Initial Publication Date: September 24, 2024

Climate justice is possible if climate actions are equitable.

Teaching about climate justice is supported by nine key concepts:

A. With careful planning and execution, actions to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to climate risks can be carried out in ways that promote climate justice in the United States, which involves ensuring benefits from climate action are shared equitably and fairly. Achieving sustainable outcomes that promote equity in the United States, rather than exacerbate inequities, involves understanding how the impacts of and responses to climate change affect different groups of people, including those who have been marginalized and underserved. Including affected communities in decision-making can help reduce risks and distribute benefits equitably. Learn more about climate justice

There are 8 more fundamental concepts. See them all...

B. Climate change is both a product of society and a force that is shaping it. Its effects both reflect and exacerbate existing social inequities, with some people and communities suffering disproportionate harm. Societies can help address these issues by acknowledging the intersections between climate change and key social challenges, such as those relating to racial, economic, and gender inequity; rural communities; public health; migration; and ecosystem health. Learn more about intersecting challenges

C. Although climate change affects everyone, marginalized and underserved communities are more likely to experience harmful impacts. The long-lasting effects of discriminatory investment practices, unequal distribution of resources, and exclusionary laws have pushed Indigenous communities, communities of color, and low-income communities into locations where they are more vulnerable to climate change. These communities are often overburdened, experiencing one or more types of environmental injustice in the form of disproportionate health-related impacts from fossil fuel-based energy systems, reduced capacity to prepare for and recover from extreme events, settlement in hotter or more flood-prone areas, or lower-quality infrastructure and services. Learn more about inequitable climate impacts

D. Certain groups of people are at higher risk of negative health impacts from climate change. Those likely to experience elevated health impacts include the very young, the very old, people with disabilities or chronic health conditions, low-income individuals and communities, and other marginalized communities. Learn more about climate change impacts on human health[link https://nca2023.globalchange.gov/chapter/15#fig-15-3 '']

E. Rural communities face unique challenges from climate change. Rural areas are often under-resourced and therefore less resilient to climate impacts. Climate change also worsens stressors they already face, including physical isolation, limited economic diversity, and higher poverty rates, combined with an aging population. At the same time, rural communities are key to many climate adaptation and mitigation efforts, from climate-smart agricultural practices, to new sources of renewable energy, to restoring critical habitats for wildlife.

F. Indigenous Peoples hold unique knowledges and experiences about how to live sustainably on their lands. Their ways of life are threatened as local climates change and the ecosystems they rely on are altered. Tribal education systems are engaged in building community resilience and supporting the next generation of climate leaders. Learn more about how Indigenous leadership is guiding climate responses

G. An equitable and sustainable U.S. response to climate change has the potential to reduce climate impacts while improving well-being, strengthening resilience, benefiting the economy, and, in part, redressing legacies of racism, injustice, and inequity within the nation. Learn more about just climate solutions

H. Participatory research and planning processes can help reduce inequities and the chances of causing unintended harm through climate actions. Taking inclusive and equitable approaches to addressing climate change in the United States requires that the characteristics of a community, the factors that shaped them, and the interests of those affected are central to designing and implementing climate solutions. Approaches to decision-making that are based on broad and meaningful participation by all affected groups can build trust, promote social cohesion, and increase support, implementation, and efficacy for adaptation and mitigation strategies and plans. Learn more about how inclusivity improves climate responses

I. A just transition within the United States is the process of responding to climate change with transformative actions that address the root causes of climate vulnerability while ensuring equitable access to decent work and quality jobs; affordable, low-carbon energy; environmental benefits such as reduced air pollution; and improved quality of life for all. This type of transition has the potential to enable more ambitious, effective, and lasting adaptation, resilience, and mitigation actions, including by creating good-paying jobs in renewable energy industries. Learn more about just transitions

Bringing these ideas into your classroom

The following strategies for teaching climate justice were designed for CLEAN's climate mental health pages.

Acknowledge people from under-resourced and overburdened communities are disproportionately impacted by climate change

Under-resourced and overburdened communities have fewer opportunities, training, and means to act in response to natural disasters, and often face political, social, and economic barriers to mitigating impacts and adapting to a changing climate. White people and those with more wealth are often able to secure more federal recovery aid after a natural disaster. Hurricane Katrina is one of many examples in which climate change has disproportionately impacted minority populations. In the aftermath of the hurricane, the mortality rate among African American residents of New Orleans was four times higher than that of white residents, and, due to lower insurance rates, the reconstruction and return rates to New Orleans in the first year among African Americans were much lower (42%) than of white people (70%). Navigation of these challenges, in addition to the pain experienced through historical oppression, has led to people of color experiencing climate grief more deeply than white people.

Teaching Resources

Include diverse sets of voices, especially those most impacted

To successfully imagine a sustainable future and take collective climate action, a multitude of voices are needed including those of Black, Indigenous, Latinx, Asian, and Pacific Islander communities that are already living through and adapting to a changing world.

Teaching Resources

How Black Joy Farm Fights Food Deserts in the Bronx is a video that talks about...

9 Climate Activists of Color You Should Know provides examples and interviews with climate activists.

Young Activists Working at the Intersection of Environmental and Racial Justice highlights a diverse group of climate activists.

Young Voices for the Planet includes a variety of examples of youth around the globe who have taken action to make a difference.

Include other ways of knowing

Much of the science taught across the curriculum is based on Western scientific approaches. Incorporating other ways of knowing about the natural world, such as Traditional Ecological Knowledge, or Indigenous Knowledge, refers to knowledge systems that Indigenous people have acquired over hundreds and thousands of years through their direct connection with the environment.

Teaching Resources

Check out NASA's Living Landscapes Project, a set of climate-science educational resources designed to integrate traditional knowledge (Native science) about the climate with current climate science research.

The Tribal Climate Tool provides maps, graphs, and reports that summarize projected changes in climate for specific tribes in the Pacific Northwest and Great Basin

This Witnessing Environmental Changes video examines the issue of climate change from the perspective of Native Americans.

Teaching materials from the CLEAN collection

Middle school

Energy Justice Lesson Plan - This resource utilizes an easy-to-use tool to discuss energy justice and household energy burdens. The lesson plan covers a variety of different topics that discus the complexity of energy use and socioeconomics.
Merging Social Justice with Environmentalism - Students will learn about the environmental justice movement from the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries through reading about key movements in time.
Tackling Climate Change through Environmental Justice (Middle School) - This multi-lesson set is focused on environmental justice and social science. It asks students to consider inequality and justice in the context of their own lives and the environment through a series of both hands-on and research-focused activities.

High school

Food, Farming, and Justice: A role play on La Vía Campesina - This resource has students role-play as farmers from around the world and consider how agricultural practices are part of climate solutions.
Student Exploration of the Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health in the United States - In this module, students learn about the impacts of changing climatic conditions on human health with an emphasis on vulnerable populations and then apply systems thinking to create a visual model of various health implications arising from climate change.
After the Ice - Part 2: Our Land - This 7-minute video illustrates how the historic homeland for Arctic Native Americans is being affected by climate change. Loss of ice has profound effects on the way of life in the Bering Sea region.

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