurricane Katrina (2005): killed over 1,800 people, caused $125 billion in damage.
  • Hurricane Sandy (2012): the third-most destructive hurricane ever to hit the nation.
  • 2020 and 2021 West Coast wildfires: caused by severe and prolonged drought and heat waves.
• Example: Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities feared the Jordan Cove Energy Project's gas pipeline because of the risk of explosion in a region increasingly hit by annual wildfires; a large fire in September 2020 swept through southern Oregon just a few miles from the planned pipeline route.

🔥 Fire management and colonialism

• Wildfire management has long been the domain of colonial governments.
• Indigenous people have a rich history of living with, managing, and using fire as a tool since time immemorial.
• Indigenous people were not permitted to practice cultural fire, and their knowledge was largely ignored.
• Total fire suppression became the prominent policy.
• With natural succession abruptly halted, Indigenous communities suffered as the land changed.
• Today, Western society recognizes the ecological problem a lack of fire has created, but the cultural impact has been largely ignored.
• The Indigenous knowledge that might have protected against wildfires has been suppressed—another consequence of colonialism.
• Colonialism is not just a historical event; it is a structure of inequality that reproduces itself even today.

🎨 Cultural loss

• Many cultures around the world are intimately connected to their environment.
• Certain foods, medicine, dance, and art are unique to places with particular animals, plants, or climates.
• With drastic temperature changes, extreme disasters, and biodiversity loss, people cannot practice many customs.
• Example: Salmon are an important symbol and food source for Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest.
  • Salmon imagery in Indigenous art demonstrates a deep connection to natural surroundings.
  • Climate change warms bodies of water worldwide.
  • Salmon require a specific temperature to spawn.
  • As water temperatures increase, salmon cannot spawn as effectively or at all.
  • This severely impacts species who eat salmon and Indigenous peoples who practice traditional methods of harvesting, crafting with, and cooking salmon.
• Climate change can create cultural change or inhibit cultural expression.

⚖️ Climate inequality: who contributes and who suffers

⚖️ The core inequality

• A common saying in the environmental movement: "Those who contribute the least suffer the most."
• The poorest people use the least planetary resources, so they contribute to climate change the least.
• However, they suffer the most from climate change.
• Comparing vulnerability and emissions data:
  • Africa contributes the least greenhouse gases but is the most vulnerable to climate change.
  • The United States is a high contributor of emissions but the least vulnerable to climate change.
• While this model doesn't hold true for every country, the saying encapsulates a key issue with climate change.

🚗 Example: Hurricane Katrina and car ownership

• People with cars could evacuate.
• People without cars often couldn't.
• People without cars contributed the least to CO₂ emissions but experienced the most loss related to the extreme weather event.

🛢️ Example: Nigeria and oil production

• Nigeria is a country on the western coast of Africa.
• More than 40% of people live in extreme poverty (less than $1.40 per day).
• Less than 15% have access to clean fuel for cooking.
• Less than 60% have access to sufficient electricity.
• At the same time, Nigeria is one of the world's top oil exporters.
• Oil companies use gas flaring: burning the waste gas from oil exploration rather than disposing of it in other ways.

Impact	Details
Health	Poor Nigerians experience rashes and sores from toxic fumes; children exposed to flaring experience coughs, respiratory issues, fevers, and other poor health symptoms; child death rates in children under five slightly increase.
Land	Pollution contaminates the land, so women can't grow enough food.
Water	Pollution contaminates the water, leaving less for drinking and crop irrigation.
Livelihoods	Women in the Niger Delta are poor because environmental toxins are poisoning their plants; cassava roots are dying and women can't replace them.

• Many people are migrating to bigger cities, but it doesn't solve the local pollution and emissions problem.
• Those who use the least resources are impacted the most; in this case, the environmental impact occurs on a different continent than most of the people using the oil.

🌍 Unequal social locations

• Unequal social locations contribute to inequality.
• The question remains: How else do we generate and transport our energy resources?
• Projects go where the resources exist, and the people are even more powerless to resist.
• This builds on the concept of socioeconomic class (SES).

🌐 Environmental inequality and culture (preview)

🌐 Why culture matters

• The environmental crisis is a social problem because people contribute to the problem and experience it differently based on their race, class, gender, and ability among other social locations.
• A portion of this inequality is historically rooted in the destruction of culture caused by colonialism.
• In every interaction, we all adhere to various rules, expectations, and standards that are created and maintained in our specific culture.
• These social norms have meanings and expectations; the meanings can be misinterpreted or misunderstood in many ways.

Note: The excerpt ends mid-sentence; the full discussion of culture and colonialism is not included.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Environmental inequality stems from cultural differences in worldviews—particularly the conflict between Indigenous and Western perspectives—which are rooted in colonialism and capitalism, and these differences shape who contributes to and suffers from climate change.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Culture shapes environmental impact: shared beliefs, values, and practices (culture) create worldviews that determine how people relate to land, wealth, and resources.
• Indigenous vs. Western worldviews: Indigenous cultures view land as sacred and emphasize collective well-being and shared wealth; Western cultures view land as a resource to control and emphasize individual wealth accumulation.
• Colonialism's legacy: European colonization destroyed Indigenous cultures, imposed capitalist values, and caused ecological devastation through resource extraction and the suppression of Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK).
• Capitalism drives climate change: capitalism requires endless consumption and profit, which depletes finite planetary resources and fuels climate change.
• Common confusion: not all Indigenous people hold an Indigenous worldview, and not all Western people hold a Western worldview—these are cultural patterns, not biological traits.

🌍 What is culture and how does it work

🧩 Defining culture

Culture: the shared beliefs, values, and practices that are transmitted within a social group.

Culture includes:

• Shared values

• Beliefs that strengthen the values

• Norms and rules that maintain the values

• Language so that values can be taught

• Symbols that form the language people must learn

• Arts and artifacts

• Collective identities and memories

• Culture is not static; it is constantly evolving, shaped and negotiated by group members.

• Culture is learned, not innate—anthropologists call this process enculturation.

Example: In Western culture, children are taught from a young age that they must work jobs to afford basic necessities (food, shelter, water). This belief is reinforced through toys, media, job fairs, and paychecks.

🌐 Cultural universals

Cultural universals: patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies.

• All cultures solve similar problems: finding food, raising children, caring for the sick, memorializing the dead.
• However, how cultures solve these problems varies widely.

Example: Every society recognizes a family structure, but the definition and function differ. In many Asian cultures, multiple generations live together in one household. In the dominant U.S. culture, young adults are expected to leave home and live independently before forming their own family unit.

🎡 The culture wheel

• The culture wheel is a tool to visualize a culture's beliefs, actions, and backgrounds.
• It helps identify what is common and different across cultures.
• Sociologists use it to understand conflicts by examining how participants' cultures reflect different values, norms, languages, or laws.

🌏 Worldview

Worldview: the collection of interconnected beliefs, values, attitudes, images, stories, and memories out of which a sense of reality is constructed and maintained in a social system and in the minds of individuals who participate in it.

• A worldview is a perception of reality reinforced by people in a society.
• Like culture, it helps people make sense of their world.

Example: In the dominant U.S. worldview, race is seen as biological (based on skin tone, eye shape, hair texture). In a worldview that incorporates social construction, race is understood as a social construct created to justify colonization, slavery, and domination—not a biological fact.

🏛️ Colonialism and its legacy

🗺️ What is colonialism

Colonialism: the domination of a people or area by a foreign state or nation.

• The colonizing power makes laws, provides leaders, extracts resources (furs, wood, minerals), and imposes taxes.
• Colonizers who lived in colonies were citizens of the colonizing country but had no voting rights; Indigenous people and enslaved people had even fewer rights.

