The Zinn Education Project is excited to announce our publication of a lesson about climate refugees, written by high school students.

When WorldOregon’s Young Leaders in Action wrote this activity in late 2020, two hurricanes had recently slammed into Central America’s Caribbean coast. A Washington Post correspondent wrote about what she saw in San Pedro Sula, Honduras:

Climate change is happening everywhere, but is not affecting the world’s peoples in a single way. Social inequalities mean the climate emergency’s effects — more ferocious hurricanes, wildfires, heat waves, and other disasters — are also unequal.

Students deserve a curriculum that helps them make sense of the climate emergency. Find classroom-tested lessons, community activism opportunities, teaching guides, and a sample school board climate justice resolution.

This lesson features multiple cohorts of climate activists: Indigenous leaders in the Climate Justice Movement, valve-turners using civil disobedience to stop the flow of oil, and the legal team that uses the “necessity defense” in the courts.

Teacher organizer Ursula Wolfe-Rocca built this lesson around the documentary film, Necessity: Oil, Water, and Climate Resistance, which details the stories of those activists.

This evening, Thursday, Jan. 21, join a conversation about Teacher Unions and Social Justice, a new Rethinking Schools book about the promise of social justice teacher unionism. The event is hosted by Rethinking Schools, one of the two organizations that coordinate the Zinn Education Project. ASL interpretation will be available.

Register (free) to receive Zoom access, a free copy of the book’s introduction, and a 20% Rethinking Schools discount code.

The main support to sustain and grow the Zinn Education Project comes from individual donors like you. Read our Donor Testimonials and see What Teachers Are Saying to explore how our work affects students across the United States.