Example: Great Britain colonized North America. Before the American Revolution, Britain had 17 colonies. Thirteen revolted and became the United States; four (Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Quebec, Prince Edward Island) remained British and later became part of Canada.

🌍 The scope of colonialism

• Major colonizing powers: Spain, Portugal, France, England, China, and Russia.
• Starting in the 1550s, Spain and Portugal expanded into Central and South America.
• By the 1620s, France, England, and the Netherlands established colonies in North America.
• By 1800, Great Britain had colonies in Australia and Canada; much of Africa was "owned" by Spain, Portugal, and Great Britain.
• After World War II and the rise of nationalism in the 1950s–1960s, colonialism waned, and most countries became independent.

🔗 Why colonialism still matters

• Historical legacy: we still feel the effects of colonialism today.
• European powers established global slavery during this period.
• Colonizers killed Indigenous people through disease, war, and resettlement.
• Colonizers used education to destroy family and community.
• Colonial practices fuel climate change by imposing worldviews that treat land as a resource to exploit rather than care for.

Don't confuse: Most countries are now independent, but colonialism's cultural and environmental impacts persist.

🌱 Indigenous vs. Western worldviews

🪶 Who are Indigenous peoples

Indigenous peoples: peoples who have historical continuity with a region prior to colonization and a strong link to their lands; they maintain distinct social, economic, and political systems, languages, cultures, beliefs, and knowledge systems.

• The United Nations deliberately does not define who is Indigenous, asserting that Indigenous people have the right to identify themselves.
• First Nations: a term used in Canada to describe Aboriginal peoples who are ethnically neither Métis nor Inuit.
• Some Indigenous people self-identify as "Indians" as a deliberate act to position themselves as defined by federal legislation.

🌿 Core differences in worldviews

Indigenous Worldview	Western Worldview
Collectiveness	Individualism
Shared wealth	Accumulate wealth
Natural world more important	People's laws are more important
Land is sacred; we belong to the land	Land is a resource, is dangerous, must be controlled
Silence is valued	Silence needs to be filled
Generosity	Scarcity
Binaries do not exist	Binaries are crucial

Don't confuse: Not all Indigenous people hold an Indigenous worldview, and not all Western people hold a Western worldview. These are cultural patterns, not biological traits.

🏔️ Hierarchy of needs: Maslow vs. Blackfoot Nation

• Maslow's Hierarchy (Western): focuses on the individual. Basic physiological needs (food, water) come first, then safety, then love/belonging, then esteem, and finally self-actualization of the individual.
• Blackfoot Nation model (Indigenous): emphasizes community self-actualization as the most primary need. Well-being of the individual, family, and community is based on connectedness (closeness with family, friends, and prosocial extension to others). The top of the model is cultural perpetuity—the community's culture lasting forever.

Historical note: In 1938, psychologist Abraham Maslow spent time with the Blackfoot Nation before releasing his Hierarchy of Needs. Historians believe he based his teepee-like structure on Blackfoot ideas but westernized the focus to the individual rather than the community.

🌾 Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK): Indigenous knowledge systems for managing and stewarding land, perfected over generations.

• Early colonists described the Americas as having lush and ample resources because Indigenous peoples had consistently managed the land using TEK.
• Indigenous economic systems generally did not rely on exponential growth and consumption.

Example: In Australia, colonizers banned Indigenous wildfire management practices, thinking fire would harm forests. However, Indigenous practices enhanced biodiversity and protected forests. In 2019–2020, catastrophic wildfires in Australia killed 34 people, destroyed 72,000 square miles of land and 3,500 homes, and killed or displaced 3 billion animals—partly because Indigenous practices were suppressed.

💰 Capitalism, colonialism, and climate change

💵 What is capitalism

Capitalism: an economic system based on private ownership and the production of profit.

• Capitalism requires endless consumption and use of resources, which is not sustainable on a finite planet.
• When the goal is profit, people must buy more and more things, using even more planetary resources.

🛍️ Conspicuous consumption

Conspicuous consumption: the purchase of expensive luxury goods or services to display one's wealth and status.

• Capitalism requires that people always want more: not just a small house with basic utilities, but a mansion, two cars, a swimming pool, and fancy vacations.
• This drive for profit shapes values and behaviors.

Example: Examining what families around the world buy for food shows vast differences in spending. Capitalism encourages spending far beyond basic needs to achieve happiness and status.

🌳 Colonial plunder and ecological devastation

• Colonization treated land as something to be commodified to enrich the colonial power.
• Indigenous territories were treated as business enterprises with seemingly unlimited resources to exploit.
• This caused rapid environmental degradation.
• Colonizers began to preserve land only after realizing their activities caused damage—but without the input or participation of Indigenous populations.

Key quote: "The widespread plunder of natural resources was a hallmark of colonisation. Nature was something that was to be commodified in order to enrich the colonial power."

🌲 Examples of colonial impact on climate

🇳🇿 New Zealand

• Colonists took over Maori land to extract timber.
• Result: 60% less forest and extinction of many native animal species.

🇦🇺 Australia

• Colonizers banned Indigenous wildfire management practices, thinking fire would harm forests.
• Indigenous practices actually enhanced biodiversity and protected forests.
• In 2019–2020, catastrophic wildfires killed 34 people, destroyed 72,000 square miles and 3,500 homes, killed or displaced 3 billion animals, and released significant carbon dioxide, fueling climate change.

🌎 Latin America

• Uruguayan journalist Eduardo Galeano argued in The Open Veins of Latin America (1971) that capitalism based on colonization created poverty in Latin America.
• Everything—soil, fruits, minerals, people, labor, resources—was transmuted into European or U.S. capital and accumulated in distant centers of power.
• Galeano's poem "Las Nadies/The Nobodies" describes the impact: colonized people become "nobodies" who lose their culture, reduced to "folklore."
• Today, world markets for beef, soybeans, palm oil, wood, sugar, and coffee drive continued deforestation in Latin America, which is itself a cause of climate change.

🔄 The link: colonialism → capitalism → climate change

• Colonization imposed a worldview that land should be owned and subjugated, not tended and cared for.
• Colonization supports a worldview that values individual well-being above all else, leading to lack of concern for neighbors, plants, and animals.
• This worldview, combined with capitalism's demand for endless growth, drives resource extraction and ecological devastation.
• Result: environmental inequality—those who contribute the least to climate change suffer the most.

Don't confuse: The problem is not Indigenous people or Western people as individuals, but the systems (colonialism, capitalism) and worldviews (land as resource vs. land as sacred) that drive environmental destruction.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Climate activism and scholarship use multiple intersecting frameworks—environmental justice, environmental racism, ecofeminism, youth activism, and critical environmental justice—to understand and resist how environmental harm disproportionately affects historically oppressed communities.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Environmental racism: policies and practices that deliberately target communities of color for toxic waste and pollution, rooted in colonialism and structural inequality.
• Environmental justice as movement and theory: an intersectional approach fighting for clean, healthy environments while addressing interconnected injustices like housing, education, and employment.
• Multiple activist frameworks: ecofeminism links women's oppression to environmental destruction; youth activism uses new forms of protest; critical environmental justice examines how multiple forms of discrimination operate simultaneously.
• Common confusion: environmental justice is not just about pollution in one neighborhood—it's about structural and historical patterns that make entire populations expendable across multiple locations and scales.
• The social problems process in action: Rachel Carson's Silent Spring illustrates Best's model from claims-making through media coverage, public reaction, policymaking, and outcomes.

📚 Historical foundations and the social problems process

📖 Rachel Carson and Silent Spring

• Published in 1962, described how DDT pesticide was killing bird populations.
• This work represents Step 1: Claims-making in Best's social problems process model.
• Activists used books, articles, and debates to engage media and raise public awareness.
• Steps 2 and 3: Media coverage and public reaction grew concerning the connection between human activity, ecological degradation, and biodiversity loss.

🏛️ Policy outcomes from early environmentalism

• Step 4: Policymaking—governments banned or restricted DDT and similar pesticides.
• Steps 5 and 6: Social problems work and policy outcomes—laws saved threatened species like eagles, brown pelicans, and ospreys.
• Industries were held accountable for damage caused.
• Example: Although DDT was banned and some species rebounded, bird populations generally continue to decline, showing ongoing biodiversity loss.

🚨 Environmental racism and its origins

🏭 What environmental racism means

Environmental racism: any environmental policy or practice that disproportionately harms communities based on race.

• Term coined in 1982 by Reverend Dr. Benjamin Chavis during protests against a toxic landfill in a predominantly Black community in Warren County, North Carolina.
• Chavis (1994) defined it as: racial discrimination in environmental policymaking and enforcement; deliberate targeting of communities of color for toxic waste; official sanctioning of life-threatening pollutants in communities of color; and exclusion of people of color from environmental movement leadership.

🔬 Robert D. Bullard's groundbreaking research

• Often called the "Father of Environmental Justice."
• His 1990 book Dumping on Dixie was the first to describe environmental racism.
• 1979 Houston study: examined locations of all municipal solid-waste sites in Houston, Texas.
  • Part of first class-action lawsuit (Bean v. Southwestern Waste Management) charging environmental discrimination under the Civil Rights Act.
  • A landfill was sited in a suburban middle-class neighborhood where over 82% of residents were African American.
• Research in four other Black Southern communities revealed "the siting of local waste facilities was not random" but clear examples of institutional racism.

🌍 Colonial roots of environmental racism

Environmental discrimination: disparate treatment of a group or community based on race, class, or other distinguishing characteristics.

• Bullard argued structural and individual racism led to "impoverishment of Black communities... making it easier for Black residential areas to become the dumping grounds for all types of health-threatening toxins and industrial pollution."
• Indigenous scholar Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz: "everything in US history is about the land" in terms of increasing European and Euro-American wealth and power.
• David Pellow (2017): environmental injustice was a major component of European colonization—theft of Indigenous lands, extermination of cultural groups and millions of Indigenous peoples, control and over-exploitation of natural resources, and enslavement of Indigenous and African peoples.

🌱 Environmental justice as movement and theory

🤝 What environmental justice encompasses

Environmental justice (EJ): an intersectional social movement pioneered by African Americans, Indigenous peoples, Latinx, lower-income, and other historically oppressed populations fighting against environmental discrimination.

• Also an academic theory explaining causes and consequences of environmental inequality and supporting action.
• Rooted in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s.
• Operates "under the assumption that all Americans have a basic right to live, work, play, go to school, and worship in a clean and healthy environment."

🔗 Intersectionality of environmental justice

• Early EJ activists recognized all forms of injustice are interconnected.
• The struggle for a healthy environment must include:
  • Access to quality schools and education
  • Adequate and safe housing
  • Green spaces
  • Fresh food and clean water
  • Sustainable employment opportunities
• What makes this movement unique: the intersectionality of injustices it addresses and the diverse communities it brings together.

🏛️ EPA definition vs. activist reality

• EPA (2018) defines EJ as "fair treatment and meaningful involvement of all people regardless of race, class, color, national origin or income with respect to development, implementation, and enforcement of environmental law, regulations, and policies."
• Don't confuse: Many activists and scholars find this definition holds little weight because polluting industries are rarely held accountable.
• Social inequalities are deeply embedded within government structure, so communities often cannot rely on government oversight.
• Many communities create local solutions themselves: forming alliances, conducting direct action campaigns, investing in mutual aid, and practicing direct democratic principles.

🌸 Ecofeminism: connecting gender and environment

👩 Core concept of ecofeminism

Ecofeminism: bringing together feminism and environmentalism, argues that the domination of women and the degradation of the environment are consequences of patriarchy and capitalism.

• Women and children are disproportionately impacted by climate change.
• Ecofeminism connects the domination of women to the domination of the environment.
• It is both a theory naming the intersectionality of oppression and a call to action.

💪 Women as climate activists

• Women say they must become climate change activists to create a world where their children can survive and thrive.
• Example: Heide Hutner links her own cancer story and grief to the activism of women around the world.
• Example: Terry Tempest Williams connects nuclear testing events with her family's health, leading her to activism.

🌍 Youth climate activism

🪧 Greta Thunberg and Fridays for Future

• Youth activist from Sweden who began protesting in front of government offices in 2018.
• In March 2019 Berlin speech: "We live in a strange world where children must sacrifice their own education in order to protest against the destruction of their future. Where the people who have contributed the least to this crisis are the ones who are going to be affected the most."
• Fridays for Future movement: started with protests in front of Swedish parliament; social media posts went viral and encouraged other youth to take action.
• 100,000 people marched in Glasgow in 2021 during the Global Climate Conference.
• Some estimate 7.6 million youth have participated in global climate action worldwide, in both rich and poor countries.

💧 Autumn Peltier: water protector

• World-renowned water protector, activist, and citizen of the Wikwemikong First Nation on Manitoulin Island, Ontario, Canada.
• Fighting for clean water in Canada since age 8.
• In 2019, appointed as Anishinabek Nation Chief Water Commissioner following her great-aunt Josephine Mandamin's death.
• Has criticized the Canadian Prime Minister, spoken at the United Nations, and led youth and Indigenous advocacy efforts.
• Her cultural teaching: "In my culture, my people believe that water is one of the most sacred elements... As a fetus, we learn our first two teachings: how to love the water and how to love our mother."

🎯 Three types of youth climate dissent

Type	Description	Example
Dutiful dissent	Working within existing systems to express discontent and promote alternatives	Creating school recycling programs or investment policies
Disruptive dissent	Explicitly challenging power relationships through direct protests and collective organization	Petition campaigns, boycotts, disrupting climate meetings, political marches and rallies
Dangerous dissent	Challenging existing paradigms and creating alternatives to existing structures	Presenting organized challenges to mainstream power relationships and conventional environmental behavior

• Dangerous dissent provides alternative explanations of ecological issues and alternative methods of creating change.
• Example: Sonoran Desert researchers on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border provide alternative explanations and methods.

🔍 Critical environmental justice

🌐 What makes CEJ "second generation"

Critical environmental justice (CEJ): often referred to as the "second generation" of environmental justice activism and scholarship.

• Considers how all forms of structural inequality put targeted communities at risk of environmental harm.
• Views all forms of inequality as violations of the human right to live in a healthy, safe, and thriving environment.
• Draws on multiple fields: critical race studies, Black feminist studies, Indigenous studies, and more.
• Strives to understand, document, and radically oppose intersectional forms of injustice that perpetuate oppression and exploitation on multiple levels.

📊 Four limitations of "first generation" EJ studies

According to Pellow (2018):

1. Single-category focus: Tend to focus on only one or two categories (usually race and/or class) rather than examining how multiple forms of discrimination occur simultaneously for individuals and communities.

2. Single-scale analysis: Examine causes, outcomes, and solutions on a single level or specific location rather than considering problems on both community and global scales.

   • Example: Amazon deforestation impacts local Indigenous communities and reduces carbon sinks for the whole planet, contributing to the climate crisis.

3. Over-reliance on institutional reform: Almost exclusively rely on legislative or institutional reform, ignoring that these same power structures permitted and even produced the environmental and social harm in the first place.

4. Location-specific view of expendability: Recognize that marginalized communities are more likely to live in contaminated locations, but miss that entire populations are treated as expendable by political power structures and industries, not just particular communities in particular places.

   • Example: A community might move because of chemical spills in their neighborhood. Even if temporarily safe, they are likely to experience environmental injustice again because the discrimination they face is structural and historical, not just located in one neighborhood.

🎯 CEJ's holistic approach

• Takes a holistic approach to understanding, exposing, and ultimately resisting practices and policies.
• Challenges governments and industries that prioritize profit over the lives of people, all other life forms, and the future of the planet.
• Don't confuse: CEJ is not just about fixing one problem in one place—it's about addressing interconnected systems of oppression across multiple scales and categories simultaneously.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Environmental and climate problems require both individual agency and collective action at multiple scales—from local communities to international treaties—because their causes and solutions are deeply interconnected.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Interdependence of problems and solutions: environmental degradation causes are linked in obvious and subtle ways; effective solutions reveal the power of our interconnectedness.
• Both/and thinking required: making a difference requires both individual agency and collective action working together.
• Multiple scales of action: examples range from state laws (Oregon Bottle Bill) to community organizing (Latina fire survivors) to Indigenous resistance movements to international treaties (Paris Agreement).
• Common confusion: don't assume only global-scale action matters—local and regional collective efforts create ripple effects that grow over time.
• Why it matters: these interdependent solutions are required for survival; environmental justice is social justice.

🌍 The nature of climate problems and solutions

🔗 Interconnected causes

• Environmental problems are difficult to resolve because their causes and solutions are interdependent.
• Example from the excerpt: people in the U.S. need oil for gasoline and industry → this need encourages oil companies to produce efficiently → industrial efficiency may incentivize gas flaring in Nigeria.
• The causes of environmental degradation are linked in both obvious and subtle ways.

🤝 Interdependent solutions

• Solutions to environmental issues, particularly effective ones, reveal the power of our interconnectedness.
• The excerpt emphasizes "both/and thinking": both individual agency and collective action are required.
• Don't confuse: this is not "either individual or collective"—both are necessary simultaneously.

🏛️ State and regional collective action

♻️ Oregon Bottle Bill (1971)

The Beverage Container Act of 1971: the first law in the nation to provide deposits on bottles and cans, encouraging people to return them rather than throw them away.

How it worked:

• Activists (OSPIRG and other environmental groups), beverage manufacturers and bottlers, grocery store owners and clerks, the legislature, and the governor all had to agree on what to do about the pollution problem.
• The new law had to be implemented and advertised through the media.
• For decades, grocery stores collected initial refunds, processed bottles, and returned money to consumers.

Impact:

• The Bottle Bill instantly reduced litter in Oregon.
• Beverage containers in roadside litter declined from 40% before the law to 10.8% in 1973 and 6% in 1979.
• In the 2000s, about 84% of beverage containers were recycled, helping make Oregon fourth in the nation for recycling rate.
• Multiple U.S. states have enacted similar laws.
• The bottle bill has grown in Oregon with bottle drops, a more efficient and hygienic way to process bottles and cans.

Why it matters:

• From a relatively small beginning, the impact of this state law has grown.
• Solving this kind of problem requires using our interconnectedness effectively, and the consequences continue rippling into the world.

🔥 Coalición Fortaleza (Southern Oregon)

Context:

• Most Hispanic and Latino people (over 80%) say addressing climate change is of personal interest to them, a much higher percentage than the 67% of non-Hispanic people.
• In Oregon, Latinos are organizing for change after experiencing drought and unexpected wildfires in 2020.

Who they are:

• A fire survivor organization run by Latina and Indigenous women.
• Creating options for survivors of the Alameda Fire in southern Oregon.
• The communities impacted were seasonal farm workers, mixed-status families, and low-income people.

Their approach:

"As experts of our own lived experiences, we have the imaginations, local knowledge and largest stake in ensuring that the rebuilding solutions don't recreate the systems and conditions that have kept us in poverty and without access to life-saving information and resources. We will focus on community-led solutions that will serve our most impacted members."

• They are working to re-home everyone.
• They are strengthening their community and finding solutions that sustain Mother Earth.
• The group is committed to using the disruption of their community and its rebuilding to challenge the existing structures of power and create new, more equitable environmental justice.

Their values:

• Unidad/Unity, Amor/Love, Dignidad/Dignity, Esperanza/Hope, Fuerza/Strength, Familia/Family, Justicia/Justice, and Salud y Vida/Health and Life.

🪶 Indigenous resistance movements

🌊 Why Indigenous resistance matters

• Indigenous resistance to colonialism and climate destruction continues worldwide.
• Indigenous cultures are rooted in place, tradition, and land stewardship.
• Because there are Indigenous peoples on every acre of land that is habitable by humans, each act of destruction to the environment is also an act of destruction to the Indigenous peoples.
• Indigenous people currently steward 80% of the world's biodiversity.
• This is true because Indigenous peoples both resisted exploitation and created new systems for protecting the land, its inhabitants, and their cultures.

🛡️ Standing Rock (United States)

What happened:

• The NoDAPL movement began when the Standing Rock Sioux people decided to fight the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline.
• This pipeline would be built on their ancestral land, destroying cultural resources and violating centuries-old treaties made between the tribe and the U.S. government.
• This led to intense protests where Indigenous peoples, allies, and community members from all over the world came to occupy and resist the construction.

Outcomes:

• More than 300 people were injured, and hundreds were arrested during these protests by the U.S. government.
• While the Dakota Access Pipeline is still in commission, the NoDAPL movement paved the way for many contemporary Indigenous resistance movements in North America.

✊ Zapatista Movement (Mexico)

Origins:

• In 1994, an Indigenous armed organization named the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) declared war on the Mexican Government.
• They demanded: "work, land, housing, food, health, education, independence, liberty, democracy, justice and peace."

Current status:

• This uprising began in Chiapas, Mexico, as an occupation of land and continues to this day.
• The Indigenous and some politically aligned non-Indigenous peoples still assert sovereignty over their economic, social, and cultural development.
• The Zapatista movement is a current example of how Indigenous communities can defend their lands, cultures, and each other.

🌐 International collective action

📜 Paris Agreement (2015)

A landmark in the multilateral climate change process because, for the first time, a binding agreement brings all nations into a common cause to undertake ambitious efforts to combat climate change and adapt to its effects.

Core components:

• Countries will enact limits on greenhouse gas emissions for their countries by 2020.
• Countries will also develop energy alternatives that reduce emissions.
• Countries that need help will receive financial, technological, and infrastructure assistance.

Who signed:

• The agreement was signed by 196 parties when it initially became a treaty.
• The United States later withdrew from the agreement on July 1, 2017, due to a decision made by President Donald Trump.

📊 Progress and challenges

Scenario	Projected temperature increase	Notes
Current policies (blue-shaded area)	Approximately 3°C	If we stay with current policies
Paris Agreement implementation	2.6°C	If we actually do the work specified
Climate scientists' goal	Less than 2.6°C	Most believe we need to do more to sustain life

Mixed results after five years:

• Positive: The implementation of some of the limits is starting to slow the emissions of greenhouse gases.
• Challenges: The United Nations has very little money to enforce the agreements, and countries can leave the agreement anytime.
• Some environmentalists argue that the agreement doesn't move fast enough to create the needed changes.

Why it matters despite uncertainty:

• Even though progress is uncertain, the act of global solidarity is unprecedented.
• Global leaders are recognizing our shared interdependence.
• They are acting on a global scale to make a difference.

🔄 The necessity of multiple scales

🎯 All scales working together

The excerpt emphasizes that all of these are required simultaneously:

• Individual action using our own agency
• Communities creating social movements
• Fire survivors creating new ways of being in community
• Planetary agreements creating visions for a more sustainable world

🌱 Why interdependence is key

• These interdependent solutions are required for us to survive.
• Don't confuse: this is not about choosing one scale over another—the excerpt argues that all scales must work together.
• Example: The Oregon Bottle Bill started small but grew to influence multiple states and evolved within Oregon itself, showing how local action creates ripple effects.

⚖️ Environmental justice is social justice

• The chapter title and conclusion emphasize that environmental and social justice are inseparable.
• Solving environmental problems requires addressing the social structures and power dynamics that create them.
• Example: Coalición Fortaleza explicitly connects rebuilding after the fire to challenging "the systems and conditions that have kept us in poverty."

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Climate change is fundamentally a social problem rooted in colonialism and capitalism, where those who contribute least to emissions suffer most, and solving it requires both individual agency and collective action grounded in environmental justice.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Climate change as a social problem: Human activities drive the crisis; conflicts in values (colonialist capitalism vs. sustainable living) shape responses; impacts are unequal by social location.
• Colonialism's extractive legacy: Colonization prioritized profit over sustainable care for people and land; this economic system persists today and fuels environmental degradation.
• Indigenous vs. Western worldviews: Indigenous cultures value community, relationships, and sacred land stewardship; Western culture prioritizes individuals and profit; Indigenous practices offer healing solutions.
• Intersectionality matters: Race, class, gender, and other social locations determine who suffers most from climate impacts (e.g., poor Black residents in Katrina, Nigerian women affected by gas flaring).
• Common confusion—individual vs. collective action: Both are essential; worldwide agreements, social movements, and personal behavior changes (recycling, reducing consumption) must work together.

🌍 Why climate change is a social problem

🌍 Human activities as the root cause

• The excerpt states that "the activities of humans are the major contributor to creating the climate crisis."
• This is not just an environmental or natural phenomenon; it is driven by social and economic systems.

⚖️ Conflicts in values

• The excerpt identifies "conflicts in values between colonialist capitalism and more sustainable ways of living."
• These conflicts are "deeply rooted in the practices of capitalism and colonialism perpetuated by Western worldviews."
• Example: Extractive economics (profit-first) vs. Indigenous stewardship (care for future generations).

📍 Unequal impacts by social location

• "Climate disasters and environmental challenges impact groups unequally based on their social location."
• The excerpt gives examples:
  • Poor and disproportionately Black residents in New Orleans lacked cars to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina.
  • Poor women in Nigeria suffer from gas flaring: families are sick, farming is disrupted.
  • Canadian female farmers pick up extra work as climate effects intensify.
• Don't confuse: Social location (race, class, gender) is not just a demographic label; it determines vulnerability and resources to cope with climate change.

🤝 Solutions require interdependent action

• "Solving the climate crisis requires changes in laws, policies, and practices throughout the world, interdependent solutions that create environmental justice."
• Environmental justice is defined as social justice.

🏛️ Historical roots: colonization and extraction

🏛️ Colonization as an extractive system

Colonialism: the domination of a people or area by a foreign state or nation.

• "Colonization as a social and economic system extracts resources from the people and lands of colonized areas to contribute to the wealth and power of the colonizers."
• This "extractive form of economics prioritizes making profits over sustainable care for people and land."

🔄 Persistence today

• "This economic system is still at play today, even though few colonies are left in the world."
• The excerpt emphasizes that colonial economic logic (extraction, profit over sustainability) continues in modern capitalism.
• Example: Gas flaring in Nigeria enriches corporations while local women and children suffer health and livelihood impacts.

🌱 Worldviews: Indigenous vs. Western

🌱 Indigenous worldview

Worldview: the collection of interconnected beliefs, values, attitude, images, stories, and memories out of which a sense of reality is constructed and maintained in a social system and in the minds of individuals who participate in it.

• "Indigenous culture and worldview values communities and relationships. The land is sacred and must be cared for."
• Indigenous practices "nourish the land for generations" and "offer solutions for healing our earth."

Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK): the on-going accumulation of knowledge, practice and belief about relationships between living beings in a specific ecosystem that is acquired by indigenous people over hundreds or thousands of years through direct contact with the environment, handed down through generations, and used for life-sustaining ways.

🏭 Western worldview

• "Western culture values the individual and profit. The land is a resource that can be used to make profit."
• This contrast is central to understanding why climate change accelerates: profit-driven extraction vs. long-term stewardship.

🔍 How worldviews shape climate action

• The excerpt argues that Indigenous worldviews "offer opportunities for innovative solutions" because they prioritize sustainability and intergenerational care.
• Don't confuse: This is not about romanticizing Indigenous peoples; it is about recognizing that their practices are grounded in centuries of sustainable land management.

🔗 Intersectionality and environmental justice

🔗 Race, class, and gender intersect with climate impacts

• The excerpt defines:

  Environmental justice: an intersectional social movement pioneered by African Americans, Indigenous peoples, Latinx, lower-income, and other historically oppressed populations fighting against environmental discrimination within their communities and across the world.

  Environmental racism: any environmental policy or practice which disadvantages people or communities based on race.

📊 Examples of intersectional impacts

Social location	Climate impact example (from excerpt)
Poor women in Nigeria	Gas flaring causes illness and disrupts farming; families suffer.
Poor and Black residents, New Orleans	Lacked cars to evacuate during Hurricane Katrina.
Female farmers in Canada	Picking up extra work as climate change affects farming.

• The excerpt emphasizes: "In all of these cases, social location matters to environmental justice."

🌐 Unequal responsibility and harm

• "Those who contribute the least, suffer the most."
• "People from industrialized countries use more fossil fuels and produce more CO₂. However, less industrialized countries have fewer resources to guard against the effects of climate change, so people in those countries are harmed more."
• Global climate agreements (like the Paris Agreement) include provisions for transferring technology and money from more developed to less developed countries—"although those promises aren't always honored."

🧩 Critical environmental justice

Critical environmental justice: a theory which considers how all forms of structural inequality put targeted communities at risk of environmental harm, and how all forms of inequality essentially violate the human right to live in a healthy, safe, and thriving environment.

• This framework broadens environmental justice to include all forms of structural inequality (not just race).

🌸 Ecofeminism

Ecofeminism: a theory that argues that the domination of women and the degradation of the environment are consequences of patriarchy and capitalism.

• The excerpt notes that "women and girls are disproportionately impacted by climate change."
• Example: Nigerian women's farming and family health are harmed by gas flaring; Canadian female farmers take on extra work.

🤲 Individual and collective action

🤲 Both are essential

• The excerpt calls the question "individual behavior or collective action more important?" a "trick question."
• "Both individual agency and collective action are critical to ending the climate crisis."

🌍 Collective action examples

• "We need worldwide agreements like the Paris Agreement to set standards and targets for changing our collective behavior."
• "We need feminists, youth, and Indigenous people to remind us how important this is with their social movements."
• The excerpt highlights the Jordan Cove Energy Project victory: "local residents, ranchers, fishermen and women, indigenous elders, youth, and everyday people like you and me had to come together."

🔄 Individual actions

• "We need individual actions of recycling bottles, using less plastic, and being satisfied with less to solve the climate crisis."
• Example: Oregon's Bottle Bill (recycling program).

🔍 Why both matter

• Collective action creates the legal, policy, and cultural frameworks.
• Individual actions embody and sustain those changes in daily life.
• Don't confuse: Individual actions alone cannot solve systemic problems, but they are part of the solution when combined with structural change.

📚 Key terms summary

Term	Definition (from excerpt)
Capitalism	An economic system based on private ownership and the production of profit.
Climate change	The long-term shift in global and regional temperatures, humidity and rainfall patterns, and other atmospheric characteristics.
Colonialism	The domination of a people or area by a foreign state or nation.
Conspicuous consumption	The purchase of expensive luxury goods or services as a display of one's wealth and status.
Critical environmental justice	A theory which considers how all forms of structural inequality put targeted communities at risk of environmental harm, and how all forms of inequality essentially violate the human right to live in a healthy, safe, and thriving environment.
Cultural universals	Patterns or traits that are globally common to all societies.
Culture	The shared beliefs, values, and practices which are socially transmitted within a social group.
Ecofeminism	A theory that argues that the domination of women and the degradation of the environment are consequences of patriarchy and capitalism.
Enculturation	The process of learning culture.
Environmental justice	An intersectional social movement pioneered by African Americans, Indigenous peoples, Latinx, lower-income, and other historically oppressed populations fighting against environmental discrimination within their communities and across the world.
Environmental racism	Any environmental policy or practice which disadvantages people or communities based on race.
Extreme weather events	An extreme weather event is defined by the severity of its effects or any weather event uncommon for a particular location.
Indigenous peoples	Indigenous peoples have in common a historical continuity with a given region prior to colonization and a strong link to their lands.
Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK)	The on-going accumulation of knowledge, practice and belief about relationships between living beings in a specific ecosystem that is acquired by indigenous people over hundreds or thousands of years through direct contact with the environment, handed down through generations, and used for life-sustaining ways.
Worldview	The collection of interconnected beliefs, values, attitude, images, stories, and memories out of which a sense of reality is constructed and maintained in a social system and in the minds of individuals who participate in it.

🏆 Case study: Jordan Cove Energy Project

🏆 An unexpected victory

• The excerpt opens and closes with this example: "To stop the energy company, local residents, ranchers, fishermen and women, indigenous elders, youth, and everyday people like you and me had to come together."
• They "had to promote a common vision of clean renewable energy and the projected costs and risks of a pipeline."
• They "had to convince local and state government officials that the pipeline was not in the best interests of the people who lived in that area."

🔍 Why it matters

• "The stakes were high, and their victory was uncertain. Working together, they succeeded in protecting the piece of the planet they call home."
• This case illustrates the power of collective action across diverse social groups.
• Example: Diverse coalition (ranchers, Indigenous elders, youth, everyday people) united by a shared vision.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

The excerpt does not contain substantive content about the Klamath Basin Water Crisis itself; it provides only a title and a note that interactive elements have been excluded from this version.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• What is present: Only the title "Klamath Basin Water Crisis by Krisarah Nygren" and a technical note about excluded interactive content.
• What is missing: No actual text, analysis, data, or discussion about the Klamath Basin Water Crisis appears in the excerpt.
• Context clue: The work is part of a student portfolio from an Environmental Justice course at Linn-Benton Community College.
• Format note: The original work contained interactive elements (likely video, audio, or embedded media) that are not available in this text version.

📄 Available information

📄 Title and attribution

• Title: Klamath Basin Water Crisis
• Author: Krisarah Nygren
• Context: Student work from G209: Environmental Justice course at Linn-Benton Community College in Albany, OR, USA
• License: CC BY 4.0 (Creative Commons Attribution)

🔗 Interactive content note

"One or more interactive elements has been excluded from this version of the text. You can view them online here: https://openoregon.pressbooks.pub/environmentaljustice/?p=102#oembed-1"

• The excerpt indicates the original student work was multimedia in nature.
• The substantive content about the Klamath Basin Water Crisis is not accessible in this text-only excerpt.
• To review the actual work, one would need to access the interactive online version at the provided URL.

⚠️ Limitation statement

⚠️ No substantive content available

The provided excerpt does not contain any information about:

• What the Klamath Basin Water Crisis is
• When or where it occurred
• Who was affected
• What environmental justice issues are involved
• What the student's analysis or argument was

The excerpt consists only of bibliographic and formatting information, not the actual content of the student work.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Lead poisoning disproportionately harms low-income and minority communities—especially children—through contaminated water, paint, and soil in older housing, causing severe health and developmental damage that persists across generations.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Lead's toxicity: Lead causes convulsions, kidney failure, reproductive issues, nervous system damage, anemia, cancer, death, and neurological disorders (depression, anxiety, lowered IQ); children are especially vulnerable because lead slows growth and development.
• Where lead comes from: Paint, gas, pipes, solder, ammunition, and soil; lead does not decay or biodegrade, so it remains permanently in the environment.
• Racial and economic disparities: African American and Hispanic children have significantly higher blood lead levels than white children; minorities are more likely to live in pre-1978 housing with lead paint and pipes, and poverty rates are much higher for Black and Hispanic populations.
• Common confusion: Blood lead level (BLL) thresholds—the CDC says no level is safe for children, yet the EPA permits up to 15 parts per billion in water; average BLLs have dropped from 15 μg/dL (1970s) to 5 μg/dL (1990s), but detectable levels remain widespread.
• Real-world crises and schools: Flint, Michigan (2014–2019) and Milwaukee, Wisconsin show how infrastructure failures and cost barriers perpetuate exposure; many schools do not test for lead, and elevated levels correlate with reading/math failure and possibly crime rates.

🏚️ Historical use and health impacts

🧪 Where lead was used

• Lead has been utilized for centuries in:
  • Paint
  • Gasoline
  • Sheet lead
  • Solder
  • Pipes
  • Ammunition
• These materials were used regularly despite lead being "exceedingly toxic."

💀 Health consequences

Lead is exceedingly toxic; symptoms to the body and brain can be detrimental, leading to convulsions, comas, kidney failure, reproductive issues, nervous system disruptions, anemia, cancer, and death.

Physical effects:

• Convulsions, comas
• Kidney failure
• Reproductive issues
• Nervous system disruptions
• Anemia
• Cancer
• Death

Neurological effects:

• Slows growth and development in children
• Contributes to adult neurological disorders: depression, anxiety, schizophrenia
• Lowers IQ

Why children are especially at risk:

• Lead is "harmful to development," so the toxin especially impacts children.
• Children have a propensity to put objects in their mouths (e.g., lead paint chips, toys), increasing exposure.
• Example: Nationally, 58% of Black children, 56% of Hispanic children, and 49% of white children tested positive for detectable lead levels.

📉 Blood lead level trends

• Blood lead levels (BLLs) measure micrograms of lead per deciliter of blood (μg/dL).
• Average BLL decreased from 15 μg/dL in the 1970s to 5 μg/dL in the 1990s due to reduced overuse of lead.
• Don't confuse "average decline" with "safe levels": The CDC claims no lead level is considered safe (especially for children), yet the EPA permits a maximum of 15 parts per billion in water.

🚰 Case studies: Flint and Milwaukee

🏙️ Flint, Michigan (2014–2019)

What happened:

• In 2013, Michigan's governor began drawing water from the Flint River to conserve money.
• The Flint River was known to be toxic and rich in pollutants for many years.
• Elected officials ruled the water need not undergo treatment.
• Lead pipes were used to distribute the water; due to poor water quality, lead began to seep from the pipes into the city's water supply.

Impact:

• 100,000 people affected by lead poisoning before officials took action.
• Clean water was not available until 2019.
• Many citizens acquired Legionnaires Disease (a form of pneumonia), rashes, hair loss, and other mental and physical health tolls.
• Total of twelve deaths accounted for.
• In 2015, the African American population of Flint was 57%.
• In 2021, a lawsuit was initiated against Michigan, Flint, and officials for duty negligence.

🏘️ Milwaukee, Wisconsin (2018)

Testing and infrastructure:

• In 2018, one quarter of children under age six were tested for lead poisoning; their BLLs were "over double the national average."
• Over 40% of Milwaukee's water lines contain lead.
• Half of the city's households are rented, limiting residents' choices in pipe replacement.

Cost barriers:

• Replacing lead pipes in Milwaukee ranges from $5,000 for one pipe to $27,000 for minimal replacement.
• Example: A low-income renter cannot afford to replace pipes and has no control over landlord decisions, perpetuating exposure.

🏫 Lead in schools and childcare

🎨 Lead-based paint in childcare centers

• A 2003 HUD study found that 28% of licensed childcare centers in the U.S. contain lead-based paint.
• This number has declined due to raised awareness, but the problem persists.
• 74 Federal GSA daycare centers examined after COVID-19 reopening:
  • 95% had not been tested for lead.
  • When advised to test, 50% complied.
  • Of those tested, 7% had exceedingly high lead levels.

🚰 Lead in school drinking water

• Public schools increasingly provide lead health screenings; children should not have above 10 μg/dL in their blood.
• Only 43% of public schools in the U.S. test for lead.
• Of those that test, 37% test positive for elevated lead levels in water.
• Nationally, it was estimated in 2016–2017 that about three-quarters of school districts had not examined schools for lead-based paint.

📚 Academic impact

• A National Library of Medicine study concluded that in Chicago public schools alone, 13% of reading failure and 14.8% of math failure can be attributed to exposure to blood lead concentrations.
• Example: A child exposed to lead in school water or paint may struggle with reading and math not due to lack of effort, but due to neurological damage from lead.

🔫 Lead exposure and crime rates

• One theory gaining approval in the 21st century: correspondence between lead exposure and crime rates.
• Author Kevin Drum examined multiple studies showing crime rates in correlation with lead.
• Crime rates in the U.S. appear to interact with blood lead levels significantly:
  • Peaked in the 1960s and 70s
  • Declined until the 1990s
• With generations of children inhabiting high-lead environments, neurological disorders are more likely to develop, which may have helped increase crime during specific time periods.

🏘️ Redlining, racism, and environmental injustice

🗺️ "Redlined and Leadlined"

The disappointing truth about where lead poisoning is most distributed involves a long and grueling history of redlining and racism.

How redlining connects to lead exposure:

• Effects of redlining African Americans and minorities into segregated areas continue today.
• Many minorities are low-income and inhabit houses built before 1978 (the year lead paint was banned in construction).
• Example: A family redlined into an older neighborhood decades ago now lives in housing with lead paint and pipes, with no resources to move or remediate.

📊 Poverty and race statistics

Group	Poverty rate (2021)
African Americans	21%
Hispanic	21%
Non-Hispanic white	9.5%

🩸 Blood lead level disparities by race

Group	Average BLL (μg/dL)	Detectable lead levels (%)	Elevated BLL risk (pre-1978 housing)
Non-Hispanic Black children	4.0	58%	6× more likely than white children
Hispanic children	—	56%	—
Non-Hispanic white children	3.0	49%	Baseline

Additional context:

• Black children are more likely to live in urban areas.
• Black children are six times more likely to have elevated BLLs than white children in houses built before 1978.

🌍 Environmental persistence

• Lead continues to settle into soil and groundwater permanently.
• Lead does not decay or biodegrade, making the environment more toxic to inhabit over time.
• Don't confuse with biodegradable pollutants: lead remains in the environment indefinitely, compounding exposure across generations.

📜 Legislation and regulation

🛡️ Acts to combat lead poisoning

The excerpt lists several federal acts (details of enforcement and effectiveness not provided):

Act	Year	Purpose
Safe Drinking Water Act	1974	EPA regulates lead in water for housing and facility development
Lead Contamination Control Act	1988	Ensures education about lead and health screenings in schools
Residential Lead-based Paint Hazard Reduction Act (Title X)	1992	Monitors lead paint in housing and construction
Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act	2009	Regulates lead in products such as toys
Toxic Substances Control Act	—	Requires reports and records of lead contamination

Regulatory standards:

• The CDC claims no lead level is considered safe (especially for children).
• The EPA permits a maximum of 15 parts per billion in water.
• Public schools use a threshold of 10 μg/dL for children's blood lead levels.
• Don't confuse "permitted" with "safe": the EPA standard is a regulatory limit, not a health-based safe level.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

The excerpt does not contain substantive content about the impact of migration and pesticides on migrant workers and their families; it consists only of a title, a Google Slides embed link, and page navigation references.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• The excerpt provides only a title and an embedded presentation link, with no textual explanation or analysis.
• No information is given about migration patterns, pesticide exposure mechanisms, health impacts, or family effects.
• The surrounding text in the document relates to lead poisoning in minority communities, not migration or pesticides.
• The actual content of the presentation is not accessible from the excerpt provided.

📄 Content Analysis

📄 What the excerpt contains

The excerpt includes:

• A title: "The Impact of Migration and Pesticides on Migrant Workers and Their Families by Fiona Sprague and Austyn Moon"
• An embedded Google Slides presentation link
• Page number reference (page 91)

❌ What is missing

The excerpt does not provide:

• Any written analysis or findings about migration
• Information about pesticide types, exposure routes, or health effects
• Data on migrant worker populations or their families
• Discussion of environmental justice issues related to agricultural work
• Policy recommendations or regulatory frameworks
• Case studies or examples

🔗 Context Note

🔗 Document structure

The excerpt appears in a larger document containing multiple student projects on environmental justice topics. The sections immediately before and after discuss lead poisoning in minority communities, suggesting this is part of a compiled collection rather than a standalone work.

🔗 Accessing the content

To review the actual research findings, one would need to access the embedded Google Slides presentation directly, which is not included in this text excerpt.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

Lead contamination in housing disproportionately harms low-income and minority communities in the U.S., and current federal regulations are insufficient to protect children from life-long developmental and social consequences.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• Environmental injustice: Lead exposure disproportionately affects low-income and minority communities because a large portion of low-income housing is old and deteriorating.
• Children at highest risk: Any amount of lead is harmful for children (unlike adults), causing cognitive impairments, behavioral disorders, and long-term problems including criminal arrests and reduced earnings.
• Racial disparities: 58% of children from majority Black areas and 56% from majority Hispanic areas had detectable blood lead levels, compared to 49% from predominantly white neighborhoods.
• Common confusion: Government housing assistance actually reduces lead exposure risk (11.1% vs 19.9% for non-assisted housing), contrary to what some might assume.
• Regulatory gaps: Federal laws banned new lead use in 1978 but did not require removal from existing homes, and current EPA standards still allow lead levels that pose significant risk to children.

🏚️ The scope of lead contamination

🏚️ Housing stock with lead paint

• From 1999 to 2019, total housing units with lead paint declined slightly (38 million → 35 million).
• However, units with deteriorating lead paint increased significantly (13.6 million → 18.2 million).
• Millions of homes built before the 1978 federal ban still contain lead that was never removed.

The excerpt emphasizes that the ban only stopped new usage; it did not address the existing contamination.

🧒 Why children are especially vulnerable

• Children have higher absorption levels than adults.
• Small amounts of lead are not harmful for adults, but any amount is harmful for children.
• Lead exposure causes possible developmental defects during childhood.

Don't confuse: The threshold for harm is different for children vs adults—what is "safe" for adults is not safe for children.

📊 Racial and economic disparities

📊 Blood lead levels by race

Community type	Percentage with detectable blood lead
Majority Black areas	58%
Majority Hispanic areas	56%
Predominantly white neighborhoods	49%

• Children of color are much more likely to be exposed to high levels of lead from inadequate housing.
• This creates a pattern of environmental injustice.

💰 Government housing assistance paradox

• 11.1% of households that received government housing assistance had higher lead levels.
• 19.9% of households that did not receive assistance had higher lead levels.
• This means government-assisted housing actually has lower lead exposure risk.

Common confusion: One might assume government housing is worse, but the data shows the opposite—assistance programs provide safer housing.

⚖️ Real-world consequences

⚖️ Childhood lead exposure outcomes

The excerpt links childhood lead exposure to multiple life-long harms:

• Cognitive impairments and behavioral disorders in childhood.
• Criminal arrests in adulthood.
• Psychopathology (mental health problems).
• Reduced earnings in adulthood.

🔍 The Freddie Gray case

Example: Freddie Gray grew up in extreme poverty in Baltimore and was exposed to significant lead from contaminated housing.

• Tests from 1992–1996 showed significant blood lead levels, leading to a lawsuit against the landlord.
• Children exposed to lead are known to have increased mental deficiencies.
• The excerpt suggests this may have contributed to Gray's behavior issues and his death at the hands of police.

Why this matters: The case illustrates how childhood lead exposure can create a chain of consequences leading to tragic outcomes, perpetuating the cycle of poverty.

📜 Current regulations and their failures

📜 Timeline of federal lead laws

Year	What happened	What was missing
1978	Federal ban on new lead usage in houses	Did not require removal from existing homes
1992	Regulations on how government would remove lead	Still no mass testing requirement for pre-1978 housing
2019	EPA updated dust lead standards	Standards still inadequate to protect children

🔬 2019 EPA standards are insufficient

The EPA updated lead level standards after removal to:

• 10 μg/ft² for floor dust (down from 40).
• 100 μg/ft² for window sill dust (down from 250).

However, a study found:

• At the 2019 EPA standards (10 and 100 μg/ft²), there was a 45% and 33% higher risk of blood lead concentrations ≥5 μg/dL.
• Compared to stricter HOME Study standards (5 and 50 μg/ft²), the EPA standards leave children at significant risk.

"The 2019 EPA dust lead hazard standard does not adequately protect children from residential dust lead hazards."

Don't confuse: The 2019 update was "a step in the right direction" but still falls short of what is needed to protect children.

🔧 Recommended changes

🔧 Two main problems to address

1. Government-provided low-income housing: Needs increased funding, as the data shows assisted housing has lower lead exposure risk.
2. Lead regulations: Current regulations are inadequate; there is no large-scale program to investigate old housing for lead contamination.

🔧 Specific recommendations from the excerpt

• Nationwide survey: Undertake a survey of all housing built before 1978 to identify possible hazards.
• Complete removal: When contamination is found, it should be completely removed (not just reduced to current EPA standards).
• More stringent regulations: Implement stricter standards on allowable lead levels in housing.
• Improved housing assistance programs: Provide safer housing with less financial burden to break the cycle of poverty.

🔄 The generational cycle

The excerpt emphasizes that lead contamination perpetuates a cycle of poverty:

• Minorities are unable to afford better housing.
• Regulations are insufficient to protect them from hazards.
• Increased financial and social burdens prevent escape from poverty.
• This becomes a generational issue affecting multiple generations.

Why comprehensive action is needed: Without addressing both housing assistance and regulations, the cycle continues indefinitely.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

The excerpt does not contain substantive content about modern day eugenics; it consists only of a title page and navigation elements from what appears to be a compiled document or textbook.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• The excerpt shows only a title "Modern Day Eugenics by Annabelle Buright" with a notation "(2)" suggesting it may be a chapter or section number.
• No thesis, arguments, definitions, or analysis related to eugenics are present in the provided text.
• The surrounding text includes unrelated content about lead contamination in minority communities and references to other student projects.
• The excerpt appears to be a table of contents or section divider rather than substantive content.

📄 What the excerpt contains

📄 Title and structural elements only

The provided text includes:

• A heading "MODERN DAY EUGENICS BY ANNABELLE BURIGHT"
• A notation "Eugenics (2)" which may indicate a chapter, section, or page reference
• Page numbers (e.g., "96 | MODERN DAY EUGENICS BY ANNABELLE BURIGHT")
• Adjacent section titles for other projects (Russian-Ukrainian War, Super Funds)

⚠️ No substantive content available

• The excerpt does not contain any discussion, analysis, definitions, or arguments about eugenics (historical or modern).
• There are no claims, evidence, examples, or conclusions related to the topic.
• The text appears to be a structural element (title page or table of contents entry) from a larger compiled document.
• To create meaningful review notes, the actual body text of Annabelle Buright's work on modern day eugenics would be needed.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

The excerpt does not contain substantive content about the Russian-Ukrainian War; it appears to be a table of contents or section divider page with only a title and page reference.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• The excerpt consists solely of a title "RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR BY JESSE MARTIN" and a reference to "Final G209 r".
• No analysis, arguments, historical background, or factual information about the conflict is provided.
• The excerpt appears between sections on lead contamination in minority communities and superfunds, suggesting it is part of a larger collection or anthology.
• No key concepts, mechanisms, or conclusions can be extracted from the available text.

📄 Content assessment

📄 What the excerpt contains

The provided text includes only:

• A section heading: "RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR BY JESSE MARTIN"
• A reference line: "Final G209 r"
• A page number: "RUSSIAN-UKRAINIAN WAR BY JESSE MARTIN | 97"

❌ What is missing

No substantive content is available to review, including:

• No thesis or argument about the Russian-Ukrainian War
• No historical context or timeline
• No analysis of causes, consequences, or key events
• No discussion of international relations, military strategy, or humanitarian impacts
• No data, evidence, or citations related to the conflict

📝 Note for readers

📝 Limitation of this review

This excerpt appears to be a placeholder, title page, or table of contents entry rather than the actual content of Jesse Martin's work on the Russian-Ukrainian War. To create meaningful review notes, the full text of the section would be required.

🧭 Overview

🧠 One-sentence thesis

The excerpt does not contain substantive content about Super Funds; it appears to be a title page or table-of-contents entry within a larger document about environmental justice.

📌 Key points (3–5)

• The excerpt consists only of a title "SUPER FUNDS BY MAYA ROWLEY" and a subtitle "Environmental Justice Open Pedagogy Project."
• No definitions, explanations, arguments, or data about super funds are provided in this excerpt.
• The preceding pages reference lead contamination in minority communities and other environmental justice topics, suggesting this may be part of a collection.
• The excerpt does not provide enough information to extract core concepts, mechanisms, or conclusions about super funds.

📄 What the excerpt contains

📄 Title and context only

The excerpt shows:

• Title: "SUPER FUNDS BY MAYA ROWLEY"
• Subtitle/Project name: "Environmental Justice Open Pedagogy Project"
• Page number: 98

No body text, analysis, or substantive discussion is present in this excerpt.

🔍 What is missing

The excerpt does not include:

• A definition or explanation of what "super funds" means in this context (could refer to Superfund sites, retirement funds, or another concept)
• Any thesis, argument, or conclusion
• Data, examples, or case studies
• Mechanisms, processes, or comparisons
• References or supporting evidence

⚠️ Note for review

This excerpt cannot support meaningful study notes because it contains only a title page. To create substantive review notes about super funds, the actual chapter or article content would be needed.